I'm excited about The Avengers.
And by excited I mean I weep tears of joy thrice daily at the very idea that a multi million dollar adaptation is in the works.
Joss Whedon, the man in charge of orchestrating this daunting task, seems to have had a polarizing effect on geekdom. Some point to his magnificent work on The Astonishing X-Men as proof that he can successfully create an effective team dynamic and make it work within an action packed story. Others question whether he will be able to make the jump from small screen to the big screen (as enjoyable as Serenity was, it did feel more like a polished feature length episode than a fully realized film.)
I am a die hard Whedonite so I am fully on board. The man knows and loves this universe, he knows character, drama and can balance both with humor and spectacle and if Marvel is willing to give him the tools to fully realize his vision 2012 could be a very special year for us.
But, if I may be so bold, Joss could stand to take some tips as he begins to set up The Avengers, and he could do a lot worse than by looking back over the first season of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Pictured Left to Right: Arrowman, Smallgirl, Robotman, Americaman, Angryman, Smallman, Sgt Hammer, Catman.
It's not uncommon for an animated series to accompany a major motion picture. It's mutually beneficial; the growing buzz of the movie boosts the show and the show in turn helps promote the movie. But while most come across as crude throwaway marketing ploys, Earth's Mightiest Heroes can stand proud as a genuinely entertaining show.
There is a clever simplicity to the set up. There has been a prison break out, a rather large one. Four separate maximum security prisons simultaneously lose power and the world's most dangerous criminals escape, the big question being, who is responsible? This rather straight forward set up is an incredibly effective way to start a series with mammoth 52 episodes in the works. It affords the show makers the chance to do standard monster-of-the-week episodes, with the team taking on a new villain each episode, but also keeps an over arching plot running carries week to week.
The show also saves a lot of time by wisely dispensing with origins. If you're questioning where the rich guy got his robot suit from you are watching the wrong show. When the series begins Tony Stark IS Iron Man, Bruce Banner has had his gamma mishap and Thor is patrolling the skies. Having to juggle the introduction of those stories as well as establishing the shows primary plot could have sunk the show before it started. Having the characters already established allows the series to hit the ground running.
Visually the animation is highly stylized which, while initially jarring, actually suits the tone of the show. The first thing that comes to mind is Genndy Tartakovsky's work on Samurai Jack and the original Clone Wars series. The exaggerated, almost manga-like, look to the show allows some truly incredible set pieces; an attack on Asgard by some pretty angry Frost Giants being a stand out.
But crash, bang and wallop wouldn't be very interesting without the group dynamic that makes the Avengers so appealing and Earth's Mightiest absolutely nails it.
The characters are well realized, (they quite evidently parallel Marvel studios' direction) Eric Loomis does an admirable job aping Robert Downey Jr's take on the Billionaire playboy Stark, he's helped by some great dialogue from writer Christopher Yost "Sorry I'm late guys I was at a meeting... well actually I missed that too. Here I am!" Thor is heroic and noble with a hint of rebelliousness that I'm sure we'll see more of in Kenneth Branagh's Thor. Hank and Janet have a fun chemistry and there is plenty of "wink wink" foreshadowing with Hank. He talks about the responsible use of science as he's tinkering with Ultron. The most interesting difference is the way the Hulk is portrayed. Early on Hulk agrees to aid the team on the condition that Hulk retain control with Banner looked away inside. This means Banner is only shown as part of Hulk's inner monologue as the two converse. Giving Hulk and Banner a direct relationship like that creates a very unique representation of the character (something a certain mischievous Asgardian exploits).
It's the way these characters come together that makes Earth's Mightiest Avengers so special. When asked about the Avengers, Whedon's choice word was "family", which is exactly what it should be. Earth's Mightiest has taken that idea of a group of misfits (which let's be honest the Avengers are) that are thrown together to battle (avenge?) injustice. If Whedon can take that concept and make these characters real and make their relationship with one another real, then the rest will follow.
God Speed, Mr Whedon. We're all rooting for you.