As of now, there’s about 4 weeks until one of the best years for comic book movies arrives, so let’s celebrate that fact by reviewing one of my favorite movies. As in like, ever.

“Marvel’s The Avengers” was directed by Joss Whedon of “Firefly” fame, and was the final movie of the first phase of the ever-so-popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. The story is what you expect from a movie like this: the trickster god Loki (Tom Hiddleston) finds an artifact of raw power and wants to destroy the world with the help of an alien army. So, Col. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) assembles a team of the Earth’s mightiest heroes to combat Loki. And thus, the greatest comic book movie ever made and my personal favorite movie of all time begins.

Where to begin? First off, the characters are amazing. If there was any doubt before this movie, Robert Downey Jr. shows his stuff in “The Avengers,” proving once and for all that he is Iron Man and Tony Stark. Not only him, but Chris Evans also redefines Captain America to being a deeper character, not just a patriotic stereotype (although his comic iteration was made solely to be a patriotic stereotype.) Chris Hemsworth also does a stellar job as Thor, creating a very relatable god. Scarlett Johansson also killed it as the Black Widow, again providing depth to a female character that is strong and no-nonsense, but has a sensitive side. As far as villains go, there are very few who can top the charismatic Loki, who Tom Hiddleston practically made his own. What were also great were the interactions with each other. Seeing Captain America and Iron Man bickering back and forth was a joy to see. Joss Whedon knows how destructive it is to force friendships, and the script shows this, combining clever quips and heated arguments to create a realistic world.

As great as the characters are, the real stars of the movie are the action scenes. Once again, Marvel refuses to disappoint in terms of action, creating some of the most exciting fights that the MCU-or any movie, up until this point-have seen before. The last 20 minutes of this movie alone were worth the admission price. It was just 25 different flavors of awesome and excitement. Not to take away from the rest of the movie, but the last 20 minutes is all kinds of epic. The way the movie sets up further story-arcs is also interesting and very well-crafted. Not only do they foreshadow the events of 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but the tension between Steve and Tony also starts the set up for next year’s “Captain America: Civil War.”

Even so, the most notable thing about “Marvel’s The Avengers,” besides the characters and the action and the villains, is how it changed the film industry as a whole. Before this movie and before the MCU even got started, there was a point in time where team-up movies were failures and really big risks. There were no solo movies leading to a huge team-up. Then, Marvel Studios was born with the help of Kevin Feige, and they decided to do that: create an ever-evolving universe with different heroes and teams. “Iron Man” kicked things off, and the universe took off like a rocket, culminating in “The Avengers,” which broke the box office record of highest grossing opening weekend with $207.1 million. It may not have started the idea of a cinematic universe, but “Marvel’s The Avengers” made it popular.

That being said, there are some things I can say are “bad” about the movie. One of which is the minimal use of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). What they did with him was interesting, but what we wanted from him, we didn’t get. Another draw is the first 20 minutes after the opening sequence is fairly slow compared to the rest of the movie. Finally, and this could be considered nitpicking on my part, but some of the dialogue was a fairly weak, especially between some of the side characters.

At the end of the day, the worst part of “Marvel’s The Avengers” was when it ended. As in the movie. The characters were beyond great, the action and dialogue was quick, energetic and exciting, and it was the best theater experience I’ve been to in my life. “The Avengers” changed the game of cinema forever and if you haven’t seen it yet: assemble your friends and sit down for arguably the best comic book movie that exists today.