With Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick fury what more could you want? A great story line or non stop action pre-haps ,well what ever it is you want from this movie it's got all and after a five film build up the Avengers have finally assembled in this unbelievable movie phenomenon.

Imagine a film in which James Bond and Indiana Jones teamed up with Luke Skywalker, Gandalf, Buzz Lightyear and Harry Potter to do battle with Hannibal Lecter, the Godfather and the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. Such an unprecedented melding of franchises might seem like a bizarre and outlandish idea, but it's the kind of thing that would probably send movie fans crazy with excitement, and generate box-office receipts to match.

Well, for superhero fans, Avengers Assemble is that movie.

In many ways, Avengers Assemble is the culmination of an elaborate plan that started way back in 2008 with Marvel Studios' release of "Iron Man". In a short scene after the closing credits of that movie, Iron Man was approached by a shadowy figure called Nick Fury about signing up to something called the "Avengers initiative" - which, it since transpired, was the codename for a superhero team made up of the stars of all of Marvel Studios' superhero movies so far: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America. Post-credits scenes in all of these movies gradually started to build a shared universe in which certain characters drifted from one storyline to another, setting the stage for all of the heroes to come together at some point in future.

Well, the team finally comes together in Avengers Assemble - along with a couple of secondary supporting superheroes (Black Widow, from "Iron Man 2", and Hawkeye, who made a brief appearance in "Thor") - under the leadership of Fury, to counter a threat that's just too big for any one of the heroes to handle on their own.

Even from that brief outline, it's easy to see the appeal of this film. Whereas most superhero movies feature a single lead character and maybe one or two super-villains, this unprecedented movie unites several different superheroes, at least four of which are big enough to carry their own franchises. In sheer value-for-money terms, it's a lot of bang for your buck, and there's never a sense that any of the individual heroes have been diluted or under-served by having to share a screen.

In fact, what really makes Avengers Assemble such fun is seeing the way that these various heroes interact with one another. From the start, it's clear that the group is a slightly odd match: science-genius billionaire Tony Stark rubs shoulders with a 1940s super-soldier, a horrifying green rage-monster, a Norse thunder god, an archery expert and a Russian femme fatale, all under the auspices of the super-smooth spymaster Nick Fury. But this mismatch actually works in the movie's favour, as each character's distinctive personality shoves up against the others, resulting in a group dynamic that's often fraught, always unpredictable, and consistently entertaining.

The overarching story of the team might follow a fairly simple recipe - a group of heroes meet, have an initial disagreement and then overcome their differences to team up and save the world - but it's a successful one, and one that ensures that you'll find yourself rooting for this misfit bunch by the end.

Whilst it's certainly a team movie first and foremost, and one that benefits from a strong acting ensemble cast, some individuals do stand out. Tom Hiddleston as the movie's villain, Loki, lends particular gravitas to his role, turning what could have been a camp fantasy villain into a genuinely chilling and unnerving threat. And Robert Downey Jr. is as perfectly-cast as ever, inhabiting the showy role of Tony Stark like a second skin. Finally, Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is a breakout success, both in his human form - as nerdy, twitchy Bruce Banner - and in all his CGI glory as a lumbering oversized angry monster.

However, the movie's greatest asset isn't any of these actors. Instead, it's director Joss Whedon who proves to be the real hero of Avengers Assemble. Served well by his experiences running ensemble TV shows like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' - which itself drew heavily on the conventions of the superhero genre - Whedon manages to pull together a perfect mixture of action, humour, character moments and plot surprises, without ever feeling as though he's working to a set formula.

Whedon juggles the characters deftly through a fairly long opening act that sees the team come together, before really cutting lose once he's got everyone in one place. Every character gets at least one individual chance to shine over the course of the movie's action scenes, and everyone gets at least one great one-liner (of the kind that'll actually make you laugh, rather than groan). It's no exaggeration to say that I could watch an hour of these characters simply standing around and talking under Whedon's direction, and through some talky (but very funny) getting-to-know-you scenes in the movie's middle section he creates a real emotional heart for the film that gives the crazy action of the climax a resonance that's missing from most superhero movies. Despite being a fairly long (two-and-a-half hour) film, it's virtually guaranteed that you'll be hungry for more when the final curtain falls.

Through some smart creative choices, and a heck of a lot of advance planning, Marvel Studios has put together the most dazzling, epic and downright fun superhero movie ever committed to film. And this Blu-Ray promises even more, including a host of deleted scenes that will flesh out the story even further and an original short film, "Item 47", that will pick up one of the few loose ends left dangling by the movie's ending and weave a self-contained story around it. Available for pre-order both on its own and as part of a larger boxset that also collects the other five Marvel movies, I can't recommend Avengers Assemble highly enough.