Feels like I only saw the movie last week but I’ve all ready got my bluray copy to watch over and over and over and over and over and over again until every moment is seared into my memory to be cherished as warmly as my real life memories. Memories like seeing The Avengers Bluray for sale in the grocery story, buying it with my groceries, tearing the shrink wrap off and sticking the disc in my PS3. You know, cherished memories. Also probably some stuff about my wife birthing my kids

In saying that I have to admit to being a little disappointed with The Avengers on Bluray. Not quite the tour de force piece of home entertainment I was hoping for.

First the film. There was more than a little trepidation with a film like The Avengers; you had a cast who’d all shined in their own previous films to showcase their larger than life personas, you had a director that, despite a lot of fan faith, was untested on the playing field of big budget film, and you had the aforementioned big budget tent pole film that had to appeal to the base audience as well as the fans. To say it succeeded is an understatement. Fans loved it, non fans loved it. My eleven year old daughter, previously resistant to my geek interests, has transformed into a Marvel Zombie literally over night as a result of this film.

First we fight, then we team up, it's kind of a tradition thing

Most of the goodwill for the success goes to director Joss Whedon who perfectly juggled his big cast and created a coherent and enjoyable film with a mostly logical plot build up to its big set piece. The film could have easily become Ironman and Friends or collapsed into a series of disjointed introduction scenes. Instead it fits together perfectly and hides the fanboy checklist you know someone had prepared for writing the script. Special mention also goes to Mark Ruffalo who finally nails both Bruce Banner and the Hulk like no actor has before and Scarlet Johanson’s Black Widow who gets a few terrific character moments. Personally my favourite part of the film remains Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. The character gets even more time to shine here and steps up to become an iconic and multifaceted villain. Not just evil for evils sake but a conflicted and troubled character who just wants some respect, but has very poor ideas how to get it.

The real star of the film is the action which is handled with bombast. Seeing the various super characters have their moments is every bit as good as you’d hope it is. Each action scene builds on the last in a balletic escalation of special effects and thrills until your throwing pillows around and cheering at the films penultimate moment.

In terms of the film negatives the biggest card against it is the requirement of having seen the other films to be able to follow the plot. Without the context of, at the very least, the Thor film, a lot of the movie and the character of Loki. It’s still a fun film but to the layperson it could be very bewildering.

As expected it looks squee-ifically marvellous on Bluray. The transfer is gorgeous and the movie really pops visually and audibly. It’s the type of film that reminds you why you shelled out for a nice tv and a surround sound system while also being entertaining.

My real gripe with the film comes from the extras. They might be entertaining to anyone who doesn’t have access to the internet but if you’ve seen the short youtube releases of deleted and alternate scenes and the gag reel over the last few weeks then you’ve seen ninety percent of the special features. The only addition is a scandalously short making off doco, more an extended commercial that a real featurette. It’s the type of thing they stick on pay TV that covers some of the making of stuff and a few choice quotes during crew interviews. There’s a Marvel One Shot called Item 47 which is entertaining, but they’re just not the same without Agent Coulson. A previously promoted commentary track by Joss Whedon and others doesn't appear to be on the disc either, or a making off feature called Assembling the Avengers, both of which were in the original press release when they announced a release date for the disc. Either PAL regions got screwed or they're holding it back for some reason.

While the sombre alternative opening is good, the one they went with is definitely better

The extras aren’t bad. All the deleted scenes are good material that clearly were cut from the film for time. The scenes featuring Cobie Smulders character Maria Hill are all excellent, giving the character and her relationship to Fury a whole dimension that wasn’t evident at all in the film. There’s some Steve Rogers footage that also adds to the character as he wrestles with being a man who’s slept through his whole life and expands on the relationship with the waitress who plays something of a role later on. I can only imagine these scenes were cut to allow the same ground to be covered in the next Captain America movie. There’s also a much better Stan Lee cameo.

The best reason to buy the Bluray overall has to be Tom Hiddleston’s impression of Alan Rickman during the gag reel which is hilarious.

If anyone lost out in the editing process it's definitely Colbie Smulders whose best work is mostly in deleted scenes

It does, kinda, sorta, feel like this was Disney and Paramount deliberately double dipping the wallets, getting people to buy this stripped down version before releasing the real Bluray fans want next year. Not to mention the fact the Marvel Phase 1 Bluray set, which no doubt had tons of extra content, has now been pushed to the middle of next year, practically guaranteeing a good number of poor geeks with preorders will grab this bluray in the interim. For many people this was the number one bluray buy of the year and it deserved a lot more fan service from the studio.

Still, this is a film, alongside John Carter and Dark Knight Rises, that you absolutely must have in your home collection this year.