KA-POW! The Official "Unofficial" DC/Marvel Animated Movies & Shows Thread (1 Viewer)

[SWFF]

I'm not surprised you mentioned that you're tired of The Hulk. Personally, I'm a fan, so it doesn't bother me, the more Hulk I see, the better, but I do understand where you're coming from. He's in a majority of Marvel's animated flicks, and headlines three of them. I hear people are getting sick of seeing Wolverine everywhere, too.

His second live action flick was ten times better than Ang Lee's version, and I do agree that I'd like to see more of a inner battle with Bruce and his alter ego, which they did touch upon in HULK VS. THOR.

Now, mind you if you're well versed in the comic world and how the flicks compare to their animated counterparts, the conversation is going to be real short on my end. What I know of how they compare is solely through interviews with the creators, and whatever research I decided to do at their respective sites. I'm not into comic books, and was only a bit when I was young.

If you haven't yet gotten a hold of BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD, I urge you to try and pick that one up, too. I promise, you will not be disappointed by the latest team-up of Superman and Batman. I'm currently heading back to Batman's latest adventure, and then back to the team-up, got to work them out of my system before I get into an other flick. Which means, THE EVIL/TWICE DEAD I got coming will have to take a backseat until I'm done reveling in DC's animation.

 

[Jason_V]

I was sick of Wolverine back in X2. He got too much attention both in the movies and in the media to the detriment of the other characters. I've never been into superhero comics. I've read the Death of Superman and enjoyed it immensely (Superman Doomsday is a travesty, IMHO). Too many books and too much money for my taste.

I did enjoy Under the Red Hood even if it was just a bit anticlimactic when the Red Hood was finally revealed. That's a limitation in the movie universe the comics don't have to worry about. My one gripe about all these movies has always been they're too short. But again, that's really small fries in the grand scheme of things.

 

[SWFF]

I understand through one of the commentaries it's time and money that limits the flicks. If Marvel or DC ponied up a bit more scratch we'd probably have longer running times and even better animation. I did notice that the shorter the flick the better the animation. Noticed that for the first time when JUSTICE LEAGUE turned into JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED. And, those animated shorts that now come along with the DC movies have animation that most times surpasses the main feature.

I'm not gonna complain too much in this department, the overall product DC puts out pretty much makes up for these perceived detriments.

I'm a Wolverine fan, so, again, I can't complain too much about his over exposure. It's weird nowadays with the glut of live action Marvel and DC movies, I almost look more forward to their animation counterparts. I used to own all the X-Men flicks, then I got sick of them and gave them away. Not sure if I'll be seeing that X-MEN: FIRST CLASS that's in production.

 

[SWFF]

Okay, now, let's discuss the one and only release, I, personally, think Is Marvel's crowning achievement, in style, bloodshed and animation.

Or, more specifically, the 30-minute masterpiece of carnage, HULK VS. WOLVERINE! My only regret is that it's only a half hour, but it falls into that short and sweet category. Big time. To date, this is the only accurate representation of Wolverine, and that includes the live action movies. Why is that you may ask? Because here they actually got his dimensions right. Wolverine is a 5'3" version of Arnold Schwarzenegger, basically, and even though, Hugh Jackman makes a pretty good Wolverine, he's too tall. And not as mean and ornery as the version you get in HULK VS. But that could be due to the voice talent of Steve Blum, which I think is the perfect kind of voice for this force of adamantium nature.

Here's the DVD menu and some other pictorial highlights of the episode:

Another thing I liked about this episode is that you finally get to see Wolverine put those adamantium claws of his to bloody good use. And, I emphasize the word, 'bloody.' Hulk gets his flesh pierced and slashed, and we actually see the points of penetration and the blood. Not to mention the blood of many other men as Wolverine remembers his inauguration into and his escape from the Weapon X program.

See, Wolverine is a rated R character who is constantly thrust into PG rated combat on TV shows. It's refreshing to see what he can really do with those claws and his raw savage personality.


HULK VS. THOR isn't as bloody as when he went up against Wolverine, but he's no less hardcore. See, the plot here has Loki casting a spell and literally separating the beast from Bruce Banner. The only problem with that, as we learn, is Bruce's human persona was keeping the beast in check. Without him the Hulk is nothing but pure rage, and in that state he's even stronger than he used be, perhaps, to the point of being unstoppable. And. if that's gonna be you concept, it makes sense to put the green rage machine up against someone who might remotely have a chance of stopping him. THOR is about the only person that comes to mind. I like this concept for a HULK tale, because this way you can see just how much carnage he can wreak at his most powerful. And. let me tell ya, he fucks up Asgard pretty damn good.

This shot right below is after the spell has separated the two.

The only problem I had with the flick was Hulk's design, more specifically, ths shape of his damn skull! It was far too reminiscent of Frankenstein, as you can see in the next picture.

The overall animation isn't bad, and the subsequent action animation is pretty damn good. I'm gonna be watching these two in the next couple of days, but with Thor, I seem to think during one of their battles,

the Hulk actually kills him, but someone prevents his soul from going to the underworld.

 

[Jason_V]

Aside from my ambivalence for both Hulk and Wolverine, I did find a lot to like about Hulk vs. Wolverine. I liked a lot of the little artistic flourishes, like Hulk being reflected in Wolverine's claws (shown above). It looks like a comic book panel more than something made for a "motion" medium. It was also very bloody, even though the blood really doesn't stick around from scene to scene if I remember correctly.

My problem here-and I could be too nitpicky-is the animation. In particularly, the character designs. Look at Hulk. There isn't a ton of detail in him. I know every bit of detail needs to be animated through the entire running time...but come on. The cover shot looks awesome...truly menacing. And look at the cover for Planet Hulk. Same thing. He looks REAL. In the feature? Not so much.

 

[SWFF]

Yeah, Marvel's animation, as a whole, even at it's best, looks like it's only a few steps up form Saturday morning animation. You can never be too nitpicky when it comes to animation quality. As I mentioned many times before, I seriously need to have my 'action animation' at a certain level, if it's not there, I just don't watch it.

DC seems to get more, and better, character design into their features. I still think it boils down to them not getting enough money and time from their respective studios. When Marvel started pumping these movies out, I didn't like how they would tout, on their DVD covers, this supposedly incredible animation level, then once you started watching the movie, it was clear it didn't match. That's a way to lure us in and buy the DVD, I suspect. But have you noticed the shorter the feature the better the animation? Those DC shorts are animated on an awesome level. I still have a trailer on ULTIMATE AVENGERS DVD that shows an insane amount of character and action animation for the movie. I thought, now why can't they do that kind of animation for the movie I'm watching?

Even at its best HULK VS. WOLVERINE is not as well animated as those DC flicks. Excellent, at times, good for most of it, but DC has got the edge over Marvel here. And, if Marvel ever reinstates their animated movies, they're gonna have to beef up their animation for sure.

This is the first Halloween that has come around where I have yet to watch any of my annual horror movies. I'm still stuck on my animation kick. All this talk about Hulk, I put on PLANET HULK the other night. Still got about 18 minutes left of it to watch. Then, I'll probbaly go back and revisit the HULK VS DVD all over again.

 

[Jason_V]

For whatever reason (maybe I'm just really easy to please) I was very impressed with the design and animation of the Joker's face in Under the Red Hood. It was complex or anything, but it looked very sinister. Not photo-realistic, obviously. More like a comic book was put on the screen. That's the only one that really stands out to me as an "ooh aah" moment. Everything else is very angular (Superman/Batman Public Enemies) or pretty much how I expected it.

I think at least some of my problem is the expectation based on the cover art. The DC movies use the actual character design (aside from Under the Red Hood, IIRC); Marvel is more hit and miss. The Planet Hulk cover is freaking awesome and would make a great poster even if it doesn't accurately represent the feature. Keep the expectation in check and they shouldn't be a problem.

Mind you...I'd love to see one of these movies look lik Up or a Pixar film...

 

[SWFF]

Yes, the Joker in UNDER THE RED hood was difinitely a standout. And, yes, he was animated in a much mroe sinister way. Loved his voice work, too. Again, I have to agree with you. The PLANET HULK cover is quite awesome. The Iron Man one is a very, very close second.

I know you haven't got it yet, but when you get SUPERMAN/BATMAN: APOCALYPSE, there are a couple of moments when they're on a close-up of Superman and his facial design looks almost Asian. Not that it was a turn-off, but I noticed they either inadvertantly, or on purpose, gave him that look. That's what I love about the DC ones, they tweak the animation in just about every movie, and, so far, its been for the good.

Jesus, I love their movies!

I still say that recent BATMAN movie was the best stand alone BATMAN one they've done to date.

Have you noticed even the music in the DC movies is exceptional.

 

[Jason_V]

I have a majority of the DC soundtracks on my iPod. I've been recently partial to Green Lantern, but I also very much enjoy Wonder Woman. Public Enemies is a good one, too. For some reason, I'm not overly fond of Crisis on Two Earths. Maybe I haven't given it a fair shake.

 

[SWFF]

I gotta say PUBLIC ENEMIES is the best. CRISIS ON TWO EARTHS is my second favorite. Love the UNDER THE RED HOOD music, but for the first time I was underwhelmed by the APOCALYPSE one.

I can't recall the GREEN LANTERN once since I don't have the DVD.

UPDATE: I just updated my HULK VS post, still gotta comment on my two remaining Marvel titles: ULTIMATE AVENGERS and PLANET HULK. I'll do that in a separate post, though.

 

[SWFF]

Just heard that in November of 2011 there's going to be a [COLOR= #006400]GREEN LANTERN: THE ANIMATED SERIES[/COLOR]! Heard it at http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/108445-green-lantern-the-animated-series-teaser-poster

 

[SWFF]

I've been watching that AVENGERS micro-series on DisneyXD since Monday, and I gotta say I'm liking it. The action animation is pretty good. I hear the same company that animates THE SIMPSONS animates THE AVENGERS.

Saturday and Sunday DisneyXD is running all 20 eps, back to back. Don't know the times, but I think one day it starts at 7pm, the next day they run it again, but at 8 pm, something like that.

 

[SWFF]

Well, I just got done watching the premiere of THE AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES, and all I gotta say is, wow! Just, wow! Personally, I think JUSTICE LEAGUE and JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED is the pinnacle of DC's animation, and not just in animation, but also in storytelling. This new AVENGERS series, I think, might be Marvel's equal, if they don't fuck it up.

The action animation is where I'm the most critical, and so far, it's pretty damn excellent. The premiere was a two-parter, BREAKOUT, as it was called, and they ran both parts. Part two is where this episode shined. The big villain of the piece is one I'm not familiar with, someone called, Graviton, who, as his name suggests, has complete control over gravity, and when he confronted all the heroes . . . man, he and their respective battles pretty much fucked up New York City big time. It reminded me of the big confrontation in JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED's series finale between Superman and Darkseid.

Graviton pretty much kicked all the heroes' asses, but there was one who had yet to arrive, and I had a feeling when he eventually showed his green hide, the shit was gonna REALLY hit the fan, and, man, it sure did.

Graviton had a line, which I can't remember it exactly, but went something like, "I'm the most powerful being, no one can stop me!" But, I clearly recall the Hulk's retort when he landed atop the building above him, "You sure about that?"

And, with that the battle commenced anew, as the Hulk hurled his immense frame into Graviton, and they both went flying for miles, touching down like a bomb blast. If you ever wondered just how powerful the Incredible Hulk really is, you have to watch that battle, because he literally fought back against the laws of gravity, and won!

At one point, when Graviton was crushing all the other heroes down onto the ground with his power, the Hulk was still able to advance towards this poor, clueless, soon-to-have-his-ass handed-to-him, villain, who even voiced, "This is impossible!!!"

For a Hulk fan, like me, it was a good night in front of the television set.

So, if there are any other fans of these kinds of shows out there, I recommend this one whole-heatedly. The micro-series was damn good, too. It's a nice prologue to the series.

 

[Jason_V]

I flipped past Disney XD a few times last night and caught the "Avengers" name on the channel guide. Of course, I don't get XD (they were playing Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends over the weekend, if I recall correctly). When this one hits disc-or a channel I actually get-I'll give it a look.

With a little luck, I'll be watching Superman/Batman Apocalypse tonight. It's just been one thing after another lately...

 

[SWFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason_V

With a little luck, I'll be watching Superman/Batman Apocalypse tonight.

Let me what you thought of it. I can almost guarantee you will not be disappointed.

 

[SWFF]

Here's the latest on the GREEN LANTERN Animated cartoon, courtesy of SCREENRANT:

Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern: The Animated Series is slated to be released in the wake of the Green Lantern movie—as was recently mentioned by Kofi Outlaw, who attended the Geoff Johns panel at NYCC this past weekend.


Executive Producer Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series) and Producers Giancarlo Volpe (Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Jim Krieg (Fox’s Spider-Man) were on hand at a separate panel, moderated by Geoff Johns, to discuss the series, its style, its story, and its release date, amongst other things. Plot details, concept art, and test footage ahoy.

First, the plot details:​

​

• 
  Characters that will appear in the first season include: Hal Jordan, Kilowog, the Guardians, Carol Ferris, Sayd, Salaak, Atrocitus, and Zillious Zox. (And that’s just to start!)
• 
  The first season’s antagonists will be the Red Lantern Corps, led by Atrocitus, though other Lanterns and Corps may show up.
• 
  Dex-Starr, a fan favorite feline Red Lantern, might make an appearance.
• 
  Guy Gardner, the most raucous of the four human Green Lanterns from the comic book, might make an appearance, as well.
• 
  There will be no origin story in the series (perhaps because the movie will establish an origin well enough).
• 
  Blackest Night, a popular DC Universe comics crossover event from last year wherein dead superheroes and Lanterns rose from the grave, will likely take place at some point in the series.
• 
  Despite being a children’s show, there will be death(s).
• 
  Very little of the series will take place on Earth.
• 
  In a bit of a departure from the comic book, the Green Lantern Corps will have their own vehicles, due to the astronomical distance to some of their missions.
• 
  The Green Lantern TV show will not be seeing any appearances from other mainstream DC characters such as Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman.
• 
  Because Sinestro will play such a large role in the movie, the animated series will steer clear of his character…that is, at least for the first season. Apparently, Bruce Timm and company will be building up the anticipation for his character before he debuts on the show.
• 
  The first season will include 26 episodes, and the first thirteen have already been planned.
• 
  Five episodes of the series have been recorded, but it’s still too early to announce voice actors.
• 
  The series will debut near the end of 2011.

Second, here is a gallery of concept art for the show:​

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And last, but not least, the test footage, which depicts Hal Jordan and Kilowog fighting wave after wave of Manhunters. It was bootlegged from the NYCC panel, so we won’t show it here, but click the link below if you want to see it:​

Green Lantern: The Animated Series Footage

-​

“I’m getting too old for this.” Who doesn’t love a good Lethal Weapon joke, am I right?​

As you can see, the angular, retro visual style (with barrel-chested gentleman galore) is heavily reminiscent of the DC Universe animated shows of yore, including Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, The New Adventures of Batman, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited. The major difference, obviously, is that this series will be computer-generated a la Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and not traditionally animated. However, Bruce Timm was quick to point out that Green Lantern, in terms of CGI animation, will be far more influenced by Pixar’s The Incredibles more than The Clone Wars. ​

Based on the what little story was revealed at the panel, it’s clear that Timm, Volpe, and Krieg have taken a page or two from Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern run from the past five years, as opposed to, say, the fifty or so years of GL comics that came before. Unfortunately, because the movie is prominently featuring Hal Jordan’s arch-nemesis Sinestro, played by Mark Strong, it seems the TV show won’t be depicting Johns’ greatest Green Lantern storyline, “The Sinestro Corps War”. But who knows? Maybe the movies will instead.​

In this avid Green Lantern fan’s opinion, the concept art and animation both look good, if not altogether great (yet). Frankly, it inspires a lot of confidence that the showrunners have gone with a style that harkens back to the most beloved animated superhero television shows of all time—even if it is by way of computer-generated imagery.​

Look for Green Lantern: The Animated Series to premiere at the end of 2011, after the film’s release.​

Green Lantern the movie will be in theaters on June 17, 2011.​

 

[SWFF]

Here's some promo art and a little bit of general info on the latest animated incarnation of Spider-Man. I'm a fan, an am looking forward to this new series.

SPIN OFF ONLINE: Veteran writer and producer Paul Dini has joined the creative team for the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, MTV’s Splash Page reports. He’ll work with such familiar names as Brian Michael Bendis, Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle.

Officially announced in April, Ultimate Spider-Man will debut in fall 2011 on Disney XD. As the title suggests, the cartoon will have roots in the long-running comics series launched in 2000 by Bendis and Mark Bagley.


“It’s 50/50,” Dini, who worked on the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, tells Splash Page. “There are elements that are going to come directly from the comics, and there are elements that are just going to take it into an entirely new and different direction — and yet, they’re going to harken back to that particular iteration of Spider-Man.”

He also reveals the series will include “a lot of guest-star action,” and a redefinition of Peter Parker “within the Spider-Man world.”
“We’re going to change a few things — nothing too dramatically,” Dini says, “but you look at the Spider-Man concept from the early ’60s and you take a look at where teens are now, and you realize you can’t really go back and redo what was done so well in the comics. [...] You also don’t want to repeat the same old tropes. As much as I love elements of Spider-Man’s past, I don’t really want to go back in and retell the Gwen Stacy and Green Goblin story in animation just so I can do my take on it. I don’t want to redo the first Spider Slayer story. I don’t want to redo some of those classic Lee/Romita and Lee/Ditko stories just for the sake of seeing them rendered in animation. For now, I just want to approach Spider-Man with fresh eyes, taking a few things we know about him and just doing a new spin on the concept.”

 

[SWFF]

Looks like DC is back in the animated series business again. I had vaguely heard about this YOUNG JUSTICE series some time ago, but never gave it another thought, until just a few minutes ago, when I ran into this news that it's going to be debuting on the Cartoon Network in November. Here's a YouTube video I found of some behind-the-scenes talk and actual clips from the series. Now, the animation here looks absolutely superb. Jesus, another series I'm gonna be taping. Still looking around for an exact date, when I get one, I'll post it here.

[COLOR= #ff0000]UPDATE: YOUNG JUSTICE will premiere on November 26th with a one hour episode, but the series won't officially begin until January of 2011.[/COLOR]

Having seen that rough test footage for that CG GREEN ARROW series, I gotta say, I'm kinda looking forward to it now, especially since it's got that cook THE INCREDIBLES CG style to it. I was assuming it was gonna look like that crappy CGI IRON MAN series, thank God, I was wrong.





MORE INFO COURTESY OF http://www.titanstower.com/monitor/?p=2315

The Leaguers (pictured above) will be featured regularly, with Bruce Greenwood as Batman, Alan Tudyk as Green Arrow, Phil Lemarr as Aquaman and Rob Lowe as Captain Marvel. Other Leaguers include Flash, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Zatara, Captain Atom, Black Canary and Green Lantern (John Stewart).

Batman will often be doling out missions. Black Canary is the designated combat trainer. And Red Tornado will be a “sort of live-in den mother,” according to Wesiman. This is similar to Red Tornado’s role in the YOUNG JUSTICE comic book series. The rest of the Leaguers will be around as-needed.
Captain Marvel will start hanging around with the Young Justice team, because he’s secretly a 10-year old kid in an older body. One fan asked why they used Zatara rather than Zatanna, and the producers noted “the answer will become obvious halfway through the season.” (I’m guessing we’ll see a teenaged Zatanna perhaps?) Weisman also mentioned that he would like to use Captain Atom (Wesiman was the former writer of his comic book series), but there hasn’t been a place for him yet.

When opened up to Q&A, fans began to ask questions like, “Will we see (XX) character in the series?” The producers wanted to keep those kinds of surprises under wraps, so viewers can experience it while watching. Weisman said, “We’re not going to come up here and spoil a ton about a show that’ll premiere in a month and a half. My short answer is we have over 150 existing DC Universe characters in the first 18 episodes alone.” “A metric ton” of DC characters, was the exact phrase.

Fans still found playful ways to ask about certain comic book characters like the Legion of Doom and the Wonder Twins. Weisman didn’t answer directly, and said he always mixes up those villainy-groups like Secret Society, Legion of Doom and Injustice League because they are all fairly similar. His response to the Wonder Twins was “150 characters,” and added, “We’re including the Superfriends as part of the DC Universe,” which seemed like a pretty good indication we may see a certain brother-sister team from Exxor.

One fan asked about the previous “Bat Embargo” placed on JUSTICE LEAGUE, where the series was unable to use certain Batman-related characters due to licensing issues (the same thing happened with Wonder Girl during the TEEN TITANS animated series). Weisman said that there was a few characters they didn’t have access to in the beginning, but now there were no restrictions on any of the characters. “We no longer have an embargo on any chracaters as far as I know,” noted Weisman. He mentioned they would have used one character in the beginning if they could, so we may see that character in season two if there is an order for a season two (I’m guessing he’s referring to Wonder Girl). “If we don’t see them in season one, we’ll see them later,” the producers assured.

The producers mentioned that the theme of “Secrets and Lies” permeates the first 26 episodes. The villains are keeping secrets. The League is keeping secrets from the sidekicks. Young Justice is keeping secrets from each other, and even themselves.

The cast itself is a mash-up of the original Teen Titans and Young Justice members from various eras. The producers said they “wanted to start over,” so they used Dick Grayson and Wally West versions of the characters. Weisman mentioned that if you are using Robin, starting with Tim Drake made less sense than starting with Dick Grayson, the original sidekick.

The team said they referenced and reread a lot of old comics, including YOUNG JUSTICE, TEEN TITANS from the 60s and 70s and the NEW TEEN TITANS from the 80s. “We’re adpating from all over,” noted Weisman, “We’re basically adapting the entire DC Universe.”

Robin: Voiced by Jesse McCarthy. In this series, he’s a 13 year old Dick Grayson, but he’s been Robin for 4 years time, so he’s been Robin since he was 9 years old. He’s the most experienced of the team. Robin also keeps his identity secret, even from his teammates, and wears sunglasses when he’s hanging around with them in downtime. Robin has revealed his secret identity to best friend Wally West (Kid Flash), and if Batman knew, he wouldn’t be happy about that.

Kid Flash: Voiced by Jason Spizak. He’s Wally West and he’s 15 years old. Not quite as fast as the Flash, so he has to accelerate and decelerate to use his powers. He’ll also use his powers a little differently than traditional speedsters, using momentum to launch himself as a human cannonball of sorts. His goggles also have some high-tech tricks, like seeing different light spectrums.

Aqualad: Voiced by Khary Payton (who also provided the voice for Cyborg). His name is Kaldur’ahm (which differs from the BRIGHTEST DAY version, whose name is Jackson). His friends sometimes shorten that to Kaldur. His father is Black Manta, which is something he isn’t even aware of. Kaldur’ahm’s powers are a mix of Atlantean sorcery and science, which are channeled through the mystic eel tattoos on his arms. In the series, Kaldur’ahm is best friends with Garth (no word on whether Garth would be Aqualad or Tempest, if either), and there would be stories revolving around both of them.

One fan asked why the comic book version in BRIGHTEST DAY differed from the YOUNG JUSTICE animated version, and the producers said that Geoff Johns came by and fell in love with the character, so he ended up using him. But the producers clarified the Aqualad in BRIGHTEST DAY is “Earth-0″ while their universe is “Earth-16″ anyway.

Superboy: Voiced by Nolan North (who also provides the voice of Superman). He’s a 16-week old clone who appears to be 16, and he’ll eventually assume the Conner Kent secret identity. Weisman noted that this is “a new interpretation of Superboy,” but he thinks Superboy will be the breakout star of the show.

Miss Martian: Voiced by Danica McKellar. Martian Manhunter’s 16-year old niece. The producers mentioned she’s actually 48 years old, but it works out to be 15-16 by earth standards. She’s very new to the hero game, and especially new to combat. A naive girl, Miss Martian has a somewhat warped view of the world because she’s gleaned most of her knowledge by watching earth tv shows to study its culture.

Artemis: Voiced by Stephanie Lemelin. This 16-year old heroine is neither Arrowette, nor Wonder Girl nor Speedy, not an Amazon and she’s not from Apokolips. But she is an existing character in the DCU! The panel refused to reveal who, however. Weisman thought her identity should be “fairly obvious,” though.

Speedy: Not part of the team, but Speedy (the Roy Harper version) was seen in the trailer. One fan asked why Speedy wasn’t in Young Justice, since he appeared in the teaser clip, but doesn’t join the team. Producer Vietti said it will be apparent after the first episode. Keep in mind, another video preview of the show revealed a “Red Arrow” design in the background.

 

[SWFF]

[SIZE= 12px]Here's a review I found from Mania.com of THE AVENGERS cartoon, some of the things presented there in I agree with, others I don't. And, in light of discovering the footage of YOUNG JUSTICE, I may have been too hasty in saying THE AVENGERS might be Marvel's equal to DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE, and the review below even points that out. I mean, I like the action animation, but like what's said below, it's good, but not great. It works for me, so far, however. But, I tell ya, the moment I took a gander at that YOUNG JUSTICE footage, DC, again, one ups Marvel in the animation department. Christ, Marvel is owned by Disney now, you'd think they'd start putting some serious money into their superhero animation. I'm thinking, you know why they don't? They probably want as many of them as they can to start going THE INCREDIBLES CGI route, which GREEN LANTERN is the first. Yeah, it looks good, but I still like to see my heroes beating the shit out of each other in traditional animation style.[/SIZE]


AVENGERS:EMH - Breakout Review
Earth’s Mightiest heroes come to TV again
By Stephen Lackey October 21, 2010
Source: Mania
There’s one major thing that must be accepted before considering the quality of this new Avengers television series; the show is on Disney XD, a network for young kids. So any expectations for deep storytelling and complex characters should be thrown out the window. Now that doesn’t mean this series couldn’t feature those elements. It just means that you shouldn’t expect them. The best of these types of animated shows give up the goods for young fans but tell stories that the parents can at a minimum tolerate and at best actually enjoy. Batman, the animated series from the 90’s, is one of the best examples of this sort of show. Some people may argue that Batman was a little to mature for young viewers, but the show was on at prime time cartoon time for kids. Other good examples were the X-Men series from the 90’s and the Spider-Man series from the 90’s.

Disney XD has been airing 8 minute shorts leading up to the Avengers premiere that introduced the heroes and many of the villains. Not only did these shorts build hype for the series, but they also did a great job of introducing members of the Avengers team that haven’t been featured in a film. So if you watched these shorts, you’d be firmly entrenched in this version of the Marvel Universe for the launch of the series. It’s a good thing these shorts were done too because this version of the Avengers deviates from the version being set up in the Marvel films. The obvious question is: why not build the animated series as an extension of the universe being set up for the films? The reason is that this series is working ahead of the Avengers that will be on the big screen. It’s possible that if this animated series were too similar to the films and the films deviate from the world of the cartoon some fans might get confused. So, this series features an odd hybrid of the new and old Nick Fury and a Black Widow with the proper Russian accent.


Breakout Part 1
It’s actually good that Disney decided to air the first two episodes of this series back to back. The reason is that this episode is mostly set up for the second episode and the rest of the series presumably. Henry Pym works for S.H.I.E.L.D. in a research and development capacity creating hi tech prisons for the various villains that heroes such as Iron Man and Thor have put away. Nick Fury, leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. wants Pym and Janet aka “The Wasp” to join his team but Henry doesn’t trust S.H.I.E.L.D. enough to fully be a part of the team. His instincts appear to be correct because one of these hi tech prisons holds Bruce Banner who believes that S.H.I.E.L.D. is trying to create their own super soldiers similar to one particular hero that doesn’t even get featured in the two episode premiere.

Something mysterious happens that was predicted by one of the villains that shut the security down to all four of the super prisons releasing nearly every Marvel villain you could think of. One villain in particular, Graviton, knows the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s motives and he has the power to destroy everything. As his name implies Graviton can control gravity. The episode features a good bit of action that culminates with Graviton looking to destroy the man he believes responsible for his incarceration, Nick Fury.

This episode is a light weight introduction to some of the main characters and a simple but effective set up for the creation of the Avengers. This story is written by comic book writer Christopher Yost who is a regular writer for Marvel Comics. Seeing Yost’s name is a good sign for this series because that means at least there’s someone behind the pen that knows these characters inside and out and respects their history and their stories. Yost seems to be riffing on another writer’s story from the comics. Brian Michael Bendis started a new comic book called The New Avengers. A series of tragedies found the classic Mighty Avengers “Disassembled” and each of them doing their own thing. The New Avengers came together in a very similar way to the characters in this series. A super prison known as “The Raft” (also featured on the show) shut down freeing a bevy of super villains. Any hero that happened to be in the area came to the raft to try and stop the escaping villains. At the end of the story arc, this random group of heroes which included Spider-Man and Wolverine decided to stick together as “The New Avengers” and recapture all of the escaped villains. This episode stopped short of forming a team but it was a Part 1….


Breakout Part 2
Part two of the premiere is balls to the wall epic fighting including one major nearly 10 minute long battle between Iron Man, The Wasp, Antman/Giant Man, Thor, The Hulk, and the villain Graviton. The animation and art style of this show are good but not great. The anime inspired style works for some characters and doesn’t for others. Iron Man’s helmet for example often looks extremely weird. While it’s all passable it just doesn’t have the fit and polish of the DC Universe shows and direct to DVD films. This has been the case with all of Marvel’s animated movies of late too. It would really be nice to see Marvel Entertainment, and Disney, invest some time and money into crafting a truly unique art style and animation but it’s just not going to happen.

The set up finished in this episode is actually quite brilliantly executed. Yost and the producers have taken a great Marvel story and trimmed it down to the minimum so that young viewers won’t get bored but left enough of what made that story so cool to keep fans of the comic books watching. General fans of cartoons should enjoy this one too because it manages to balance enough character, however simply developed, with action to make it palpable for all ages. One quirk that doesn’t work, and honestly, seldom works in the comic books too, is making The Hulk slightly smart. Yost did this in order to make Hulk work as a member of the Avengers but he just doesn’t belong on the team and he never did. Making him even mildly intelligent detracts from the unique relationship between him and his alter ego Bruce Banner. He should never get beyond “Hulk smash” but in this premiere he actually had a conversation with Banner and made a deal with him.

By the end of the episode, the team formed to go after the villains that escaped from the prison, simple and fun. The team that formed doesn’t feature all of the heroes that were in the two premiere episodes and in the preview shorts. Most notably missing from the team is Captain America. His back-story will probably get a full episode of the series. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes doesn’t compare to something like Justice League in animation or in story, but it is a step in the right direction for a Marvel animated product and it did end up being really entertaining.

 

[SWFF]

Courtesy of TV.com here's a lineup of a few of this season's episodes of THE AVENGERS:

Season 1
20/Oct/10 The Breakout Part 1
20/Oct/10 The Breakout Part 2
27/Oct/10 Some Assembly Required
03/Nov/10 Living Legend
10/Nov/10 Everything is Wonderful
17/Nov/10 Panther's Quest
26/Nov/10 Gamma World (Part 1)
26/Nov/10 Gamma World (Part 2)

And, regarding the upcoming YOUNG JUSTICE, I've been hearing on the web that some think this series might equal JUSTICE LEAGUE/JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, and some think it's going to surpass it. That's certainly saying something. Either one would be fine with me. Can't wait!