Avengers: Age of Ultron ushered in the new age of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a plethora of hilariously terrible puns, killer one-liners, beautiful CGI, wonderfully muscly men, and the painfully sexist characterization of a female lead—again.

In true Marvel fashion, the movie begins with a very literal bang and some truly great dialogue that not only leaves viewers in stitches, but shows just how far the team has come since their days fighting puny gods in the back alleys of New York City. The action scenes are capped off not only with one-liners, but masterfully done CGI that is mixed with the perfect amount of realistic choreography.

While the effects, especially for fights and sciency-shenanigans, are inarguably top notch, it’s fluidity causes some problems with the machines like Ultron (James Spader) and the upgraded Iron Legion. One of the main points about Ultron is that he’s distinctly not human, but the smoothness of his animation made it too easy to think that he’s a madman rather than a misguided mechanical guardian.

Despite this, Spader managed to make Ultron, whether a madman or a misguided protector, a surprisingly sympathetic character and, like in the comics, make you almost believe in what he’s trying to accomplish—until you see his “world of metal,” that is. The film’s casting was, as always, spot on, and any reservations I had about many of the new characters were forgotten by only a few minutes in. Joss Whedon had me completely sold on the Maximoff twins by the time they each had their first lines; I would go as far as saying the two were my favorites by the end.

But no matter how much I adore Whedon’s casting choices, I could overlook the distinctly sexist attitude towards Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). At the beginning, her characterization and even the romance sub-plot is mostly fine, but after the Avengers’ first showdown with Ultron, it became much more forced and uncomfortable, eventually culminating in a scene that is legitimately insulting and just plain gross. Along with the fact that the sub-plot is just terrible, it has absolutely no bearing on the actual plot, making it feel even more forced and uncomfortable.

The plot in and of itself, despite a few unnecessary and/or rushed deviations, is actually quite good. Whedon took more than a lot of creative liberty while making the film, but it definitely paid off in the end, especially since he cut out many of the more convoluted aspects of Brian Michael Bendis’ Age of Ultron comic—like time travel. It ties together many important aspects from previous Marvel installments such as Thor 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The film sets itself up perfectly to transition into the pivotal Civil War arc and the subsequent Infinity War films.

As well the film’s masterful set-up, Whedon delivered what many comic fans had been dying for since the first Avengers film: Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) as a main character. Clint Barton/Hawkeye had been distinctly absent from most of the first film, but he finally got his time to shine in Age of Ultron with his signature killer one-liners and equally lethal bow. We also get fan-favourites Wanda/Scarlet Witch and Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, respectively), both adding a level of humanity to the film that had been missing in the previous one. The Maximoff twins almost immediately worm their way into your heart with their tragic and all too realistic backstory, truly adorable Eastern European accents, believable sibling relationship, and awe inspiring powers and refuse to let you go until the end.

Between the exciting plot, lovable and sympathetic characters, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) frankly distracting and jealousy inducing good looks, and absolutely hilarious dialogue, it’s hard to pick a favourite. The entire movie is just so funny, emotional, and awesomely action-packed that I guarantee almost everyone who sees it will be going back at least twice—after all, I already have.

With the conclusion of Phase Two in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I can’t wait to see what how the Russo brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) handle the dark direction the MCU is heading with Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War – Part I & II.