I went and watched Avengers last night.

After all the hype and positive reviews I have to admit it met my expectations and I really, really enjoyed it. There were some parts that I think could have been handled better or they had certain characters pulling off stunts I thought would be better suited to others but overall a great, visually exciting flick.

It reminded me how far Marvel comics have come since I was a kid. My first exposure to Marvel was back in the late 70s when my much older cousin gave me a suitcase full of his old comics as he was going away to university. I was under 10 and I remember pouring over those comics again and again. There was Werewolf by Night, Invincible Ironman, Amazing Spiderman, Marvel Team-Ups and so much more - there was 3D man which was actually printed to be viewed with 3D glasses - gimmicky but still cool to a young kid. I also remember picking up my first Incredible Hulk from that suitcase and found it was love at first sight.

To me Hulk and Spiderman were THE super heroes and combined with their TV shows of the time, I became a real fan of those two characters. When Superman the movie was released I got into Superman for a while but I always came back to good old Hulk and Spidey.

So, last night I watched the latest film portrayal of the Marvel heroes and to my surprise they did Hulk justice. He looked like the Hulk, and he acted like the Hulk. I felt Bruce Banner was short changed a bit but the film wasn't about his identity struggle but rather how the monster fit into the team. So to me, the Hulk had the best moments in the film.

The coverage of each of the Avengers was fair. I was expecting Ironman 3 but they gave each character a moment to shine even though Ironman was the focus character. Good old Captain America was a bit under utilised in the big end battle but he still got some moments.

Later this year we'll see another interpretation of Spiderman. This time my favourite villain, the Lizard, plays the antagonist. I really think had Sam Raimi used the Lizard in Spiderman 3, rather than caving to the ravings of fan boys and crazy Avi Arad to put Venom into that film, the Tobey Maguire franchise may have got a bit more mileage. But the new film makes the 2002 version look sooooo dated so I'm excited to see this too.

Batman 3... well the trailer has not done much to inspire me but I loved the first two and on that basis will give it a go. For now, treat yourself to the Avengers, it's worth the price of admission.