Review: AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES Finale "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE"

Note: The following contains minor spoilers for the finale and episodes 10-22.


Marvel Animation has played a key role in childhood development regardless of the generation you were born whether it was 50 years ago or 15 years ago, Marvel Animation helped turn you in to the comic fan you are today. If you are more elderly than most people in this world, chances are you were exposed to TV cartoons such as Spider-Man from the 1960s but the real craze started in the 1990s when television started airing cartoons like Spider-Man: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series. These 90s Marvel cartoons helped shape most of the post-teenage comic fans there are today not only by introducing them to these characters but also adapting famous comic book storylines such as Days of Future Past so viewers can be introduced and exposed to these storylines. After these shows sadly had to end, more Marvel cartoons eventually came to help shape a generation such as Spectacular Spider-Man and X-Men Evolution which were much more relatable to because of their target audiences than actual comic adaptations. The quality of Marvel cartoons do not matter because they all helped evolve you in to the Marvel comic fan that you are today. Regardless of the generation of fans, Marvel Animation played a key role in your development and it will continue to do so for future generations ahead us while still allowing us to enjoy those shows as well.

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes shocked the comic book world as a quality show featuring the mightiest team in Marvel Comics was actually good. Of course, you could say it was all a plot to massively promote Marvel’s cinematic blockbuster The Avengers (and its cancellation certainly helps that theory) but you can’t deny that the show has had a massive amount of quality attached to it. A stellar voice cast also helped this fact as well but most importantly each and every one of these characters were developed with a great back-story and personality. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes also didn’t have studio license restrictions which meant that any Marvel character at any time could appear where story writer Christopher Yost saw fit. For one example, Wolverine made an appearance as part of the Howling Commandos in the first episode that introduced Captain America and a huge vast array of Marvel Comics characters are introduced in to the second season. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes may have been a great quality show but the finale may not have been.

The series finale has recently aired internationally and it features a threat that The Avengers could never had dreamt of facing…Galactus. When you first saw that promotional screenshot of the episode featuring tons of heroes such as Yellowjacket, Spider-Man, Winter Soldier, Wolverine and many more you would assume that they all play a huge role in the episode but the fact is that they aren’t involved in a way you may think other than trying to take down Galactus’ heralds. You can think of this episode as the animated version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3’s story where Galactus threatens the Earth and a squad of the world’s greatest heroes must stop him and his heralds. Most of these heroes don’t even have more than 2 lines of dialogue and some have none at all as the majority of the episodes have small squads of heroes taking down a herald at a certain location around the world while an infiltration unit tries to take down Galactus himself. Out of all the guest stars, Spider-Man has the most dialogue cracking jokes as usual and it would be really nice if he at least mentioned that he may lose Aunt May or someone close to him if they don’t survive. Steve Blum had returned as Wolverine in New Avengers episode and had great dialogue but was reduced to a few grunts and growls in this one, and to make matters worse his mouth does not move at all when screaming or grunting. The show also faces plot holes such as the lack of reasoning for Galactus attacking Earth and not Mars or the moon instead. The international airings have made it possible for us to see this finale and we have to thank Australia for that.

The episode did have enjoyable moments, though. The squads of heroes each had their task and that was to take out a herald and the machine that they were building which allowed Galactus to absorb the energy from the planet. There were a lot of moments during these sequences where you thought The Avengers would easily win and Galactus would run away but he always brought something new to the table that would make a perfect “Shit just got real” moment. We did get to see the amazing minds of Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Hank Pym think of a very scientific solution for the Galactus problem and any time these minds collaborate on something the end result has to be amazing. Hank Pym also attempts a really smart solution to easily defeating Galactus or at least making it a fair fight against him and that didn’t work either so Galactus actually felt like a legitimate threat to the Earth especially when his plan starts to unfold. Every hero had something to do in the episode which provided for some good moments especially if you wanted to see these heroes after their cancelled series’ such as Wolverine and The X-Men and Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes.

The finale of such a great and quality show was good enough to wrap up a series but it could have been much better. The episode ended with The Avengers in the pose of the title credits and then it transitioned into that picture so in a sense it’s saying “Thank you for watching” and it seems like the producers, animators and writers knew it was the end. The previous two episodes were a multi-part Kree story so I don’t see why they could not have involved Kree in the finale. Thanos also would have been a very good idea for the finale since they had earlier introduced the Guardians of The Galaxy in the Michael Korvac episode. There were also a few plots left unfinished and questions left unanswered in this series such as the Enchantress and Surtur story arc. We don’t know what’s going to happen to Enchantress or Surtur and if Ragnarok will ever happen so I really hope Yost is allowed to continue to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes comic book. As a finale, Galactus versus the Marvel heroes would have seemed like a good idea but it did have its bad parts because of the lack of build-up.

Whether you like it or not, Marvel Animation probably played a key role in your childhood if you regularly visit this site because you are probably a comic fan and there is not a single ounce of doubt that Marvel Animation most likely turned you into the Marvel comic fan you are today. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was a great quality show and my final rating for the last episode is a 7.5/10. It’s great to watch but lacked in certain areas. If you are waiting for the episode to air in the US, I hope I shed some light on your anticipation. I hope Marvel’s Avengers Assemble will continue with the quality that this show had in most times.