The Avengers movies are the paramount crossover events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but don’t always age gracefully with their dialogue. While some Avengers movies are better than others, they all at least share the novelty of bringing together the Earth’s mightiest heroes to take on a possibly world-ending threat. Sadly, the dialogue in these films doesn’t always keep pace with the rest of the MCU, for better or for worse, with many lines aging poorly for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes, the dialogue of the Avengers movies ages poorly simply due to contradiction, poorly setting up future films compared to how they’d actually play out. In other cases, lines such as those written by Joss Whedon have trouble capturing a given character’s pre-established personality in other movies, leading to awkward or out-of-character moments. Worst of all, the Avengers movies sometimes simply wear out their humor with jokes that are tasteless by more modern standards or simply fail to get laughs on a second viewing.
The Avengers
received the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight, Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film, and People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Movie and Favorite Action Movie in 2009.
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10 “You And Banner Better Not Be Playing Hide The Zucchini.”
Iron Man, Avengers: Age of Ultron
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In a universe full of quippy characters, Tony Stark is the king of sarcastic snarkiness. Thanks to Robert Downey Jr.’s impeccable delivery, Iron Man usually gets some of the most cutting and hilarious lines out of the entire Avengers roster in the crossover movies. However, sometimes the MCU doesn’t know when to pull back on his wit, producing lines that are just a little bit too cruel, awkward, or tonally jarring to be worth including. One of these occurs in Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which Tony teases Black Widow and Hulk for their will-they-won’t-they with a gross phrase.
This line ages like milk for several reasons. For one, the line is simply in poor taste considering the normal tone of the Avengers films, and feels out-of-character even for the combative Tony Stark. Secondly, the fact that Hulk and Black Widow’s romance ultimately goes nowhere, one of the worst aspects of Avengers: Age of Ultron, makes the line feel pointless as well. Uncomfortable to hear and not funny enough to justify its existence, this line would’ve been best left behind in earlier drafts of the script.
9 “He’s Never Fought Me Twice.”
Thor, Avengers: Infinity War
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Avengers: Infinity War is a bleak film for the MCU, being the second major time the heroes lose and featuring some of the most heartbreaking deaths of the entire series. In the midst of this somber tone is Thor’s journey to forge a new weapon capable of replacing Mjolnir, which he does with the help of Rocket Raccoon and Groot. During a discussion about his planned fight with Thanos, Rocket reminds Thor that he has, in fact, fought him once already, and lost.
Thor’s journey to forge a new weapon capable of replacing Mjolnir
Thor simply responds “He’s never fought me twice”, a statement which is soon disproven when Thor and Thanos clash again later in the same movie. Despite being cast down to Earth by his father to learn humility, it seems overconfidence is still a problem for Thor by the events of Avengers: Infinity War. This line leads up to Thor’s biggest failure when he isn’t able to kill Thanos in time to prevent the snap, leading to the iconic gloat “You should’ve gone for the head.”
8 “Noobmaster? Hey, It’s Thor Again.”
Thor, Avengers: Endgame
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Humility isn’t the only habitual problem Thor has had in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. More meta-contextually, Thor’s evolution from a fierce fantasy warrior to an affable spacefaring himbo is one of the saddest directions the MCU has gone in with one of their characters. While the problems of comedy Thor truly started in Thor: Ragnarok, they’re most prevalent in Avengers: Endgame, which has Thor spending most of his time as a sad, defeated punchline.
The film reveals that Thor has spent most of the years following Thanos’ death drinking ale and playing Fortnite with his alien buddies, occasionally threatening Korg’s cyberbullies on the game as he does with the above quote. Threatening a child over a video game is not only grossly out of character for even a defeated, depressed Thor, but the joke simply fails to hold up to subsequent re-watches. Should Fortnite‘s popularity ever fall off, the entire scene will seem even more cringeworthy in hindsight.
7 “That’s My Secret, Captain…I’m Always Angry.”
Bruce Banner, The Avengers
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One of the coolest scenes in the original The Avengers is the moment in which Bruce Banner calmly walks up to a charging Chitauri Leviathan. When Captain America tells him “Now might be a good time to get angry“, he coolly responds “That’s my secret, Captain…I’m always angry,” and smoothly transforms into the Hulk, stopping the creature dead in its tracks. While this is easily one of Hulk’s best quotes in the MCU, it’s also somewhat tainted by the knowledge of what came next.
Sadly, this would be the last real time the Marvel Cinematic Universe showed off a real-time Hulk transformation on-screen, with his other transformations usually happening off-camera. As if that weren’t bad enough, Bruce Banner has been stuck as Professor Hulk since Avengers: Endgame, a cheery character that feels far removed from this great line. Rather than a portent of things to come, this line ended up just being an empty promise for the MCU’s Hulk.
6 “The Last Time I Was In Germany, I Saw A Man Standing Above Everyone Else. We Ended Up Disagreeing.”
Captain America, The Avengers
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Loki’s grand arrival on Earth in Germany is one of the most iconic villain entrances in the series, following up one of the MCU’s most gruesome deaths with Loki’s tyrannical bidding of terrified onlookers to kneel. Captain America, arriving on the scene, makes a comparison here, telling Loki that he isn’t the only power-hungry dictator starting trouble in Germany he’s seen in his lifetime. The line makes sense at first, but becomes more questionable the more one thinks about it.
It could be assumed that Captain America is talking about Red Skull here, but most people on Earth likely wouldn’t have been aware of the supervillain’s existence, let alone an Asgardian like Loki. Otherwise, Captain America could be referring to Adolf Hitler, which, other than being a little tasteless, wouldn’t quite make sense as the two never actually met outside the realm of fictitious plays in which Captain America knocks him out cold. This line is one of the bizarre small moments that ages The Avengers quite heavily.
5 “That Is America’s Ass.”
Captain America, Avengers: Endgame
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Another example of needless humor damaging a character’s personality, Captain America’s comments on his own body are some of the weirdest lines to come out of Avengers: Endgame. After seeing the 2012 version of himself during the time heist, Iron Man and Ant-Man both comment on how tightly packaged Rogers’ rear end was in his original costume. Ant-Man reassures Captain America that what he’s seeing is “America’s ass”, which is admittedly in-character for the socially awkward Scott Lang.
It’s only when Captain America repeats the statement with enthusiasm after defeating his old self in a brawl that the line feels awkward. Captain America has never been the self-congratulatory type, and as progressive as he was for his era, it feels out-of-character for him to wholeheartedly comment on the condition of his own butt. More than anything else, this entire joke comes at the expense of turning Chris Evans’ physique into cheap eye candy, a bit that hasn’t aged gracefully with modern sensibilities.
4 “Your Choices Were Him, Or A Tree.”
Nebula, Avengers: Endgame
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Famously, the events of Avengers: Endgame messed with James Gunn’s original plans for Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. The Avengers movies killed off Thanos’ daughter only to bring back an older version of her, something that Star-Lord has to come to grips with as her former love interest. When Star-Lord approaches the past version of his love only to be kneed in the crotch, Gamora asks her sister how she ever fell for the roguish goofball, only for Nebula to retort “Your choices were him, or a tree.”
This whole sequence is so disrespectful to Star-Lord and Gamora’s entire relationship for a multitude of reasons. For one, diluting what should’ve been an emotional and awkward reunion into a literal low-blow of gag humor is an utter shame. But Nebula’s line really invalidates the genuine connection Star-Lord and Gamora slowly developed over the course of the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies. In the wake of Star-Lord’s emotional journey with coming to terms with old Gamora’s personality in the third film, the joke feels especially off.
3 “I’m Sure You Did Your Best”
Shuri, Avengers: Infinity War
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Often, when introducing a new character that is supposed to be powerful, the MCU has resorted to making them look good by dragging pre-existing heroes down. This happens to Shuri in her second major MCU appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, when she meets with Bruce Banner to discuss a way to safely remove Vision’s Infinity Stone without killing him. After exchanging some rapid-fire technobabble, Bruce Banner finds himself flustered, only for Shuri to let him down easy with a backhanded compliment.
There was no reason for Avengers: Infinity War to sell audiences on how smart Shuri is by making Bruce Banner look stupid. Not only does this line make Shuri, who is an otherwise amazing character, seem like a Mary Sue, but it doesn’t respect Bruce Banner’s position as one of the smartest people on the planet. On a look back, this line is one of the few misses in Avengers: Infinity War.
2 “I Like This One”
Thor, Avengers: Endgame
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Speaking of the MCU trying way too hard to sell audiences on newer characters, Captain Marvel’s introduction in Avengers: Endgame is one of the cringiest and most overt attempts by the series to do so ever. Thor finally meets Captain Marvel at an early point in Avengers: Endgame before the timeskip, testing her by calling Stormbringer right next to her head to see if she flinches. When she doesn’t, he simply nods, and states “I like this one.”
Captain Marvel’s introduction in
Avengers: Endgame
is one of the cringiest and most overt attempts by the series to do so ever.
This particular line is a painfully obvious way for the MCU to sell audiences on the then-newcomer Captain Marvel. What makes it age poorly is the fact that it simply didn’t work, as evidenced by the abysmal ticket sales of The Marvels, Captain Marvel’s second headlining MCU appearance. Try as they might, the MCU have never quite been able to get Carol Danvers to be the success they wanted her to be.
1 “No One Would Know…”
Hawkeye, Avengers: Age of Ultron
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Of all the lines in Avengers movies that age poorly, none do so quite as fast as Hawkeye’s small joke to himself amidst the chaos of Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s final battle. After being irritated by foe-turned-friend Quicksilver, Hawkeye jokingly draws his bow while aiming in his direction, narrating aloud the fact that he could easily kill Quicksilver without anyone being the wiser. He even continues this line of thinking when he’s cut back to again, pantomiming a conversation in which Hawkeye “happens” to come across Quicksilver’s defeated body.
Disturbingly soon after this, Quicksilver actually does die for real, riddled with bullets while saving none other than Hawkeye himself. It’s almost comedic to imagine the guilt Hawkeye must’ve felt for fantasizing about Quicksilver’s death shortly before he sacrifices himself for Hawkeye’s own safety. It’s safe to say no line in an MCU movie ages poorly quite so fast as Hawkeye’s strange gallows humor.
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Created by Kevin Feige First Film Iron Man Latest Film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Upcoming Films Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania First TV Show WandaVision Latest TV Show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Upcoming TV Shows Secret Invasion
Summary
The monolithic franchise that kicked off with Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is one of the industry’s longest-running and largest cinematic franchises. Based on the heroes from Marvel Comics, the MCU is a new way for fans and newcomers alike to enjoy the ever-expanding universes of some of the world’s most famous superheroes. Releasing as “Phases,” Marvel Studio’s first three Phases came to be known as “The Infinity Saga,” which surrounded the formation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and their showdown with the Mad Titan known as Thanos as he sought to collect the Infinity Stones. With his ultimate goal of indiscriminately wiping out half of all life in the universe, this plot ultimately reveals itself over ten years of films, ending in a two-part finale that changed the world’s fate – and the core cast forever. Currently, the MCU is preparing to enter the fifth phase, focusing on Kang the Conquerer as the new core series villain.
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Upcoming MCU Movies
-
Captain America: Brave New World
Release Date February 14, 2025
- Thunderbolts*
Release Date May 2, 2025
- The Fantastic Four (2025)
Release Date July 25, 2025
- Blade (2025)
Release Date November 7, 2025
- Avengers: Doomsday
Release Date May 1, 2026
- Avengers: Secret Wars
Release Date May 7, 2027
Captain America: Brave New World
Thunderbolts*
The Fantastic Four (2025)
Blade (2025)
Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Secret Wars