This was Marvel’s big comeback. A giant middle finger towards DC’s soaring animation department, per say. In order to build up as much hype as possible Marvel decided to use a more modern approach rather than the same way as their run on Fox Kids in the 90’s. Leading up to the series premiere on Disney XD, Marvel created a Youtube account allowing them to release mini-webisodes. These webisodes gave a back story to members of the new Avenger’s team and gave the overall premise of the story. The webisodes were a huge success, enabling people to pick up the show without having read a comic first. Grant it, if you have read any of Marvel’s comics before you will pick up on all the slight nods that they throw in the show.
The webisodes gave the background to our main Avengers; Tony Stark (Iron Man), Bruce Banner (Hulk), Thor, Hank Pym (Giant Man/Ant Man), Janet Van Dyne (Wasp), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Steve Rodgers (Captain America), and King T’Chala (Black Panther). We are also introduced to most of the 78 villains the Avengers will eventually face throughout the series. These villains were imprisoned in the 4 super villain prisons; The Big House, The cube, The Vault, and The Raft. The Big House is the prison built and maintained by Hank Pym, that he shrank down using his Pym Particles (Is what enables him to go big or small). It was then placed inside S.H.E.I.L.D.‘s Hellicarrier and was used to store your average, run of the mill villains that gained their powers through mutations or botched experiments. Up next is The Cube. The cube was used to hold all the Gamma irradiated villains, so mostly Hulk villains, and the Hulk himself. After the Cube is The Vault, which holds all the technology based villains. So this includes Iron Man villains, A.I.M., Hydra, and Hawkeye who was tossed in there because he was framed by Black Widow. Last is the Raft, a secret S.H.E.I.L.D. prison under the Hudson Bay. The prison holds the baddest of the baddies, such as Baron Zemo (if you know Captain America villains).

The main tv series starts off with all the prisons shutting down simultaneously, leading to the escape of all 78 villains. All except for the villains of The Cube, who stayed and took The Cube as their base. So that leads to the main plot of the series, catching ALL the bad guys that escaped. It sounded a bit redundant at first, but the way Marvel executes it is clever although you can tell they want to drag this out as much as they can. They take out most of the one-on-one aspect expected of this type of plot. Instead they use a lot of team-ups for the villains and draw out each villain arc into multiple episodes. Half way through the first season, Marvel takes a villain from each Avenger and put them together on a team causing trouble for the Avengers.

So time for the part where you get to me bitch and squeal about what I think about the series. Being the Marvel nut that I am, I was excited to hear that they were coming out with a new animation branch with Disney both in North America and overseas in Japan. Then when I heard that the first project slated for North America was going to be The Avengers I backed off a little. What dashed my hopes was a little memory of the previous Avengers show. The Avengers that didn’t have Captain America, Thor, or Iron Man, but instead had Ant Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, Vision, and fucking Tigra. So I waited patiently, not to over anxious about it, until I saw the first webisode… The first webisode focused in on Tony Stark/Iron Man. As I watch and listened something ate away at me on the inside. I sat there think of what it could be. Then it hit me. Is this shmuck trying to sound like Robert Downey Jr.? That really kind of bugged me. I mean they’ve done Iron Man stuff with Lionsgate and the voices were good then. So why not just use what works? Buut I got passed it pretty quickly. I continued to watch each webisode with interest. It came around to the Captain America episode, and honestly, I got a little excited. I’m not a huge Captain America fan, but if it’s done properly, it’s really easy to get into. I had to let out my fan boy squee when Wolverine had a cameo as James Howlett. Damn cameos get me every time.

Now that the webseries did its job and got me reacquainted with the characters and villains it was now time for it to air on tv. The Avengers; Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is a series filled with good action, well written stories, and excellent character development. I feel that the series will go on strong for its, currently scheduled, two more seasons. Written by one of Marvel’s head comic writers, Christopher Yost, the Avengers has its needed authentic comic feel. I’ve watched all the available episodes at least three times so far and I have to give the series a 4/5, with one of the only drawbacks being the subpar voice acting. All in all, if you have the chance check it out.