You don't like Pepper and Stark or the phone thing but you do like Black Widow? You do have interesting opinions :) I wasn't even on the 'Avengers is great' side and this is still a really new take on it for me
Paltrow didn't seem whiny here at all. She did in Iron Man 2, but here she felt calmer and more "romantic". The few times where she did act "whiny" here was clearly joking banter between them.
Hey I agree with the 'formulaic plot that begins with the heroes being self-assured, doubting themselves at the middle, and regaining their confidence in time for the final battle' (although this structure considerably works in its favor, if not for it it would have been a mess) and 'hero barely escaping certain doom at the last minute, nearly dying and waking up surrounded by friends' (I'm more permisive of it because it happens also in every non-superhero film and we don't complain, besides, the moment was very powerful) problems to a degree but... Cliché, cackling villain?!! Really?! What film did you see? Loki is not the cliché, cackling villain because he can't be it. It was almost the entire point of the character in the film. Loki, after feeling betrayed and being vanished, wants the Eart for two things: 1. To hurt Thor, because the realm is under his protection and 2. Because of his Ego. He's shown that he lacks the capacity to be king and therefore he now needs to conquer something, anything, to prove himself that it's not true (That's basically the reason he didn't kill The Avengers on the spot, he wanted to prove himself that he's better than them) and to get this he tries to act like the stereotypical villain, but you see that there's much more than that on the interior, when he's on 'Smug Smile' mode is not because of confidence like a typical villain, is because he sees that his plan is cracking and can't stand it (that's also the reason he gets so angry when talking with Coulson, who basically calls him a loser, and Stark on the top of the tower, when he 'loses' the verbal fight and is unable to Brainwash Stark = realizes he's gonna lose). Him realizing his mistakes and accepting defeat (=realizing he can't be this kind of villain) is primordial aspect of the character and the film.
So... No, Loki is no cliché, cackling villain.
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Same Movie, Different Packaging
As far as superheroes go, I'm not the most devoted fan. I've seen Captain America, Nolan's Batman films, most of Iron Man, along with bits and pieces of the Spider-Man trilogy. I watched superhero cartoons as a kids when they played on TV, but I never actively went out to find them. I've only glanced through a few comic books for the art styles, not the story.
Why is this relevant? Because even as a relative superhero noob, Avengers has so many typical superhero tropes that nothing seemed new to me beyond the multitude of heroes. Cliché, cackling villain? Check. Formulaic plot that begins with the heroes being self-assured, doubting themselves at the middle, and regaining their confidence in time for the final battle? Check. Hero barely escaping certain doom at the last minute, nearly dying and waking up surrounded by friends? Check.
Even Whedon's creative staple of the cast snarking on each other feels tired and protracted. The only thing missing was the epic reckoning of hero and villain, which Loki wasn't allowed the dignity of having. It's a shame, because the movie suffered for it. You had to wonder how a guy so easily defeated got ahead of the heroes in the first place.
On the plus, Cap as the "man out of time" was intriguing, and Black Widow was awesomeness with a nice haircut.
On the minus, Paltrow and Downey are on completely different wavelengths while acting, which makes their romance seem disjointed and forced. He's energetic and brimming with his character's animation, while she doesn't appear to be capable of speaking in a tone that isn't whiny, breathless, or both. It's hard not to feel apathetic toward the "final phone call" scene, which I can't decide if I love for being a homage to Captain America' or hate for being so obviously lifted that it feels cheap.
If I could change one thing, I would give Loki and Thor more depth and and interaction, they're an interesting pair, and their relationship and its ramifications received so little focus.
Overall, this is every superhero flick you've seen before, but with more superheroes.