Marvel The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Well it's an awkward title to be sure. The series itself though is much more in balance. It's the story of course of the Avengers which is the goto team of superheroes in the marvel universe. As with any comic property with multi decade backlog, the creators of this cartoon choose the streamline things a bit. That's not a bad thing to be sure, there are simply many issues of the comic book that wisely should be forgotten.

So the story begins with Tony Stark. He's the same brash smart ass as in the movies, so that's a big plus. He's butting heads against SHIELD cause he doesn't want to make weapons any more, but he realizes his creations have already become weapons in the hand of villain organizations such as Hydra.

From that point the story slowly unfolds introducing each avenger one by one. I like this, there's no hurry in becoming the Avengers and we get to know each person. There's Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Ant Man and Wasp. Most are fairly close to their the comic book personas save Ant Man who wisely has been changed from unstable wife beater to super science nerd. We are also introduced to the four jails of the Marvel Universe. Each is designed to handle different types of super criminals. My favorite was the big house which was designed by Ant Man. It shrinks the villains till they are very tiny.

There's an over arcing plot involving Loki, and a massive jail break from all four jails. It's a well paced story, and luckily for us they take the time for character development of both villains and heroes. I like how the series ask the question of what do we do after we capture Dr. Doom. What does the government do? Just contain? Or study for even more weapons? Where are the ethics in binding someone in ten tons of chains, or keeping them in a coma?

It's certainly not all angst. When the fighting gets started it's truely Marvel style over the top. The best was the final fight in this DVD vs. Graviton. Here's a villain who thinks nothing of lifting up Manhattan Island. That's some serious power dudes.