"Yeah? Well, MY god has a HAMMER!": Myth-Taken Identity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

With box office returns of well over a billion dollars worldwide, The Avengers (2012) clearly struck a chord with audiences beyond Marvel's loyal comic book fan-base. The script is tight, the action intense, the production values high, and the casting stellar, but are these elements enough to warrant the insane popularity of one superhero film amidst a Hollywood landscape already saturated with spandex-clad do-gooders and four-color villainy? As many film critic has lamented of late, we currently live in an age of superhero cinema. Combined, the "Big Two," Marvel and DC, have overseen more than 30 live-action superhero films featuring their properties in the last decade alone.And while some have been more successful than others (the gamut runs from Green Lantern and Elektra to Iron Man and The Dark Knight ), none has generated fandom, buzz or box-office revenue to match The Avengers .