The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (Vols. 1 and 2)Disney Home Video
Release date: April 26, 2011
MSRP: $19.99 each
Not having the money to collect comic books, I learned about comic book characters from cartoons. I grew up favoring Marvel over DC. Marvel’s characters lived in real-world cities, not Metropolis, Gotham City, Central City, or Coast City. Marvel’s characters also seemed edgier, not all-encompassing.
My allegiance shifted to DC in the early 90s with the premiere of Batman: The Animated Series, and DC’s cartoons maintained that level of quality while Marvel’s lagged. With The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which premiered on Disney XD last October, Marvel has won me back.
Simply put, the animation is eye-popping and the voice acting is top-notch, particularly Eric Loomis’s mimicry of Robert Downey Jr.’s popular Tony Stark/Iron Man. My other favorite character is Janet van Dyne/The Wasp, voiced by actress and comedian Colleen O’Shaughnessey, but as I say, the acting is uniformly excellent.
Volume 1 lists seven episodes, but five of these 22-minute episodes originally appeared online as a 20-episode “micro-series” featuring the heroes before they teamed up. Episodes 6 and 7 are the two parts of the TV series premiere “Breakout”, in which S.H.I.E.L.D.’s four major prisons fail and seventy-four supervillains escape, prompting the first team-up of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, and the Hulk..
Together, the two volumes (one disc each) cover the first half of Season One, telling classic stories of the team’s earlier days, yet successfully giving them a contemporary vibe. Each episode closes hinting at a season-long arc, duplicating the feel of comics’ “See You in 30”.
Speaking of that, each volume includes a different featurette with producer Joshua Fine and writer Christopher Yost teasing what’s to come in Season Two.
–Gerald So
I have been watching this movie; even my kid likes this. I can't wait to witness the next series. I am looking forward for the release of the new features.
It was fun, at least the second half was. It is hard to under emphasize the significant difference between the first and second halves. The action was pretty well done and focus on Asgard was a good choice in our opinion.
Here is our take with lots of pics, a little wit and a touch of humor:
http://fortresstakes.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/the-avengers-earths-mightiest-heroes-2010-season-1-26-episodes/