Tools of Characterization

Characterization in The Avengers

Clothing

Polonius was right: clothes make the man. And the nice thing about superhero stories is that they're never shy about letting the wardrobe do some of the heavy characterization lifting.

Iron Man is wearing a modern suit of armor. The Black Widow is a shapely redhead in a black catsuit. Hawkeye carries a bow and arrow. And Captain America is a little puzzled by being asked to put on his tights (but dang, he looks good in them).

STEVE ROGERS: The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old-fashioned?

AGENT COULSON: With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned.

Agent Coulson is basically saying "People might need a little you, Captain America"…but he's too scared of seeming like a fanboy to come out and directly say it.

Speech and Dialogue

Captain America's kind of a square—he interprets things literally and misses jokes sometimes. Iron Man is all smooth one-liners and snappy jokes, while the Black Widow's observations are laced with cynicism. Loki and Thor throw a lot of "thee"s and "thou"s into their dialogue.

Actions

Captain America stands between innocent people and Loki in Stuttgart. Iron Man arrives with a snappy line delivery and the dulcet sounds of AC/DC. The Hulk… well, the Hulk smashes.

Actions speak louder than words, as we all know, and if you're looking for action, you can't do better than a superhero movie.