Peter Suderman comes to the rescue of people like me who left the theater before Iron Man's credits had stopped rolling:

Exciting! I have to admit that the Avengers aren't really a franchise I enjoy. Norse gods? Archers? It's kind of weak, and their rogue's gallery is even worse. The arbitrary combination of dissimilar characters ends up robbing each of their archetypal punch.

But I suppose the Ultimates titles have breathed some life into the comic world, and lord knows that the further our society moves toward exclusively serving the tastes of teenage boys the wiser and more culturally relevant I seem. So my official position is one of support.

Relatedly: I forgot to mention it when it debuted, but check it out — I'm momentarily famous:

I knew there was a reason I saved that Halloween costume (besides, of course, the frankly embarrassing amounts of time and money that went into it). I just wish someone had told me that my hood was billowing inappropriately. Anyway, many thanks to the Nabob for inviting me to be a part of the filming.