The Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

Who would have thought? This is actually an excellent movie. I liked it better than either of the Avenger cartoon movies.

The animated features to come from Marvel and Lion's Gate have been pretty good thus far, and The Next Avengers is no exception. Even though it is more aimed at children than the Ultimate Avengers flicks, The Next Avengers provides some rousing action and surprises that will satisfy Marvel fans young and old alike. The story picks up with the Avengers biting the big one in battle with the murderous Ultron, and surviving member Tony "Iron Man" Stark watching over their children. Among them are James; the son of Captain America and Black Widow, Torunn; the daughter of Thor, Pym; the son of Giant Man and Wasp, Azari; the son of the Black Panther, and the son of Hawkeye. Things are peaceful until Ultron makes a comeback, seeking to extinguish the legacy of the Avengers. Soon enough, The Next Avengers are seeking out the only force strong enough to take down Ultron and his minions: the Hulk. With crisp animation and solid voice acting, The Next Avengers is an entertaining piece, and with previews of the even more promising looking Hulk VS Thor and Hulk VS Wolverine, this DVD is a worthy pick up.

I can't believe I'm saying this but this is the best animated movie Marvel has done so far! And believe me, when I first saw the trailer and read the premise I did not like it. I think what scared me about this one is that after several offerings from Marvel animated movies (some ok, some decent, and some great), suddenly we're getting what seemed like a "kid-friendly" movie which to me completely went against the point of doing these direct-to-DVD movies. Kid friendly Marvel stuff should be left for regular T.V. Well I'm happy to say I was wrong about this one. I think the fact that it's an original story is where its strength lies. First off, the setup for the story is well executed. Ultron defeats all the original Avengers and Tony Stark escapes with their offspring. Another strength is the characters. James Rodgers, the son of Captain America and Black Widow, is first portrayed as a slacker so it's cool to see his father come out in him as things progress. Torunn is the daughter of Thor and I think she may be my favorite character. Plus she has my favorite scene in the movie where she prays to her dad and the way he `answers' her is awesome! Azari is the son of Black Panther and Storm (not a spoiler, they're now married in the comics). He's kind of the level headed one and it's cool to see the powers of his parents combined in him. Pym, the son of Wasp and Giant Man, was the only one I really didn't like because he's basically the annoying one of the bunch. And Francis Barton is the son of Hawkeye and he's pretty much identical to his dad. They really portray Ultron as a real threat here and they make me believe that he could actually defeat all the Avengers. We also get some action from an aged Hulk and it's great to see him let loose. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel includes these characters into their comic continuity somehow because they've got some really great material here. Highly recommend checking this out.

I can't wait till the next one come. Movie made for the fans and up and coming fans.

When I saw the previews for "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow" one thought instantly coalesced in my mind. Worst idea ever. I mean with all the decades of classic storylines being nearly untouched outside of the comic medium and only two underwhelming short-length straight to DVD animated features released so far -not to mention hype for the future live-action crossover film- why on Earth would Marvel choose to do a Baby Avengers film right now? Still, I am a superhero/animation fanatic and a man's gotta watch what a man's gotta watch, so I gave this a chance. This movie kicks the hell out of the previous two entries. It's the perfect example of a horrible idea executed (almost) flawlessly.

This is Marvel on a sci-fi bender reminiscent of classics like The Matrix series and The Terminator. In it, sentient AI being Ultron has shattered The Avengers and is rapidly progressing in conquering the world in order to replace every imperfect living being with flawless machines. 13 years after Earth's Mightiest Heroes fell, we catch up with their offspring, taken by Tony Stark and hidden in a remote hideaway undetectable to Ultron's mechanical army. The line-up includes James Rodgers son of Captain America and Black Widow (!?!?), Pym is obviously Hank and Jan's kid (annoying as hell, too), Azari whose parents were Black Panther and presumably Storm, and Torunn daughter of Thor, who left our realm to take the throne of Asgard after his father's death. When curiosity kills their cover, the super-powered tweens are forced to flee the only home they've known with only The Vision's head to guide them. After a sound thrashing attempting to rescue Iron Man, who was captured buying them time to escape, the kids meet Lil' Hawkeye, who was assumed lost with his father but carved out an existence for himself right under Ultron's nose along with his band of renegades. Finding Betty Brant among them the team finds that there is only one way to defeat the invincible Ultron: find the strongest one there is and unleash the beast.

The science fiction setting does wonders for this concept. Bringing Marvel fans into an unfamiliar setting (for a comic movie, that is) is a great way to offset the initial resistance to the changes made to the source material. A short list of WTF's: Widow and Hawkeye were the item, Hank Pym built Ultron, Ultron built Vision and Jocasta, Cap's shield is vibranium and therefore unbreakable, etc, etc, whiny fanboy nitpicking and all that. Fact is, this is obviously non-canon material and that makes a lot of the changes -unnecessary as some of them are- less annoying. Most of the characters are handled very well. The pacing of the story is outstanding for being only a little over an hour and has a lot of goodness crammed in without ever feeling rushed. Some of the action scenes are killer, with Iron Man's duel with Ultron being particularly kicka$z. The substory with Torunn's longing for her father seemed to telegraph an obnoxiously obvious deus-ex-machina finale similar to the comic The Ultimates 2: Grand Theft America that thankfully didn't materialize and turned out rather sweet all around.

Now just because the pacing was spot-on doesn't mean there shouldn't have been more. Hank and Jan Pym -aka Giant/Ant Man and The Wasp- are scarcely mentioned while the other kids all get moments to reflect on their parents deeds and fates. Their kid gets on my nerves, too. A little more T'Challa wouldn't have hurt either. They didn't even bother naming Storm as Azari's mother, you just have to be nerdy enough to figure it out yourself. Considering this is aimed squarely at a casual audience, that is hardly a smart move. And why, oh why would Anthony Stark -one of the smartest human beings alive- attempt to combat an AI that subsists by controlling machines by building fraking battle-bot representations of the old Avengers? Turns out THAT was the worst idea ever. And boy is the Black Widow-bot ugly.

I had written a scathing review for this cartoon in my head before I even watched the thing. That's how much I thought I was going to hate this. Junior Avengers, my a$z! But I really can't dislike this film. To think that there have been so many crummy adaptations of brilliant concepts (I see you over there, Spider-Man 3, you can not hide!) and this dumb idea turns out a winner. It's a crazy world we live in, people. This disc comes with a making-of doc and two previews for the upcoming animated features "Hulk vs Wolverine" (yay if it's brutal!) and "Hulk vs Thor" (meh). Also in the works is a Planet Hulk film which should be sweet. Anybody else detecting a theme, here, or is it me? I expect a World War Hulk adaptation after that. Go Big Green! If you're into seeing a futuristic post-apocalyptic version of Earth's Mightiest Heroes come to animated life than this will certainly float your boat. Color me shocked, but this is loads better than anything I could have come up with for that concept. Have a look.