The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes

I remember hearing about this series back in 2010, just thinking, "great, just another big budget movie ad for the kids." In any case, I was definitely gonna watch, considering my obsession with animation at the time, plus I'd been getting more into The Avenger's books during Dark Reign. I didn't expect much though, looking at the blocky animation style, and there was no way it could top Spectacular Spider-Man season 2. In any case, it had to be better than the original Avengers cartoon they had back in the day.

Just from the theme song, I was instantly hooked on the first episode. I don't even know why really. The lyrics pretty cliche, but the tune was really catchy. Of course a theme song's not gonna make the show, but it an important first impression. Now for the episode. Awesome. Just awesome. Pretty nice twist to the origin story. I never read the original story Stan Lee did, but Joe Casey did an origins series early that year, which I'm pretty sure stays fairly true to the original, but with a lot extra. The original team was there and everything, and of course Loki was the cause of all the trouble, but instead of having The Hulk being the center of all their attention, it was a whole bunch of villains who escaped from a bunch of different prisons, especially one in particular who was made for the show that could control gravity.

After all that's done and taken care of, they'gotta catch the rest of the villains, revive Captain America, and recruit the rest of the team. The season then ends with the revelation of the Skrull's. That, mixed with the little brush-in with the Kree, naturally you've gotta suspect a Secret Wars storyline coming in next season, right? Nope. Jump about 20 years, and we have Secret Invasion. That was actually quite the surprise, considering it was such a recent story, and it was pretty well played out, possibly even better than Bendis' version. Quite a bit of other big jumps in the story came about as well, like the Ant-Man/Giant-Man mantle being passed on, Yellowjacket being introduced, (Minus the woman abuse of course. Still is something of a kids show after all.) bunch of cameos, even from that of Luke Cage. (Much better than their Ultimate Spider-Man counterparts.)

Now, more recently we got the Kree invasion, which is pretty good for those, reading Avengers vs X-Men, trying to get up to speed about them, and the Supreme Intelligence. Biggest surprise was the introduction of the New Avengers, who were lead by Spider-Man, who actually didn't look like a total fool within a team for once. Finally the season ends in a one-parter with Galactus. Seemed rather out of place for me, since I feel he should only be left to the Fantastic Four 4, but seeing as Marvel vs Capcom 3 broke that rule, it's fine. Another off thing though was the fact that Silver Surfer wasn't his herald, instead he just used four elemental beings. Ah well. This forced a massive team-up of practically every character introduced in the show, including the Fantastic Four. Of course the geniuses, Iron-Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Black Panther took care of him, and the earth was saved! The only thing missing though, were the X-Men, but I guess they were too busy off on their little island, trying to fight for mutant rights, and making a name for themselves.

Obviously this series far exceeded my expectations, and I really hope it gets a third season. It's definitely on the level of the 90's X-Men cartoon, and Spectacular Spider-Man. It should probably focus on the Infinity Gauntlet, introduce the fans to Thanos a little,  before the next Avengers movie comes out. We need to see Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, along with Wonderman and Spider-Woman. Heck, with the rate they're going, they should even bring in Sentry! Come on guys, let Marvel know that this is what we want, instead of that mediocre Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon that just got cleared for another season.

The Avengers Movie Review

So the other day, a buddy texts me, asking if I wanted to go with him him to see the Avengers. Now, I'm not really much of movie buff anymore anymore, actually having not even gone since like what? 08, 09? I dunno, it's just not my thing anymore, specially considering some of the terrible things that have making it on screen, specially when it comes to adaptions, *ahem* Green Lantern *cough* but I reluctantly said alright, and everything was set. Boy do I regret not planning to go sooner.

No, tickets weren't sold out or anything. It was just that damn good. Honestly, it was not at all what I suspected. Yeah, I saw all the lead up movies on DVD, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America, Thor probably being my personal favorite, and I enjoyed them all, but I never really regretted not going out to see a theatrical release, but this. This was sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, not even noticing the two and a half hour clock in time.

The thing didn't even betray it's comic book counter part at all, except of course, the replacement of Giant Man and Wasp, with Hawkeye and Black Widow, but it was fine, although Hawkeye could've really used a whole lot more screen time. I'm not really of him in the comics, Ultimate or 616, but they could've really portrayed the reasons as to why I felt that way, but oh well. The reasoning behind that loss did benefit the story. Oh yeah, about that story...

Well, I don't want to spoil a thing, but basically it all just starts up where Thor left off, Loki being up to his old tricks, which of course, how can you have an Avengers Mythos start off any other way? Ultron, or Aliens? Nah. It's gotta be Loki. Cap is trying to adjust to the grand new reality he's found himself in, while Stark is just being Stark. Thor doesn't come in til later, looking for his brother, while Hawkeye and Widow are just doing their jobs. If you saw Thor and Iron Man 2, there's nothing new there, and Fury was Sam Jackson. Nuff Said.

What, and who is new however was the new Bruce Banner, Mark Ruffalo . I wasn't really too sure how to take in the new guy really. He was nothing at all like the past two, being more soft-spoken, and confident, thought it worked, considering how at that point, he really would've been in more control of his counterpart, who admittedly, I was rather too excited to see. Took a while for him to finally change, the first time not under the prettiest conditions.

The action was truly on point. Every time Cap swung his shield, I felt it. Thors struck his hammer, boom. You get the idea. The Effects were amazing, rivaling that of Transformers. (Yes, they at least deserve that kind of credit.) Sometimes I literally had to remind myself that "no Iron Man's not really flying through the city like that, it's just CGI". The comedy was perfect. Very subtle, and never forced. Stark makes a funny, you laugh, and it's back to the action.

A little quip I did have with the thing though was the constant bickering, though that's kind inevitable when you put so many powerful men in one room. It was actually a pretty nice set up one time to show off Cap's leadership capabilities, which I loved most about his portrayal. I was also very worried about the lack of the Stan Lee cameo around the first act. Trust me, when you see it, you'd have completely forgotten about it.

Overall, this was an awesome movie. Nothing intense and graphic. No yucky stuff going on on top of someones car, or in a broom closet or something. Just straight fun. Bring your friends, bring your family, anyone. At the end of the day, it will be a great experience.