Avengers - I più potenti eroi della Terra

Being a comic book fanboy since I was six, I always hoped for an animated series featuring Marvel Comics's illustrious super-hero team, "The Avengers", since I thought they were cool (well…maybe not "X-Men cool).

When fall 1999 came around, I wanted to vomit when I saw "Avengers: United They Stand", a fourth-rate production that mishandled second-class heroes, sentenced first-rate heroes to guest-star status, used poor character designs and had a soul that was part-Power Rangers (ugh!) and part-toy commercial without decent plots(double ugh!).

Eleven years is a long wait, but "The Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes" is worth it.

Corralled as a unit in 1963 by co-creators Stan Lee and the late Jack Kirby (both men co-created each individual with some assist from Stan's brother, Larry Lieber and the late Don Heck), the original five members are given good exposure here: armored crusader Iron Man (voiced by Eric Loomis); Asgardian thunder god Thor (Rick Wasserman); micro-sized troubleshooters Ant-Man (Wally Wingert) and the Wasp (Colleen O'Shaughnessy) and gamma-radiated behemoth Hulk (Fred Tatasciore of "Ben 10").

Earth needs them since many super-powered miscreants (name them all and win a prize!) have escaped from four maximum security prisons, this plot adapted from the "Breakout" arc from the recent "New Avengers" comic book. Guess having one of the lockups shrunken and stationed in the helicarrier headquarters of the counter-terrorist group SHIELD was a BAD idea. In future episodes, other heroes will enter the fray like World War II superhuman patriot Captain America; unconventional archer Hawkeye and African monarch/combatant Black Panther. Bring on the good and bad guys!

Though it won't surpass the monolithic "Justice League: The Animated Series" from long-time competitor DC/Warner Bros Animation, "Avengers" joins recent Marvel Comics animated shows "X-Men: Evolution" and "The Spectacular Spider Man" as good quality productions. You better assemble, true believers!

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.

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.

Fantastic series and the most true to the comic stories to date. Excellent action, characters, and story telling. The characters are so life like you'll forget you're watching a cartoon and get lost in the story line.

It's also fun to see the similarities between this show and the Marvel movies that have become so popular. If you have never had a chance to read the comics, this show is a great opportunity to see where the essence of the movies came from.

If you're a Marvel fan, you'll love this series. My only complaint is that they ended it way too soon after only 2 seasons.

Avengers Assemble!!

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.