Next Avengers Cartoon

[Docker2.0]

Pym was annoying, not cute. I didn't like how the characters didn't have super hero names other than Hawkeye. And It would have been better if they actually had the scene where the Avengers are killed by Ultron and Iron Man manages to take the kids away to the Arctic Circle (in a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, I think, which was awesome.) This would have been like in Samurai Jack, where right after Jack's dad tells his son about the Legend of Aku, Aku shows up and destroys everything. Having one of the kids remember would have made it more epic, even.

I didn't really care about the characters, other than Tony Stark who had an awesome fight scene with Ultron in the beginning, Bruce Banner who bugged me more after he transformed into the Hulk, and Thor who was a total all-around bad-ass just for being in the movie.

Bottom line: it had some moments, the animation was mostly bad, some decent, and it was way too much for kids. And if I were a ten year old right now, I'd just be waiting for the REAL Iron Man and Incredible Hulk to come out on DVD in like a month's time.

P.S. "Hulk Vs" looks like it might be Marvel's best effort yet, and the Hulk vs Wolverine fight at least is a prequel to the Wolverine and the X-Men show, and that looks pretty cool.

Thanks for the review! I had a feeling the dvd would be just like you said it would be so I'm renting this.

 

[Chris Wallace]

I just don't get why they are doing this? There a ton of current teams they could do: young avengers (brilliant) or the MC2 universe avengers for starters.

Although it does remind me a little of a what if story I loved. Apparently the premise is that Ultron killed their parents and tony (ironman) hides them and raises them away from the ultron controlled world. I also think it's interesting the list both parents on a few characters but not all.

By the way hope I didn't put this in the wrong place.

It just seems laughably bad.

 

[Hulk1968]

I just saw it on watch-movies.net
It was okay.
Kinda cool to see Old Man Hulk.
But it seems to be aimed towards kids.
4 outta 5 stars.

 

[TheVileOne]

I don't think it really made sense for the kids to have super hero names since they really weren't super heroes yet until the end. They were mainly training and playing around when they were growing up.

Francis was the leader of the resistance for a while, so it did sort of make sense to give him a name.

I'm OK that we didn't see the death of Avengers. Since this is more of a kids' movie.

As far as the Samurai Jack thing, uou don't really see Aku kill anybody. Jack's parents never die. His father never dies. Aku simply enslaves Jack's father. And Jack does free his father when he returns home. So seeing Ultron kill everyone this go around might've been a little too brutal.

If they do make another, maybe they can use a little more leeway.

 

[Radio_Clash]

I got to say I am pleasently surprised by this, it was pretty good.

My favorite scene

Spoiler

Lil'Hawkeye:Yeah Right, help out the guy who created Ultron, who got my dad killed, what do you think my father would have done Stark?
Tony: Clint? He would have punched me in the face and then he would have helped me.
Lil'Hawkeye:Wow you really knew my dad.

Oh and little Pym using the Visions disembodied head as a pillow.

 

[RAMORE]

I just can't see myself buying this dvd. I just think Marvel missed the ball with this one. Dread is right, Avengers haven't got the star treatment they deserved for whatever reason and Marvel should be ashamed of themselves. And why does it take so long to make these movies? You'd think by now Marvel wouldve made 10 dtv movies by now but they only made 5.....though I'm waiting on the announcement for a Daredevil and Moon Knight.

Oooohhh I would love a MoonKnight and a Darkhawk or Nightwatch

 

[RAMORE]

I don't think it really made sense for the kids to have super hero names since they really weren't super heroes yet until the end. They were mainly training and playing around when they were growing up.QUOTE]

But did they get names by the end? If not they should have unless they got pwned.

Francis was the leader of the resistance for a while, so it did sort of make sense to give him a name.

Plus he is not going around letting people call him francis for damn sure.

As far as the Samurai Jack thing, uou don't really see Aku kill anybody. Jack's parents never die. His father never dies. Aku simply enslaves Jack's father. And Jack does free his father when he returns home. So seeing Ultron kill everyone this go around might've been a little too brutal.

Common man even Bambi's parents were killed in silhouette off screen. You don't have to be gory but get the point across.

 

[YJ1]

I got to say I am pleasantly surprised by this, it was pretty good.

My favorite scene

Spoiler

Lil'Hawkeye:Yeah Right, help out the guy who created Ultron, who got my dad killed, what do you think my father would have done Stark?
Tony: Clint? He would have punched me in the face and then he would have helped me.
Lil'Hawkeye:Wow you really knew my dad.

Oh and little Pym using the Visions disembodied head as a pillow.

I was more then pleasantly surprised... I'm stunned that I actually enjoyed the movie. I thought it was going to be your garden variety kiddie crap and Avengers in name only. I was wrong. Sure, it's geared for kids in a way but it's steeped in real Avengers mythos from start to finish. It's easy to see an alternate future unfold like this one in the Marvel Universe.

They handled this next to perfectly. Having the Panther's son manifest a bit of Storm's powers without mentioning her is a cool nod to the fans as is many other little nuances.

What's even more exciting is the first look of Hulk VS Wolverine/Thor. Those two future DVDs look AMAZING!!!!! That's THE Thor we've all been waiting to see (not the hippie, ax wielding weak flake from the Ultimate Avenger movies)

Spoiler

Deadpool shows up in Hulk VS Wolverine! Grenade in the mouth?!? YEAH!!!

 

[Dread]

After a lot of sound and fury (especially from your's truly) about this film, the day of release is upon us. Does NEXT AVENGERS deliver on the goods, or is worthy of the nickname "Avenger Babies"?

I managed to rent this during a very long lunch break at work so I got to see it sooner than I expected, and had some time on the commute to stew a bit over it.

Coming into this flick, INVINCIBLE IRON MAN stood as the worst animated DTV from Marvel & Lion's Gate. After NEXT AVENGERS, it still is. But probably because the expectations were a lot higher. I expected a B+ quality product from IIM and instead it was average, C+ level fodder with clunky CGI effects and long gaps in story (not to mention a sucky villain). NEXT AVENGERS is superior to that at least, but is not as enjoyable as ULTIMATE AVENGERS 1 & 2, or DOCTOR STRANGE, or any of the DC animated DTV's besides SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC ATTACKS! (which was so bad I have yet to see beyond the first 20 minutes, not even to bash it). Even TEEN TITANS: TROUBLE IN TOKYO was miles ahead of NEXT AVENGERS. The best moments and bits about NEXT AVENGERS come in spite of the kids and despite some fun details, this simply reeks of a product conjured together in some board meeting of executive hacks trying to imagine what kids want from the perspective of guys pushing 40 (at least). The result is cookie cutter superhero action that could be found in many pilots, accepted and rejected, out there.

From here on out, FULL SPOILERS! If you want to be surprised, PROCEED NO FURTHER!

The trailer in which an elderly Tony Stark tells "The Last Avengers Story" to the young cherubs he looks after is in fact the opening sequence of the movie. At 78 minutes there is some dead space but fortunately the plot keeps moving. It just is all over the place and these "bold new characters" come off as tired cliches who can be pushed aside at a moment's notice in favor of a "true" character, such as Iron Man or Hulk. The latter appears in the second half of the story without much fanfare, as if by obligation.

12 years after, seemingly, the fall of the Avengers by Ultron, Tony Stark has raised their children (James, Azari, Torunn, and Pym) in relative isolation. He has trained them in how to use their powers somewhat and they spend their time either playing games of tag (Pym & Azari), mourning a missing father (Torunn), or lazing without any sort of direct focus (James). The fact that James is the son of Captain America and Black Widow is hardly a surprise pairing because Craig Kyle has worked on the screenplay or production of all of these DTV's including ULTIMATE AVENGERS that started it. Pym of course is the son of Hank Pym & Janet Van Dyne, and is apparently unworthy of a first name, as he is called nothing but "Pym", even in the credits. Azari's father is of course Black Panther, and while due to the fact that FOX owns the rights, they can't say that his mother ("the queen") is Storm, he does have electricity based powers. Torunn is of course the warrior girl daughter of Thor and...uh, Thor. I guess Norse Gods produce asexually.

Right from the start, these kids are tired stereotypes we have seen a million times before. The target audience for this flick may very well confuse this with TEEN TITANS, which was by far superior. At least when that show was being fluffy and stupid, it was trying to be so in a new or bizarre way. This stuff verges on stock. A black male hero with electricity powers has become a tired cliche; it is as if a black character can have no other non-physical powers besides electricity. Pym is the annoying jokey character who actually makes you yearn for Beast Boy at his worst. Torunn is the "fish out of water" not unlike Starfire, with a warrior's heart and an awkward dialect. James goes through all of the stock motions of young leadership, from laziness to awkwardness to emo-ness to finally chest-beating heroism when the plot demands it, you will swear you saw this movie already.

What I fail to understand is how these stock cliches seemed at all original to professional writers and cartoon people who have worked in the biz for years now. Why not twist some of those cliches? Instead of Torunn being all she-warrior, why not make her a shy bookworm (and a tech geek)? Why does Azari have to be a boy? Why not throw in more gimmicks for James from Black Widow besides the red hair (such as wall-crawling or even the "Widow's Sting") instead of the cliche Cap energy shield? Why not make Pym a stoic professional, the opposite of his emotional, often unstable father? Or even make him the rebel instead of the Hawkeye kid? I could go on and on, and this is on the fly. Why when there was a wealth of young hero characters from the comics to use, from MC2 to YOUNG AVENGERS, do they just create these stock stereotypes, go through the motions and then pretend it is original? This stuff was played out in 1998, much less 2008. For god's sakes, if you're going to make original characters, make them ORIGINAL. Don't just feed us the same cyphers and then pretend it's unique. It isn't. And even children will see it.

Not only are these kids often annoying, especially Pym, they are often inept, especially James. He is the one who accidentally summons Ultron to their home and begins the entire chain of events, of which half the time only luck or Ultron's underestimation of them allows them to live. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

The plot gets underway when a damaged Vision intrudes on their paradise and gets Stark's attention. The kids snoop when they shouldn't and James ends up accidentally triggering Stark's "Iron Avenger" robots, which attracts Ultron's attention. Quite why Stark had robot copies of his dead friends is unknown; in theory they could be seen as a last-ditch defense, but then Stark goes on about how Ultron can "corrupt" technology, hence why he never used them. So why have them at all? This brings Ultron to the area, which is hidden in the arctic. Iron Man seemingly wages a last ditch battle to allow the kids a chance to flee to safety with what is left of Vision. Over the course of 12 years, Ultron has taken over much of the world, including "Ultra-City" which is where New York City used to be. The kids decide to rescue Stark, which of course fails and allows them to be rescued by Clint Barton's son, Francis, who also goes by Hawkeye and in true "rebel" in animation fashion, has white hair and black clothes. Ooooo, trendy. He has a thing for Torunn, but it goes nowhere.

Hawkeye runs a stock "rebel" group that exists in every single post apocalyptic story known to man. He was unaware of fellow Avenger babies and is resentful that they never helped him out before. Fortunately, he decides to rescue the kids when they waltz right into Ultron's lair and into his trap. Ultron has this weird lair that seems to move about like a puzzle assembling itself, which looks cool but allows intruders to enter and exit easy; probably the worst design choice since the Death Star's "HIT ME HERE!" target in the original STAR WARS. Conveniently, among Hawkeye's rebels is an elderly Betty Ross, who figures the best idea is to find Bruce Banner and manipulate the Hulk into tearing Ultron a new one.

And guess what? That works. Completely. So how the hell has Ultron taken over the world and no other Avenger in over a decade could figure that out? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The kid characters naturally resolve their dilemmas in predictable fashion. James becomes a true leader, even claiming his father's cracked shield. Torunn eventually learns her father Thor really is looking out for her (just not enough to actually, like, come down and fight and be COOL and stuff). Pym turns out to save the day in the end anyway. And Azari....well, his background story was admittedly left on the cutting room floor by the production team, so he does little but offer a balance between Pym's foppishness and Torunn's warrior-credo. At one point Torunn loses her will to fight when she loses her Norse sword, which is supposed to be dramatic unless you are over 5 and thus have no clue she will get it back in the end. Pym spends the entire movie shrinking until the plot requires him to go "giant size", but instead of being dramatic, it comes off with a "what!? Um, ooookay" kind of appearance. The battles look entirely more generic than they should and the fact that they are all exclusively against robots almost seems like a white flag to the soccer moms of America.

The Hulk's insertion comes off as completely obligatory because enough is not done to connect him to the Avengers. Tony simply calls him "a monster" and in the context of the show may never have been an Avenger. The entire film was moving towards the kids avenging their parents, but they DON'T. They goad the Hulk into doing it for them. And most of the final round against Ultron is off-camera, a dramatic NO NO. Could you imagine the JLU crew being so foolish? They had Superman fight Darkseid THREE ****ING TIMES and still managed to make it awesome EVERY TIME.

There are other niggles. At some points the kids seem to know their parents were actually the Avengers and other moments this knowledge surprises them. The animation is barely a notch above Saturday morning TV and you can see where frames of animation were chopped for some running sequences. Ultron has taken over much of the world, but when a threat emerges for him, he has no option but to appear personally and "corrupt" Iron Avenger robots that happened to be there; he has no drones of his own. Even DOCTOR DOOM in FANTASTIC FOUR: WGH had Doombots. Heck, even Dr. Doom in the Roger Corman FF movie had Doombots.

Perhaps the biggest shocker and spoiler is that in this film, Ultron's creator was Iron Man. They completely stole part of Pym's legacy from him and could have done so much more with that kid if they kept his father's dark secret. Instead they decided to strip away most of his heritage, keep him an annoying dweeb who tries too hard to be funny (and fails every time) for more Iron Man fame. It also provides a dues ex machina for why Ultron bothers to capture Iron Man rather than just kill him, but the movie offers a PERFECT resolution for this when Ultron seeks to interrogate Stark about the "new kids on the block" to get data. That makes perfect sense. Why screw up Ultron's creator for no damned reason!? Hank Pym is only well known for a few things and NEXT AVENGERS robbed him of that.

I also said that before something akin to the movie's best moments likely being in spite of the kids, rather than due to them. This much is true. Ultron creator issues aside, there are a lot of tidbits for fanboys to pick out. This is easily the best version of Vision we have ever gotten, from design to lines to acting from Shawn MacDonald. Tom Kane, who voiced HOMER in the 90's IRON MAN series, also does a good job with Old Man Stark. There are allusions to past comics, even to the point where Torunn robs her father's "Ultron, we would have words with thee" line from the Busiek/Perez run. Quinjets, Clint's personality, Jocasta, and more all get nods and mentions. Which is fun on it's face, until you realize they are alluding to things that we have never seen faithfully transfered in any media form, and thanks to tripe like this, or the Ultimates, we never will. Ever. Rather than deliver a 616 Avengers product, they tease us with hints and nods along a generic kiddie adventure. Why it is rated PG is beyond me; I've seen Disney get away with far more violent and dark stuff at G (HERCULES comes to mind, as does TARZAN).

Y'know what really gets my goat? Usually what has plagued the Marvel/LG animated films has been focusing so much on the hero(es) that the villain is either non-existent or an afterthought. ULTIMATE AVENGERS just had aliens to slaughter before the Hulk fight at the end. ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2 had Herr Kleiser, but he was always a Red Skull Lite and had an anti-climatic death. Mandarin and the Elemental Warriors in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN were almost afterthoughts. And while DOCTOR STRANGE at least had Baron Mordo and Dormmamu, they seemed to be dispatched too quickly (and had only bare bones motives).

But here, we have a friggin' awesome depiction of Ultron. He has an excellent design. His voice by Tom Kane is actually robotic and menacing without being cheesy. He gets some great lines and quite a few moments of butt-kick, from his fight with Iron Man, to first meeting the kids, to Round 1 against the Hulk. And being an evil robot, he really doesn't suffer from lack of a backstory beyond what is given. Marvel LG FINALLY, after two damn years and 4 movies, gets a Marvel Villain right (or close to right), and they give him almost no one worthy to fight. His final battle is anti-climatic and too brief. Wouldn't it have been awesome had he fought the actual Avengers, maybe in a loose adaptation of ULTRON UNLEASHED? Wouldn't it have been great had they adapted an actual Avengers story to put him and the Avengers in, instead of this standard fast-food adventure ready-made for coloring books? This was an Ultron in search of a better movie.

More positives? Hmm. Half of the voice cast for the kids are actually teenagers themselves so it came off as genuine that way, even if they don't all have the best experience under their belts. The design work for the character models, scenery, and the flashbacks to the REAL Avengers is great. Tom Kane puts in an incredible performance, and naturally Fred Tatascione has reprised his role as the Hulk for the 3rd, soon to be 4th time, and has it down. Hulk and Iron Man both looked cool, too. The music is kind of stock, generic heroic-sounding, but it could be worse. Vision was great as well, stealing almost every scene he was in. Again, both he and Kane's Iron Man screamed for a better film.

I also called how the final shot would end at least 10 minutes before it did. That is never good. What is worse is when not only does Hulk all but steal the movie, the kids barely fight him for it. Again, if the executives were so intent on having Iron Man and Hulk have major roles, why NOT do a mainstream Avenger film? Both were founding Avengers (unlike Cap, who was made a founder retroactively, Black Widow, or Black Panther).

Most kids would rather watch adventures of the ACTUAL heroes than kid versions. Most kids don't think of themselves as kids, but wanna-be adults and they know when kids characters are either talking down or being spun for them. I was in college before I liked Robin and saw him as beyond Batman's annoyance. I never liked episodes where kids saved heroes like ATTACK OF THE OCTOBOT from 90's Spidey or I'VE GOT BATMAN IN MY BASEMENT from B:TAS. Even JLU is guilty of this, having a random kid save some of the League from the General in PATRIOT ACT. Adults who have failed to reconnect with their inner child can never make anything that pleases them. All they do is cater to a cliche of what they hear kids like, usually from other old fogies. Produce a genuine cartoon and it doesn't matter if it stars adult heroes or leather winged rock monsters, audiences will come and remember for generations. NEXT AVENGERS will be forgotten by a commercial break.

Buried under network executive expectations and miscued dreams is a true Avenger cartoon that is dying to get made. All the allusions and details in this one show that the writers & the producers love that stuff and would probably love to do a non-Ultimate version. But they don't have the stones to even try, and that is why they will never be fit to shine Bruce Timm's shoes. He had stones. He was willing to tell a million fanboys why it was for the best putting on Hawkgirl and John Stewart and won them over. He took a spandex-full, Golden Age premise and made it work for 5 seasons. He took the time to sow the seeds before reaping the harvest. All Marvel LG wants is a lazy harvest without the work, the investment. Bruce Timm had faith in characters like Hawkgirl and B'Wanna Beast, but Marvel LG has no faith in Earth's Mightiest Heroes to carry a movie without Ultimatizations or tweenie runts.

Instead, all Avenger fans have is Cap's 1966 Xerox "cartoon", and UNITED WE STAND from '99. The ULTIMATE AVENGER films remain a near pinnacle for Marvel LG, but toned down Ultimate versions are not the same as 616.

NEXT AVENGERS is the equivalent of a present that has a lovely bow, wrappings, and card, but beneath all that is the same tie that you got a few years ago. There is a lot of potential, but in this flick, the details are better than the actual movie, and that is a damn, damn shame. The Marvel LG crew seriously needs to hire some producers and writers who have some stones if they want to make anything beyond mass market mediocrity.

The things I liked about the movie were Ultron, Iron Man, Vision, and to some degree, Hulk. The rest was just tripe, teasing us with an Avenger cartoon that will never be. If these things interest you, give it a rent.

'Nuff Said.

 

[StarkTheProdigy]

So i liked the First Ultimate Avengers and Dr. Strange.
So should I consider renting this movie? (im not fond of buying animated movies)
Is it worth seeing?

 

[YJ1]

So i liked the First Ultimate Avengers and Dr. Strange.
So should I consider renting this movie? (im not fond of buying animated movies)
Is it worth seeing?

Definitely worth seeing if you're an Avengers fans on any level. Like I said, I'm literally shocked that I liked this movie.

(Frame of reference... I liked Ultimate Avengers but absolutely hated Invincible Iron Man)

 

[Dread]

So i liked the First Ultimate Avengers and Dr. Strange.
So should I consider renting this movie? (im not fond of buying animated movies)
Is it worth seeing?

If you can accept that everything is fine about the movie except the kids, who are 85% of it, then sure. I'd say it is worth a rental to appease curiosity.

 

[StarkTheProdigy]

ok
yeah,i'm for the whole superhero kid thing, idk why, its just an intresting take in the marvel universe

 

[Dread]

From my perspective, I think Craig Kyle and Chris Yost peaked between X-MEN EVOLUTION and FANTASTIC FOUR: WORLD'S GREATEST HEROES. Action sequences have never been their strong-suit and FF:WGH showed they excel better at comedy and character interaction than anything else. This had little of either. It was a paint-by-numbers tween adventure. I didn't hate it, but I am horribly disappointed by the buckets of wasted potential.

I want a real Avengers cartoon, damn it. It is truly an unjust world when LEGION OF SUPERHEROES can last 2 seasons but the Avengers can't even get a DTV to themselves that isn't Ultimate.

 

[YJ1]

Most kids would rather watch adventures of the ACTUAL heroes than kid versions. Most kids don't think of themselves as kids, but wanna-be adults and they know when kids characters are either talking down or being spun for them. I was in college before I liked Robin and saw him as beyond Batman's annoyance.

That's so very true. Isn't that how we all fell in love with these characters? Marvel needs to remember this as well. NEVER talk down to kids. Set the bar high and let kids reach above their heads and comprehension. I remember running to a dictionary as a kid to look up some of the big words I was reading in my X-Men and Avengers books. Kids want to be challenged and want to pretend they're the heroes, not kids of heroes.

Still, those were my misgivings going in to the film but somehow I got past that and still enjoyed the movie. Would I rather have seen an Avengers Unlimited animated movie using this voice talent and that bad-ass Ultron? Sure but this movie works on its own level.

Bring on Hulk VS Thor & Hulk VS Wolverine. They look like they just cut loose for the fans and they're not talking down to no one there.

(BTW- I still think Robin is lame)

 

[Dread]

That's so very true. Isn't that how we all fell in love with these characters? Marvel needs to remember this as well. NEVER talk down to kids. Set the bar high and let kids reach above their heads and comprehension. I remember running to a dictionary as a kid to look up some of the big words I was reading in my X-Men and Avengers books. Kids want to be challenged and want to pretend they're the heroes, not kids of heroes.

Still, those were my misgivings going in to the film but somehow I got past that and still enjoyed the movie. Would I rather have seen an Avengers Unlimited animated movie using this voice talent and that bad-ass Ultron? Sure but this movie works on its own level.

Bring on Hulk VS Thor & Hulk VS Wolverine. They look like they just cut loose for the fans and they're not talking down to no one there.

(BTW- I still think Robin is lame)

I haven't watched the VS. trailer yet, beyond what is online. I'm sure the action will be good, but frankly gore on these releases has never been the problem. A mature story is about more than violence. In fact, relying solely on violence is a sign of immaturity.

The sad reality is the media and society almost never gives children anything to reach for. In the name of esteem and "relativity", we teach them to be nothing but common. To reach only for the lowest common denominator or expectation, if they feel up for it. Coddle rather than care. And then we wonder why they're going off the rails.

All the cartoons most of us recall as kids didn't talk down to us, hence why we loved them.

 

[Hush]

You need to watch the Vs trailers, (DEADPOOL!!!!). I agree with you 100% Dread it was barely ok but my brother wanted to see more Thor, lol he's 11. He enjoyed it but he also was like man I wnat to see grown up heroes and such he also has me as a brother. He GETS the TV show Heroes at age 11! Kids arent dumb, he just wants everything to be as good as JL/JLU and it pains me to tell him that it just won't happen soon. Enless of course its a DTV from Timm, which makes me wonder what do you think of Wonder Woman, Dread?

 

[RAMORE]

I'm definately going to see it so I'm not gonna read your review dread until after I see it don't want to ruin the suprises which might be the only good parts

 

[Dread]

You need to watch the Vs trailers, (DEADPOOL!!!!). I agree with you 100% Dread it was barely ok but my brother wanted to see more Thor, lol he's 11. He enjoyed it but he also was like man I wnat to see grown up heroes and such he also has me as a brother. He GETS the TV show Heroes at age 11! Kids arent dumb, he just wants everything to be as good as JL/JLU and it pains me to tell him that it just won't happen soon. Enless of course its a DTV from Timm, which makes me wonder what do you think of Wonder Woman, Dread?

I DID watch the trailers for the VS. film and I must concur; it looks very good. Both of them do. And again, why? There is more faithfulness to the comics (HULK VS. WOLVERINE looks to be a mixture of Weapon X stuff with some from Wolverine's first appearance in the 70's), adult heroes, and focusing on pleasing a wider audience. They look like action/gore fests, but, uh, GOOD ones. Aside for ULTIMATE AVENGERS, which borrowed much of it's storyboards from the Millar/Hitch comics, the Marvel/LG have struggled with fight scenes. It would be good to see them get some right.

I'm not surprised that your brother feels that way. I was 11 once and I felt that way. Make a proper animated show and kids will watch it. The more mature it is, the cooler it will see on the schoolyard. Lord knows the X-MEN, which was a legend in it's time, was all the rage when I was in junior high.

The only animated thing that was close to this that actually worked was, again, a Timm product; BATMAN BEYOND. Sure, that was an entire series, but it was a lot more original with the young legacy hero and world than anything in NEXT AVENGERS, and BEYOND didn't have about 7 years of hindsight.

I'm definately going to see it so I'm not gonna read your review dread until after I see it don't want to ruin the suprises which might be the only good parts

Good call.

 

[Chris Wallace]

That's so very true. Isn't that how we all fell in love with these characters? Marvel needs to remember this as well. NEVER talk down to kids. Set the bar high and let kids reach above their heads and comprehension. I remember running to a dictionary as a kid to look up some of the big words I was reading in my X-Men and Avengers books. Kids want to be challenged and want to pretend they're the heroes, not kids of heroes.

Still, those were my misgivings going in to the film but somehow I got past that and still enjoyed the movie. Would I rather have seen an Avengers Unlimited animated movie using this voice talent and that bad-ass Ultron? Sure but this movie works on its own level.

Bring on Hulk VS Thor & Hulk VS Wolverine. They look like they just cut loose for the fans and they're not talking down to no one there.

I agree.

 

[Superhero 101]

This movie was pretty good i mean the tone of the film was lighthearted but when it got serious it got serious. I thought Little Pym was the star of the Show he had the best lines and my favorite

"What's a Hulk?"

This Movie is definately worth renting. I give it
4/5

 

[TheVileOne]

Wolverine and The X-men is excellent work by the Marvel animation crew. Everyone will see it soon.

Best X-men series ever.

 

[Docker2.0]

Wolverine and The X-men is excellent work by the Marvel animation crew. Everyone will see it soon.

Best X-men series ever.

How can you say that and you haven't seen a single episode?

 

[Dread]

TheVileOne saw the first three episodes at the big Comic-Con a few months ago. He's been preaching the gospel about that show for months but naturally came back with first-hand experience and has everyone jazzed at the X-Forum.

Frankly, I was surprised I didn't get one rebuttal to my review where someone said, "You never gave it a chance, Dread, that's why you didn't like it." Because with me, that's NEVER true. I'm all about quality cartoons. If I like something, I won't be afraid to admit it, even if that means admitting I was wrong. Over at the Marvel Forums, I spouted crap about Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA run and mistrust of him for years until I finally read the Omnibus and then had to about-face before I cheerleadered it. If being wrong is the price of quality, I don't mind being so.

I wasn't wrong about NEXT AVENGERS, least in my eyes and for my tastes. However, if I am wrong about WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN, that will be okay. I expect it to be many things, and it still can be those things as well as enjoyable. I would HOPE it offers more than this fluffy kid-pandering drek that is NEXT AVENGERS. The trailers at least indicated so.

 

[GL1]

I saw this movie last night with extremely low expectations, based on reviews like the ones you'll find here.

But I was pleasantly surprised. It was certainly worth a couple hours of my time. The way they used the Avengers mythos was artful. Obviously the canon characters, Hulk, Betty, Stark and Ultron were exceptional. We can criticize the kid characters for not being original... but they certainly were deep enough to carry the story.

If you're comparing this to a live action Avengers film ideal, then, yeah, it sucks... and how! This is not a "smart" film by any means... just like all of the other LG Marvel things... but for what it is, this movie is awesome. Parts of it were even moving.

And while Young Avengers is awesome, they couldn't have told this story. MC2 is foolishness, and the only think worth animating from it might be Spider-Girl... on a good day. Comparing this movie to some hypothetical YA or MC2 movie is... missing the point.

But it sounds like many think the point is to give us our favorite stories animated.