A Marvel moment that's all in the timing  May 03, 2012|By
Michael Phillips | Movie critic   • Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk in
"The Avengers." Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk in "The Avengers."
Timing is everything, and when it comes to the mysterious
quantum physics of comic timing, it's really everything.  No
moviegoer on the planet plans on buying into "The Avengers"this
weekend for a lesson in light-fingered comic delicacies. It's a
machine, and in the 10-ton franchise genre, a pretty good one.
Yet writer-director Joss Whedon's machine contains one
particularly funny sight gag, a capper to one of its many
climactic battle sequences within the extended climax.  The bit
involves the Hulk, his fellow superhero Thor and an unexpected
punch. I'm not spoiling a thing in telling you this. The joke is
so quick and so shrewdly timed, you will not see it coming. The
size of the laugh greeting that gag, at Monday night's packed
preview screening, was tidal — a lovely sound to hear when
you're seeing a movie with a crowd.  It g