This article is written from the Real World perspective |
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! | |
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File:Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Logo.png | |
Beginning date | September 22, 2010 (United States) |
End date | June 28, 2012 (Australia) |
Number of Episodes | 52 |
Writers | Christopher Yost |
Producers | Joshua Fine Simon Philips Eric S. Rollman Ciro Nieli |
Original Channel | Disney XD |
Previous Series | Black Panther |
Next Series | Marvel Anime: Iron Man |
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! is a Non MAU series. It is the second series to focus on the Avengers after The Avengers: United They Stand. For the first time since Spider-Man and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the series will feature a main character, Iron Man, who also appears on another series currently airing, the other being Iron Man: Armored Adventures.
Story
When the worst criminals in the world are broken out of prison, Earth's greatest champions must ban together and become and unstoppable fighting force. The team includes Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man, and their leader Iron Man. Together they'll face villains such as Loki, Kang the Conqueror, Ultron, Doctor Doom, Baron Zemo, Enchantress, Abomination, Crimson Dynamo, HYDRA, Serpent Society,[1] and others.[2]
Continuity
Story Editor Christopher Yost confirmed in an online interview that this series took place in the same universe as Wolverine and the X-Men. On audio commentary, Yost said that Hulk vs Wolverine was a prequel to Wolverine, and Thor: Tales of Asgard is a prequel to Hulk vs Thor. Thus, this series is a continuation of the fourth Marvel animated universe.
Avengers takes place after Thor: Tales of Asgard and Hulk vs Wolverine but before Hulk vs Thor and Wolverine and the X-Men.
Cast
Fred Tatasciore, Alex Desert, Steven Blum, and Graham McTavish reprise their roles from Wolverine and the X-Men, Hulk vs Wolverine, and Hulk vs Thor. Tom Kane previously played Ultron on the unconnected Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow.
Matthew Wolf auditioned for the role of Thor, having played him on Hulk vs Thor and Thor: Tales of Asgard, but the producers of the series wanted to go in a different direction.
Ultimate Spider-Man actor Drake Bell played Spider-Man, replacing The Spectacular Spider-Man actor Josh Keaton who had recorded for the role. This caused controversy among Spectacular fans who wanted Keaton to reprise the roll.
Background
Much of the series is based on the various films. For example, Eric Loomis was chosen as Iron Man because he sounded like Robert Downey, Jr., who plays the character in various films, and J.A.R.V.I.S. is an artificial intelligence instead of a butler.[7]
Marvel confirmed that the team would consist of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Hulk, Thor, Wasp, and Ant-Man. They also confirmed that Hawkeye, Black Widow, Kang, Loki, and Hydra would appear. They also stated that the series would mostly consist of stories written in the last ten years.[8]
The first episode was screen at the 2010 Comic-Con in San Diego.[9]
The series is part of Marvel Entertainment's overall "Avengers Assemble" strategy that began with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. This is all to build up to the The Avengers film in 2012.
Some actors began recording lines for the assumed season two before the series began to first air.[10]
Matthew Wolf, voice of Thor on Hulk vs Thor and Thor: Tales of Asgard, auditioned for the role once again. But the show's producers had a different idea than those of the animated features and he was not cast.[11]
A series was intended to be produced called Hulk: Gamma Corps. However, when this series went into production Gamma Corps was incorporated into this one as it was more inclusive. Eventually, a similar sounding series was announced called Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. It is unknown if Gamma Corps's fate is what befell the announced series Thor.
Animation
The animation is done by Film Roman, who also worked on X-Men: Evolution and The Super Hero Squad Show. They had already begun production on twenty-six episodes when the series was announced on October 7, 2008.[12][13]
Seasons
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Micro-Episodes
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season One
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season Two
Fifty-two episodes have been ordered, which is about two seasons worth.[14]
The series itself began airing October 20, 2010 on Disney XD in the United States and Teletoon in Canada. The series will also begin airing on Marvel.com, Marvelkids.com, and DisneyXD.com/Avengers. Beginning October 21 full episodes will air on iTunes, Xbox Live, Sony PlayStation, and Disney XD Mobile VOD. Beginning October 25 the series will be available on Disney XD on Demand on AT&T, Verizon, Charter and Cox.[15][16]
There are also twenty micro-episodes, roughly five minutes each, that introduce the characters and people of the universe. They air online on Marvel.com, MarvelKids.com, DisneyXD.com/Avengers and Disney XD Mobile. The micro-episodes began airing on September 22, 2010 and were released once a day. These episodes detail the adventures of each Avengers member before the formation of the team. On October 5 select micro-episodes will appear for free on iTunes. Starting October 11 and going till October 15, Disney XD will air four of the micro-episodes together.[17]
The second season is set to air in early 2012.
Comic Book
A comic book tie-in was released along with the series. The series was written by Christopher Yost, Scott Wegener, and Patrick Scherberger. It lasted four issues filling in space in between the episodes, mostly about catching other breakout criminals.[18]
Cancellation
On June 12, 2012 it was announced that the series would not be picked up for a third season. Instead, Marvel Animation would produce Avengers Assemble. The series would be produced completely in-house along with Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., possibly in the same continuity. The line-up is to be the same from The Avengers film with the addition of Falcon.[19]
Head of Television Jeph Loeb compared the change to how one comic book line will change creative hands. It is currently unknown if this means Assemble is in the same continuity as Earth's Mightiest Heroes but will likely be in the same universe as Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H..
Trailer
Trailer
Original Animation Test
Reception
Newsarama ranked the series the tenth best animated comic book series. The site stated the series was the "purest Avengers" found and felt the theme song was catchy.[20]
References
- ↑ C2E2 2011: Liveblog Central at Marvel.com
- ↑ C2E2: MARVEL ANIMATION at Comics Continuum
- ↑ Earth's Mightiest Heroes at Disney XD Media Net
- ↑ Christopher Yost at Twitter
- ↑ Resume at Kirsten Potter's Website
- ↑ Resume at Kirk Thornton's Website
- ↑ Comic-Con 2010: Marvel Animation Also Assembles Avengers at UGO
- ↑ C2E2 2010: Marvel Animation Panel Liveblog at Marvel.com
- ↑ San Diego Comic-Con 2010: Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes Animated Panel Liveblog at Marvel.com
- ↑ AVENGERS Animated Assembling w/ Phil Lamarr at Newsarama.com
- ↑ Toonzone Interviews Matthew Wolf on Voicing Thor in "Thor: Tales of Asgard" at Toonzone
- ↑ Announcing Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes at Marvel.com
- ↑ Marvel assembles cartoon 'Avengers' at The Hollywood Reporter
- ↑ New Avengers TV Series Debuting This Fall at IGN.com
- ↑ "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" October 2010 Disney XD Debuts at Marvel Animation Age
- ↑ "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" Scheduling, Videogame Updates at Marvel Animation Age
- ↑ Animated Avengers Assemble Oct. 20 at Marvel.com
- ↑ Marvel Announces "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" All-Ages Comic Title at Marvel Animation Age
- ↑ Exclusive: Marvel Assembles New Animated Series for the Hulk and Avengers at TV Guide
- ↑ 10 Best Comic Book Animated Series of All Time at Newsarama
External links
- Marvel Kids Official Website
- Disney XD Official Website
- Videos at Marvel
- Full Episodes at Marvel
- Marvel Animation Age
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
- TV.com