Film 4 - Iron Man

Tony Stark; billionaire, playboy and genius. After giving a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, Tony is kidnapped and forced to make his latest weapon for his kidnapper. However after he has escaped, Tony decides to quit making weapons and start on something completely afresh: the Iron Man suit.

Superhero conventions present in this film:

• Special item - Tony Stark is an intelligent man and gets straight down with his newest project, redesigning and creating the iron man suit.
• A moral code - at the start of the film, we see that Tony Stark is irresponsible (missing one his award ceremonies to play poker and also tinkering around with his cars meaning that he is three hours late for his plane journey). But towards the end of the film, we see Tony realise what he has done and how he wants to change the world for a better place (even if some of his peers don't agree with him).
• A secret identity - at first Tony keeps the project to himself, but as difficult circumstances arise, his closest friends including Pepper find out. After a showdown with Obadiah, Tony reveals his secret during a press conference, unusual to what a normal superhero would do.
• Finical support - Tony Stark is the son of a billionaire, and originally used to sell weapons for millions of pounds. This of course gives him enough money to fund making his new 'super' suit .
• Archilles Heel - Tony is unhinged at two points of the film, firstly when he is kidnapped in Afghanistan and secondly, when Obadiah steals his electromagnet out of his chest. 
• Rogues gallery - In the first half of the film, Tony has to fight his way out of the cave against a load of Afghan soldiers, who all work for Obadiah.
• Costume features - Tony has made a red and gold trademark suit out of titanium alloy. It is light enough enabling for him to fly. Also he can shoot laser bolts out of the palms of his hands, as well as sending flares from his shoulder blades.

It was the first film installment of the Marvel Universe and it was aimed at mainly the male between the ages of 12-40 (this would include a diverse range from young teenagers to middle aged comic book nerds). 

The binary opposition is shown is the whole Arab/American military war as we see a lot of the on the news where the Americans are the 'heroes' trying to fight in a war against the 'evil' Arabs which is reinforced in this film as you see Tony Stark being taken hostage by the 'brutal' Arabs. The military are then flown in to try and rescue Tony however it takes a interesting plot twist when Tony defeats them all by himself.

Again, Iron Man is yet another superhero where it reinforces the gender stereotypes as Tony Stark is the typical male lead. and although he is seen flirting with a lot of women (hence the playboy status), we see Virginia "Pepper" Potts being introduced as Tony's love interest. Near the end of the film, Tony makes sure Pepper is protected by six agents, whilst he fights Obadiah by himself. 

Iron Man seeks to entertain it's audience by using special effects to bring the Iron Man suit to life. It also uses the special effects to create the fast paced battle between Iron Man and Obadiah at the end of the film as well as the weapons that Stark Industries has created. In Iron Man, they also go to the desert to shoot some of the scenes such as the revealing of the Jericho missile and the kidnap. Finally the banter between Tony Stark and some of the other characters, such as Rhodes and Pepper, increase the humour in the film, making it more entertaining to the audience.

Film 1 - Avengers Assemble

After a wild underground chase, the tesseract is stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D by the powerhungry Loki, who then in turn converts some of S.H.I.E.L.D's most loyal agents into his own bidding servants. Provoked and angry, Nick Fury begins his most daunting mission to date; assembling the worlds most mighty band of warriors! However it proves difficult as the Avengers have trouble working together at first but after a major blow to the S.H.I.E.L.D airship, the Avenger realise that they have to stop bantering with each other and start battering the enemy.

Interestingly enough, although it revolves around six superheros instead of just the one main character; Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and the Black Widow. All of them possess either a special power (such as the Super Serum which was injected into Captain America and the Hulk, and Thor's unearthly strength and power) and skill (Iron Man's unrivaled intelligence, Hawkeye's smooth grace with a bow and arrow to the Widow's incredible elasticated body moves). 
Each Avenger has their own moral code although each very similar; to protect the Earth from Loki and the Chitauri, for slightly different reasons (from Thor still trying to believe that Loki can be convinced otherwise to Bruce Banner who initially only came to join to help find the Tesseract but then was angered by Loki for letting him destroy part of the airship).
Each Avenger has their own secret identity, such as Bruce Banner is the Incredible Hulk. Yet however Thor is the exception to this convention as he doesn't reside on Earth, as an Asgardian God he can travel between worlds, so he doesn't need to create a secret alias for himself.
The motif is for them collectively, S.H.I.E.L.D's logo is an eagle encased in a circle.

At the start of the film, S.H.I.E.L.D's headquarters are destroyed by Loki, so Nick Fury uses an airship to be the base of his operations as it is unusual and more dynamic in the search for the Tesseract.
Although the Avengers have their own backstories, Marvel doesn't include these in this movie due to the fact that they all have their own premovie. However the exception to this rule is Hawkeye and the Black Widow as they have only appeared in small parts of the other films. But in the Avengers movie, small snippets of their past are slyly revealed. "You and I remember Budapest", Hawkeye refers to a possible battle where he and the Black Widow were both on different sides before she joined S.H.I.E.L.D as an agent.
Another one of the strong characters we see in the Avengers, is the clumsy yet fiercely loyal Phil Coulsen who ultimately becomes the archilles heel, as the Avengers are temporary unhinged as Loki murders Coulsen. Yet this backfires on Loki as Nick Fury uses this to his advantage to give the Avengers a final 'push' in working together.
Finally the Avengers each have their unique costume, in which they don for different purposes. For instance, Tony Stark has invented his own fascinating "iron" armor which has multiple function including; shooting 'bolts' of electricity out of his hand, the ability to fly, shoot missiles, send off flares, increased strength and also the ability for him to go underwater and into space still breathing!   

The film in itself is rated a 12a which you would think means that Marvel has aimed it's target audience for male teens, due to the fact that it contains the typical fight scenes, awe inspiring stunts and witty humour . Yet this film appealed to all ages, from the comic books buffs to secondary school teenagers, the kind of people who themselves "fangirls" and "fanboys" whether they are new to the franchise or spent several years obsessing over the Marvel comics. The thing they have in common is that they have spare time to sit down and read/watch any fictional character franchise (as opposed to soap operas which are more realistic like Eastenders).

There are many binary oppositions present in the trailer for this film. The most obvious one would be the fight between 'good' and 'evil' which can be symbolised as the team of Avengers fighting against Loki and the Chitauri. 

This film does reinforce gender stereotypes, with five out of the six main characters being male. However Natasha Romanoff  (the Black Widow) does challenge the gender stereotype as females of usual superhero films are seen as sweet, caring, and generally on the whole weak. Natasha does well to challenge this; she's sly, manipulative and cunning. Although she has no superpower as such (compared to Thor or Captain America), she's incredibly skilled as espionage agent earning her nickname "the Black Widow". 

This film seeks to entertain it's audience by firstly creating complex battle sequences to wow the audience (the big fight in New York). It also uses CGI to create a visual scene meaning that the audience can imagine the scene better for themselves (again especially with the New York battle scene to create a more realistic and indepth feel). Finally Marvel uses humour, especially from Tony Stark, to make the movie more memorable to the audience.

What are the conventions of the Superhero genre?

The word "Superhero" dates back to 1916 but it wasn't until 2009 where both Marvel and DC comics jointly registered "SUPER HEROES" as a trademark. 

A superhero is a person who is dedicated in order to protect the public from harm. They usually have a secret identity so the public cannot guess who they are, but whilst saving people from harm, they usually wear a costume and mask and have a signature trademark (such as a bat for Batman).

The Superhero genre itself does have several conventions including:

• Having either extraordinary powers, equipment or skills - a wide selection of superpowers including flying, super strength, x-ray vision or even the unnatural animal powers (such as Spiderman's uncanny ability to climb walls and shoot webs out of the palms of his hands). However a person does not need superpowers to become a superhero. Instead they could have special items (such as Wolverine's claw or Capetian America's sheild). Or a superhero might not even have a special item, but may just be incredibly skilled (like the Black Widow for instance).
• A Moral Code - when a superhero has a willingness to risk their safety for another person/group of people without having a reward. The code often means they won't kill or use lethal weapons against another person.
• A Secret Identity - a superhero will almost always have a secret identity (like Superman's alias is Clark Kent) to help protect their close friends and family. The superhero will often have a confidant who they will have sworn them to secrecy.
• Supporting Characters - a superhero may have a sidekick (for instance Batman and Robin) but this may become a complicated relationship due to the superhero's dual lifestyle.
• Motif - A motif will be individual to a superhero and this will distinguish them from a different superhero. It can become their signature trademark and will often affect their lifestyle in some shape or form. 
• Financial Support - often independent wealth (Batman or Iron Man) or having an occupation that requires minimal supervision (Clark Kent who is a reporter)
• Headquarters - this is a place where a superhero (or sometimes the supervillian) can have their base of operations. Their headquarters are often disguised so they can avoid detection from the general public or even their enemies! The superheros will often deck out their headquarters with top of range/alien technology however for some superheros, they will not have a permanent headquarters but rather a mobile base of operations where they can store their costume, information etc.
• Backstory - a backstory will often add depth to a superhero's personality and usually explains how the superhero got their powers (usually in a tragic/freak accident) or how they got spurred onto wanted to become a superhero.
• Achilles Heel - this is also known as the superhero's specific weakness which is an important plot device which the supervillians use to unhinge the superhero.
•  Rogues Gallery - the superhero has to normally fight a set of villians (known as rogues) on a regular basis. Often a superhero has an arch enemy who is more troublesome than the other criminals and will often be the doppelganger to the superhero's personality (e.g Batman is silent and dark whereas the Joker is flamboyant and garrulous).
• Costume features - a superhero's costume automatically makes them more recognisable to the reader, and often the costumes are a specific colour set to make them more iconic. They also normally wear the following items:

1. Masks to protect their secret identity.
2. A symbol to make a superhero more distinguishable. 
3. Form fitting clothing (often referred as spandex).
4. Even pants over their tights.
5. Interestingly enough, although capes are often associated with superheros, very few actually wear. As both Batman and Superman wear them, they were the most popular of the superheros and as a result, the cape quickly become associated with superheroes.

• Role Playing Games (RPG's) - in RPG's, players often organised superheros into categories based  upon their skills and assets.