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The Avengers:
the Animated Series
Series
Overview
First and foremost, this is not a continuation of the recent Fox
series. While that show certainly had it's merits, most fans agreed it was
not a true representation of the Avengers.
Hulk:
The Hulk starred in his own series over on UNP. Lou Ferrigno appropriately enough provides the voice of this classic
"Hulk Smash" version of the green goliath. In the series, Bruce,
She-Hulk, and sometimes Betty and/or Rick travel the country and the world
looking for a cure for Bruce's condition. They are also avoiding capture by
the Army (led by good ol' Gen. Ross), the Leader (ably voiced by Matt Brewer)
and co. (Gargoyle voice by Mark Hamel and Richard Moll as the Abomination),
and occasionally S.H.I.E.L.D. (led by Agent Gabriel Jones). Bruce's double
ID isn't publicly known, but it is known to the Army, SHIELD, Dr. Doom, the
Leader, Iron Man (who has shared his ID with Bruce), the FF, and of course
Doc Samson (voiced amusingly by Shadoe Stevens). As of the second season,
Bruce had started the attitude ridden Gray Hulk transformations, but with
the same adrenaline trigger as the Green Hulk's. In fact, in one episode the
Gray Hulk became the Green Hulk after becoming angry enough.
Thor:
Thor's guest starred a couple of times in the FF and Hulk cartoons. His status
quo is much less complicated. Thor is still in the Don Blake days, based as
a physician in Chicago. Otherwise he's classic Thor, with a great voice talent
John Rhys-Davies giving him voice.
Iron Man:
At the start of his first season, Tony (voiced by Robert Hayes of Airplane
fame, don't laugh I thought he did a good job) had already formed Force Works,
which consisted of War Machine, Hawkeye, Spider Woman, Scarlet Witch and Century.
The team all knew Tony's double identity. Iron Man battled the Mandarin and
his flunkies, which included Modok, Justin Hammer and his costumed cronies
(which included several Avenger villains). Force Works was disbanded by second
season, and we've already had the Armor Wars, with Hawk playing Cap's role.
Stark Enterprises was the company du jour and is based in LA. Tony is assisted
by HOMER, the computer established in the Kamenski run, but he appears as
PLATO did in the Force Works book. The second season Armor, which looks like
the Modular Armor from the above mentioned run, has the ability to transform
itself into his various specialty armors; stealth, space, deep sea, etc. A
neat feature I think I'll be keeping. Over the course of his cartoon, Tony
had a relationship with Julia Carpenter/Spider Woman. As AtAS opens this relationship will have ended badly, and Tony
has returned to his family home in Manhattan to recover.
Captain America: If you thought what was done to Iron Man was bad you'll hate this.
Cap's origin is essentially intact. He's been depicted aiding Nick Fury and
Logan during WW2 in an episode of X-Men, and over in Spider-Man Cap was teamed
with five other GA heroes as home-front heroes. Instead of being put on ice,
Cap's spent the years since the war trapped in as energy vortex, battling
the Red Skull. There he's been trapped except for a brief adventure where
Cap was briefly released along with the Skull, ending in their both being
re-imprisoned. He's still there as AtAS opens.
Hawkeye:
Clint Barton was a member of Force Works and Head of Security at Stark Enterprises
when the Iron Man cartoon began. He was portrayed pretty much in character
through out the series. By the beginning of the second season Force Works
had been disbanded and Hawk had quit his job at SE. Hawk was shown to be very
angry at Stark in his few guest spots, and it was Hawk not Cap that tries
to stop Iron Man at the Vault during the Armor Wars. At the opening of AtAS,
Hawk is operating on his own as a freelance hero.
Rick Jones:
A semi regular on the Hulk's cartoon. They've got Rick as a motorcycle rider,
tailing after the Hulk to try and help him. They had Luke Perry doing the
voice, which, while not my first choice, didn't offend me too badly.
Scarlet Witch:
Wanda was a member of Force Works, and was very poorly portrayed during the
first season of the Iron Man series. She wore her horrible short hair, bare
arms, red smock costume, and rarely used her hex powers. She appeared in the
second season only in the last few episodes. When she appeared in the X-men
series shortly there after, Wanda was teamed with her brother Quicksilver,
and was using her traditional costume and powers. For the purpose of this
series, after the breakup of Force Works, Wanda joined her brother who is
a member of the Governments X-factor team. Together they learned that Magneto
is their father and are trying to deal with that. Both are active in X-factor
as of AtAS
Quicksilver:
Pietro has guest-stared in the X-men cartoon several times, always as a member
of X-factor. He's still working with that team as of AtAS.
She-Hulk:
Jen was introduced in Hulk's first season and became his regular sidekick
in the second season. She's portrayed as obnoxiously enjoying herself as the
She-Hulk. While she's never far from Hulk's side, She-Hulk will not be initially
joining the team.
War Machine:
Jim Rhodes started out in full hero mode but over the course of the Iron Man
series Jim develops a growing dislike for wearing armor. Jim takes over Hawk's
role as head of security at Stark. He only wears his armor in extreme emergencies
(say Carnage attacking an SE demonstration and Iron Man's out of town).
Spider Woman: After Wanda, Julia was the most out of character
for the entire Iron Man series. Julia was portrayed more as Bethany Cabe with
powers than the Spider Woman known to comics fans. She had a running relationship
Tony for the run of series, but had retired from adventuring by the second
season. At the opening of AtAS, she has left Tony, again a la Cabe, and I
don't for see using her past that reference for a looong time.
Again, a team of Avengers, including Hercules, Vision, and the She-Hulk,
was seen in an episode of the FF cartoon. As far as this series is concerned
that never happened, you didn't see it, they weren't there.
For you purists, I know this is screwed up and not even close to
right in some places, but I'm trying to be logical here and work with the
tools that are handed me, unlike Marvel's recent attempt.
Bear with me, I think you'll enjoy it.
Clay
