How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Avengers.
Quote #7
TONY STARK: Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.
STEVE ROGERS: You think Fury's hiding something?
TONY STARK: He's a spy. Captain. He's the spy. His secrets have secrets.
Another game, and another way for the heroes so see if they can beat it. The name of this game is "What's Fury Up To?"
Quote #8
TONY STARK: He wants an audience.
STEVE ROGERS: Right. I caught his act at Stuttgart.
TONY STARK: Yeah, that was just previews. This is—this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…
Loki has a lot more going on here than you'd expect from a comic-book supervillain. But, as rich a character as he becomes, he's still got some old-fashioned supervillain failings…like vanity. He has to be shown defeating his rivals, which is an edge that our gang can use to get the jump on him.
Quote #9
LOKI: The soldier. A man out of time.
STEVE ROGERS: I'm not the one who's out of time.
Competition is fiercest between the heroes themselves, but they're not above playing a little one-upmanship with Loki. That's par for the course for superhero stories, going back to the earliest days. The Avengers is just good enough to treat it with a little more playfulness than most.