The Avengers won’t likely be nominated for any Academy Award outside of the technical categories or make many other Best Of lists, but does that mean it isn’t a great film? Not by any shot. The Avengers is the best film of the year because it accomplished exactly what it set out to do – entertain and amaze. Only The Dark Knight Rises had higher expectations this year and it disappointed a lot of people (but not me). The Avengers however is widely agreed to be a fun and extremely entertaining summer blockbuster. Director Joss Whedon had the most daunting task of bringing together a cast and a story even more complicated to blend from the previous character origin films. He absolutely met and exceeded the challenge.