Film 10 - The Incredible Hulk

Following a disastrous gamma ray experiment, Doctor Banner finds out that he can transform into a giant green-skinned hulk after his pulse rate gets too high. However a solider finds out about the technology and uses himself, turning into an evil version of the hulk.

Although it is an unusual superhero in the sense that Banner cannot control when he turns into the hulk, it does follow the following superhero conventions:

• Having an extraordinary power - Bruce Banner's alter ego means that he's incredibly strong and has abnormal strength.
• A moral code - Although in his Hulk state, Banner seems like he cannot control it, he does realise that he has to protect the city from evil.
• Secret identity - not many people realise that Bruce Banner is the Hulk, so in this sense, he can hide away from people.
• Financial support - originally, the Hulk was a scientist and earned all of his money from there, but then after becoming the Hulk, he had to work in a soft drinks factory.
• Backstory - Doctor Bruce Banner was an ordinary man, having a normal life before becoming the Hulk and then everything changed.
• Costume - The Hulk himself doesn't actually have a costume, however he is most recognisable by the fact that he is green skinned and has purple shorts.

The Incredible Hulk is mainly for teenagers and above as it contains some frightening scenes where Banner transforms into the Hulk, which could be frightening for young children. Also there are a lot of explosions, fighting and a lot of gore such as the sound of bones breaking. How there isn't much sex and nudity, as the only time is when Bruce Banner is sitting naked in a bathtub but even then you can only see his bum.

Bruce Banner himself presents a binary opposition in this film, as we see the calm and gentle nature of Banner before the explosive and violent side of the hulk comes out after Banner has transformed. Another would be that Blonksy's aggressive nature versus Banner's calm manner shows the difference into what they transform into. 

The film does reinforce gender stereotypes as Banner's love interest and the main girl character in the film, is firstly sent away from Banner so she doesn't get hurt, therefore staying on the sidelines instead of getting involved with the action. Also it's always the boys that are doing the fighting, as you don't see any girls getting into any of the action.

To conclude, the Hulk seeks to entertain it's audience by having a completely different superhero, than one we are normally used to. Also the fight scenes between the Hulk and all of the military raise the tension in the film, waiting to see if their hero, the Hulk, would come out on top, but also to see how much destruction can be caused between them. Finally the audience want to see if Banner can truly control when he morphs into the Hulk and see how well his meditation is getting on. 

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.