Avengers Assemble

***Marvel's Avengers Assemble*** is an American animated television series based on the fictional Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. It is the third series to feature the Avengers after *The Avengers: United They Stand* and *The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes*. The series was picked up by Disney XD, along with *Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H.*, and debuted as a special one-hour preview on May 26, 2013 with the series premiere officially airing on July 7, 2013. However, the first episode was released online on May 20-25 2013 and was available in high-definition for free on iTunes. Inspired by the 2012 film adaptation, the series follows the adventures of the Avengers consisting of Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and newcomer, The Falcon, who is meant to be the eyes of the audience. The third season was retitled as **Avengers: Ultron Revolution** and the fourth and final season (of the Earth-12041 universe) as **Avengers: Secret Wars**.

## Series Overview

"*The record-breaking blockbuster film* Marvel's The Avengers *gave worldwide prominence to the most popular super hero team- Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow.* Marvel's Avengers Assemble *reunites the team, along with newcomer Falcon, marking the first time in animation history this distinct team of heroes will join forces. Led by Iron Man, the heroes train and live together in their new headquarters in Avengers Tower. The planet's most dangerous villains don't stand a chance when the Avengers assemble, whether they are stopping Doctor Doom from conquering Asgard, Attuma driving the Atlantean Army into New York City or Dracula unleashing vampire hordes, the Avengers must work together to succeed.*"
―Official story description
Each episode is designed to be stand-alone, with a cold opening and a focus on a character or set of characters. During the thick of an episode, the screen format will switch from widescreen aspect ratio to a letter boxed 2.35:1 compromise ratio, this, like many recent television shows, is produced to give the impression of a cinema film. After the scene in question is over, the picture will revert back to widescreen. The first season consists of 26 episodes. To accompany the episodes, Marvel Comics is producing a monthly tie-in comic starting in October of 2013, as well as a creator commentary into the previous day's episode with an exclusive interview with Supervising producer Cort Lane hosted on the Marvel website as of the episode "Ghost of a Chance". In the United States, the first two episodes of the series were shown together in a one-hour premiere event.
## Production

"*The Avengers movie has been the ambassador to the world for the Marvel Universe so we want a show that has the feel and the tone and the incredible adventures like that movie. So the next project that we're working on — and this is down in our lab, top secret, with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents protecting us at all costs is Marvel's Avengers Assemble, which will be a brand new and really extraordinary looking animated series dealing with the Avengers in that same world.*"
―Jeph Loeb to TVGuide.com
Although *The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes* series had been going strong on Disney XD in its second season, the success of *Marvel's The Avengers* feature film caused Disney to ask for a new Avengers animated television series. Beforehand there were rumors circulation for months that Marvel would cancel *Earth's Mightiest Heroes* and supplant it with another Avengers series and in mere weeks, news arrived in an press release announcing that *Earth's Mightiest* wouldn't be renewed for a third season and Marvel was moving forward with plans to create a replacement. A promotional image from the show, a trade image featuring designs which are not final, has been made public. Initially, Marvel denied this development. On June 12, 2012, in an interview with *TV Guide* Jeph Loeb and Joe Quesada officially announced the series, formally ending *The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes*. *Earth's Mightiest Heroes* had only fifty-two episodes ordered, the two seasons, and Marvel chose not to order beyond that. That series would finish in late 2012 with the new series beginning in 2013 along with *Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H.*. Loeb credited the success of the feature film, *Marvel's The Avengers* for the project's genesis.
Around the time of the interview, pre-production had begun on the series had already begun. It is realized as a 2-D/3-D computer animation combined project created by Marvel Animation division. The project is produced completely in-house along with *Ultimate Spider-Man* and *Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.*; however, the creators draw inspiration from the 2012 live action *Marvel's The Avengers* theatrical feature, both in terms of design and character roster. Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, and Black Widow with the addition of newcomer The Falcon making up the main roster. Loeb and Quesada stressed that the line-up was to match the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fueling rumors that Falcon would appear in the sequel to *Captain America: The First Avenger*. The creators kept the goal in mind to make the series accessible to both an initiated and uninitiated audience. They decided upon Falcon to be the "eyes of the viewer" due to him being the character that "made sense for this particular show" and the longstanding relationship he shared with Captain America in the mainstream comics. Joe Quesada later revealed that the crew is mostly focused on the interaction and dynamic between the lead characters, and that Loeb and Quesada both work on the scripts with the writers. In terms of story and cinematography, the series is not being directed as an animated series, but more along the lines of a live action movie.
Eric Radomski was put in charge of production, on grounds that he was present whenever there was a significant leap in animation, such as *Batman: The Animated Series*. The show was first revealed to the public in a teaser reel at San Diego Comic-Con International 2012. Loeb took on some internet rumors regrading *Avengers Assemble* and *The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes*, he said 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?'." Later that year at New York Comic Con, the identities of most of the main cast were revealed.
## Continuity

Early statements made by Jeph Loeb insisted that the series would have some sort of connection with *Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes*. ComicBookMovie.com initially chose to report it as meaning that *Assemble* would be a continuation of *Earth's Mightiest Heroes*, but later, while interviewing Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle, asked for clarification over the confusion the statement had caused, and received only a non-committal response. A majority of fans believe the series will coincide with the *Ultimate Spider-Man* universe, along with *Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.* and *Guardians of the Galaxy*, seeing as characters have been played by the same voice actors.

A different notion is that the series will be connected with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the interview with Loeb in *TV Guide*, the head of television stated that the series would closely echo the tone and feel of the 2012 *The Avengers* film. "The Avengers movie has been the ambassador to the world for the Marvel Universe so we want a show that has the feel and the tone and the incredible adventures like that movie", said Loeb. "So the next project that we're working on and this is down in our lab, top secret, with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents protecting us at all costs is Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, which will be a brand new and really extraordinary looking animated series dealing with the Avengers in that same world." Although many fans have come to the conclusion that *Assemble* is not a continuation of the *Earth's Mightiest Heroes* series, despite the producers being a bit coy on the subject.

Later, Loeb and Seagle clarified that there was no definitive continuity for *Avengers Assemble*; a statement possibly employed to avoid any true confirmation on the exact continuity of the show.

The fifth season of this series *Avengers: Black Panther's Quest* is not happening in the Marvel Animated Universe and it takes place in the same universe as *Marvel's Spider-Man* creating a New Marvel Animated Universe.

## History

### Season One

When Red Skull is dying due to his imperfect Super Soldier Serum, he allies with M.O.D.O.K. who upgrades HYDRA's tech from A.I.M. to kidnap Captain America and has him transfer his mind to Captain America's body. After his defeat by a reassembled team of Avengers, Red Skull takes Iron Man's armor for its life support system. Red Skull attacks the at their mansion. Red Skull is once again defeated. The Avengers Mansion is 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. Red Skull's invitational transmissions are shown to have been received by Attuma, Doctor Doom, and Dracula. Attuma and Dracula accept the invitation while Doctor Doom declined. The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. intercept the transmission, and decide to remain together to battle the Cabal. To stay close to each other after Avengers Mansion blew up, they set up their base in Avengers Tower. The Cabal later on adds Justin Hammer's robot creation Super-Adaptoid and Hyperion, an alien psychopath believing himself to be a superhero, to their team. With the threat of the Cabal, the Avengers fight them at every end as well as other threats that come to Earth.

### Season Two

The Avengers encounter Red Skull's master, Thanos, who is on the hunt for the Infinity Stones to power his Infinity Gauntlet after Red Skull stole the Power Stone from him. After the Avengers collect all five infinity stones and manage to defeat Thanos, 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 defeat Ultron, Ant-Man becomes a new member of the team. Around the end of season two, Thanos manages to escape from a galactic prison that was meant to contain him with aid of the Black Order. Thanos absorbs makes one final attempt to defeat the Avengers. With help from the people of Earth, the Avengers are able to defeat Thanos and the Black Order. In the aftermath, Captain America and Iron Man plan to make Earth an "Avengers World" by recruiting other heroes.

There is also a subplot detailing the arrival of the Squadron Supreme, Hyperion's old team which also consists of Nighthawk, Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum, and Speed Demon. While Hyperion served as the "Hammer" for the Squadron Supreme, Nighthawk served as the "Architect" of the team. Thought to have perished when their old planet blew up, they come to Earth in an attempt to conquer it with Hyperion re-joining their team when he hears of their survival. The Squadron Supreme has plans to become the superheroes of Earth and save the world their way. Their plan is put into motion, where they do different plots in their battle with the Avengers. This leads up to the restoration of the Squadron Supreme's sixth member named Nuke. After going into hiding, the Avengers manage to defeat the Squadron Supreme by waiting until the Squadron Supreme's members divide rule of the planet's continents, then they pull a surprise attack and trap each member of the Squadron Supreme one by one. Nighthawk is desperate to win. He tries blowing up the planet by having Hyperion absorb Nuke's powers and destroy the planet's core. Nighthawk tries to flee to find another planet. Iron Man defeats Nighthawk. The rest of the Avengers stop Hyperion from blowing up the Earth. The Squadron Supreme is imprisoned in a special section of the Vault.

### Season Three: Ultron Revolution

The Avengers are forced to cancel their expansion plans and Ant-Man leaves the team due to a lack of global threats. After dealing with A.I.M.'s Scientist Supreme, the Avengers are shocked when Ultron returns after his apparent demise and absorbs A.I.M.'s Super-Adaptoid technology and the unknown space metal used to make the Adaptoids. Now Ultron is seeking revenge on the Avengers for foiling his plans with the Infinity Gems' power, while continuing his plot to replace humanity with robots. One plot to eliminate humanity involved the attack on the Inhumans' city of Attilan where he planned to use Black Bolt to power his cannon which ended with Black Widow and Hulk throwing the Terrigen Mist into the cannon resulting in some the humans who are Inhuman descendants to undergo their Terrigenesis including the fiery Inferno and superhero fangirl Kamala Khan who gains shape-shifting powers while taking on the mantle of Ms. Marvel. Black Bolt and his fellow Inhuman Royal Family members Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, and Lockjaw work to find the recently emerged Inhumans.

One subplot details Baron Helmut Zemo, son of Captain America's old nemesis Baron Heinrich Zemo, finding a working vial of the Super-Soldier Serum and uses it on himself to gain the youth and strength to face the Avengers defeat and destroy them in order to avenge his father's death. Then he recruits the Masters of Evil (which consists of Beetle, Goliath, Screaming Mimi, Fixer, and Moonstone) and steals a device from Stark Industries called the Inversion Stabilizer that allows them to masquerade as the Thunderbolts (with Zemo going under the alias Citizen V while each of the Masters of Evil above become MACH-IV, Atlas, Songbird, Techno, and Meteorite respectively) in a plot to undermine the Avengers. But after being saved from death by Hawkeye during the robbery and seeing what it's like be a hero, Songbird convinces the rest of the team to turn on Zemo. Together, the Avengers and Thunderbolts expose Zemo and defeat him.

The Avengers must also contend with Kang the Conqueror when he arrives in the present following his brief fight with Iron Man in his time and discovering that some A.I.M. Agents have been using his technology to upgrade some supervillain gear like they did to Whiplash and Spymaster. When most of the Avengers follows Kang the Conqueror back to his time, the Avengers team up with an elderly Thor, a future Black Widow named Layla, and a group of rebels in order to fight the forces of Kang the Conqueror.

When the President signs the New Powers Act, the Avengers are given Truman Marsh as their government liaison who even replaces the Bruce Banner-regressed Hulk with Red Hulk until the incident where Leader gamma-enhances him enough for Hulk to return.

As the Avengers disassociate themselves with Truman Marsh during the Inhuman Registration Act that involves Registration Disks placed on them, Truman Marsh assembles Red Hulk, Black Panther, Songbird, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Vision as the Mighty Avengers. The superhero fight lasts when the Inhumans Karnak, Gorgon, Inferno, Haechi, Flint, Iso, and Ms. Marvel get mind-controlled through the disks by Ultron posing as Truman Marsh as he starts the Ultron Revolution. When the Inhumans are freed from the mind-control, Ultron plans to collect radiation to "sanitize" Earth of all human life. With help from Doctor Strange at the time when Ultron takes control of Iron Man's body, the Avengers were able to place Iron Man in a no-tech dimension until they can find a way to drive Ultron out. Setting up in an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, the Avengers operate from there as Falcon sets up an inter-dimensional frequency for Tony Stark to speak to them through.

### Season Four: Secret Wars

The Avengers' plans to bring Tony Stark back from another dimension experience a major setback when a new version of the Cabal (consisting of Leader, Arnim Zola, Enchantress, Executioner, and Kang the Conqueror) is formed, with Leader, the head of the group, destroying the communication link with Stark and planning to use his Static Expander device on the captive Avengers. Black Panther forms the New Avengers to rescue them, which consists of Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Vision, and Wasp. Even though Leader is defeated, the Cabal reveal their treachery against the Leader as they activate the fail-safe that activates the Static Expander to scatter the captive Avengers across time and space. Before disappearing, Captain America instructs Black Panther's group to continue in their place until they can be found and returned. The New Avengers work to find a way to bring the Avengers home while combating various threats in their place. After Jane Foster locates the Avengers, she provides the New Avengers special tether bracelets to send them to rescue the Avengers from each location where a member of the Cabal is overseeing. Vision and Wasp find that Falcon had spent a few years in a dystopian future New York City to help Kang stop a black hole and they prevent Kang from using it to further his conquest, Ant-Man helps Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow escape from the Earth of Dimension Z and to free it from Arnim Zola's control, Black Panther finds Hulk has been endlessly hunted by Executioner in the Asgardian wilderness and the two escape him, and Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel free Thor from the Enchantress' control on her icy asteroid kingdom in deep space. Afterwards, both teams return to Earth to find the Cabal's true leader Loki has taken over Earth with the Casket of Ancient Winters and the use of a swarm of dragons, an army of Frost Trolls and the World Breaker ships that will destroy Earth upon his signal. Both teams of Avengers defeat Loki and imprison him in their base as he vows that his plans aren't over.

As it turns out, Loki had told a powerful being, who comes to be known as the Beyonder, about Earth's existence. To Loki's dismay, Beyonder uses the Bifrost Bridge to take various parts of Earth, places across the universe such as Asgard, and other realities including the one where Tony Stark was stranded, and randomly slap them all together in order to form Battleworld for his "experiment," taking those who live there with them, including the Avengers. With Iron Man back with them, the Avengers must form an unlikely alliance with Loki to rebuild the Bifrost Bridge and get everyone back to Earth. During the final battle against Beyonder, Doctor Strange gives Loki the Orb of Agamotto to begin activating the Bifrost Bridge and Thor throws Mjolnir to Jane Foster to save her from the quicksand transforming her into a female Thor. Through their efforts, they finally undo Beyonder's experiment, but Loki reveals that Doctor Strange giving Loki the Orb of Agamotto was the purpose of his telling the Beyonder about Earth, and with his new power plans to conquer Asgard, Earth, and other locations. With help from Jane Foster's Thor form, the Avengers defeat Loki who is consumed by the All Dark. After Thor regains Mjolnir, Odin has a new weapon created for Jane Foster where her weapon is dubbed Thunderstrike.

## DVDs

### Season 1

* *Avengers Assemble - The New Guys*
* *Avengers Assemble - Destroyers*
* *Avengers Assemble - Bring on the Bad Guys*
* *Avengers Assemble - The Cabal*

### Season 2

* *Avengers Assemble - The Mad Titan*
* *Avengers Assemble - The Infinity Gauntlet*
* *Avengers Assemble - The Ultron Outbreak*
* *Avengers Assemble - New Frontiers*

### Season 3: Ultron Revolution

* *Avengers: Ultron Revolution - The Ultimates*
* *Avengers: Ultron Revolution - The Conqueror*
* *Avengers: Ultron Revolution - Into the Future*
* *Avengers: Ultron Revolution - Civil War*

### Season 4: Secret Wars

* *Avengers: Secret Wars - Avengers No More*
* *Avengers: Secret Wars - All New All Different*
* *Avengers: Secret Wars - Underworld*
* *Avengers: Secret Wars - All Things Must End*