The problem with so many of these superhero films is the dreaded origins story. The worst nightmare for any fan is a film explaining how Spiderman, for example, became the web-slinger in the first place. Answer? He was bitten by a radioactive spider. That was easy enough, let's move on. But that's not how Hollywood works.

The golden rule appears to be that if you're going to introduce a superhero character to the masses, regardless of how familiar they may all be with said hero's background, you must spend at least two hours on re-telling their origin story. It's the bane of any comic fan's existence.

All of the main superheroes in this film have thankfully already had the origins treatment: Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk.

With all that faff out of the way, this latest outing, which sees all of the above unite, means that these heroes can finally get on with doing what they do best: saving the world.

In an underground facility in a remote locale, the secret military law-enforcement agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D have in their possession a blue, glowing cube known as the Tesseract. It is the very same cube that Captain America (Chris Evans) prevented the Red Skull using to take over the world.

The director of S.H.I.E.L.D Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is all too aware of the power the Tesseract yields. But he's not the only one. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the adoptive brother of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), decides that this particular cube would be just the thing he'd need to take over the world, with the help of some of his alien chums. So he takes it.

With the Tesseract most certainly in the wrong hands, Fury believes that this is the time to implement his Avengers initiative; this sees Captain America, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) team up and use their unique combined talents to save the day. It may look like a winning combination on paper, but as Fury soon discovers, bringing them all together is easier said than done. But as he knows all too well, if he doesn't pull it off, the planet is in serious doo doo.

There's no denying there's a huge appetite at the moment for comic book characters to be revived on the silver screen – what comic book fan in their right mind wouldn't want to see their favourite heroes and villains 'thuuunk!' and 'thwaaaaack!' the hell out of each other – but with so many superhero stories floating about already – origin or otherwise – there's a real chance of audiences suffering from comic book hero fatigue.

Luckily for all concerned, Joss Whedon, who knows a thing or two about comics, helms this heroic effort.

Whedon is responsible for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, as well as its spin-off Angel. Remarkably enough, this is only his second directing gig after his limp 2005 offering Serenity. With that kind of record, he doesn't seem the likeliest of choices for what many consider the holy grail of superhero films. But what Whedon lacks in experience he gains in passion for his material.

Whedon claims to be a huge fan of comic books and it really shows. And with no origin stories to hold him back, he concentrates on the main story at hand, as well as the growing relationships between his characters.

The first half of the film would be Comic Book Guy's wet dream; it's pretty story intensive and Whedon has to juggle not only the (re)introduction of a number of characters, but also hint at the part they're to play. It gets busy quite quickly, without that much going on on screen. For the most part though, Whedon gets the balance right.

The second half is less a rollercoaster ride and more of the full theme park experience. Whedon manages to capture what many fans of these heroes would consider the ideal gathering; the action comes thick and fast and he manages to give each character a fair amount of screen time.

One minor quibble is the setting. Once again NYC is the city that comes under attack; surely no other city has succumbed to more attacks from one species or another in the history of film. Are there no other cities in the world worth destroying?

It's also a little low on laughs. Some of the one-liners are a bit on the disappointing side, and there's really only one scene that could possibly make you laugh out loud. Still, it's a small price to pay for a film that does so much right.

The only positive thing to come out of so many darn origin stories is that the majority of the cast have had their own film to flesh out their respective characters, meaning they already have a firm handle on what they're supposed to be doing here.

Ruffalo is the odd hero out, as he was picked up to play Eric Banner/the Hulk after Edward Norton was told that his trouser-ripping services would no longer be required after playing the mean green machine in 2008's The Incredible Hulk. To Ruffalo's credit, he makes an impressive Hulk debut, and appears to settle in nicely alongside his fellow Avengers.

Where the recent X-Men films possibly took themselves too seriously, Avengers Assemble (the UK title, so as not to be confused with The Avengers fifty year old plus TV series) has more of a fun spirit about it. Perhaps it's down to the overall familiarity of its characters, but there just feels like a greater sense of action and excitement about the whole thing.

If you were ever one to save up your pocket money to buy the latest superhero comic issue at the end of the week, then this film truly is the stuff of dreams, as it brings many classic characters to life in the most fantastic of fashions. For everyone else, it's one hell of a fancy dress party.