The Avengers Assembly, Part 2

On Wednesday I posted the first microsode for the upcoming Avengers cartoon. which starred Iron Man and was pretty great. I’m happy to report that the second one, featuring the Hulk, is just as good. It also seemingly begins right after the Hulk movie — which I realize is nice because I have no need to see the Hulk’s origin again, or Iron Man’s, etc — and I like that it’s respecting the kids enough to skip them too (I’m down with Captain America’s origin being retold, because it’s also the basis for an actual Avengers story, and not just his origin). Second, I like that there’s almost no action in this thing until the very end — the show creators haven’t made it for the lowest common denominator, but trust kids are interested in the character(s) enough that they can handle some decent storytelling — which makes it work for both kids and adults. And I really like the idea of SHIELD as being morally questionable; yes, it’s been that way in the comics forever, but comics are for grown-ups. Having a large swath of gray in the normally black and white world of superhero cartoons… well, again, it just shows a lot of respect for its audience, even though they’re kids.

Maybe I’m a moron and this thing will tank because it’s not loud and dumb enough, but I don’t think so. I think — I hope — kids will eat it up. I know that as a nerdy adult I’m excited as hell, and I really appreciate the guys making it for saying, “Let’s put in a little extra work and make a kids’ cartoon that all ages can actually enjoy.”