William Shakespeare's Avengers: The Complete Works

by Ian Doescher

Assemble, Ye Avengers! All four Avengers films presented as Shakespearean plays in this ultimate treasury for Marvel fans.

What if the most epic cinematic franchise of all time had been penned by the greatest playwright of all time? Wonder no more! William Shakespeare’s Avengers: The Complete Works reimagines all four films as plays by the Bard of Avon, complete with authentic meter and verse, stage directions, and entertaining Easter eggs. Fans will experience their favorite scenes, characters, and lines in a new—yet fully faithful—way, through monologues and dialogue by everyone from Captain America to Groot (’Tis I!).

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Humor, Superheroes, Shakespeare, Poetry, Science Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2021

About the author

Ian is the author of the William Shakespeare Star Wars series and the Pop Shakespeare series, and other books. He's a Portland native, and lives in Portland with his family.

Reviews

[Jessica (Odd and Bookish) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher (Quirk Books) for promotional purposes.

This book is pure genius!

I’m a huge MCU fan (I’ve seen every movie and tv show) and I enjoy reading Shakespeare so I knew I needed to read this. I’ve also read the author’s Shakespearean Mean Girls retelling (aptly titled Much Ado About Mean Girls) and loved it.

This book is all 4 Avengers movies written as Shakespearen plays. It includes stage directions, a list of characters, and even full color illustrations (loved seeing the Avengers dressed Shakespearean style). All the iconic lines and scenes are translated perfectly.

However, the most genius aspects are the Prologue and the characters’ speech patterns. The Prologue recaps the previous movies (i.e. Iron Man, Captain America) and is written in an acrostic that spells out the movie titles. How smart is that?

The author gave all the main Avengers characters (20 in total) unique speech patterns. For example, Hawkeye’s dialogue features bird related terms for obvious reasons and Ant-Man’s dialogue contains both a one syllable word and a 4 syllable word since he can shrink small and grow very large. The fact that the author came up with patterns for 20 different characters is insane. Major kudos to him.

Overall, this is a must read for Marvel and Shakespeare fans! It would make a great gift as well.

[Wreade1872 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespearian version of the four Avengers movies, Avengers, Age of Ultron, Infinity War and Endgame.

This is ok, the iambic pentameter is fine as far as i can tell not being the biggest shakespeare expert. However there are two problems a minor and a major one.

The minor issue is that some of these scripts actually have good lines, iconic lines even and almost none of these survive the conversion process. In fact sometimes it just feels like things have been run though a thesaurus just for the sake of it while other lines (none of the good ones) survive mostly intact.
This I’d say is about evened out by the addition of some extra soliloquy's and asides so lets call that a wash and move onto the major issue.

The nature of these movies is so action heavy and has so many modern or foreign concepts to shakespeare that it hasn’t really been converted to anything like a shakespearian stage play. Despite some artwork suggesting this.

So really your just watching the movies as normal (mostly) but with everyone speaking in iambic pentameter and the cognitive dissonance this creates is a constant distraction.

I’m not saying it should have actually been converted entirely, that would have been a massive task and require considerable rearranging and truncating in places, nevertheless the current result is pretty hard to process.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is, indeed, the Avengers films. The others are at most referenced by the Chorus, which doesn't help the plot understanding.

Some glorious moments, though it's a bit hampered by the way the story was not designed to be done in dialog.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Avengers movies are retold in this Shakespearean format as if they were theater plays, complete with stage directions and Elizabethan language.

I got inspired to rewatch the movies, and watched each one right after reading the play! It was so fun to see how the book follows the movie scenes closely, but with little additions in the dialogue and aside comments to the audience. There is even a chorus that introduces scenes and explains the plot like Shakespeare's plays would have.

I love how this book uses the real style of Shakespeare! There are some actual phrases quoted directly from Shakespeare's plays, and a lot of the language structure, theater tricks, and poetic flights of fancy all perfectly mimic Shakespeare's style.
And yet, in the middle of the poetic Elizabethan language, you can still recognize all the original dialogue from the movie too.

The setting is kind of funny, because the actors are dressed up in a weird version of Elizabethan costume complete with neck ruffs and doublets, but they are also partly in modern dress, recognizable from the movies. And the illustrations don't show any guns, only arrows, but they do have the technology for helicopters. So some things are old-timey, and other things are modern. It's a funny mixture, and had me laughing!

The illustrations are really colorful and full of action! They really help you to imagine the setting and characters in their neck ruffs.

This whole book is brilliant and funny and wonderful!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

[Renn]

Holy sh*t are you KIDDING me?!?! Yes PLEASE

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ratings based on the MCU source material: The Avengers - 5 stars; Age of Ultron - 5 stars; Infinity War - 4 stars; Endgame - 3 stars. The Avengers and Age of Ultron are two of my Most Favourite Movies of All Time. Endgame has 4 plot points that tick me off.

This was a gift from a friend, a wonderful surprise. I'd read the first of Doescher's Star Wars versions and liked it, but I think these are even better. The Shakespearean Star Wars felt overstuffed.
It delighted and fascinated me how little some of the dialogue had to be changed and how funny some of the Elizabethan-style twists on some turns of phrase are (especially when it comes to Tony Stark's sarcasm and smartassery). In terms of simple joys, seeing the Hulk's roars rendered as "Rawr!" cracked me up, as did "Groot--'tis I!" Twenty of the characters have special rules/features within their dialogue, and I felt some worked better than others. The bird references in Clint Barton's dialogue, the synonyms for large in Bruce Banner's and the darkness synonyms in Natasha Romanoff's all seemed a bit much in places.

The art was a lovely addition to the package.

[Scott S.]

I REALLY hope these make it to audio. Shakespeare's Star Wars are fantastic.

[John Stanifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you consider how many hours Ian Doescher must have spent refining the texts of these four "plays" in order to do justice to both Shakespeare and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the thought is nearly overwhelming.

"Methinks thou lookest
Incomparable, Cap. As far as it
Concerneth me, thine is the only arse
That signifies America. Salute!"
~Doescher, "The Endgame's Afoot," 3.2

This was a joy to read from beginning to end. If you can't stand Shakespearean language, this might be tough going. On the other hand, those who aren't necessarily big fans of Shakespeare's plays may find that reading the scripts of their favorite movies in this way softens their attitude towards the Bard.

The illustrations by Danny Schlitz that accompany the text are both stunning and amusing. For example, Iron Man is always seen with a ruff around his neck. Several characters are seen in hose. Swords and castles make frequent appearances, and many of the surfaces that the characters are standing on are clearly made of wood (i.e. like a stage). It's quite a clever mash-up in more ways than one.

The afterword reveals that Doescher deliberately wrote certain characters' dialogue in ways that pay homage to the source material. For example, every single one of Tony Stark's lines throughout all four plays begins with the letter "I" as a reference to Tony's favorite person (and to the "I am Iron Man" motif). Each of Captain America's lines contains the letters U, S, and A somewhere.

And so on. I probably wouldn't have picked up on this if Doescher hadn't pointed it out, but going back and looking at some of the lines again, yeah . . . this makes his achievement even more impressive.

This is a must-read for any fan of Shakespeare and/or the Avengers. It's fun seeing how favorite lines from the movies are rendered.

"'Tis nineteen-seventy, with joys galore--
Thus say I to you all: make love, not war!"
~Doescher, "The Endgame's Afoot," 4.2

(Yes, even here, Stan Lee gets his cameos)

Well done! Doescher has quite a gift with language and has in turn given quite a gift to the fans here.

[Brian Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read so many of Doescher's books where he imagines pop culture films within a Shakespearean world, and the intricacy he employs to give characters and their language such subtle, rich nuances brings joy to this book-lover's heart. This was so much fun to read (despite how long it took me to complete it, life being what it is sometimes!).

[Grace Mal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cried. This was just as amazing as his previous Star Wars works. It did feel less connected because he was only doing the avengers films (I'd be down for the others lol), but it was still so fun to read. Ian Doescher has the coolest afterwards of any books. I learned so much. I really need to start reading those before the books, so I can look for things. Loved every second.

[Valerie Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing that could make me actively choose to read Shakespeare (style writing) again: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

[Andrew Sorrentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic. You certainly don’t get the action on an epic scale, but the dialogue is true. And the humor makes me laugh even more when it’s done in Shakespeare style! Splash pages of art interspersed throughout is great too.

[Joshua Milligan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic rendering of the Infinity Saga Avengers movies! The unique speaking styles of each character are really captivating, but stay true to their original appearances.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Shakespeare's Avengers, The Complete Works is a compilation of four five-act plays in iambic pentameter with excellent illustrations that correspond to the four Avengers movies.

The first play, Assemble, Ye Avengers, is only 66 pages total, due to the nice, wide pages and double column format. There are illustrations interspersed, both on the pages and as full- and double page spreads (at the end of the book).

Each "part" or individual play of the four (Assemble Ye Avengers; Lo, The Age of Ultron; Infinity War's Tale; and The Endgame's Afoot) makes for a quick in-class read.

I offer on my blog Reading Roles pages for teachers to keep track of student parts and a free lesson plan to introduce iambic pentameter your students will love. Enjoy teaching this one!

Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?

Visit my blog, The Fabric of Words, for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF after the first one. It was fine, and it reminded me how much I liked Ian Doescher's Star Wars adaptations, but pretty much only because it was not Ian Doescher's Star Wars adaptations. There just really didn't seem to be as much care put into this a the early books in that series. There were a few little direct Shakespeare references, sure, but rather than being a clever reimagining that added more depth to the original work, it was a line-by-line remake without much to distinguish it from the actual movie other than the iambic pentameter, and I don't like the remaining Avengers movies enough to bother with the rest of it.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun. Covers the four Avengers films only.

The author's work into each (main) characters particular pattern of speech is super phenomenal actually. Hawkeye having a bird reference, Black Widow having a reference to darkness or black and Ant-Man having both a small synonym and a large synonym word (referencing his extra large and extra small versions) and so on and so forth.

The illustrations are cute too. My fave was of Fury with a tiny crossbrow.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you enjoy Shakespeare and pop culture tie ins?

This is riding the wave of all the various authors spinning reworded narratives as Shakespeare prose. As a study in language, I found it interesting. As an engaging piece of fiction, I got tired of it very quickly. Could have been the length. So many stories at once where I already knew the outcome... Ugh.

[Adam Sequoyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly there were not as many brilliant insights into the characters and their plights as in other of Doescher's Shakespeare books.

But much of the dialogue was almost directly relayed from screen to print. So it was still fun to recount the Avengers movies' incredible, pervading wit.

MPA ratings: PG for violence

[Max Tachis · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you top the sweeping shared universe of the William Shakespeare's Star Wars Skywalker Saga? Jumping into the even more vast Marvel Cinematic Universe is a start, in terms of source material. All of Ian Doescher's clever stage directions and lyrical ways of "staging" unfathomable battles and scenes of cinematic sci-fi wizardry are on full display and his ability to combine, condense, and recut standard box office fare into a traditional five-act structure remains uncanny. The MCU, however, only does half the lifting during this massive task. The scale of the story is raised, obviously, but it is the scale and scope of Doescher's writing that takes it the rest of the way.

Not content to do as he's done before, one film at a time (including departures to "Get Thee Back to the Future", "Much Ado About Mean Girls", and "The Taming of the Clueless"), here he treats the reader to the high school textbook treatment. Four volumes in one publication, the two-column pages, and some truly miraculous interludes between each Avengers film to fill us in on the other EIGHTEEN films the characters in these four stories dabble in.

Renowned Shakespeare historian Harold Goddard has held that Shakespeare's entire body of work should be treated as one long, sweeping piece of poetry; one piece influences the next, no matter how different they may seem to the reader. Doescher's Skywalker Saga never quite hit that way, and considering they were all written independently of each other between other projects, that makes perfect sense. This collection, however, feels carefully written as one piece and that, in my opinion, sets it as the author's best work thus far.

A non-literature note, however, pertains to the illustrations. Danny Schlitz's work is good and sufficiently grand in most places (particularly the beautiful piece to depict Danvers saving Stark), but Nico Delort's contributions to the Skywalker Saga are on a completely different level and I can't help but wonder what he may have had up his sleeve if given the Avengers.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Shakespeare's Avengers: The Complete Works is the second non-Star Wars book by Ian Doescher that I've read, after William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future. (Side-note, I'm hoping that Ian will eventually do Shakespearean-style versions of Back to the Future Parts II and III.) But this is the least of the things that sets it apart from Ian Doescher's other books. The William Shakespeare's Star Wars series, as well as Back to the Future, all came in at under 2o0 pages. This book, however, was over 300. And instead of telling one movie at a time, it chronicles all four Avengers movies: Avengers; Avengers: Age of Ultron; Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Another difference was the use of both color and black-and-white illustrations, whereas the previous books had only black-and-white ones. Now, you may have noticed I gave William Shakespeare's Avengers: The Complete Works 4 stars. I have a reason. It was all you expect from Ian Doescher's Shakespearean retellings. And I have to say it was much better than William Shakespeare's The Merry Rise of Skywalker, which I rated 3 stars. But the thing is, I haven't seen the Avengers movies nearly as many times as Star Wars or Back to the Future, which factored into my ratings. Still, this book was pretty awesome.

[Nipun Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book 3000! Being a fan of the MCU, I found this book a delightful read. Before I read this book, I was already familiar with Ian Doescher’s works, having already read his Shakespearean retelling of Back to the Future (written as William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future!).
In this book, Doescher retells the first four Avengers films -Avengers, Avengers: The Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame- in a Shakespearean style (They are titled Assemble, ye Avengers, Lo, the Age of Ultron, Infinity War’s Tale and The Endgame’s Afoot). The stories of the films are modified to fit a Shakespearean play of the time: stage directions , currency is replaced with the ducat (the currency in Shakespeare’s time) and language (even insults from Shakespeare’s time are used!). In addition, other MCU films leading up to Endgame are also referenced. Asides from black-and-white illustrations, the book includes magnificent full-colour illustrations of the Avengers movies’ iconic moments (with a Shakespearean twist, of course). I recommend this book for MCU fans who want to relive the story of the Avengers films, as well as Shakespeare fans.

[emily_oriley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, by far, the nerdiest thing in my collection and I loved every minute of it. And because I’ve seen all the Marvel movies SO many times, I was able to hear all their voices the whole time which just made this even more enjoyable.

The coolest part was all the nuances that the author put into the characters’ dialogue that I didn’t even notice while reading (but better believed I went back and checked) like having all Tony Stark’s dialogue beginning with “I” because that’s his favorite person or always have the letters USA in Steve Rogers’s iambic pentameter.

Seriously, a lot of love and care went into this collection and I could not recommend it more. Imagine if we got to read this instead of Romeo & Juliet for the trillionth time in high school?

[Michael Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely!! I love how the book was more than just a retelling of the Avengers movies. The book covered all four of the Avengers movies- The Avengers, Age of Ultron, Infinity War, and Endgame. The book did something that the movies can't do- get inside the mind of our favorite characters- seeing their heart and motivations behind their actions. The introduction and chorus throughout the action of the movies also serve as interlude within the action- helping to provide a summary, but more importantly, enjoy the action, even though you know what is it come.

Overall, a great book!!

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains the four Avengers movie scripts converted into Shakespearian dialogue. It's a clever idea and creates mixed results. Sometimes the sci-fi-speak clashes with the old English phrasing, but that might be part 0f the charm of this project.

On the downside, I've always had a little trouble reading stage or screen scripts for enjoyment--since they tend to be the bare-bones outline of a vision that is only fully manifested in film or on stage. So your level of enjoyment may depend on your ability to flesh out what isn't included. If you have watched the Avengers movies dozens of times or have a really good memory this may not be an issue for you.

[Sara (Sjthroughthelookingglass)]

I also have the William Shakespeare version of Doctor Who... Much like that book, for me, this isn't something I want to sit and read through but is rather a conversation piece and a fun book to read little experts here and there. If you are fan, this is a fun coffee table book as well as it has a number of illustrations.

[Abby P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Avengers assemble indeed! Once again the author combines Shakespeare & pop culture into pure entertainment. If an audio version had been available, like several of his other books have, then this would’ve been five stars. Verily, I did greatly enjoy the artwork & Easter eggs hidden within the text which, obviously, the audio version lacks. I look forward to what he publishes in the future.

[Dawn Gemmecke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love all things Marvel and Shakespeare, so this book was the ultimate combination! I read it from start to finish in one sitting and loved every moment of it! Watching Tony Stark's snarky comeback of "Doth Mother know you weareth her drapes" tie into the rest of the dialogue so seamlessly was the laugh I didn't know I needed.

[Katie Kaste · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the Shakespearean retelling of the four Avengers movies. The first two were hard to get through, but the last two really soared. I enjoyed the Easter egg writing touches that were added to the characters. I love the Shakespeare takes on these movies, all the different takes are fun to read and the illustrations are beautiful. This was fun.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't going to rate this and then I read the author's note/afterword and realized that Ian Doescher is brilliant so he deserves all the stars.

Also, this was just so fun to read and all the Shakespeare nods are marvelous.

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful hardcover graphic novel that covers twenty years of Marvel's: Avenger's movies, giving them a Shakespeare treatment.
Danny Schulitz's illustrations some time take up a full, two page layout.
I highly recommend reading this out loud.