'The Avengers': What Are the Critics Saying?

This Friday, "The Avengers" hits theaters and fans will be flocking to see the ultimate superhero team-up unfold on screen. In fact, "The Avengers" is creating so much buzz that it might end up surpassing "The Hunger Games" and possibly even "The Dark Knight Rises" for the biggest opening weekend of 2012 (and, consequently, one of the biggest of all time).

So the question is this: is "The Avengers" really worth seeing? If you're already a Marvel fans, chances are pretty good that your answer is an emphatic "YES ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" But if you have ho-hummed your way through the previous Marvel installments of "Captain America: The First Avenger," the two "Iron Man" movies and "Thor," then why should you be any more excited for "The Avengers?"

The answer lies in writer/director Joss Whedon. In the early "Avengers" reviews, critics are already saying that Whedon has created a movie that features not only the spectacular action set pieces that we have come to expect from the Marvel series, but also the deep characters and strong storytelling that makes a superhero movie truly great. As evidenced by his past projects (like "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly"), Whedon has a way with making big action projects very human, and according to the critics, he does the same here.

That's not to say there won't be plenty of stuff blowing up and amazing fights, either: as Owen Gleiberman of EW puts it, "The best thing about The Avengers, a multi-tentpole blockbuster that gathers half a dozen Marvel superheroes and unfurls them on a baddie from another planet, is that it also unleashes them on each other."

So if you're a Marvel fan, you're probably already putting your costume together and have your tickets for Thursday's midnight show. But if you're not, "The Avengers" is still worth seeing... though you might want to watch the other Marvel movies first to get the full effect.