New Avengers Cartoon Free on iTunes
Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, which is what the live-action movie was called in English-speaking countries where they have fonder memories of John Steed and Emma Peel, is the newest Marvel cartoon, and the first episode is now available to watch free. Granted, if you’re like me and don’t use iTunes much, it’s still a pain – upgrade the software, restart the machine, create a new account, update your credit card info all for a cartoon – but I soldiered on. And will be royally screwed if they snuck a Human CentiPad clause in all umpteen of those damn boxes.
It seems to be roughly based on movie continuity but with some differences. The Stark Tower looks the same, the team roster too (Falcon joins in this first episode). Yet Modok is a known threat (though Red Skull is presumed dead, but not for long) and the Avengers have broken up over what seems to be the shared agreement that Tony Stark’s kind of a prick.
Also, Hulk stays Hulk – he’s never puny Banner in this episode, but he is slightly more articulated than in the movies.
It’s got some good cliffhangers – a major character seems to get killed off right off the bat, and another one comes close at the end of the episode. For very little kids, this might not be the first Marvel toon to show.
And if you can’t get Samuel L. Jackson, Chi McBride is a damn good lower-budget Nick Fury. Too bad they didn’t get Werner Herzog to actually be Red Skull.