This week's DVD releases include some popular crime-fighting teams.

"The Avengers": Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the rest of the gang come together to fight Loki and an alien invasion. Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner star.

The real hero of "The Avengers" is not Iron Man, Thor or even Nick Fury. It's Joss Whedon. The film's director managed to pull off the Herculean task of blending four huge Marvel Comics film franchises to give each time to shine individually and as a group.

He even found time to toss in some of the trademark humor that made Whedon a king of the geeks with his "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series. There's not a wasted frame.

"American Horror Story: The Complete First Season": The creative team behind "Nip/Tuck" and "Glee" have taken aim at reinventing the family dramas with "American Horror Story." The FX series slips between sadomasochism and the supernatural to examine the horrors of everyday life from adultery to a weak economy.

It all starts with a creepy house where Vivien (Connie Britton) and Ben (Dylan McDermott) Harmon are trying to start a new life with their teenage daughter, Violet (Taissa Farmiga). The house comes with spooky neighbor (Jessica Lange), scarred naysayer (Denis O'Hare) and a mysterious housekeeper (Frances Conroy and Alexandra Breckenridge) who appears either old or young depending on who is doing the viewing.

The show is terrifying and addictive.

"Rescue

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Me: The Complete Series": Denis Leary's cable series about the strange characters who inhabit a New York firehouse is one of the most underappreciated series to air on TV. The show's near-perfect mix of dark comedy and emotional writing should have made it a constant Emmy winner.

If all that good writing and acting isn't reason enough to make you want to own the entire series, it's also a special tribute. The series Leary and Peter Tolan created three years after 9/11 was meant as a continuing memorial to the 343 firefighters who died in New York the day of the terrorist attack. It's a reminder that firefighters run into burning buildings when everyone else is running out.

Also out this week

  • "Charlie's Angels: The Complete Series": Set includes five seasons of the classic detective series.

  • "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1": Next entry in the "DC Universe Animated Original Movies" series.

  • "CSI: Miami -- The Final Season": David Caruso removes his sunglasses for the last time.

  • "Strippers vs. Werewolves": War breaks out when a werewolf is killed at a strip club.

  • "Delicacy": A woman begins to have doubts after finding romance.

  • "The Man From Beijing": Murder of 19 people has police suspecting a madman.

  • "Gossip Girl: The Complete Fifth Season": Chace Crawford stars.

  • "CSI: The Twelfth Season": Procedural drama set in Las Vegas.

  • "The Carol Burnett Show": Collection of top episodes.

  • "CSI: New York -- The Eighth Season": Gary Sinise stars.

  • "Desperate Housewives: The Complete Eighth & Final Season": The look into life on Wisteria Lane comes to an end.

  • "Key & Peele: Season 1": Comedy Central series.

  • "Andrew Breitbart Presents: Occupy Unmasked": A look at the Occupy movement from the conservative blogger.

  • "Portlandia, Season Two": Fred Armisen stars in the cable comedy.

    COMING UP

    Oct. 2: "Dark Shadows," "People Like Us."
    Oct. 9: "The Raven," That's My Boy."
    Oct. 16: "Moonrise Kingdom," "That's My Boy."
    Oct 23: "Savages: Unrated Edition," "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."
    Nov. 13: "Brave."
    Nov. 30: "Men in Black 3."