Marvel Studios is really stacking the deck for the release of The Avengers movie. We already know about Marvel’s two-year plan to release stand-alone films for its Avengers roster, before the team unites to take center stage in 2011. However it seems as though the big screen isn’t a big enough venue for Marvel’s Avengers roll-out, because the small screen is being included in the campaign effort too.
|
|
Marvel recently announced a slew of new animated series, including an Avengers cartoon which will debut (you guessed it) in 2011, just in time for The Avengers live-action film to hit theaters.
(Talk about total market saturation.)
Entitled The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the animated series will feature the roster of Captain America, Iron-man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-man and Wasp… the same characters rumored to be filling out the roster of the live-action movie. (Does this count as confirmation that Eva Longoria will be playing the Wasp in the live-action movie?)
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will consist of 26 half-hour episodes, which will be produced by Film Roman (The Simpsons), and will likely tackle story lines that are arguably “too comic book” for the big screen, while incorporating a rogues gallery of familiar villains. Check out the official synopsis from Marvel Studios:
When the planet is threatened by Super Villains, time traveling conquerors [Kang], alien invaders [Kree/Skrulls], mythical monsters [???] and mad robots bent on the total destruction of humanity [Ultron], when forces of evil are so overwhelming that no single hero has the power to save the world, when there is no hope left…the Avengers assemble!
[Sidebar: anyone remember which "mythical monsters" were part of the Avengers' rogue gallery?]
However, The Avengers aren’t the only Marvel characters getting the cartoon treatment. As mentioned, the studio has a slew of animated series slated for release between 2009 and the 2010-2011 Marvel-domination campaign. Also coming out under the Marvel cartoon banner will be Marvel Super Hero Squad, The Black Panther (2009), Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man: Armored Adventures (Nicktoons, 2009).
(Awesome, can’t wait for “Marvel Super Hero Squad,” whatever THAT is.)
As it stands, Marvel is none too shy about admitting to their total market (over?) saturation strategy. As Marvel President of Animation, Eric Rollman, tells it:
“The addition of ‘The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ to our quickly expanding animation slate continues our plan to complement each of our tentpole live action features with an animated series,” said Rollman. “This new ensemble series tracks perfectly with our highly anticipated ‘Road to the Avengers’ strategy…”
So many eggs getting placed in one basket. The Avengers movie had better knock it out of the park for Marvel like The Dark Knight did for Warner Bros., or the studio is going to be seeing a lot of red ink - and I’m not talking about their logo.
As for the animated series? Meh. I’ve made the argument before and I’ll make it again: DC has always been a step above Marvel in the cartoon business, and from the looks of that promo poster for The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, it too will fail to compare to a fine example like Justice League Unlimited. But that’s just my opinion.
What’s your take on it?
Source: MTV News
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Learn more about Screen Rant or if you want more frequent updates follow us on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
20 Comments
Cool article Kofi,
I don’t get why all these new cartoons are all going with that wierd exaggerated semi-anime design.
Remember when people in cartoons were proportionate in design?
i.e.
1990’s X-men series > X-Men Evo/Wolverine and the X-men’
1980s Transformers > TF: Animated
Could the “Mythical Monsters” be some of Thor’s Asgardian enemies? Ulik perhaps, maybe they are considering Loki a “monster”? Not sure.
@Rob
Agree with your point about the character designs. But looking forward to them anyway. Any way they can get “The Avengers” name out there to help promote the movies is OK in my book.
Marvel has just not gotten it in the past when it comes to animated TV series. Heck, look what they just did with Iron Man - they used the MOST REVILED chapter in the history of the Iron Man comic book:
Teen Tony.
Ugh.
Vic
My guess is to save money.
By making it a TV series they can pull the plug if it doesn’t do well too.
I am a big Anime fan, but I agree that Anime and Comics need to stay separate. otherwise you get a Hulk that looks like Quasimodo…
I too agree with the Animation style. Even the old Speed Racer cartoons had better style than this! If they want to go with an Anime style, then why not the Ninja Scroll/Boondocks style? At least it looks like a cartoon and not something drawn by 4 year olds.
Or why don’t they stick with the designs used in both Ultimate Avengers movies? Shame.
Totally agree with everyone on the animation style. I’ll watch the cartoons because I’m a fan but I wish they would get the same people who did the Ultimate Avangers DVD to draw the designs.
Marvel Super Hero Squad is based on a line of Marvel hero toys for kids age 3-5. They are small and have very little movement. Kinda remind me of figurines. My 4 year old loves them, and I love that they are impossible to break and have no small parts for my 2 year old to swallow. But Im getting off track…
Apparently the show will be targeting a similar age group as the toy, with storylines being light and comedic. And very little violence. I dont know what it will end up like, but I’ll probably end up having to watch it with my kids. I’ll let you guys know all about it when it finally comes out.
@Deadpool
God bless you, man. We’ll all wait to hear your report. (Because I will never watch that show.)
this is good and bad.
see the Ultimate Avangers DVD’s we’r frik’in SWEET !
but they are also redo’in the X-men and Iron man as animated shows.
honestly the iron man will suck 4 fans.
because apperently its tony stark as a kid & he has the armor. (poppycock!!!!!)
a kid IRON MAN,not for me and im a diie hard fan.
but the old 90’s X-men & IRON MAN shows were insane and perfect.
but the companey’s just need cash so they will do anything.
but this could be good if the story is good.
As much as the animation style sucks, personally I wouldnt mind so much if they made up for it by bringing us great storylines. Cross polinate these shows. Have Spidey and Wolvie show up in the Avengers. Have Iron Man cross paths with Doctor Doom. I know they could find a way to write it and have it make sense.
Ive watched plenty of tv shows and movies that I didnt like stylistically, but they ended up being great because of the story. But maybe thats just me.
Vic: did you catch Spectacular Spider-Man back when it was on? It was one of the best animated series’ in years and I had very few complaints about it. It also used the overly-exaggerated animation style, and it worked really well as we got the most fluid and dynamic Spider-Man ever (including previous shows and movies).
Fin Fang Foom. That is one of several mythical monsters the Avengers have battled. Plus, anytime they deal in the Supernatural(Dormamu, Loki, Ulik) you could count these as mythical to your average unbelieving mortal. As far as the animation style, I definitely think it should have been done like either the ultimates movies, or even like the 90’s version X-men and Spider-man, cuz those ruled. Heck, I’d even settle for some more Bruce Timm animation. But as sononsj said, Spectacular Spider-man was very similar in style(maybe that means he’ll guest star?) and that show was pretty, well, balling. By far one of the best cartoons of the past decade, despite its playskool look. I am much more worried about crappy storylines, because, as Marvel is famous for with comic cartoons(the original avengers toon) they water down storylines to appeal to the younger audience. Here’s an idea: use the same storylines from the comics that got the fans interested anyways. Geez.
@sononsj
Are talking about the most recent one where they portrayed him as a “tween?” The concept didn’t appeal to me, never saw it.
Vic
Vic: We’re thinking of the same cartoon but that’s not entirely correct. Spidey was actually around 16 or 17 years old, the same age he was when he started being Spider-Man in the original comics. The whole “tween” thing was due to an unfortunate typo in an early press release where he was described as being in “junior high school” (which would have made him 12 or 13 years old) when it should have read “a junior IN high school” (which would have ade him 16 or 17 years old). Despite it being an obvious error, the rumor that Peter was in junior high in the series spread from there and a lot of people missed out on a great series due to a misconception.
kevin strilchuk
8004 churchill dr
sw calgary alberta
canada usa t2v2s4
MARVEL COMICS
INFORMATION TO SPIDER MAN IN TO THE ANIMATED SERIES ALL NEW SHOW OF SPIDER MAN ON FOX KIDS SHOW OF SPIDER MAN PLEASE TO ORDER SPIDER MAN 1990 ON FOX KIDS PHOTO OF SPIDER MAN TO MEET BLADE THE VAMPIRE HUNTER WE TO GET SPIDER MAN NEOGENIC NIGHTMARE ON DVD FOR ME I NEED SOME GIFT TO ME FOR CHIRSTAMS DAY ON 25TH ON THURDAY MORNING IS A VERY GOOD SHOW OF SPIDER MAN WE TO GET MORE DVD OF SPIDER MAN THE AMAZING FREINDS OF ICE MAN OR FIRE STAR WE TO SEND THE LETTERS TO MARVEL COMICS OF SPIDER MAN TO ME WE LIKE TO ORDER DVD OF SPIDER MAN REALLY REALLY HATE CLONE WARS OF SPIDER MAN TO MEET SPIDER CARANGE IS REAL EVIL CLONE OF SPIDER MAN WE TO SEND ALL MARVEL FANS FOR YOU PLEASE TO SEND ALL COMICS FOR ME IS MY SPECIAL GIFT TO ME I AM BIGGEST FAN FOR YOU PLEASE TO SEND THE LETTERS TO X MEN FROM THE SHOW OF SPIDER MAN TEAM UP WITH WESLEY SNIPES WE LIKE TO SEND TO ORDER VIDEO OF SPIDER MAN FAREWELL TO PETER PARKER OF SPIDER MAN ON DVD I AM BIG FAN IS KEVIN STRILCHUK FROM TO CALGARY
Well for starters I can’t believe the person that wrote this said dc cartoons were superior and cited friggin justice league unlimited??! I couldn’t stand that crap, the first two seasons of justice league were legendary but UNLIMITED??!
Also ppl the 90’s x-men wasn’t all that great (trust me i have all 5 seasons and ive been watching them over..) it was good but i’ve also seen 12 episodes of the new “wolverine and the x-men” and let me tell you it is gold! the animation is slightly anime-ish but nonetheless it is awesome.
one more thing.. i agree with the fact that they shoulda stuck with the ultimate avengers animation style…guess they didnt want to confuse ppl with the two different storylines. i was wondering since they did an ultimate avengers that perhaps they should do an ultimate x-men…
i dont think marvel’s oversaturating the market though i would like to see more from dc too.
look out for the “hulk vs” dropping in january
@Darnell
Gotta say I agree on JL vs JLU. I really enjoyed the first two seasons, but when it went to the “Unlimited” version of the show… I don’t know what they were thinking.
Vic
What's your opinion? Leave a comment!
Go to Gravatar.com and upload your own (we'll wait)!