The Avengers (2012 film)/Heartwarming

• Nick Fury referring to Coulson as his one good eye.
  • Hawkeye, actually, or in addition to -- he was the one Fury trusted to keep watch over the Tesseract, after all.
• All Coulson needed to say to get Natasha to leave her current mission was that Barton was in trouble.
• Tony's improper sense of humor irks Steve throughout the movie. In the climax, after almost dying, Tony wonders if anyone kissed him, and Cap laughs, relieved that Tony's fine.
• When Steve and Bruce meet for the first time, Steve is warm and welcoming. Bruce is at best self-conscious about what Cap thinks about the Hulk. Steve says the only thing he's concerned about is Bruce's scientific skills. He also later defends Bruce from what he perceives as Tony picking on him.
  • Bruce also calls Cap 'Steve' by this point, meaning he must have told him offscreen that it was okay to address him informally.
  • This makes sense, since the Hulk was the product of Bruce's attempt to recreate Captain America. Steve seems like the kind of guy who'd feel a little responsible.
• When Thor is told that brilliant scientist Erik Selvig has been compromised, he replies that Selvig is a good man and a friend.
• Coulson reassuring Thor that Jane Foster is safe, and he's done it in such a way she doesn't know she's in danger. No further words are required: the look the two share is enough.
• The scene with Tony Stark working at the lab and Stark offering Banner a job at his company. Probably the first time in a long time Banner's had contact with anyone who was aware of his scientific skills and valued him for them, rather than just regarding him (or rather, the Hulk) as either a threat or a weapon.
  • YMMV but Tony shocking Bruce Banner can be seen as this too. Tony is implying that he is the first guy that is not terribly afraid of the Hulk.
  • Even better is later, where Banner is seen driving off with Stark and has apparently taken the job.
• When Tony arrives to the first briefing on the helicarrier, he walks in with Coulson and ends their conversation with "...pick a weekend and I'll fly you out to Portland." Tony gives Phil a lot of grief, yet he still offers to let Coulson use his own personal jet to visit his girlfriend.
• The scene with Tony Stark talking to Bruce Banner about the arc reactor has me near (heartwarming) tears just thinking about it. Tony compares the arc reactor keeping the shrapnel out of his heart and Bruce's transformation into the Hulk, both emergency lifesaving responses to horrific accidents: the arc reactor and the Hulk are all that kept Tony and Bruce alive, in exchange for the "terrible privilege" of Cursed with Awesome power. Bruce asks why he survived; Tony implies that maybe it's to use his power, like Tony, to help people.
  • Why this makes me cry: For the first time, someone offers the admittedly-suicidal Bruce hope for a purpose in life that's not just "Maybe you'll find a cure someday." And this is Tony Stark, of all people, serving as a mentor, as The Atoner like Bruce. The universe's most cynical Deadpan Snarker is telling poor Bruce, whose life has been hell, that You Are Better Than You Think You Are.
  • Why this makes me cry harder: In the final battle, Tony surprises Steve by asking if Banner has joined them yet. But Tony never doubts that Bruce will come through. Bruce does come through... and as the Hulk, he saves Tony's life.
• Agent Coulson knew what he was getting into when he stood up to Loki, but he still did it because he believes in the Avengers completely, enough to sacrifice his life for Thor.
• When Tony lists the people Loki has pissed off, he doesn't include himself. After Loki tosses him out the window and he pops back up in his Iron Man suit, he says he forgot one. "His name is Phil." *repulsor*
  • This gets even better if you keep in mind the "His first name is 'Agent'" scene from earlier.
• When Tony gives his headcount speech to Loki he mentions Cap, "a living legend, who kind of lives up to the legend." After disrespecting and butting heads with Cap for most of the movie, Tony is able to give Cap his props.
• A small but significant one during the battle of Manhattan is when Thor extends his hand to an exhausted Captain America with a warm smile of respect. A god is so inspired by the bravery and nobility of a mortal man that he comes to see him as a brother warrior and an equal.
• Though it crosses over with Tear Jerker, JARVIS offering to connect Tony to Pepper as he guides the nuke towards the portal. It was an incredibly heartfelt gesture from his loyal servant.
• Hulk catching Iron Man in mid-air, saving his life, and "waking him up", thus invoking a few laughs at the same time.
• After the Battle of Manhattan, amidst the wave of news videos of people celebrating the Avengers, (tattoos of Steve's shield, men getting their beards cut like Tony, people waving flags etc) there's one video that brings down the mood; a politician blaming them for the damage done to the city and demanding they should be brought to account. The last video? A waitress who was running for shelter during the attack, responding to a question about concerns about the heroes by saying, "Captain America saved my life. Wherever he is... wherever any of them are... I just want to say: thank you." All the while rather disheveled and with a big smile on her face.
  • Made even better by the fact that she's not just a random one-shot character that appears for the interview scene; we saw her being rescued earlier during the final battle. She's notable for being the only one to take a few seconds to stare at Cap in wonder before finally running for safety.
• I think Bruce Banner's relationship with the group period is heartwarming. Everyone likes him, or at least respects him; and treats him like both an equal and a valued member of the team. Even when Thor had to try to put him down, he didn't want to, he just had to so no one else got hurt.
• Funny as it was, the after-credits scene of the team silently sharing a shawarma dinner is pretty heartwarming, and added further punctuation that they were basically a tightly-knit family.
  • Made even more heartwarming when you remember that Cap had been having trouble sleeping at the beginning of the movie, what with the PTSD flashbacks and the fact that everyone he knew before is either really old or long dead. And then you see him here, passed out on his fist at his end of the table. The others are all at least attempting to eat, but poor Steve is finally getting some rest.
• After Agent Coulson's death, Tony is berating him for his foolishness in standing up to Loki where he knew he was outmatched and dying because of it. What makes this heartwarming is that Tony is clearly upset and visibly fighting back tears (Props go to Robert Downey Jr. for this performance as well) showing that he's just trying to rationalize the death of someone he truly liked.
  • Then Cap tries to console him by likening it to "losing a soldier." From his perspective, it's only been a few subjective weeks since he, himself, lost his best friend in a mission and everyone he ever cared for since he was frozen and brought back to life. Despite their differences, Steve is trying really hard to sympathize with Tony and he knows that the latter's snide remarks about Coulson's death are only a "tough guy" front to avoid dealing with the pain.
    • Which Tony then responds to with "We are not soldiers!" Which reminds us that, for all his personal power, Tony is a private civilian who hasn't had the training, the emotional readiness, or the need to desensitize himself towards death... and that he considered Coulson a friend, a silly government stooge, a partner... but not a soldier that could be expended in war.
• Thor defending Loki when Bruce calls him crazy. Actually, Thor and Loki's whole relationship throughout the movie, however subtly touched upon. Loki tried to kill Thor and threatened his girlfriend, yet even after all this, Thor is the only member of the team to try and reason with Loki - even at the very end, when he tells his brother that they can stop the army "together".
  • The scene where they're both arguing on the mountaintop, and Thor reminds Loki of how they used to be play as children, showing that despite knowing about Loki's true parentage, he still considers him his real brother and loves him as such.
• Black Widow consoling and rejuvenating the formerly Brainwashed and Crazy Hawkeye after he is restored to normal. Some of the most emotional response she has shown in the entire franchise thus far aside from slight snark, not to mention him.
  • She also consoles Erik when he is restored as well, despite not knowing the man.
• The film's ending, where we see the Avengers parting on good terms, Fury assuring that they'll come together again when the world needs to be avenged, and finally, Tony making certain modifications to the Stark Tower.
• The old security guard played by Harry Dean Stanton giving Bruce some clothes and being as kind and understanding as any ordinary person has been about his "condition."
• And in real life, this story about this kid's best day ever.
• Thor calling Earth "The world I love."
• Tony giving Steve an indignant glare when he called the Stark Tower "ugly." Sure it may have offended his pride, but he wasn't the one who designed it. Pepper did.
• It's very subtle and relates back to his first film, but Captain America's attitude struck this troper as somewhat heartwarming. He comes from an entirely different era than everyone else, an era when the Army was segregated and women didn't have equal rights, and all of a sudden finds himself working with a multi-national team with women and taking orders from an African-American. Not once does he ever seem even remotely uncomfortable with this and he treats everyone with the utmost respect. Admittedly, it's not something to put focus on, but it fits Steve's character that he's nice to everyone regardless of race or gender when many others from his era did not have such enlightened views.
• After Iron Man successfully guides the nuclear missile through the portal, we see SHIELD agents cheering and hugging each other. It's nice to see what is often seen as the stiff government agency having a genuinely emotional moment.
• At the very end of the film, just before the credits, there's a slow zoom away from Tony's now-trashed tower, where the large STARK sign has been reduced to just a familiar "A."

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