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Welcome again to another new STS! I don’t know about you, but I am in full San Diego Comic Con mode. With the biggest Con about to start in less than a week and having to put your life on hold for four days or so, there is always so much to do before hand. If you are unable to attend, don’t worry, I wil be sharing anything relevant to this column that I learn at SDCC with all you lucky people next time. In the meanwhile we will continue our exploration of one of my favorite animated shows currently on TV, Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. If you haven’t checked out our coverage of  Volume 1, you might want to go do that now. Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you……… Are you back? Good, then let’s get on with it.

Title: Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
Company: Marvel Animation
Distributed by: Disney XD
US Release Date: April 26, 2011
Length: 137 mins.
Rating: TV Y7
Volume: 2: Captain America Reborn!

In volume 2 of Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes our now assembled team of Avengers, Iron Man, Wasp, Thor, Ant Man, and Hulk, find that working together is harder than it sounds. Hulk in particular has difficulty feeling accepted as part of the group, and that fear is compounded by the sorcery of the Enchantress. Even though the Avengers and Hulk are able to overcome the Enchantress’s evil influence, Hulk still decides to leave the team. Hulk’s void is soon replaced by not one but two new members, as both Captain America and the Black Panther join the team. First the Avengers accidentally uncover Cap’s frozen body while searching for the Hulk, in hopes of getting him back on the team. After an initial misunderstanding where Cap pretty much hands the Avengers their asses, he figures out his situation and joins them. Black Panther on the other hand seeks out the Avengers in order to help him win back his country from an old supervillain enemy. Panther is first seen breaking into the Avengers’ headquarters and actually helping Cap out of a jam. The next time he appears he takes them on in battle and kicks their collective asses as some kind of test. Afterward, they help him to free his country and in turn he, too,  joins their ranks.

The main task the Avengers face in these six collected episodes is recapturing villains that escaped during “Breakout.” It would seem that Enchantress is seeking out some of these villains as well to join her own anti-Avengers team. She begins approaching various baddies soon after they face defeat at the Avengers’ hands. Some of the villains spotlighted in these episodes are Klaw, Grim Reaper, Baron Zemo, Modok, and Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. This volume wraps up in the two part “Gamma World” episode, which features the Leader and other gamma created villains engulfing Las Vegas in a “Gamma dome” that transforms everyone into Hulk-like creatures. While the Avengers are able to defeat the Leader’s first Gamma dome, they realize too late that it was merely a “test run,” and they fall victims to the actual Las Vegas dome. Luckily, Hawkeye is on his way to meet up with the Avengers to turn over the traitorous Black Widow, whom he has captured in hopes of clearing his name. It then is up to him to save the Avengers and the world from the Leader’s nefarious plot. To accomplish this task Hawkeye seeks out the Hulk and gets him to cooperate by bringing out Banner’s persona in a very hilarious and ingenious way. Needless to say, the Hulk and Hawkeye both end up joining with the Avengers, as well.

Volume 2 of Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is just as enjoyable (if not more so) than the first volume. Christopher Yost, his writing team, and the animation guys all do a great job of crafting a fun and great looking animated series. Each episode has a great adventure filled with action and lots of humor. My only complaint with the series so far is that the Avengers get their butts kick way too easily and way too often. Many times this is done to build up the new character that is being introduced, but it just ends up making the team seem weak. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love Cap and Black Panther as much as the next guy, but I doubt they could take down Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, and Ant Man all by themselves. Aside from this, the show is excellent and you should definitely check it out.

Nick Zamora
nickz@comicattack.net