At moments, a decade removed from the summer of 2012, it can be tough to remember just how radical “The Avengers” felt at the time. Nothing like this had ever been attempted before in movies. Sure, mainstream comic books had been crossing over characters like this for decades, with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s “The Avengers” #1 hitting stands way back in September 1963. But in the aftermath of Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” in 2002, Marvel had a window to finally bring its superheroes to the masses, and that’s exactly what they did. Before Disney purchased Marvel in December of 2009, the company had struck a deal with Paramount Pictures for distribution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 1 films, with the rights to the characters themselves on the line for financers if things went south financially.

Luckily, “Iron Man” kicked things off with a bang despite the fact that the character was nowhere near (and I mean nowhere near) as popular as Spider-Man at the time. The same could be said for virtually all of the Phase 1 heroes, with Hulk being the lone exception — and, ironically enough, “The Incredible Hulk” remains the lowest-grossing entry in the MCU to date. The point is, Marvel was attempting to do on the biggest stage what they had always done in the comics. The problem is, if just one domino didn’t fall into place, this was going to be a tough sell. 

But Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (first played by Edward Norton, then replaced by Mark Ruffalo for “The Avengers”), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Captain America (Chris Evens), not to mention Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) had all successfully been introduced in the four years leading up to this gigantic crossover. Speaking in 2010, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who had yet to assert himself as one of the most successful producers in Hollywood, explained the overall approach to making this all work:

“My only concern is that when we launch a franchise — whichever character’s franchise that may be — it should stand on its own two feet … So by the time ‘The Avengers’ comes in 2012, it’s not just a team superhero movie with a bunch of characters with powers. It’s three people — four including the Hulk; five including Nick Fury — who you’ve seen before in other movies, coming together for the very first time.”

Interestingly enough, that is largely how comic books work at their best. You can read an issue of “Avengers” without necessarily having to follow all of the individual titles. That same theory has largely been applied to the MCU for 14 years now, and it has served Marvel and Disney well. The big question remained about the director’s chair, and that seat was ultimately filled by Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly.” Whedon has since become persona non grata due to numerous allegations of harassment and workplace bullying, but at the time, his public image was that of a nerd’s nerd who had conquered Hollywood. Whedon getting this job felt like the kind of decision studios simply don’t make. Feige, also speaking in 2010, said this of Whedon:

“I’ve known Joss for many years. We were looking for the right thing and he came in and met on it. As you’ve already heard him say on his panels, he’s incredibly intelligent, he’s got great things to say about it, and if you look at the directors we’ve worked with, we hire directors who have the potential to do great things and we want our film to be that great thing.”

Whedon opted to write his own version of the film, taking over for Zek Penn (“Incredible Hulk”) who had penned an earlier draft. Tom Hiddleston’s Loki from “Thor” would serve as the main villain; the disgruntled adopted brother of Thor would be looking for vengeance by taking control of Earth, with a little help from a mysterious scepter that we would later discover to contain one of the Infinity Stones, right alongside the Tesseract. The stage was set. The heroes were assembled. Disney was putting up the cash for the whole venture. A director was in place. Time to make history.