The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is an American superhero animated television series by Marvel Animation in cooperation with Film Roman, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The show debuted on Disney XD and online in the fall of 2010, starting with a 20-part micro-series that were later broadcast as five television episodes. In the second season, it was one of the inaugural shows of the Marvel Universe programming block alongside Ultimate Spider-Man.[2]
| The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action Adventure Superhero Science fantasy |
| Based on | |
| Developed by | Ciro Nieli Joshua Fine Christopher Yost |
| Voices of | |
| Narrated by | Alex Désert (opening narration; season 2) |
| Theme music composer | Guy Erez David Ari Leon |
| Opening theme | "Fight As One" by Bad City |
| Ending theme | "Fight As One" (instrumental) |
| Composer | Guy Michelmore |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 52[1] (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Dana C. Booton |
| Editors |
|
| Running time | 22 minutes (TV episodes) 5 minutes (micro episodes) |
| Production companies | Film Roman Ingenious Media (episodes 14–26) Marvel Animation |
| Distributor | Disney–ABC Domestic Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Disney XD |
| Original release | September 22, 2010 – November 11, 2012 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Avengers: United They Stand |
| Followed by | Avengers Assemble |
The series originally features a team based on the roster for the original Avengers, composed of Iron Man, Giant-Man, Hulk, Thor, and Wasp. The team is later joined by Captain America, Black Panther, and Hawkeye in the first season, and Ms. Marvel and Vision in the second season. In terms of overall tone and style, the series is based principally on the original stories by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The series also uses material from all eras of the comic's run as well as other sources, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[3]
The series ended on November 11, 2012, and was replaced by Avengers Assemble.
Synopsis
Season one
Following a mass S.H.I.E.L.D. prison breakout, earth's mightiest heroes unite to form the Avengers, a team comprising Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Black Panther, and Hawkeye.[4] The Avengers are forced to battle the world's most dangerous supervillains, including Baron Zemo, the Leader, Kang the Conqueror, and Ultron, as well as the criminal organizations Hydra and A.I.M. It is ultimately revealed that Loki orchestrated the breakout so that the Enchantress could form the Masters of Evil to defeat the Avengers and conquer Earth.
Season two
Following Loki's defeat, the Avengers track down the remnants of the Masters of Evil. The team is joined by Ms. Marvel and the Vision as they face new enemies including Doctor Doom, Thunderbolt Ross, and the Red Skull, as well as alien threats such as the Skrulls, the Kree, and Galactus. The season alludes to a developing storyline in which Surtur, now free of his imprisonment in Muspelheim, slowly gathers his strength to oppose the Avengers as a prelude to Ragnarök.
Numerous other Marvel Comics characters make guest appearances, such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man) and his daughter Cassandra, the Heroes for Hire, Crossfire, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Quake, Beta Ray Bill, the Falcon, and the Winter Soldier.
Episode list
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| Micro-series | 20 | September 22, 2010 | October 11, 2010 (online) October 15, 2010 (United States) | |
| 1 | 26 | October 20, 2010 | April 12, 2011 (Australia) June 26, 2011 (United States) | |
| 2 | 26 | April 1, 2012[2] | June 28, 2012 (Australia) November 11, 2012 (United States) | |
Cast
Principal cast
- Brian Bloom[5] – Steve Rogers / Captain America
- Chris Cox – Clint Barton / Hawkeye, Anton Vanko / Crimson Dynamo, Fandral, Gustav Krueger / Rattler
- Jennifer Hale – Carol Danvers / Ms. Marvel, Corina Korvac
- Peter Jessop – Vision
- Phil LaMarr[6] – J.A.R.V.I.S., Simon Williams / Wonder Man
- Eric Loomis[7] – Tony Stark / Iron Man
- James C. Mathis III[8] – T'Challa / Black Panther, Bulldozer, Cobra
- Colleen O'Shaughnessey[6] – Janet Van Dyne / Wasp, Cassandra Lang, Vapor
- Fred Tatasciore[6] – Bruce Banner / Hulk, Franklin Hall / Graviton, Johnny Horton / Griffin, Kalum Lo, Jerome Beechman / Mandrill, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross / Red Hulk, Ben Grimm / Thing, Volstagg, Yon-Rogg
- Rick D. Wasserman[6] – Thor, Carl "Crusher" Creel / Absorbing Man, Surtur
- Wally Wingert[6] – Hank Pym / Ant-Man / Giant-Man / Yellowjacket, M.O.D.O.K.
Crew
- Joshua Fine – Supervising Producer
- Vinton Heuck – Director
- Sebastian Montes – Director
- Jamie Simone – Casting and Voice Director[9]
- Christopher Yost – Story Editor, Writer
Production
Development
Josh Fine and a number of other creators of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes were initially developing a series based on the Hulk. However, it never made it past the scripting stages before the team was brought on to create a new series based on the Avengers.[10]
Production
Marvel announced in October 2008 that its Marvel Animation division and the outside studio Film Roman would produce an Avengers animated TV series, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, for planned broadcast in 2010.[11] Fifty-two episodes have been confirmed as being in production.[1] The show's executive producers include Simon Philips and Eric S. Rollman.[12] Joshua Fine serves as supervising producer and Christopher Yost serves as story editor on the show.[13] A 20-part micro-series debuted on September 22, 2010, on Disney XD, focusing on each hero's backstory and the events that lead to the main series.[14] The idea behind the micro-episodes came after the success of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The series started airing on Marvel's sister network, Disney XD in the United States on October 20, 2010, and on Teletoon in Canada on October 22, 2010, in English and March 2011 in French.[15][16] According to Jeph Loeb, season 2 would presumably begin around October 2011, same as season 1 and producer Josh Fine tweeted in April 2011 that 13 episodes have been completed.[17] Ciro Nieli, one of the show's developers, also had a hand in creating Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!.
At the 2011 New York Comic-Con, Marvel TV director, Jeph Loeb contradicted his earlier statement of season 2 launch in late 2011. Loeb announced at the panel at New York Comic-con that "Avengers Season 2 will be coming in early 2012 (to coincide with Ultimate Spider-Man)."[18] This date would later get clarified to April 1, 2012.[2] Dong Woo Animation, Lotto Animation and Noxxon Enterprise has contributed some of the animation for this series.
Cancellation
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was not renewed for a third season and was succeeded by a new Avengers show called Avengers Assemble in 2013.[19] On Saturday, July 14, 2012, at the 2012 Marvel Television Presents panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television, said of the relationship between the two shows:
We're not in any way saying Earth's Mightiest Heroes never happened. You will see an epic conclusion. And then you'll say, 'Oh, what's next?'[20]
The only voice actors to reprise their roles for Avengers Assemble are Fred Tatasciore[21] and James Matthis III[22] as the Hulk and Black Panther, respectively. Additionally, Drake Bell returned to voice Spider-Man for guest appearances, while the other members of the team share their voices with their counterparts in the separate Ultimate Spider-Man series.[21]
Season 3 Plans
With an executive shift in direction for the latter half of the second season, the producers were given new orders over what direction the series was going to take. Red Skull's story was originally planned to span across Season Three and a possible Season Four before being compressed into the second season's latter half. Other plans for Season Three included the continuation of the Ragnarok story focusing on Thor and a story inspired by Avengers vs. X-Men.[10]
Character designer Thomas Perkins did a series of concept art illustrations in 2012 of what a third season could have looked like. Characters appearing in the art included the New Avengers, Impossible Man, Mockingbird, Human Fly, Rom the Spaceknight, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Daimon Hellstrom.[23]
In September 2020, Christopher Yost revealed his plans for each episode for the cancelled Season Three that included characters that never made it into the show including Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Magneto.[24] Josh Fine commented that this while he was very entertained by the synopsis he read, they were not discussed by the original writing team.
After the abrupt cancellation leaving the producers unhappy, and while accepting that it would still be unlikely, Chris Yost and Josh Fine have since discussed their renewed interest in continuing the series.[10]
Release
Comic book
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes comic book series, written by Christopher Yost, and artwork by Scott Wegener, Christopher Jones and Patrick Scherberger was published to accompany the series. It was a four-issue limited series.[25] An ongoing comic book series titled The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Adventures debuted in April 2012, alongside the Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures series. Christopher Yost returned as the main writer, with Adam Dekraker serving as the comic's creative team, while Nuno Plati provided artwork.[26]
Home media
| DVD/Blu-ray name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heroes Assemble! | April 26, 2011 | July 25, 2011 | September 14, 2011 |
| Captain America Reborn | April 26, 2011 | August 22, 2011 | December 1, 2011 |
| Iron Man Unleashed | October 25, 2011 | April 2, 2012 | March 7, 2012 |
| Thor's Last Stand | October 25, 2011 | April 30, 2012 | May 2, 2012 |
| The Complete First Season | April 17, 2012 | April 30, 2012 | August 1, 2012 |
| Secret Invasion | September 25, 2012 | May 6, 2013[27] | March 6, 2013 |
| End of the Cosmos | February 19, 2013 | June 13, 2013[28] | |
| The Complete Second Season | May 7, 2013 | April 3, 2013 | |
| The Complete First and Second Season | September 29, 2014 |
References
- ^ a b "Disney Announces The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes". Superhero Hype!. May 4, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ a b c "Disney XD Launches Marvel Universe Programming With Spider-Man, the Avengers and Other Comic Icons". TV Guide. Mar 5, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
- ^ "C2E2: Marvel Animation". comicscontinuum.com. April 18, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
- ^ Iverson, Dan (July 25, 2010). "SDCC 10: The Avengers Assemble On The Small Screen". IGN. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
- ^ "The Avengers: EMH! Voicing Captain America". Marvel.com. April 25, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Jenna Busch (February 8, 2010). "AVENGERS Animated Assembling w/ Phil Lamarr". Newsarama. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
- ^ "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Voicing Iron Man". Marvel.com. April 22, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
- ^ "The Avengers Series Overview" (PDF). Retrieved June 25, 2012.
- ^ "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, The (2010, Animated Series) – Voice Cast Listing at Voice Chasers". Voicechasers.com. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
- ^ a b c Joshua Fine Interview! The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Season 3 Ideas, & More!, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2021-05-05
- ^ "Marvel Comics press release: "Announcing Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, October 8, 2008". Marvel.com. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
- ^ Kit, Borys (October 8, 2008). . The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 27, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
- ^ Harris, Jeffrey (July 30, 2010). "SDCC2010: Interview with Marvel Animation's Josh Fine and Chris Yost". toonzone.net. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
- ^ Harvey, James (September 1, 2010). ""The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" Scheduling, Videogame Updates". marvel.toonzone.net. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
- ^ Harvey, James (September 9, 2010). "October 2010 "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" Event For Teletoon". marvel.toonzone.net. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- ^ "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Premieres Oct. 20". Superhero Hype!. September 20, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- ^ Fine, Joshua (April 9, 2011). "Twitter / Joshua Fine". Twitter. Retrieved April 21, 2011.
Halfway point! 13 episodes of Season 2 in the can.
- ^ "NYCC: Spidey, the Hulk and Agent Coulson Walk into a Comic-Con... - IGN". M.ign.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
- ^ "Exclusive: Marvel Assembles New Animated Series for the Hulk and Avengers - Today's News: Our Take". TVGuide.com. June 12, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
- ^ Ching, Albert. "The 10 Biggest COMIC-CON 2012 Announcements". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
- ^ a b Sands, Rich. "Disney XD Picks Up Marvel Cartoons Featuring the Avengers and the Hulk". TV Guide. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
- ^ Diaz, Eric. "MARVEL'S AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Coming to Disney XD This Summer (Exclusive)". Nerdist.com. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "tnperkins - Professional, Filmographer | DeviantArt". www.deviantart.com. Retrieved 2021-05-05.
- ^ Yost, Christopher (May 5, 2021). "Chris Yost Reveals All 26 Of His Episode Ideas For Season 3 Of Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes". Reddit.com.
- ^ Harvey, James (August 13, 2010). "Marvel Announces "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" All-Ages Comic Title". marvel.toonzone.net. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
- ^ Langshaw, Mark (January 24, 2012). "'Avengers', 'Spider-Man' all-ages titles announced by Marvel". Digital Spy. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
- ^ "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Volume 6". Amazon UK. 6 May 2013.
- ^ "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Volume 8". Amazon UK.
External links
- Official website
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes at IMDb
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes at The Big Cartoon DataBase