The Avengers: Earth’s Mightest Heroes

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is an American superhero animated television series by Marvel Animation in cooperation with Film Roman, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. The show debuted on Disney XD and online in the fall of 2010, starting with a 20-part micro-series that were later broadcast as five television episodes. In the second season, it was one of the inaugural shows of the Marvel Universe programming block alongside Ultimate Spider-Man.

The series initially features a team based on the roster for the original Avengers, composed of Iron Man, Giant-Man, Hulk, Thor, and Wasp. The team is later joined by Captain America, Black Panther, and Hawkeye in the first season, and Ms. Marvel and Vision in the second season. In terms of overall tone and style, the series is based principally on the original stories by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The series also uses material from all eras of the comic's run as well as other sources, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The series ended on November 11, 2012 and was replaced by Avengers Assemble.

## Synopsis

The series features the adventures of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, the Wasp and all the members of the Avengers as they fight various supervillains and other threats in order to protect Earth.

## Plot

### Season one

As 75 of the world's most dangerous super-villains are mysteriously freed from the Vault, the Cube, the Big House, and the Raft, four of Earth's mightiest heroes assemble a crime-fighting alliance called the Avengers. The Avengers team is composed of Iron Man (Tony Stark) as *de facto* team leader, Ant-Man/Giant-Man (Hank Pym), the Hulk (Bruce Banner), Thor, and the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne). Captain America (Steve Rogers) joins the team later after being found frozen in ice while the team is looking for Hulk. Future members of team for season one include Black Panther (T'Challa) and Hawkeye (Clint Barton). In the season finale, it is revealed that Thor's stepbrother Loki was responsible for the breakouts so that Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner could build his Masters of Evil to defeat Thor.

### Season two

Season two uses cold openings and remixes the opening theme song "Fight As One", replacing the original singing vocals with that of Nick Fury, voiced by Alex Désert, introducing the show's concept and main characters.

Season two depicts the Avengers as they track down the remaining members of the Masters of Evil and end up facing the invasions of the Skrulls in the first half of the season and the Kree in the second half. The Avengers are unaware that Captain America had been replaced at the end of season one by a Skrull operative as part of their systematic infiltration of Earth. The season also alludes to a developing storyline that Surtur, now free of his imprisonment in Muspelheim, is slowly gathering his strength to oppose the Avengers as a prelude to Ragnarök. Ms. Marvel joins the team, followed by the Vision. Many other characters from the Marvel Comics universe make appearances, such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man) and his daughter Cassandra, Heroes for Hire, Doctor Doom, Crossfire, Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross (in both his human and "Red Hulk" forms), the Guardians of the Galaxy (composed of Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Quasar and Adam Warlock), Quake, Beta Ray Bill, the Falcon, the Winter Soldier, and Galactus and his heralds. Series producers Joshua Fine and Christopher Yost revealed that certain returning characters would adopt their Ultimate Universe counterpart costumes for the second season, such as Nick Fury appearing more like Ultimate Nick Fury with a shaven head and goatee, and the Skrull operative posing as Captain America wearing the Ultimate Captain America costume and wielding an energy shield. The second-season premiere, titled "The Private War of Dr. Doom" (featuring Dr. Doom and the Fantastic Four), was shown to audiences at both the 2011 San Diego and New York Comic Cons, as well as the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim. It premiered with the two-part *Ultimate Spider-Man* pilot on April 1, 2012.

## Cast

### Principal cast

* Brian Bloom – Captain America
* Chris Cox – Hawkeye, Crimson Dynamo, Fandral, Rattler
* Jennifer Hale – Ms. Marvel, Corina Korvac
* Peter Jessop – Vision
* Phil LaMarr – J.A.R.V.I.S., Wonder Man
* Eric Loomis – Iron Man
* James C. Mathis III – Black Panther, Bulldozer, Cobra
* Colleen O'Shaughnessey – Wasp, Cassandra Lang, Vapor
* Fred Tatasciore – Hulk, Graviton, Griffin, Kalum Lo, Mandrill, Red Hulk, Thing, Volstagg, Yon-Rogg
* Rick D. Wasserman – Thor, Absorbing Man, Surtur
* Wally Wingert – Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Yellowjacket, MODOK

## Crew

* Joshua Fine – Supervising Producer
* Vinton Heuck – Director
* Sebastian Montes – Director
* Jamie Simone – Casting and Voice Director
* Christopher Yost – Story Editor, Writer

## Production

Marvel announced in October 2008 that its Marvel Animation division and the outside studio Film Roman would produce an Avengers animated TV series, *The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!*, for planned broadcast in 2010. Fifty-two episodes have been confirmed as being in production. The show's executive producers include Simon Philips and Eric S. Rollman. Joshua Fine serves as supervising producer and Christopher Yost serves as story editor on the show. A 20-part micro-series debuted on September 22, 2010, on Disney XD, focusing on each hero's backstory and the events that lead to the main series. The series started airing on Marvel's sister network, Disney XD in the United States on October 20, 2010, and on Teletoon in Canada on October 22, 2010, in English and March 2011 in French. According to Jeph Loeb, season 2 would presumably begin around October 2011, same as season 1 and producer Josh Fine tweeted in April 2011 that 13 episodes have been completed. At the 2011 New York Comic-Con, Marvel TV director, Jeph Loeb contradicted his earlier statement of season 2 launch in late 2011. Loeb announced at the panel at New York Comic-con that "*Avengers* Season 2 will be coming in early 2012 (to coincide with *Ultimate Spider-Man*)." This date would later get clarified to April 1, 2012. Dong Woo Animation, Lotto Animation and Noxxon Enterprise has contributed some of the animation for this series.

### Future of series

*The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes* was not renewed for a third season and was succeeded by a new Avengers show called *Avengers Assemble* in 2013. On Saturday, July 14, 2012, at the 2012 Marvel Television Presents panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television, said of the relationship between the two shows:

> We're not in any way saying *Earth's Mightiest Heroes* never happened. You will see an epic conclusion. And then you'll say, 'Oh, what's next?'
>
>

The only voice actors to reprise their roles for *Avengers Assemble* are Fred Tatasciore and James Matthis III as the Hulk and Black Panther, respectively. Additionally, Drake Bell returned to voice Spider-Man for guest appearances, while the other members of the team share their voices with their counterparts in the separate *Ultimate Spider-Man* series.

## Release

### Comic book

*The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes* comic book series, written by Christopher Yost, and artwork by Scott Wegener, Christopher Jones and Patrick Scherberger was published to accompany the series. It was a four-issue limited series. An ongoing comic book series titled *The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Adventures* debuted in April 2012, alongside the *Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures* series. Christopher Yost returned as the main writer, with Adam Dekraker serving as the comic's creative team, while Nuno Plati provided artwork.

1. ↑ Iverson, Dan (July 25, 2010). SDCC 10: The Avengers Assemble On The Small Screen. IGN.
2. ↑ New characters and more in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes season 2 « The Daily P.O.P. Dailypop.wordpress.com (September 11, 2011).
3. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 NYCC: Spidey, the Hulk and Agent Coulson Walk into a Comic-Con... - IGN. M.ign.com.
5. ↑ The Avengers: EMH! Voicing Captain America. Marvel.com (April 25, 2011).
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Jenna Busch (February 8, 2010). AVENGERS Animated Assembling w/ Phil Lamarr. Newsarama.
7. ↑ The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Voicing Iron Man. Marvel.com (April 22, 2011).
8. ↑ The Avengers Series Overview (PDF).
9. ↑ Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, The (2010, Animated Series) – Voice Cast Listing at Voice Chasers. Voicechasers.com.
10. ↑ Marvel Comics press release: "Announcing ''Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'', October 8, 2008. Marvel.com.
11. ↑ Disney Announces The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Superhero Hype! (May 4, 2010).
12. ↑ Kit, Borys (October 8, 2008). Marvel assembles cartoon 'Avengers'. *The Hollywood Reporter*.
13. ↑ Harris, Jeffrey (July 30, 2010). SDCC2010: Interview with Marvel Animation's Josh Fine and Chris Yost. toonzone.net.
14. ↑ Harvey, James (September 1, 2010). "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" Scheduling, Videogame Updates. marvel.toonzone.net.
15. ↑ Harvey, James (September 9, 2010). October 2010 "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" Event For Teletoon. marvel.toonzone.net.
16. ↑ The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Premieres Oct. 20. Superhero Hype! (September 20, 2010).
17. ↑ Fine, Joshua (April 9, 2011). Twitter / Joshua Fine. *Twitter*. “Halfway point! 13 episodes of Season 2 in the can.”
18. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `XDApril1`
19. ↑ Exclusive: Marvel Assembles New Animated Series for the Hulk and Avengers - Today's News: Our Take. TVGuide.com (June 12, 2012).
20. ↑ Ching, Albert. The 10 Biggest COMIC-CON 2012 Announcements. Newsarama.com.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Sands, Rich. Disney XD Picks Up Marvel Cartoons Featuring the Avengers and the Hulk. TV Guide.
22. ↑ Diaz, Eric. MARVEL'S AVENGERS: SECRET WARS Coming to Disney XD This Summer (Exclusive). Nerdist.com.
23. ↑ Harvey, James (August 13, 2010). Marvel Announces "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" All-Ages Comic Title. marvel.toonzone.net.
24. ↑ Langshaw, Mark (January 24, 2012). 'Avengers', 'Spider-Man' all-ages titles announced by Marvel. *Digital Spy*.