UK newspapers and magazines have been releasing their reviews of The Avengers this week, and they are mostly quite positive.

Empire Magazine:

“Four desperate main characters, all with specific personalities, abilities and back stories that need to be wrangled into a cohesive fighting force. It’s a job that only Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, with the backing of S.H.I.E.L.D., is suited to, but it’s the one that Buffy creator Joss Whedon has taken on in bringing Marvel’s Avengers together at last. You don’t envy him the task at hand, but then, it’s not every day that a writer-director is handed what is essentially a massive comic franchise toy box and told to go have some fun. And fun is certainly had here. For Whedon has taken the various threads of the Marvel universe and weaved an impressive tapestry filled with action, humour, charm and heart. There was always the danger that this could become The Tony Stark Hour (Featuring His Costumed Chums), but Whedon is canny enough to realise that he’s got a well-balanced cast, and everyone shoulders their respective portion of the storyline with ease. It’s not really surprising coming from the man who handled a large, charismatic set of characters in the undervalued Serenity, and it’s even more satisfying to see him pull off the same trick twice. Total newcomers won’t be completely lost, but this really is one for the fans. There’s probably no way any movie could quite live up to the expectations put upon this long-awaited Marvel mash-up, but Avengers Assemble gets very, very close to pulling off the trick. Assuming someone else tackles the next team-up, whoever catches the Cosmic Cube next has big shoes to fill.”

The Guardian:

“Drawing together the meaty backstories of a half-dozen iconic heroes is no easy task – even with the help of the blockbuster Iron Man, Thor and Captain America movies that set up this showcase – but Whedon proves himself a master plate-spinner. Each hero is given a convincing story arc, even if – as in the case of Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye – it’s as shallow as revoking his lone wolf status to allow him to team up. Crucially, the wise-cracking id of Robert Downey Jnr’s Iron Man is balanced out by instilling a hearty dose of fear in one of the team’s central figures, thanks to a beautifully honed performance by Mark Ruffalo. He plays Bruce Banner – the brilliant scientist who turns into the uncontrollable colossus Hulk when angered – as a man afraid of himself. Banner, dressed in clothes that hang off him (as if preparing for the worst) is an exhausted presence, a man so tortured by his divided-self condition that he once put a bullet in his mouth, but “the other guy spat it out.”

The Telegraph:

“Bringing together seven or so Marvel Comics heroes in one movie could have resulted in a super-mess. But under the assured hand of director and co-writer Joss Whedon, The Avengers is a case of the-more-the-merrier.”

The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble) is released April 26 in the UK and May 4 in the US.