While doing their upfront presentation to potential media buyers and clients this past Tuesday, Disney unveiled two new animated series spawned from the upcoming Marvel team-up movie The Avengers, and the 3D tech-world sequel, Tron Legacy.

The Avengers project (which we first reported on back in '08) will still be titled The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and will now premiere on the Disney XD channel in the Fall of 2010. The Tron project will come after the release of Tron Legacy, most likely in late 2011/early 2012.

Earth's Mightiest Heroes will feature the ranks of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man, The Wasp, with featured appearances by The Hulk. It doesn't really take a genius to figure out Disney's two-pronged plan for releasing this Avengers cartoon:

  1. They start reaching that young market they were clearly aiming for when they acquired Marvel.
  2. They start upping the exposure of The Avengers, as a strong lead-in to the feature film release.

Not a bad plan, the only question is: Will this latest Marvel animated project be able to hold a candle to DC animated shows like Justice League?

Take a look at the trailer for The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and you tell me:

As for the Tron series: it's being aimed at kids 6-14 but has yet to receive the official green light. As stated, the series would arrive in late 2011/early 2012 and be broadcast on The Disney Channel.  Disney is also planning a Tron "micro-series" that they would premiere in the Fall of 2011, to serve as a lead-in to regular animated series. It's still too early for any trailers, but we'll keep you posted as promo material is released for the show.

tron legacy

How do you feel about Disney's new animated projects? How about their movie counterparts? Think the cartoons are good lead-ins/tie-ins?

More on The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the Tron animated series when we hear it.

Source: THR via /Film