Released: 2012

What makes it great: Marvel pays it all off. If "Iron Man" was the movie where they figured out the formula, then "The Avengers" was the one where they proved that they could do what many people said was impossible, and even better, they could do it well. Joss Whedon's role in this minor miracle cannot be overstated. His voice is very clear in this film in the way it mixes humor and heroics and spectacle and intimate character work. It feels like the enormous success of the film is the reward for gambling on Whedon's vision. Even better, Marvel finally seemed to find the exact right combination of elements to bring The Hulk to life, which had to be a major relief for the company. Even if Marvel's luck went sour tomorrow, which I doubt it will, "The Avengers" will always stand as a milestone of how well we can adapt these characters to the bigscreen.

-Drew McWeeny