I've said for a long time now that while Marvel Comics is without a doubt winning the live-action movie war against DC Comics, it simply cannot be argued that DC has been winning the Animated war. DC's dominance in the animated market was established way back in the early 90's with shows like the Batman Animated Series, the Superman animated series and the too-awesome-for-words Justice league series. Sure, Marvel had some success with the X-Men and Spider-man animated shows from the 90's, but I don't think anyone would argue that the quality of the storytelling of DC's shows has been much higher on average.
Then, in the first decade of the 2000's, DC continued to blaze animated trails with shows like Justice League Unlimited and some amazing straight to DVD animated movies featuring Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Superman and more. Meanwhile, Marvel hasn't managed to do a whole lot. Every now and then a piece of brilliance comes out from them like the Wolverine VS. animated movies and the Wolverine & The X-Men series, but these quality projects are few and far in between, and in the case of the latter they go unappreciated by fans and are cancelled after only one season.
Today, DC dominates the animated superhero field. However, Marvel isn't quite ready to call it a day just yet. Back in October 2010 they launched a brand new series called Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I know, you're probably saying to yourself, "2010? Why the hell are you writing about this now? This is not news!" Well, to that I'd say that you need to relax. I'm only a part time blogger and I'm also generally incredibly behind when it comes to what is on TV seeing as I don't have cable and must rely on Netflix and the internet for my entertainment needs. I'm doing the best I can here.
Anyways, yes, the series has been out for a while now. It's also been recently added to Netflix's Instant Play feature, which is how I finally managed to start watching it. I'll be honest here, I didn't have much hope for this show at first. Due to Marvel's animated track record, my expectations here were low indeed. To my much delighted surprise though, what I found was a high quality series that rivals anything that DC has ever put out.
Now, admittedly, there are some things that you have to get past. While the animated style of the show may not be as clean and as elegant as Bruce Timm's designs for the various DC shows, the character models here are rather lovely to watch once you get used to them a bit, simple though they may be. Also, I will readily admit that the show has possibly the worst theme song ever. Seriously, it's even worse than the theme from Star Trek: Enterprise, and that's really saying something.
Trust me though, just mute the sound during the opening credits. The show that comes after the credits is amazing!
First off, let me point out that this series was obviously designed to be very similar (if not identical) to the Marvel movie universe. Nick Fury is black, and the voice actor they got to play Tony Stark sounds amazingly like Robert Downey Jr. I don't see this as a bad thing though. With the build Marvel has been doing towards their giant live-action Avengers film, having an animated tie-in makes perfect sense to me. Don't worry though, this show isn't just some half assed money grab for name recognition. It easily could have been, but thankfully the team behind it worked hard to make it a great work on it's own two feet.
One of the biggest things I love about this show is that the team isn't already formed at the start of the first episode. In fact, the team doesn't form until around episode 5 or 6. This series takes it's time and devotes those first few episodes to fleshing out the characters and the backgrounds of each of the team members. Episode one focuses solely on Tony Stark, Episode two looks at Thor, Episode three is the Hulk, Episode four is Captain America, and so on. This investment of time into the characters showing how they operate individually pays off huge dividends later in the season as they have to learn to work together despite not always getting along.
That's a huge theme of the show, actually, looking at just what it means to be a team. Having to trust others you don't necessarily like comes up more than once. While Tony Stark is the de facto leader of the team, it is made clear on multiple occasions that his team doesn't entirely trust his motives and are prone to not following his orders when he issues them. It makes for some great dialogue and character building.
While each episode of the series is a solid stand-alone tale (exluding some specific two-part storylines), there is definitely a season long running story arc that is brewing behind the scenes which is building towards a huge climax at the end of the season. Each episode of the series ends with a Lost or True Blood style cliffhanger that furthers this arc and makes you want to watch the next episode right away. It would not be uncommon to watch multiple episodes in a row just so you can find out what happens next.
The pacing of this mega arc is what I liked best about the series. It added this extra level of importance to what was going on from episode to episode. While on the surface the Avengers are fighting the villain for that week's show, it's clear to the audience that someone behind the scenes in pulling the strings and is setting events into motion that the team has to try to stop. Slowly, over the course of the season the Avengers themselves catch on to this, and begin investigating what is really going on. Along the way, they face some of their greatest enemies and make some friends along the way.
One character who sadly doesn't get his own background episode in the beginning of the season, but who nonetheless plays a pivotal role in the show is Hawkeye. He doesn't even officially join the team until about halfway through the season, but even he is given a great background story of his own that plays out in the background of the season's first 12 episodes or so. By the time he joins the team, you understand who he is and why he has decided to join up even though that is quite counter to his personality type.
I'll be honest here, Hawkeye is my favorite character in the show. I never really understood why people liked him as I was growing up. He seemed so boring to me. He's an archer, big whooptie doo. So what? It wasn't until I read how Brian Michael Bendis wrote him in the Avengers Disassembled comics that I actually started to like him. The way Hawkeye is written into this show is just beautiful. He's the smart-ass snarky dick on the team who questions everything and everyone around him. He's the one who keeps the team members honest with themselves and others. He's also the one who gave me my single favorite scene in the entire first season. This scene, to be exact:
The first time I saw this, I was laughing so hard I had to pause the show and rewind it because I missed the whole next scene that came after it. Any show that can do that to me just shows how high the quality of the writing is.
Another thing I love about this show is all of the nods they make to other Marvel characters. One of the running things to keep a watch out for is whenever any random person is reading a newspaper. On the pages of those papers you will find references to people like The Punisher and even the Man-Thing. It's also not uncommon for the Avengers (especially Tony Stark and Hank Pym) to randomly name drop other heroes like Mr. Fantastic or the whole Fantastic Four team as they are talking to other characters. There are tons of mini cameos as well to look out for. The show is littered with these things which don't come off as forced at all, and which add to the whole feel that this show takes place within the larger Marvel Universe.
By the time you get to the climactic final battle at the end of Season One, you are not left disappointed at all. The battles are truly epic, the characters all learn things and experience some form of character growth, and there is even a huge cliffhanger that reveals a bit of what Season Two will have to offer. Can you say Secret Invasion?
By the time I finished the first season of the show, I can fully say that I think that Marvel has finally found what it takes to make a great animated TV series. They took the time to tell each character's back story. They didn't rush plot developments. For example, the build from Hank Pym first building Ultron to Ultron eventually turning evil is a background tale told over the season. It takes almost 20 episodes to get to where Ultron is a villain. That kind of story telling is what I love best about this show.
If you are a fan of comics and superheroes at all, you owe it to yourself to watch this series. It's the single best cartoon series that Marvel has ever created. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
Final Grade: A+
