There are essentially two ways to go about making a superhero movie. You can make a “superhero” movie, (Christopher Nolan’s Batman films or Bryan Singer’s Superman) which takes the tropes, symbols and larger-than-life characters of the comic book universe seriously, analyzing the semiotics and psychology of superheroes and the culture that produces them. Or, you can say screw that egghead stuff and make a SUPERHERO movie, (John Favreau’s Iron Man or Richard Donner’s Superman) focusing on the technicolor spectacle that is the essential justification for the genre and leave the parsing of subtext to film critics and American Studies majors.

People interested in crowning a “greatest ever” superhero movie are really looking for a film that combines the two approaches to form the ultimate: a “SUPERHERO” movie. Whether such a beast is even possible is up for debate. Many people have claimed that The Dark Knight embodies the synthesis, but it really doesn’t. Are the action scenes (except for that kickass truck crash) on anyone’s list of the twenty most memorable things about that film? As great as it is, TDK is a pure “superhero” movie. Other films, like Ang Lee’s Hulk, attempt the synthesis and fail miserably.

The triumph of Joss Whedon’s Avengers is that it never wavers in it’s commitment to delivering the titanic action pageantry and iconic superhero personalities that drew us all to these characters when we were not-yet-jaded youngsters. And that’s why The Avengers is the best SUPERHERO movie of all time.

If The Avengers were just a string of high-octane action scenes, it would already claim the throne, but what makes this movie truly extraordinary is the attention paid to the characters. Considering that Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk have all carried entire films by themselves, the main danger of a film featuring them all is that they might just blend together into one Uberhero. But Joss Whedon masterfully avoids this pitfall by focusing on the very different ways that each of these characters views their role as a superhero. For Bruce Banner, it’s a curse. For Steve Rogers, it’s a duty. For Thor Odinson, it’s a birthright. And for Tony Stark it’s a chance to have fun and show people just how awesome he is. These divergent visions of superheroism not only help the characters stand out from one another, they also create the interpersonal friction that sparks the kind of glorious intramural smackdowns that will thrill anyone who made their action figures fight each other as a kid.

By focusing on delivering core comic book thrills, by vividly representing a group of indelible superhero characters that have been painstakingly reintroduced to moviegoers over the past decade, by taking the time to shape relationships and conflicts sharply and efficiently, and by delivering a monumental finale of smashing and crashing that could have been pulled directly for a fanboy’s cream dream, Joss Whedon and company have made the finest SUPERHERO film to date. Until the sequel, at least.