AVENGERS ASSEMBLE – An Otaku’s Review
Avengers Assemble is yet another animated series from the same folks who brought us Ultimate Spider-Man, the fast-pace action writing by Man of Action (Ben 10 series, Generator Rex) and comes off technically as a spin-off of Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man animated series which will air side by side with this new Avengers series and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.
We really should have seen the Avengers Assemble series coming a mile away. With the exception of Black Widow and The Falcon each Avenger has made an appearance in Ultimate Spider-Man with reference to ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’ (not the previous animated show just the team itself). This pattern is almost the same as Marvel’s Cinematic Universe: giving such characters as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk their own movies. The roster with the exception of the Falcon is the same as Marvel Studio’s The Avengers.
Animation has been one of Marvel’s weaknesses as often compared to DC Comics Animated stuff. With all this in mind could we be seeing the emergence of Marvels own Animated Universe? Then again, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., another one of Marvel’s upcoming animated shows may have little to nothing to do with the Avengers Assemble series. The only voice acting I recognized was Laura Bailey (Shin Chan) for her portrayal of Black Widow. [Now I keep imagining Black Widow doing the famous Shin Chan dance.]
The fast pace story telling by Man of Action works well for the series. The super villain Cabal has me intrigued with the Red Skull leading the group and including the Fantastic Four’s greatest foe Doctor Doom (who was part of the Cabal in the Marvel Comics event Dark Reign.) There are so many stories in the Avengers Comics that could be implemented in this new series.
While I love the fast paced story-telling combined with the humor that seems to be taken from a lot of Avenger memes found on the web (Iron Man telling Thor ‘it’s hammer time’) I would love to see perhaps Age of Ultron, Avengers Arena, or even Young Avengers in this series.
This was done in the previous animated series Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which brilliantly took almost every genre of the Avengers Comic (story-wise) into one animated series. From the 1960’s Avengers, how the Avengers found Captain America, The Secret Invasion and NEW Avengers.
Even before Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Fox Kids back in the 90s aired an rather unfortunate animated series entitled “Avengers: United They Stand” in which Antman (who we’ll see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015) led the Avengers with cameos from the big three: Captain America, Iron Man and Thor. While Avengers Assemble is an improvement over Avengers: United They Stand story-wise, the series has a ways to go to even come close to Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes but at least the character designs are far better. I so disliked the character design for Iron Man (particularly his helmet) in Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes.
Avengers fans will love this series. Particularly those who discovered the Avengers through the hit movie from Marvel Studios. Avengers Assemble airs every Sunday starting in July 2013 on Disney XD.
