Avengers Assemble is an American animated television series based on the fictional Marvel Comics superhero team, the Avengers, which has been designed to capitalize on the success of the 2012 film, The Avengers. The series premiered on May 26, 2013, on Disney XD as a replacement for The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
It airs alongside Ultimate Spider-Man and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. as part of the Marvel Universe block, featuring a near-identical cast and crew with both shows and a shared continuity with them. Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle (a group known as Man of Action) have been confirmed to be the executive producers of the series.
On July 26, 2014, Disney XD announced that it ordered a second season of Avengers Assemble, which premiered on September 28, 2014.
Premise
Falcon (the newest member of the Avengers) is the main eyes and ears of the viewer as he fights evil and saves the world with his teammates (consisting of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Thor).
Plot
Season one
When Red Skull is dying due to his imperfect Super Soldier Serum, he teams up with MODOK (who upgrades HYDRA's tech) to kidnap Captain America so that Red Skull can transfer his mind to a more fit body. After his defeat by a reassembled team of Avengers, Red Skull takes Iron Man's armor for its life support system leaving Tony for dead. The Avengers get Stark to a new armor, but Red Skull attacks them at their mansion and is again defeated with the Avengers Mansion destroyed during the fight. Red Skull plans to take away everything the Avengers hold dear from their lives to their country by trying to have them hated by the people for failing to save the day.
To even the playing field, Red Skull brings together his team of power giants called the Cabal where his invitational transmissions are shown to have been received by Attuma, Doctor Doom, and Dracula (though only Attuma and Dracula accept the invitation). The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. intercept a transmission and the Avengers remain together to battle the Cabal. To stay close after Avengers Mansion blew up, they set up their base in Avengers Tower.
With the threat of the Cabal, the Avengers fight them at every end as well as other threats that come to Earth.
Season two
In Season Two, the Avengers face off against Red Skull's master Thanos (who Red Skull gave the Tesseract to at the end of Season One) who is on the hunt for the Infinity Gems to power his Infinity Gauntlet. While the Avengers are able to defeat Thanos after much hard work, the gems are drained of their power by Ultron who threatens to exterminate the human race after possessing Arsenal's body. After the Avengers ultimately defeated Ultron, Ant-Man becomes a new member of the team.
There is also a subplot detailing the arrival of the Squadron Supreme.
Episodes
Cast
Main cast
- Laura Bailey â€" Black Widow, Gamora (2nd Time), Darkstar
- Troy Baker â€" Hawkeye, Loki, Doombot, Red Guardian
- Adrian Pasdar â€" Iron Man, Bruto the Strongman
- Bumper Robinson â€" Falcon, Human Cannonball
- Roger Craig Smith â€" Captain America, Torgo, Great Gambonnos, Grim Reaper, J.O.E.Y. Radioactive Man
- Fred Tatasciore â€" Hulk/Bruce Banner, Thunderball, Volstagg, Ringmaster, Crimson Dynamo
- Travis Willingham â€" Thor, Bulldozer, Brok, Trick Shot
Additional voices
- Jonathan Adams - Absorbing Man
- Charlie Adler â€" MODOK
- Drake Bell â€" Spider-Man
- Bob Bergen â€" Winter Soldier
- J.B. Blanc â€" Mangog
- Brian Bloom â€" Hyperion
- Dave Boat â€" Thing
- Clancy Brown â€" Uatu the Watcher
- Corey Burton â€" Dracula
- Cam Clarke â€" Piledriver
- Stephen Collins â€" Howard Stark
- Will Collyer â€" Tony Stark (age 14 & 17)
- Chris Cox â€" Star-Lord (1st Time)
- Trevor Devall â€" Rocket Raccoon (2nd Time)
- John DiMaggio â€" Wrecker, Galactus
- Robin Atkin Downes â€" Glorian
- Will Friedle â€" Star-Lord (2nd Time)
- Nika Futterman â€" Gamora (1st Time)
- Ralph Garman â€" Mojo
- Grant George â€" Ant-Man
- Clare Grant - Titania
- Seth Green â€" Rocket Raccoon (1st Time)
- Jennifer Hale â€" Freya
- Brandon Hender â€" Tony Stark (age 8 & 11)
- David Kaye â€" J.A.R.V.I.S., Space Phantoms, Blood Brother #1
- Tom Kenny â€" Impossible Man
- Maurice LaMarche â€" Doctor Doom
- Phil LaMarr â€" Doctor Spectrum
- Vanessa Marshall â€" Hela
- James C. Mathis III â€" Heimdall
- Chi McBride â€" Nick Fury
- Jim Meskimen â€" Arsenal, Ultron
- Liam O'Brien â€" Red Skull, Blood Brother #2
- Kevin Michael Richardson â€" Ulik, Groot
- Anthony Ruivivar â€" Nighthawk
- Daryl Sabara â€" Aaron Reece
- Dwight Schultz â€" Attuma
- J.K. Simmons â€" J. Jonah Jameson
- Isaac C. Singleton, Jr. â€" Thanos
- David Sobolov â€" Drax the Destroyer
- Jason Spisak â€" Justin Hammer, Whizzer
- April Stewart â€" Lady Zartra, Power Princess
- Cree Summer â€" Darlene Wilson
- Hynden Walch â€" Princess Python
- Frank Welker â€" Odin
Crew
- Brian Michael Bendis - Special Thanks
- Amanda Goodbread - Casting and Recording Manager
- Joe Moeller â€" Casting Director
- Collette Sunderman â€" Casting and Voice Director
- Joss Whedon - Special Thanks
Development
Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television and a producer on the series, stated that the series is intended to closely echo the tone and feel of the 2012 The Avengers film. The series will feature a combination of 2D and CGI animation. Avengers Assemble was originally reported as a "continuation" of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but later reports confirmed it as a completely separate series (though a flashback in episode 8 does have the Avengers featured in their respective models). Episode 8 did make references to Nick Fury's teenage superhero program from Ultimate Spider-Man (where Adrian Pasdar, Roger Craig Smith, Travis Willingham, Fred Tatasciore, Troy Baker, Chi McBride, and J.K. Simmons have also voiced their respective characters on that show) indicating that both shows are in the same continuity.
Broadcast
Avengers Assemble debuted on May 26, 2013 as an hour-long preview, followed by the official premiere on July 7. The first episode was made available free on iTunes on May 21, 2013. The series premiered on Teletoon in Canada on September 6 and on Disney XD in Australia on October 12, 2014. In Africa, it premiered on Disney XD on October 15, 2013, with the second season premiering on March 9, 2015.
References
External links
- Official website
- Avengers Assemble at the Internet Movie Database