My review of the 3 part Kang trilogy from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

My review of the 3 part Kang trilogy from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

I review the changes that I hope this three part storyline may have brought to the show.

Review Opinion
By CapeofTruth - Jan 29, 2011 07:01 AM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features

First of all before I get into my review of the latest three part episode of ‘The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’, I want to say first and foremost that I am writing this review as a hardcore Captain America fan, and thus my review will be from this perspective. By the end of the article I am sure that you will be able to see how much I love this character and that when I watch this show I am watching it as a Cap fan.

Now onto the review. I want to say that I love this show and look forward to watching the latest episode every week. I believe that the latest three part episode could be a changing point for this show. Traditionally, Captain America has been seen as the unquestioned leader of the Avengers in the comic books. Even during the mega storyline, Secret Wars, where a group of heroes were collected to battle a group of the world’s greatest villains, Captain America was nominated as the leader of the heroes. Cap has always been the first one in and the last one out, the fearless and honorable leader of the group. This is how I have known him since I was a child, while running around playing with my Captain America action figure. This however is not how he has been portrayed on the Avengers EMH animated series though.

On the current series Iron Man has been shown as the leader of the group, even screaming out Cap’s iconic line of ‘Avengers assemble’. I truly believe that the decision to make Iron Man the leader of the group is entirely due to the success of Marvel’s first independently produced film, the much beloved ’Iron Man’. While I fear that the film version of the Avengers may also make Iron Man the leader of the group, I am hoping that the director, Joss Whedon, will stick to the tradition of the classic Avengers and have Captain America in his rightful role as the leader of the team.

At first I was not pleased with Cap not being the leader of the group but I have grown to accept it and I am just enjoying watching my childhood hero on television every week.. Having said this, after watching the last three episodes of the series, based on Kang the Conqueror attacking earth, I actually began to feel a change in the way that Cap was being portrayed.

The show starts out with Steve Rogers and Tony Stark discussing the use of technology versus basic fighting techniques in a battle. Tony is certain that he does not need to know how to ‘fight’ in order to combat criminals when he has his technology at his finger tips. After Cap lays the smack down on an armor less Tony they are attacked by a future ruler known as Kang the Conqueror. Kang says he has come from the future to kill Captain America because he is not suppose to be in the current timeline.

Cap, Iron Man, and eventually the rest of the Avengers battle Kang at the Avengers mansion. Kang, who easily beats the team, takes the Avengers ten years into the future, where they see New York in flames and the sun in a deformed state. Kang tells the team that this is the result of Captain America’s presence during a war between two alien races. Kang offers to help the world by destroying Captain America and then conquering earth, advancing the military, and making the world strong enough to protect itself from the coming war.

After Cap offers to give himself up the other Avengers decide that they will not let their planet be ruled by Kang, even if his plan might work. The team battles the conqueror again and is unable to stop him until Tony is able to hack Kang’s advanced chair and send them back to their own time. Kang retreats and the team seems to have won for the day. That concludes the first episode.

The second episode is about Kang’s forces coming to earth and invading the entire planet. We see the city under attack and then that is when we view one of my favorite moments of the show. Two young kids are running away from the giant robots that are chasing them. One of the kids is knocked to the ground and so his friend comes to help him get back up, that is when they are faced with a thirty foot robot pointing its weapon at the two of them. Just as it fires its weapon Cap jumps in front of the two boys and protects them with his shield. He then defeats the robot and screams out the two words I have been waiting for him to say the entire series, ‘Avengers Assemble!!!’.

The team then begins to battle the army of robots and that is when we see Cap take front and center showing his leadership qualities. He starts to give tactical commands to each of the Avengers, he even shouts an order to the monstrous Hulk. As the Hulk looked back down at Cap, clearly not happy with being told what to do, I found myself in Cap’s shoes for that split second and imagined myself repeating the statement, but in a much nicer way and asking please…but not the Sentinel of Liberty. Cap looks at the Hulk, never backing down, and shouts ‘Move!’.

When the Avengers meet back at HQ Tony is clearly frustrated, and so Cap takes charge of the situation. He tells Tony to find Kang while the others get back to the streets and help the citizens. During the rest of the episode Tony is looking for a way to locate Kang, while Cap and the others reprogram Ant-Man’s army of robots, known as Ultron, into fighters in order to help them defeat Kang’s invading forces. They send many of Kang’s forces back to the future, while Tony is unable to find Kang himself, until the very end of the episode. This concludes the second chapter of the trilogy.

The third episode shows the team going into space and attacking Kang’s ship. After dealing with some minions the team finally encounters Kang himself. After a brave fight Captain America and Iron Man are left to battle Kang alone. The two are eventually able to defeat Kang and send him to a high tech prison. Here Kang informs Cap and Iron Man that Cap will betray the world and that the apocalyptic future will come. The last shot shows Tony and Steve looking at Kang in an iconic pose. To me, this symbolized the two becoming equals and ready to face the future together.

Overall I would have to say that I quite enjoyed this story arch and look forward to seeing it play out in the future. Although Kang the Conqueror is not my favorite villain, I did still enjoy seeing the episode play out. Another small easter egg that I enjoyed was a glimpse at a blonde female SHIELD agent who resembled Captain America’s love interest, Sharon Carter.

I believe that this is a great show and that the future looks very bright for it. Having said all of this I would like to point out that I believe a spin off show about Captain America working with SHIELD and showcasing his solo adventures would be an amazing half hour animated series. The show could highlight more of his villains, his partnerships with other heroes such as Falcon and Nomad, give us flash backs of Cap’s adventures during the war and show off the Invaders, and also build his working relationship with Nick Fury as well as his romantic relationship with Sharon Carter. To me this would be a series come true and hopefully Marvel has something like this planned in the future.

Until then sound off on what you thought of the show and how does a Captain America spin off series sound to you?

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT Director Says Jessica Rabbit Is The Main Reason We Still Haven't Seen A Sequel
Related:

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT Director Says Jessica Rabbit Is The Main Reason We Still Haven't Seen A Sequel

THE WILD ROBOT Interview: Director Chris Sanders & Producer Jeff Hermann Talk New Animated Classic (Exclusive)
Recommended For You:

THE WILD ROBOT Interview: Director Chris Sanders & Producer Jeff Hermann Talk New Animated Classic (Exclusive)

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

marvel72
marvel72 - 1/29/2011, 9:01 AM
good reveiw,mate.

i actually think this is the best three episodes of the series.
CapeofTruth
CapeofTruth - 1/29/2011, 11:05 AM
Yeah it's been great. I liked it alot better than the two part chemo storyline, even though I like The Leader far more than Kang.
superotherside
superotherside - 1/29/2011, 3:06 PM
@Capeoftruth good review... i liked this three part show too i also thought is was a lot better than gamma world with the leader...

btw loved the Mr. Fantastic cameo at the end...

a solo cap series would be fine to me but i really don't want it in the universe... they should make a 3D animated solo shows, in connected universes... that would be epic!
comics56
comics56 - 1/30/2011, 8:51 AM
Great review, the first and second episode can get to the top 5 in the series for me. Kang Dynasty didn´t did much for me. But the trilogy itself was amazing. Look foward to more episodes.

I think a Captain America series in this universe wouldn´t fit much. He lives in Avengers Mansion, so they would appear and it shouldn´t be like this. I think Marvel should do a Captain America series in CGI, in a similar stile to the Carlos Pacheco and Tim Townsend. And a Thor CGI series would be super.
CapeofTruth
CapeofTruth - 1/30/2011, 3:35 PM
A cgi series would be great as well. I just think that this cap fits in perfectly with the Cap of the comics and that there is no reason not to have it simply be a spin off. He could continue to appear and the Avengers series as well as his own solo series.

In the comics he lived at Avengers mansion while also going on his own solo missions. In the comics the Avengers would just meet up every week or whenever there was an emergency. Plus look at it this way. Cap's solo series and the Avengers could air back to back, this way we would get to see these characters for an hour every week instead of just 30 minutes.

The characters exist in their own solo series while also being apart of the Avengers in the comics, I don't see why they couldn't do the same thing as an animated series as well. I guess I just enjoy the way the characters are portrayed so much that I want the same writing and production team to work on a cap solo series as well.
LocoLobo1127
LocoLobo1127 - 1/31/2011, 11:35 AM
I personally love this series and like the fact that series continues to grow and develope, as for teh review excellent review i would say this tough, Cap was not immediately put in charge of the Avengers and I like how this is progressing to Cap taking over the team you can see this beging to happen espeacially in this episode.
As far as a Spin off series I think they should do a Marvel Spot Light Show or Marvel Team up That does different characters in each episode. This would give great one shots of Characters that may not be strong enough for their own series but good enough for one shots. Imagine a Hero for Hire, Moon knight and Cloak and Dagger
Sasquatch123
Sasquatch123 - 2/1/2011, 9:05 PM
Good review but ,iron man and ant man where team leaders before cap got thawed out ,they are building to that so hold on cap fans ,the cartoon is great i just wish marvel had the animation of dc ,stream line the characters just my only gripe .. until then make mine MARVEL FLAME ON
CapeofTruth
CapeofTruth - 2/2/2011, 9:56 AM
They were really the team leaders in just the first three issues? There was only like two other people to give orders too. Hulk left in issue 3 I think.
View Recorder