re: Almost 28 months later: TDKR vs The Avengers revisited

The Avengers was pure popcorn entertainment. However, the film does not survive on its own. You will have had to watch all of the other MCU movies before you can dive into big event film. I had a lot of fun when I went to see The Avengers in theaters but still gave it a B+ because it didn't take any risks and Coulson's death didn't resonate for me as much as Marvel probably would have liked. However, when they brought Coulson back for Agents of SHIELD I think it kind of weakened The Avengers. After all, his death served as a catalyst for The Avengers finally setting aside their differences and teaming up to fight Loki and his army.

The Dark Knight Rises explored modern-day issues and resonated with me more for it. In this post-Dark Knight era, comic book films need to be something more than just sheer entertainment. They need to explore things that would not have been explored 15 years ago. We have definitely come a long way since that summer of 2000 when a little film called X-Men kind of jump-started this whole thing.