Marvel's Avengers Assemble

I kind of wish they turned Klaw into the living Sound being instead of just killing him.

That would have been cool, yes.

Yeah, I remember. And that's not even comparing to comic!Thanos, who voluntarily avoided one-hit-killing them all because he wanted to give them an edge so it'd impress Death, and still managed to wipe the floor with them. Looking back, God was AA!Thanos an embarrassment.

The problem is that the material they were adapting or homaging played Thanos as big 'literally the universe might just implode and half of everything is dead for starters' and threatening.

Avengers Assemble used him as a mid season boss, had Ultron hijack his swag and fly off.

They were also using Synergy because of the movies but in the movies Thanos is also going to be the capstone of a whole lot of stuff and be really threatening and dangerous while he does cap that stone. Or stone that Cap.

And making it like the movies is fine if they actually made it like the movies. But Avengers Assemble and Guardians too just can't keep it in their pants when it comes to Thanos.The way that the writing is in the show, they're not actually capable of building him up.

Funny as you mentioned Thanos, just today my order of the tradepaperback Avengers vs. Thanos just arrived in the mail (happy belated birthday to me). It collects the stories of the early depiction of the Mad God, from his (and Drax) first appearance in Iron Man 55 to the Marvel Two in One crossover where The Thing and Spiderman takes on the guy to save the Avengers. And in said stories he is presented as the Bigger Bad who has an all encompassing presence in each of those assorted comics. All the villains of each issues and situations the heroes finds themselves in are all apart of Thanos quest for ultimate power. And even when he was seemingly ultimately defeated at the end of a story, it was merely just another step to his goal and he becomes more of a threat than he already is. It does a good job at making Thanos appear like a serious threat and actually have him live up to the hype wheneve he shows up.

Compare that to his portrayal in this show where he just shows up, fights the Avengers and gets defeated never to be mentioned again until his next appearance. He is not a looming pressence in the overall plot, he is not treated like the end boss who can body the fuck out of anybody who challenge him and he is not treated like a major crisis villain as in the trades I read (which is ironically called Avengers vs. Thanos) a lot more Marvel heroes were involved than just the Avengers like Captain Mar-Vell, Daredevil, The Thing of Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and lets not forget Adam Warlock. Thanos in this show is like Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat Annihilation: a badass villain who is neautered to the point of being a joke compare to his original counterpart.

Hell, The Super Hero Squad Show gave us a Thanos that actually lived up to the hype of being a dangerous intergalactic conqueror; and that show has no problems with making their villains into jokes throughout the series. Case in point: Thanos whole obsession with being a chicken farmer upon being stuck in the soul gem with Adam Warlock. And in spite of that (plus the added bonus of hearing Jim Cummings voice in the Mad Titan) this is a more serious portrayal than the one given in Assemble; guess its must be the focus they give on such character.

Actually, him wanting to be a chicken farmer seems like a reference to the ending of the comic where he got the Infinity Gauntlet^^ at the end, he decided he was done trying to conquer Death's heart and became a farmer. So nice little nod.

But weird thing is, personally it's not even that they made Thanos less of a threat in Avengers Assemble that annoys me the most. It's that they removed the one greatest thing about him: his motivation. Thanos has one of the most unique motivations for a villain: he does all these atrocities because he wants to impress his girlfriend, who just happen to be the Anthropomorphic Personification of Death. And they too that away to make him a generic evil alien conquerer.

He also tends to be a chess master and magnificent bastard on a ridiculous scale, usually only outdone by Adam Warlock

It's the aggravating thing about Infinity War and Crusade

It's the Adam and Thanos show and everyone else are just pawns

But the point is that if you play Thanos as just a space tough you've already goofed the pooch

Yes, I am well aware of that ending of Infinity Gauntlet (I have a copy of said story since 2011). So no need of explaining to me Thanos’s character motivation of wanting to bang Death due to his own nihilism.

And yeah, motivation is the second reason why Thanos in Assemble sucks. Thanos in Silver Surfer retains the whole crush on Death motive (changed to Lady Chaos because 90s). And while a comedic parody lacking the same motivation as the original, Super Hero Squad Show Thanos is still portrayed as a cunning villain who presents a looming threat to the heroes. Thanos in Assemble is just a generic doomsday villain who lacks the complex motives for his atteocious deeds and the Genius Bruiser traits which makes battling him a challenge from both a physical and mental perspective.

The problem of Avengers Assemble lies in their constant attempts at movie synergy, but here's the problem, the medium. One's animation and the other's live action. In animation, you expect more zany, colorful action than you could in live action. Having animation attempt to imitate live action just sterilizes creativity and sucks the life out of everything.

Not to mention the timing. By the time the cartoons try to capitalize on characters or moments from a movie, it would've been months after the movie has aired and everyone has moved on.

Once again I point to you Hawkeye's costume.

It is so disgustingly boring that I get pissed whenever I look at it.

Just look at Ultron. They randomly redesigned his face to look like the movie version despite the movie already being out for a long-ass time.

edited 25th Mar '18 5:58:41 PM by slimcoder

And it jumped directly into Uncanny Valley and then kept sinking into an uncanny canyon. Seriously, that thing hurt my eyes just looking at it.

Even then the movie version only worked because of Spader's magnificent voice-acting in spite of the movies problems. Any other attempt will fail because they lack Spader's charisma.

You can see the same issue in the Guardians cartoon, they are clearly trying to channel Chris Pratt in Star-Lord only to fail because Will Friedle is not Chris Pratt & they do not have James Gunn doing the show.

Doesn't help that Gamora's face is really bland there.

edited 25th Mar '18 6:06:23 PM by slimcoder

Speaking of synergy. Why? Seriously, why do you need to force more attention on characters who already made their money? Wouldn't law of diminishing returns eventually set in? One think I liked about the cartoons that I grew up with is that they were a gateway into the comics. X-Men Evolution first exposed me to Kitty Pryde while the freaking Superhero Squad show got me to rediscover Power Pack of all things all because I wondered who the hell were these kids and what were their connection to the Fantastic Four.

Funny thing is Will Friedle said he tried not to model his performance after Chris Pratt.

They just see money and try to coast in their brand, using this as an ad for the movies and with how mediocre these shows are, I don't see them being able to sell smaller groups.

Focus on making a good cartoon, and let comics, tv shows and movies be their own thing.

So is season 5 still happening? Because with Infinity War approaching $1 billion globally, there's no way they're going to ignore this. But Infinity War (and Raganarok to a degree), it shook up the status quo so much, them using it is gonna be hilarious. With stuff like:

Will the Assemble!Avengers have yet another falling out because lol? With Steve, Natasha, and Sam being on the run? Bruce Banner being MIA and Thor missing an eye?

Will Assemble!Hela suddenly be revealed to be Thor's sister with an imperialistic bloodlust, when originally she was just the watcher of Vahalla that looks like Hel who was bored watching skeletons poorly fight each other?

Will Loki be redeemed offscreen despite, last we saw, he was consumed by the all-dark?

Asgard's fate. The fate of Thor's entire family... nuff said

How can they explain that Ghost went from a (most likely) white guy to a black woman?

Scott and Tony entered and exited the Microverse just find but they still can't find Janet?

Now here comes the Infinty War spoilers which Assemble will have to hilariously nagivate around:

Will Hulk, who had shown no fear of Thanos when he had all not!6 of the Stones suddenly be afraid of the Mad Titan?

Will Bruce become all confused and panicky and will he and Hulk have to learn that they're one and the same.... again?

Speaking of Thanos, what would change in his heart that cause him to turn from power hungry dictator to power hungry dictator concerned about limited resources? Especially since in season 2, he had no problem destroying Earth if it means humanity goes with it

How long will Vision live with the target called the Mind Stone is attached to his head? Wait, that stone is still lost? Ummmm "It's not now" lol let's use that excuse. Also who is gonna be the Wanda who blows his off to save the world?

Will the Soul Stone finally be shown? And will Thanos throw Gamora off a cliff to do it? I haven't watch the Got G cartoon but I know Thanos shows up in it and I'm sure he had no qualms about killing Gamora. Also will Red Skull suddenly become keeper of the Soul Stone? And why doesn't Thanos want Skull's head on a plate for stealing the Power Stone from him?

Will Hawkeye be on house arrest for his... family? lol

Will Thor will get Stormbreaker? And a mechanical eye? And how on Earth would he be able to cleave Thanos in his chest in a children's cartoon

Will Winter Soldier finally stop having the stick up his ass? How will he end up in Wakanda where the children will call him the White Wolf

How will Tony deal with his PTSD that he suddenly always had for a long ass while? What on Earth could he do to stop Thanos, who refers to him as his curse? Despite stopping Thanos before?

Do I have to ask how they're gonna do The Snap? Like kids saw the end result of The Snap. They cried from The Snap. Grownups cried from The Snap. You can't piggyback off Infinity War without its most important event: The Snap. I mean if they don't do The Snap, it's a spit in the movie's face. But if they do The Snap, it'll most likely be watered down as punch in a school dance. And why didn't Assemble!Thanos do The Snap when he had all five-six of the Infinity Stones in the first place?

Would anyone care if this Peter Parker dust away? "Mr. Stark I don't feel so good. Audience: "YAY!"

"Shit everyone's turning to dirt. We must get Captain Marvel." "But she's already on Earth and probably turned to dust as well." "Motherf—" dusted.

These are questions I want answered in quite possibly the most poorly thought way possible in the name of synegry. The laughs I get from the shoddy explanations will make them work it.

edited 4th May '18 11:13:46 AM by NoName999

I can't believe they are still trying to keep this sinking ship running. You'd think they would try to launch a new show at some point. And add some color, damn it.

Maybe the reason the shows are rumored to be ending is because it'd be hard to have the characters go "Hey, remember when half of us and half of the universe died? Good times! :D".

I kid, of course, but it's hard to not feel like that would be a factor in possible cancellation. :P

edited 4th May '18 12:40:32 PM by Etheru

Thank you for this hilarious description XD This is why their policy of trying to follow the movie doesn't work.

I can't believe they are still trying to keep this sinking ship running. You'd think they would try to launch a new show at some point. And add some color, damn it.

Completely agreed. On a note, you gotta love how their Animated Universe is in the same state quality-wise as DC's Cinematic Universe.

It made one absolutely brilliant story about heroine that long deserved such spotlight and attention?

The introduction episode for Captain Marvel was okay

They played her as the friend nobody liked, well mostly Hawkeye. Perhaps jealous because he's used to being the friend nobody likes.

Black Widow's first focus episode has her turned into a vampire and like have no agency. Her first real focus episode comes at the end of season 2 I think.

edited 4th May '18 2:59:42 PM by Bocaj

Why is it that the crap cartoons get the most seasons?

Probably because they're astonishingly cheap to produce?

edited 4th May '18 3:37:17 PM by TargetmasterJoe

Something something toy sales

It made one absolutely brilliant story about heroine that long deserved such spotlight and attention?

... Oh my God, you're right, they couldn't even do that. Well, it's official; even the friggin' DCEU has more good points than the Marvel Animated Universe as far as I am concerned.