It is unequivocally a good thing that feminism is at the forefront of the public mind, and that media is being held accountable for failing female narratives. There has been a definite clamor for more female-led projects, particularly in regard to popular mainstream films, most especially action movies, considering they are currently dominating the market. With such a suffusion of films dealing in similar subject matters, it's hard not to notice that they've been telling the same stories for years, and those stories all revolve around white men.

Surely writer-director Joss Whedon found himself thinking about “Batman & Robin” and similar efforts when charged with bringing the Marvel Comics superhero group The Avengers to the screen. Success would mean merging characters from several previous Marvel movies – “Iron Man,” “Captain America,” “Thor” and “The Incredible Hulk” – and introducing them to even more players. The potential for failure was immense, making it rather astonishing that Whedon not only succeeded but produced one of the best films of 2012 so far. 

West Bengal’s chief minister promised to turn Calcutta into London. But Joss Whedon in the Marvel comics saga, The Avengers, has gone backwards instead. Calcutta in the age of superheroes looks suspiciously like the one described in the City of Joy circa 1985 – cramped, squalid and leprous. Mark Ruffalo is Dr. Bruce Banner, keeping his inner Hulk under control by saving the eternally ill slum-dwellers of Calcutta.