Man, it feels like forever since I've done one of these. Well, long story short, I've been busy with The World's Almost Finest Podcast over on FNXtreme.com, so once I was able to get a second, I came right back here! Anyway, for this review, I decided to venture away from just movies and review something else. So here now is my feelings on season 1 of the Marvel animated series "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!"
By the year 2010, Marvel Comics and Disney had already began establishing what would become known as the "Marvel Cinematic Universe", and while they were establishing their dominance on the silver screen, they decided that they also wanted to showcase their characters in a different light. And when it came to animation, Marvel had already used that medium to showcase characters like the X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and the Silver Surfer, just to name a few. But the decision was made to create an animated series that would help show the world a team that wouldn't have a live-action treatment until 2012. A team that had been a staple of revolving characters for many, many years.
The story of season 1 started out as your basic "introducing each character" solo episode, with the first 5 episodes being "Iron Man Is Born", "Thor the Mighty", "Hulk Versus The World", "Meet Captain America", and "The Man in the Ant Hill". It wasn't until the episodes 6 & 7 2-parter "Breakout" where the team was formed. Well...all but Cap. 75 super villains were released from prisons like the Cube, the Vault, the Big House, and the Raft. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant Man & Wasp come together to save New York City from all the craziness. Soon after, Captain America is found, thawed out, and joins the team, although he is haunted by the memory of losing his best friend and side kick Bucky while trying to stop Hydra and the Red Skull. Then, not too long after that, the Black Panther joins the team after the Avengers help him reclaim the kingdom of Wakanda. But on the other end of the spectrum, Thor's evil half-brother Loki is bringing together his own team of villains, such as The Enchantress & the Executioner, Baron Zemo, Abomination, Wonder Man, and Crimson Dynamo.
By the year 2010, Marvel Comics and Disney had already began establishing what would become known as the "Marvel Cinematic Universe", and while they were establishing their dominance on the silver screen, they decided that they also wanted to showcase their characters in a different light. And when it came to animation, Marvel had already used that medium to showcase characters like the X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and the Silver Surfer, just to name a few. But the decision was made to create an animated series that would help show the world a team that wouldn't have a live-action treatment until 2012. A team that had been a staple of revolving characters for many, many years.
The story of season 1 started out as your basic "introducing each character" solo episode, with the first 5 episodes being "Iron Man Is Born", "Thor the Mighty", "Hulk Versus The World", "Meet Captain America", and "The Man in the Ant Hill". It wasn't until the episodes 6 & 7 2-parter "Breakout" where the team was formed. Well...all but Cap. 75 super villains were released from prisons like the Cube, the Vault, the Big House, and the Raft. Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant Man & Wasp come together to save New York City from all the craziness. Soon after, Captain America is found, thawed out, and joins the team, although he is haunted by the memory of losing his best friend and side kick Bucky while trying to stop Hydra and the Red Skull. Then, not too long after that, the Black Panther joins the team after the Avengers help him reclaim the kingdom of Wakanda. But on the other end of the spectrum, Thor's evil half-brother Loki is bringing together his own team of villains, such as The Enchantress & the Executioner, Baron Zemo, Abomination, Wonder Man, and Crimson Dynamo.
The series told a large, expansive story that utilized many different locations, such as Avengers Mansion in New York City, the Kingdom of Wakada, and the glorious realm of Asgard. All throughout the episodes, the Avengers were attempting to track down all of the escaped prisoners and put them back where they belong, yet always found themselves dealing with some sort of outside problem at the same time. Comic book storylines were used wonderfully, such as Earth finding itself caught in the middle of the Kree-Skrull War, the Masters of Evil team itself, or the battle against the evil sentient robot Ultron, which sent Hank Pym into a mindset of deep depression, seeing as how Ultron was both his AND Stark's creation, and he eventually left the team.
The animation was leaps and bounds above past Marvel cartoons, and the voice actors chosen for each character were practically perfect choices! Brian Bloom took on the role of Captain America, Eric Loomis provided the voice of Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Cox voiced Clint "Hawkeye" Barton, James C. Mathis III as "T'Challa/Black Panther", Rick D. Wasserman as "Thor", Wally Wingert as "Hank Pym/Ant-Man", Colleen O'Shaughnessey as "Janet Van Dyne/Wasp" and Fred Tatasciore as "The Incredible Hulk". Voice acting phenomenon Phil LeMarr provided the voice for Stark's artificial intelligence "J.A.R.V.I.S.".
I thoroughly enjoyed season 1. I loved the way they integrated actual comic book storylines while telling incredibly narrative stories at the same time. Even the inclusions, although small at the time, of Kree soldier Captain Mar-vell and Carol "Miss Marvel" Danvers proved that they had a big plan for season 2, which initially kicked off with the last few moments of the season 1 Finale...