Watcher Wednesday: Marvel TV #2
Last week I looked at Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes – two newer animated series from Marvel Studios. This week I’ll venture into another fairly new series, and a made for DVD movie that is also on Netflix.
The Super Hero Squad Show
Super Hero Squad (SHS) is based on the toy line of the same name. The toys are very cartoony, maybe aimed for a much younger crowd than teens and adults, and features the more popular of common Avengers. The cartoon series has a team of good guys and a team of bad guys. The good guys tend to be a mish mash of these popular characters we’ve seen in other media, and especially comic books. The bad guys are the more known villains from comics and animated series.
Though the series has ended, it is still shown on The Hub, a cable network. It’s animation style is taken, again, from the cartoon line, and is very brightly colored. The voices are much more kid like. Even Wolverine’s growl sounds a bit like a 
purr.
This cartoon is aimed at a kid audience. It was hard for me to keep watching because of being a big Marvel Comics fan. None of it follows any direct continuity with the comics. The characters seem like kids, but they are supposed to be adults. With that said, it is not a bad show for kids. It introduces Marvel to a very young audience without any confusing storyline. It has all the beloved characters all at once. It’s just a quaint show for kids in this way. But, older crowds will probably not enjoy it as much.
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
This animated movie may be roughly based on the ideas of A-Next/Avengers Next and Young Avengers comics. The biggest difference is that this group is comprised of the children of current Avengers, and the story takes place sometime in the future.
From a production standpoint, I thought this was a beautifully crafted movie. It could have been released in theaters if it had just a little more polish. The animation was well done. It was not entirely comic book animated, but a lot more than the Avengers animated series and SHS.
It may be because of my fondness for time travel genre movies, but it was great to see the possible future of the Avengers team. That’s what made this a great film. It took favorite characters and asked “what would happen if they had kids?” But, as far as canon goes, it is not the direct future of the famous Marvel team. The film also is somewhere in the middle of a bleak, Armageddon-like storyline, and an empowering kids tale. This middle ground may frustrate some viewers too. But, overall, it is a nice movie alternative to other Marvel takes on the comics.
And, until next time, have a Marvel-ous day!
Murray the Bellhop has been with DAPs Magic Geeks Corner for several years now. He is a geek's geek. Knowledgeable about many things, he frequently shares his love of movies, comic books, and the comic book world with Geeks Corner.
