Each Saturday morning, we’ll remind you of the time when it was still cool to wake up early on weekends. So whenever the hell you wake up these days, there will be a nostalgic treat waiting for you, reminding you of those old jammies you used to wear and that old television set. They make even less sense now, but that’s half the fun. We hope you enjoy.
The Cartoon: The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
Animation Studio: Marvel Animation
Original Run: 2010 –
Episodes: 20 micro-series, 19 first season episodes
Seasons: 1 to date
Aired On: Disney XD, Teletoon
The Characters
Iron-Man / Tony Stark, Thor, Captain America / Steve Rogers, The Hulk / Bruce Banner, Ant-Man / Giant-Man / Henry Pym, The Wasp / Janet Van Dyne, Hawkeye / Clint Barton, The Black Panther / T’Challa
The Setting:
Combining stories from all ages of The Avengers comic books and films, from the 1960s to the most recent incarnations, this cartoon portrays the classic line up of the Avengers as they battle the threats to Earth that no single hero can face alone. Included in their roster of adversaries are Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil (Enchantress, Executioner, Crimson Dynamo, Wonder Man), The Grim Reaper, Kang The Conqueror, MODOK and AIM, Bar0n Strucker and Hydra, The Leader, a Kree Sentry, The Wrecking Crew and more.
The Gist:
Unlike a couple of previous dogshit adaptations, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes strikes the right tone in terms of capturing the essence of the classic characters and successfully modernizing them. It features the key lineup from the late ’60s, but puts recent spins on their characters. But it also featured a story from the mid-’80s featuring the Masters of Evil where they overran the team and destroyed the mansion. So it’s really like the creators have taken the best elements from several eras and combined them in this fun adaptation.
Iron Man is taken very much from the two Robert Downey, Jr. movies. Here, Stark is as supremely headstrong, arrogant even, yet irreverent and frivolous. His armor design fairly blows, however. I really would have liked if they’d gone with classic Shellhead from the John Romita run in the ’80s, or something more like the theatrical version of the armor. Hulk has been changed from Rampaging Hulk to a cross between that and Grey Hulk, where he maintains a great deal of his intelligence. He also can turn back to Banner at will. It’s not a bad way to go and I guess there’s only so much drama to be mined from “Hulk Smash!” every episode. Black Panther is very much as he’s been portrayed in the past, not that much new about him, but he is classic T’Challa.
Thor is also very classic, although portrayed as having quite a bit more naive fascination with Midgard than what I remember from the comics. Ant-Man and Wasp are fun, and Wasp is much more winsome and is the quipster of the group. I didn’t like the dickhead version of Pym as portrayed in The Ultimate Avengers. True, Pym did eventually become an ass in the comics, but he definitely didn’t start out that way. This portrayal is much more to my liking and again very classic. It would be way cool if they followed Pym’s storyline through Goliath to Yellowjacket, his marriage to Wasp and eventual insecurity, jealousy of Wasp, and meltdown that led to his leaving the Avengers in disgrace.
Hawkeye is also very true to the comics. Where I think they didn’t get things quite right, though, is with Cap. Brian Bloom was great in The A-Team, but just doesn’t quite sound right for Cap for me. Plus, Cap occasionally looks a little too blocky. Not Liefeld blocky, but slightly more hefty than he should, IMO at least. On a side note, it’d be awesome if they did a take on the Korvac storyline. The Guardians of the Galaxy could guest star, maybe import the FF and some stray superheroes, and then have a group smackdown with Mike. Can you imagine an episode where Korvac is doing wholesale slaughter on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Earth’s Mightiest Guest Superheroes? Yeah, that’d be cool. They’re setting up for the big Ultron storyline, so that’ll be good. Also definitely looking forward to the Kree-Skrull arc.
So yes, the stories are good, draw a lot upon the comics’ history and are well written. They even dusted off Baron Strucker for cripes sake. So the creators have a good sense of the Avengers’ history and have modified and adapted it nicely.
The Short History:
The show started with a 20-part micro-series and then premiered this past fall on Disney XD.
The Merchandise:
Didn’t really see any toys specific to this show, but Avengers toys have been around forever:
You Might Have Seen This Micro-Series:
Tune in next Saturday morning for another installment.
6 comments
I’ve really enjoyed the episodes that I have seen of this show so far. They addressed most of my problems with the two animated Ultimates films and have crafted a solid series that will hopefully continue for quite awhile.
I actually saw a couple of episodes in the last few weeks and thought they were really well done. Are these shown on Saturday mornings now? I would LOVE to Guardians of the Galaxy! (I had a couple of their old, original issues way back…)
David Oliver, Verily, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is…THE, greatest Marvel Cartoon, bar none. THOR, has always been fascinated by the Wonders of Earth. He always seemed to think the Earth and it’s inhabitants as needing protection. He has had several bouts with ODIN, about needing to stay on Earth, unless of course, Asgard is endangered. Cap is a little bigger in this, but they want to show him as a…SUPER Soldier. Of course the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the most different, as they went with the Ultimate Nick Fury. Yet, this Nick, is still closer to Jim Steranko’s Superagent, than any other recent incarnation as…Iron Man 1 and 2, Wolverine And The X-Men, Ultimate Avengers etc. The only one I didn’t like is…Wonder Man. To Me, they should have gone with the 70’s incarnation, of Simon Williams, Stuntman, Hollywood Hero. The Wasp is absolutely…Wonderful, in EMH! I…Love, when she pairs with THOR, the most. THOR and Wasp vs A.I.M. and M.O.D.O.K, was…Awesome. THOR is one of my favorite Superheroes in The Avengers. With his Faux Shakespearian dialogue (I wish they were including that in the film THOR.) being paired with the tiniest Super Gal on the team, is just hilarious. Here he is thinking he has to protect people of Earth, and then he sees Janet Van Dyne, and Jane Foster do their thing, as he starts to realize, he isn’t the only one trying to save people. I also…Love, the quintets, S.H.I.E.L.D’s Helicarrier, and all the other cool tech, ships and gadgetry on display. Avengers Mansion is Awe-Inspiring! As for classic shorelines, I am excited for the…Kree/Skrull war. There is one other I would love to see EMH tackle, and that is…The Secret Wars, the Mid-80’s edition. It would also be neat to see…The Collector. Well, till another day…AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
David Oliver, Oops, forgot something! I…Love your pic of the arcade cabinet of…Captain America And The Avengers. Although, THOR, should have been in instead of, Vision. I used, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye on his…Rocket Cycle, from the Hawkeye Miniseries with Mockingbird (not the recent one). The one before she died. Also, is that a new Lego Avengers Game, or just a photo shop. If it is real, is it a PS3 Exclusive, or on all systems. If it is an exclusive, then the makers of the game are…Blockheads!
That LEGO Avengers pic is fan art, right?
Yeah, though, enjoying this show.
Cool write up, but yeah, what’s up with the Lego fan art pic? There definitely have never been any Marvel Legos. Art Asylum has the still running Mini-Mates line, which are cool, but if you want real building blocks action, Mega Bloks has the Marvel license. You should check out some of those. Their Iron Man 2 sets are pretty neat.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.