The Avengers Movie Sports Good Nude Scene

ON FRIDAY a long-awaited movie The Avengers made its debut in the US.  The film features a team of Marvel Comics superheroes including Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and others to do super battle with super villains. Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury, the mastermind who brings them all together.

Nudists will be interested to know that there is actually a positive “nude” scene in this flick.  It happens when the Incredible Hulk returns to the form of humble alter-ego Dr. Bruce Banner (played by actor Mark Ruffalo). Given the Hulk’s mammoth size, when he shrinks back into Banner the mammoth trousers he’s wearing manage to fall off, leaving the Doctor nude within a pile of rubble.  It’s up to a janitor (played by Harry Dean Stanton who you may remember from the cult classic Repo Man) to rescue the superhero with a spare pair of jeans. 

The matter-of-fact way that a nude character and a custodian have a conversation about what’s just happened makes for a great lighthearted moment. But it also scores an ever-so-important victory for those who value the human body.  By juxtaposing Banner beneath rubble the movie keeps its PG rating. Somehow it also manages to make missing pants a part of life rather than a scandalous event or, worse, ignore the issue altogether by shrinking big clothes along with the creature.


While one of our Bare Platypus team watched it with his puggles over the weekend, that scene made for a very humorous moment when a seven year old boy seated next to their group took it in. As if talking about the family dog getting out and running down the street or a forgotten homework assignment he muttered aloud, “Uh oh. He’s naked.”


Imagine that. It’s possible to interject nudity in a movie without leaving anyone “traumatized” or “defiled.” Just one of the things that makes The Avengers a must-see this summer.