The parts that are hard to follow from the film alone, explained with a story summary, a character map and key terms.
Released
2012
Runtime
143 min
Set in
2012
WORLD BOX OFFICE#15 all-time worldwide$1,520,538,536#5 among Marvel filmsAs of 2026-11-01 · figures being verified
Good to know before watchingNo spoilers
It brings everything together
Heroes from Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger all meet here. At the very least, watching Thor and Captain America first makes it much easier to follow.
Hulk has a new actor
Mark Ruffalo plays Bruce Banner from this film on. Same character.
They don't get along at first
The heroes mostly argue at first. Watching them come together is the fun of it.
There are scenes during and after the credits
The mid-credits scene sets up the much bigger story to come.
Character mapSpoilers
Who's who in The Avengers (2012), centered on the six heroes and Loki. The Avengers are above, S.H.I.E.L.D. on the right, enemies below.
Because of copyright, we can't use stills, posters or any other images of the characters as they appear in the film. All face photos are freely licensed photos of the actors themselves (non-human characters are original illustrations made for this site; people without a photo are shown with initials).
Drag to move, pinch (or scroll on a computer) to zoom. Tap a person to read about them.
Face photos are freely licensed photos of the actors from Wikimedia Commons, cropped to a square and resized. Non-human characters are original illustrations made for this site, and people without a photo are shown with a placeholder (initials).
At a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, the Tesseract activates and Loki arrives from space. With his scepter he takes control of Clint (Hawkeye) and Dr. Selvig, and escapes with the cube.
2. Assembling the heroes
Fury puts the Avengers Initiative into action. Natasha brings in Bruce from India, Coulson recruits Tony, and Fury calls on the newly awakened Steve.
3. Capturing Loki
Captain America and Iron Man catch Loki in Germany. Thor arrives to take his brother home, and the heroes end up fighting each other.
4. Chaos on the Helicarrier
On the flying Helicarrier, the team keeps arguing. Then the mind-controlled Clint and others attack, Bruce turns into Hulk, and Loki escapes.
5. Coulson's death
Coulson tries to stop Loki and is killed. His death finally brings the divided heroes together.
6. The Battle of New York
Loki opens a portal from the roof of Stark Tower and the Chitauri army pours through. All six heroes stand together to defend the city.
7. Tony's choice
Higher-ups launch a nuclear missile at the city. Tony carries it through the portal and destroys the enemy mothership. Natasha closes the portal and the battle ends.
8. After the battle
Thor takes Loki and the cube back to Asgard, and the heroes go their separate ways. During the credits, the powerful figure behind Loki shows himself.
