Os Vingadores: Os Super-Heróis Mais Poderosos da 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!

Finally Marvel comics has some quality work to compete with all the awesome DC animated movies/shows that have been coming out lately. The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes takes everything that was great about the old comics and filters it through the modern Universe that Marvel is building through their big budget movies.

The artwork, animation and character design is spot on. The attention to detail paid in these shows to the story and characters is proof that the folks making this series truly love and respect the old comics and these beloved heroes and villains. And let's not forget the most important part...the action - which is fast paced and epic as almost any Marvel comic.

Story arcs and sub-plots abound just like the comics and the cast of characters is huge. I would like to see the Vision though, and Ultron would be nice as well...hopefully the show gets many more seasons to explore those options.

If Marvel could apply this sort of treatment to perhaps an animated Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four or even Spider-Man I'm sure millions of fans would rejoice! Avengers Earths Mightiest heroes is this fan's delight.

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.

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!!

I am a long time fan of the Avengers, and have dreamed of the day when we would see an animated series that could actually capture the best of the comic and bring it to life. I feel that this show really does that. I followed the comic for over 35 years, but finally stopped a few years ago, because I felt the book lost it's magic. They allowed a new creative team to make the book more "popular", at the expense of what made the book great. I believe this new animated series will delight long time fans, while bringing a new younger audience to these characters. It seems that the creative team behind this series is taking great care to stay true to the original material, while doing a great job of merging it with a modern spin. They've even taken elements from newer story lines, and worked them in very effectively. I like the look of the show a lot. I would have preferred a look more reflective of George Perez's style (my favorite Avengers artist}, but I do understand that a lot of people enjoy the more anime look. I will say that it flows very smoothly, and with so much action, it is very exciting. I just watched the first 13 episodes, and can't wait for the rest of season 1 to be released on DVD. On the DVD's they talk about some of the things planned for second season, and all I can say is it looks amazing. If Marvel could get the same excitement back into the comic, I would be buying it again! I'm hoping this series has a very long run, and continues to bring in more of my favorite characters and story lines.