Avengers - I più potenti eroi della Terra

Both Marvel and DC have to an astonishing degree started to pick up these last few years, with several well-appreciated shows that I really enjoy: Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Green Lantern TAS, and now this; The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

I'm pretty sure many of you reading this remember when back in 2001, Bruce Timm brought the Justice league into the DC animated universe. And I'm also pretty sure that everyone who does remember, can agree with me that it was an absolutely fantastic show.

Now Marvel's counterpart to the Justice League, The Avengers, have finally gotten a cartoon that really is something to behold.

Let me just make it very clear that I'm not much of a comics reader, pretty much everything I know about pretty much any character from Marvel/DC stem from their incarnations in television.

I'm a 17-year old guy with too much free time on my hands, some of that free time is mostly spent watching cartoons on the internet: more specifically, superhero cartoons.

I have seen superheroes of both Marvel and DC portrayed in wildly different ways on television: from the monumental Timmiverse incarnations of the Justice League and other DC characters, to Teen Titans and The Batman. From The 90s Spider-Man show to X-Men: Evolution

I was only vaguely familiar with most of the characters presented in "TA:EMH", so I didn't know what to expect. In fact, the only one I was at least somewhat familiar with was Iron Man, through the 2008 movie and the TV series "Iron Man: Armored Adventures".

I knew their names, their powers, and their origins, but I had literally nothing to say about their characters.

However, many people say that this show depicts the characters perfectly and 100% faithfully to the source material.

This is a good thing, because that gives me the opportunity to get to know these characters, to learn to understand them and interpret them.

This, coupled with outstanding story lines and great animation, makes "TA:EMH" an absolutely fantastic show that any fan should be able to enjoy.

My personal favorite characters among those I only vaguely knew are probably Ant-Man/Giant Man, and Thor.

I admire Ant-Man's's constant struggle to find "a better way" and his belief in the inherent good in every human being. It's really a great show of character to see him believe that even in such a violent world as the Marvel Universe, it's never too late to start again and try to put your life in line. And he's a good example for the kids watching this show. The kids need good role models too you know.

Thor strikes me as kind of similar to Superman in a lot of ways: noble, kind, powerful. But he's still a very different character. If I may point this out, I'm Norwegian, and it's something infinitely cool about watching one of the deities my ancestors (the vikings) worshipped portrayed as a noble and powerful hero of the modern day. A shame he doesn't offer Norway a thought though, oh well, you can't have everything.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is a monumental cartoon and a great achievement in animation. Absolutely worth watching.

Cancelled way too soon in lieu of Avengers ASSemble, which is unquestionably two steps back from this, great story lines, great music, great voice acting, it never gets too "Kiddy" despite it being animation. This show is always a welcome wave of nostalgia for me, and for it not even tying into the MCU, like Assemble, which is why they cancelled it, you can tell the MCU lifted a lot of ideas from this.

So I just finished watching all the 1st season's 26 episodes of The Avengers: Earths mightiest Heroes (thank you netflix) and I've got to say, it is really good. I'm not going to go on about how I've read every comic ever made blah-blah-blah, because I haven't. I'm one of those pesky bandwagon fans that never heard of Iron Man until the movie came out, but I've loved it and every other Avenger movie ever since. And yes the main reason why I watched this series is because I'm excited about the upcoming Avengers movie. I also wanted to get caught up on the rest of the story. It wasn't long until the theme song was stuck in my head all day and I had to go back and keep watching. I've read a lot of the previous reviews and it looks like the writers have stayed pretty true to the original comics and that's not hard to believe because the story is really good, one of the best I've seen on an animated series. I can only hope that that the movie will do the same. I have faith in Joss Whedon but I try not to get too excited because I've been let down by lots super hero movies before. (cough- cough* green lantern) So I cant say whether or not a well versed Marvel fan will be satisfied with this rendition of the Avengers or not, I can defiantly say that a average popcorn eating summer movie fan like myself should enjoy it as much as I have- as long as expensive CGI and explosions aren't required.

p.s. has anybody else wondered how cool the theme song would sound performed by Metallica or something? Just throwin that out there...

Earth's Mightiest Heroes was the best of the three and it is one that ranks very high up in the comic ranks. I definitely say that it is Marvel's top show and it isn't likely going to be surpassed anytime soon.

Season 1's main plot is about the Avengers forming so that they can bring back a large group of super villains who escaped from Shield prisons all across the planet. It's technically the plot of the show, but it's mostly used as a backdrop. The season is pretty episodic, but it does begin a lot of plot lines that are explored in those episodes so it's definitely better than the average pre arc. Ultron, Kang, and Loki all get multiparters as well as the Leader. There may not be much of an overreaching story arc, but most of the episodes have a cliffhanger scene at the very end so the transition from episode to episode is actually pretty great. Season 1 is a lot of fun and you can count on many excellent battles.

Season 2 decided to go for a big plot and one that featured the Skrulls deciding to invade the planet. They have taken many people in powerful positions so they are all set for their bid to conquer the human race. The Avengers have to get past several obstacles and the lack of trust in their teammates to even have a shot at taking down the Skrulls. Other highlights of the series includes the return of Ultron and Kang. It should be noted that the Kree also get a multi parter as they finally make their big move. This season can get a little dicey since we have to miss out on Hulk, Captain America, and Thor for various parts of the season, which makes for a limited roster. The Guardians of the Galaxy do get to appear though, which is pretty intense.

I will admit that I was one of the many Marvel fans who was not a huge fan of the designs for the show when they first popped up. The characters just looked a little off. Thor was actually one of the biggest offenders for me. His build just didn't seem right and his arms were huge. The hammer looked so small when Thor was holding it and the handle should have been longer. That being said, you get used to it as you watch the show. I wasn't a huge fan of Captain America's design compared to United They Stand, but it is still a very good design in its own right. The Abomination was one of the characters who drew the short straw in terms of design.

I don't know whether this is a result of the character designs or whether it was the overall animation, but the fight scenes were pretty over the top in a great way. Some of the energy blasts looked like they came out of an anime. The action scenes definitely shine in this series and they put most of the other Marvel shows to shame. The first few episodes tried some unique things with the animation, particularly Iron Man's view from inside the suit. I think that the animation took a bit if a dip after the beginning, but it still looked pretty good overall. Season 2 certainly looks sharp and it was definitely an improvement. I wasn't sure about this at first, but I definitely am now.

This series is true to the source material. But infinitely more important, it is true to the spirit, heart and drive of the source material. This enables it to change, twist, to even every so often go beyond what the great pioneers of comics achieved before it.

It is undoubtedly comic-accurate, in the most important aspect of any story: the characters. Although Tony Stark comes off initially as a full-blown impression of what Robert Downey Jr and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have achieved, he is very much his own character and very much stands on his own two feet. The best example of this is the indomitable season one finale, where even comic readers found ourselves surprised and thrilled and cheering for our heroes in a way that few other shows have achieved.

The animation quality is top-notch and more than enough to rival the legendary DC Comics series (of which I am a big admirer). It is fantastic. It is very very grounded in relatable reality in way that many DC animations are lacking, yet it, dare I say, manages to enhance the iconic work of Jack 'The King' Kirby, with his unforgettable, distinct style and a equally strong colouring. The achievement of the animation here makes the cartoons' subsequent decline, in shows such as Avengers Assemble which was frankly at best a compliment to the MCU for toddlers, all the more painful.

The stories, as I have said, have managed to capture a great deal of the essence of the comics. They remain true to the characters, and rarely rush a narrative. Characters are mostly placed well and serve a clear function in the plot. With the library of storylines at their fingertips, my hat is off to the writers. They have, in my opinion, not only chosen the right plots to adapt, merge and hint at, but they have also paced and directed the flow of the series very successfully. While some pacing issues and jarring gaps were cause of a great deal of pain to me, it was because of how invested I was in the story and the characters that made my pain as severe as it was.

The series finale feels rather soon, with many many awesome introductions and short stories leading up to it. It feels rushed, yet undeniably extremely entertaining. They manage to come up with new solutions to problems that have been solved so many times over in comics.

Ultimately, this series is between fantastic adaptation and great series, but the quality of the story and sub-plots and the characters and the phenomenal animation and character design make the series an extremely enjoying one, and one that I am happy to have invested myself in.