Whether we like it or not, from here on in Marvel Comics and Marvel Entertainment is officially owned by Disney Studios. What effect this will have on the comics and characters as a whole has yet to be fully realized, but many can agree one of the positive outcomes of this new ownership has been “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” a full fledged action adventure series starring all of the heroes we know and love fighting as one super team against Earth’s most impossible foes.
After a very disastrous animated attempt in the late nineties many fans recall with disgust, Disney has rebooted the animated franchise including all of our favorite heroes the aforementioned series failed to include and have considerably gone all out creatively and artistically. While the series will satisfy fans of the actual title, the intent of the series is to garner brand new fans of the titles and characters being pushed on a kids channel geared toward boys and will undoubtedly win over a brand new generation of true believers.
Which is the point. What with the big budget blockbuster live action adaptation of The Avengers coming in a few years, “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” is here to set the stages for the fandom, renewing faith in old fans and building a base for new ones who will flock to theaters to see the big screen version when it finally arrives. Thankfully for those who feared this would be a watered down kiddy version of the super team like the series “The Super Hero Team” we all know and loathe, this series admittedly never pulls its punches. Sure it doesn’t have gore and bloodshed, but it also never resorts to “Spider-Man: The Animated Series” levels of censorship either. When our heroes fight, they hit with fists, and they hit with the intent to hurt.
In one instance during the prequel mini-sodes that explored the characters before the series, Hulk punches the head off of one of the villains. And on rare occasions there are themes of marital discord between Wasp and Antman, as well as peeks in to the whole war that occurred before Cap Am was frozen. “The Avengers” is a show that many will be fearful of going in to, but once they warm up to it, they’ll find that Disney and Marvel really do let out all the stops. There are cameos from heroes like Spider-Man, the Punisher, lip service to the Fantastic Four, and there are appearances from every single superhero we’ve seen in the team. Black Panther, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Antman, Wasp, Black Widow, Iron Man, the gang’s all here, and they’re all allowed a moment in the spotlight with their own episodes and one-shots as well as recurring storylines, most of which are quire interesting.
Why is the Black Panther breaking in to the Avengers mansion unnoticed and seeking out their individual roster profiles on the mansion’s computer? What does he want? What ever became of Hawkeye after he broke out of prison? Will we see the Red Skull any time soon? Most importantly, how long will it be before Antman’s Ultron system finally decides that it’s time to stop obeying and start commanding? Even folks who saw the entire minisodes epic that set up storylines for the series will have their own nagging questions. The animation is marvelous and matched with the top notch voice work, this is a series that many will have a blast with. Paired with a wicked catchy rock theme song, the animators do everything to match the series with the upcoming movie.
Tony Stark sounds exactly like Robert Downey Jr. with his wit and droll temperament, Thor’s girlfriend looks and sounds like Natalie Portman, Captain America resembles Chris Evans to some degree, Nick Fury is still African American (unfortunately), Black Widow sounds like Scarlett Johannsen, and Hawkeye bears a weird resemblance to Jeremy Renner. Not to mention the Hulk is in green form most of the time on screen with Bruce Banner acting as a conscience to the goliath. A hint at the storyline for the big screen version, perhaps? In spite of the audience it’s appealing to, the series is most of the time very exciting with appearances from most of the title’s banner villains while also knowing where its audiences mentality lies.
There are rarely times when our heroes are out of costume, and there are almost no peeks behind the personal lives of our individual titans beyond Tony Stark’s bickering with Pepper Potts, and the romance between Antman and Wasp. The only downfall among the group is Wasp who, while providing a female element, is probably the least interesting of the group, doing very little to fight the villains beyond giving them pep talks and zipping around like Tinkerbell during big matches only to conveniently get through to a menace when the episode is almost done. In spite of that flaw, “The Avengers” is quite addictive and is very much in the vein of Bruce Timm’s “Justice League” series where the characters are larger than life and they all get their days in the sun. Anyone looking for a masterful version of these characters in motion should check out “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” a series teeming with creativity, entertainment, and excitement.