For clarity's sake, I'm not familiar with most of these characters. I remember The Incredible Hulk from the 60s TV show. Or was it 70s? Whatever.

So based on what I've seen in this movie, I noticed a few things.

1. Captain America's shield is invulnerable. What is this thing made of? It took a direct hit from Thor's hammer without so much as flinching. It also absorbs lasers and even deflects one of Iron Man's power blasts in a scene. Also, Captain America himself takes a direct laser hit to the chest and then gets up afterward. So I guess he's invulnerable, too.

2. Thor is invulnerable. This guy dukes it out with Iron Man and then later has a knock-down drag-out brawl with the incredible Hulk. He gets tossed through walls, through trees, gets thrown around by the Hulk, and always gets up afterward. I guess the best you can do against this guy is slow him down a bit, as it does take him a while to get back up on occasion. But there's an entire scene in the movie where Loki traps Thor in a cage and drops him out of the airship. What's the big deal? Is taking a long fall Thor's kryptonite? How is he in any danger? Yet the movie somehow believes he's in danger as the cage plummets toward the earth and Thor frantically hammers his way out of it.

3. The incredible Hulk is invulnerable. This burly guy takes gunfire from a fighter jet at close range without so much as flinching. All it does is make him mad. Later he takes laser fire galore, suffers long falls, and fights alien monsters atop flying beasts without taking any noticeable damage. Also, David Banner says at one point that he put a bullet in his mouth and "the other guy" spit it out. That pretty much seals the deal. This guy is unstoppable. He can't be killed.

4. Loki is invulnerable. Not only does he hold his own against Thor, he also gets the living crap beat out of him by the Hulk and then somehow manages to get back up. Granted, he doesn't get back up until the battle is over and his army of monsters is defeated, but still.

5. As far as I can tell, Hawkeye is just a dude with a high-tech bow and explosive arrows. Black Widow is just a woman with interesting interrogation skills. And Iron Man's armor suit does take damage during the proceedings. He has to switch out for the Mark 7 before the big battle at the end. So all three of these guys have vulnerabilities.

Conclusion: Three of the heroes are invulnerable, and so is the villain.

Problem with this: Dissolution of tension.

Every time Captain America was in danger... well, he's not, really. Same goes for Thor and Hulk. These guys are falling great distances, getting punched through walls, and after a while it doesn't matter any more if there are ten bad guys coming after them or fifty. It feels like a video game with the invulnerability cheat turned on.

When Tony Stark says to Loki, "There's no version of this where you come out on top", he wasn't kidding. Maybe Tony thought he was speaking in his usual hyperbole, but there's some truth to that. The best the alien monster army could hope for was to slow down the heroes with overwhelming numbers, which they were already trying to do.

In contrast, there's a scene where Hawkeye is in genuine danger (because he's just a dude), and there was some tension there.

On a related note, Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) is turning out to be a really cool actor. He was also in "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" and "The Bourne Legacy", both of which I liked.

If I see this Im afraid that I'll find the movie better than DKR

Lots and lots of action. Lots of super heroes dishing out beat-downs on bad guys (and sometimes each other). And Tony Stark steals the show in the dialogue department with a near never-ending supply of witty quips and humorous lines. If you're a Robert Downy Jr. fan, it's a must-see just for that.

It's a well-made movie. You won't regret seeing it.

I just kinda noticed the invulnerability thing (kind of a turn-off, but I understand these guys are supermen).

Honestly, I thought Bruce Banner out-stole Stark. He was by far the most interested and developed of all the Avengers. Just about every quotable line from the movie, was from Dr. Banner.

"Yeah, umm... No. Not a good idea! He loves his hammer!" - Tony Stark

"That man is playing Galaga. He didn't think we'd notice, but we did." - Tony Stark

"No hard feelings, Point Break. You have a mean swing." - Tony Stark

He also calls Loki "Reindeer Games", and he calls Hawkeye "Legolas".

Tony's entire conversation with Loki before the big battle. ("Don't tell me you came here to appeal to my humanity." "No, I came here to threaten you." "Stalling won't help you." "No, no, no. Threatening.")

"Wha-what happened? Please tell me no one kissed me."

But my favorite line from the movie comes to us courtesy of Captain America.

"There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure He doesn't dress like that."

/thread

Yeah, that was hilarious. But I thought we were talking about quotable lines, not who's the most badass.

Here's a helpful Badassitude Chart to help.

Captain America - Invulnerable
Thor - Invulnerable
Hulk - Invulnerable
Loki - Invulnerable
Iron Man - Not Invulnerable (but close)
Hawkeye - Not Invulnerable
Black Widow - Not Invulnerable

For badassitude, take your pick. Does it really matter at this point?