For comic book followers, six superheroes combined in one intense thriller movie may be a miracle sent from heaven. Marvel’s The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, disperses the notion that the film may be too good to be true with its excellent handling of action scenes and emotional conflicts.

Even if you have not been poring over the comic books since their publication or stayed glued until the end of the credits for every previous film, you will still enjoy the two and a half hours of action and witty humor, mostly delivered by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man.

The movie delves into as much background as is necessary for viewers unfamiliar with the heroes’ history: Captain America’s (Chris Evans) defrosting endeavor in a lab after being frozen into a human popsicle, Tony Stark’s life as a “genius billionaire playboy philanthropist”, Norse god Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) dilemma between defeating and protecting his villainous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), and Dr. Banner (Mark Ruffalo) a.k.a Hulk’s internal struggle over controlling the two sides of his personality. Furthermore, ex-Soviet spy Natasha Romanov’s (Scarlett Johansson) guilty conscience and romance with master archer Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) form an undercurrent plot line.

While most of these characters previously starred in their own movies, bringing them together calls for an obvious mish-mash of dissent among the group. Heroes, soldiers, spies, and gods—those who once found themselves distanced for what they were capable of—now must come together in an epic battle to save the world from invasion.

The spy agency Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (S.H.I.E.L.D.), commanded by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), has manipulated the Tessarect, a cube of immense energy, in their quest for…world domination! Well, not exactly, but the desire for unlimited energy and massively destructive weapons comes pretty close. When the mission goes horribly wrong, it is predictably up to a team of defenders to form the Avengers Initiative and stop Loki from using the Tessarect to enslave the human population. With more intellect than brawn, Loki weaves a web of predicaments for each protagonist like a game of cat’s cradle.

However, as beautifully intertwined as the strands of his web may be, they are sometimes distracting and difficult to follow; there is simply too much going on in the film on top of all the fighting and sarcastic quips. The movie is so fast-paced that the slower moments rise as the real treasures. Scenes where brothers Thor and Loki confront one another as enemies and where the Avengers mourn the death of an insignificant yet close-to-heart agent reveal the real emotional depth that director Whedon is capable of producing.

Whedon demonstrates that sometimes it takes one small casualty to bring together a group with members as diverse as Captain America, a man of old-fashioned morals, and Tony Stark, a techie and spoiled brat with a killer sense of humor. In fact, the actual villains of the movie are downplayed. Loki is a sneering weakling compared to his opponents, and the world-domination-obsessed aliens pose little threat, making way for the superhuman chemistry that this film artfully develops.

The mix of old age heroes and new age technology will blow your mind away, leaving echoes of heroic music in your ears and poster-perfect visions of the superheroes in all their splendid glory burned into your mind. With tantalizing promises of a sequel, it is time to “suit up” for more drama, humor, and edge-of-the-seat action worth watching.