TV Retrospective: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Season 2 Episodes 21-26

Winter Soldier

Thanks previously on Avengers segment for spoiling the big twist for any person who isn’t a comic fan. Then again, we have a segment with Bucky and Cap that does pretty much the same thing. It’s pretty much clips from the Meet Captain America segment. They pass by some sort of stone robot and we cut to the Winter Soldier at the HYDRA base in present time, where he encounters it, active.

We cut to the new SHIELD prison, HYDRA Base where the Red Skull is being held. He contemplates how he’s eating better than most American workers. Cap wants details about his infiltration and his brainwashing. Red Skull makes some remarks about the Winter Soldier that make Cap even more curious.

An alarm goes off (because SHIELD can’t go 5 seconds without a security breach) it’s the stone robot thing. Cap knocks it back by crashing a jet into it, but that’s only a stumble. Fortunately Miss Marvel and Iron Man arrive to help. They defeat the monster but activate a signal. The Red Skull escapes leaving the message ‘the sleepers have woken’ in his cell.

Iron Man debriefs the Avengers (See cap’s ascension to leadership has been delayed) Cap tells Iron Man he wants to seek out the Winter Soldier and Iron Man agrees, but says he’ll need help to find him, and only one person can be called in for this, Nick Fury.

Cap throws Nick’s words from an old episode back in his face, claiming the Winter Soldier might be someone he knows (and if you’ve seen the movie or any of the obvious foreshadowing you know who that is) Nick reveals via flashback that the Winter Soldier was involved in the conflict that lost his eyes. He reveals a few more details about his operations, he doesn’t seem to age

Nick manages to find a sleeper near a known location for the Winter Soldier. We cut to the Winter Soldier activating one of them. Nick and Cap arrive to help combat it. Nick and Cap bring down some nearby rocks, hoping to crush the monster but the Winter soldier is backed to the edge of a cliff only to be saved by Cap. The sleeper then falls down the cliff (I suspect it probably survived that)

Cap confronts the Winter Soldier. Knowing that it is Bucky Barnes

  

Bucky barely knows who he is. Fury attacks but Bucky throws him off. Cap and Bucky fight, eventually Bucky decides to stop and reveal what had happened. After the explosion he had the arm lost replaced with a mechanical one, he was placed under some sort of hypnosis and was put in hibernation between missions (because they totally had cryogenic freezing technology in the f*cking 1940s)

The sleepers were a backup plan the skull used if his mission as Del Rusk failed. He accidentally activates a signal which brings a bunch of sleepers to Washington DC, where co-incidentally all the other Avengers are. They combine into a giant robot (of course they do) whilst the power rangers… wait, wrong show. Oh and just to make it even cheesier, the robot had a red skull face

The skull marches to the Capitol building, holding off all the Avengers whilst Cap, Fury and the Winter Soldier fly in. Iron Man orders the others to distract it whilst Cap and Bucky instigate their plan. They enter the machine through the eyes, they pass through the lasers through the power of bullsh*t before encountering the Skull himself.

It’s a trap, the Red Skull wants to do to Cap what he did to Cap. But Bucky’s having none of it and pulls out a wire, destroying the machine. The Red Skull makes his escape but Cap and Bucky need to head out before the head explodes. Fortunately the Red Skull’s parachute gets caught on the monument leading to his capture.

Cap wants Bucky to come with him, but Bucky needs to expunge his own ghosts and escapes. Aside from some of the goofier skull elements it’s actually a really touching episode, credit to Brian Bloom’s voice acting as Cap

Rating 9/10

The Deadliest Man Alive

The last time we saw the Hulk was in episode 9, it’s episode 22 now. He’s not been in almost half the f*cking season!

So Cap and Iron Man confront an angry General Ross to get the Hulk released. Ross warns of consequences if the Hulk is released by they do it anyway (about damn time) Banner is none too pleased about ‘Cap’ telling him to surrender. We hear a high pitched noise and he transforms into the Hulk and goes on a rampage.

Iron Man calls in the Avengers to stop the battle. Thor says this

“The Hulk has been a valuable ally, and not one I look forward to facing in battle once again”

Puts their constant annoying fights in Avengers Assemble in perspective, doesn’t it?

Banner warns the Hulk that the transformation was forced as the Hulk expresses his anger. Cap confronts him and tries to talk him down but high pitched noise thing says otherwise. Cap calls in the others and the fighting begins with Iron Man in his Hulk-buster armour. Ross calls Iron Man to tell them to stand down. Cap tries again but the nose says otherwise. The Red Hulk arrives to help? The Hulk is knocked out. He’s also voiced by Fred Tatasciore, which is kinda odd

We get a news report that the Hulk has been saving lives, he tells the media that he was brainwashed by the Red Skull back in the HYDRA attacks. General Ross naturally isn’t impressed. Cap isn’t either, despite the evidence. Iron Man puts the Red Hulk on the Avengers’ Roster.

The Vision and Yellowjacket are suspiciously absent. Cap tries to determine the Red Hulk’s identity, suspecting that something’s up since the Red Hulk only showed himself when the Hulk was on an uncontrollable rampage. He suspects that the Red Hulk may have military training (hint hint)

We cut to Hydro-base where a small ship with a not-SHIELD agent prepares to infiltrate. As you can tell by the massive stinking shield on his back, it’s Cap. He loops the cameras before breaking into Banner’s cell.

The Red Hulk calls the Avengers showing footage of Cap breaking into Banner’s cell. (Questions, 1, how did you get this footage? 2, how did you know this was going to happen, which you clearly did, because he literally just entered the room as you called the pair and 3, why wasn’t this camera affected when Cap looped the security feed?)

Cap sees that Banner is fast asleep and notices an implant on his neck, the Wasp shows up, having decide to help. The Wasp investigates the device as it activates transforming Banner into the Hulk. The Wasp fries the device and Cap pulls it out. It’s from this that the Hulk releases that it wasn’t Cap who betrayed him.

The others arrive, and the Hulks duke it out once again. Cap explains the implant to the others, Iron Man finds that the device is based on his tech that he sold to the military years ago. The Red Hulk tries to activate the implant but finds it doesn’t work. The Hulks take the battle to shore, away from the others. They realise that the Red Hulk had set them up.

It seems the Red Hulk has completely forgotten about his public image as he picks up a boat full of people, the Hulk manages to rescue them as the other avengers arrive. Iron Man activates a failsafe in his ID card, trapping in some plot convenient compound he’d cooked up and he transforms back into General Ross.

Ross is arrested and the Hulk decides to leave for a while (because 12 episodes in a row without him wasn’t enough apparently)

I like the episode, but wish the Hulk had stayed given that the next episode he’s in is the finale.

Rating 8/10

New Avengers

We start with Kang at the Stark Tower arc reactor. He’s turned it into a time machine and manages to eliminate the avengers from the timeline. I’ll admit: that’s an impressive opening.

We cut back to SHIELD’s Hydro-base, having found mass quantities of chronal energy in Kang’s cell. Kang is confronted by Kang, Kang and girl Kang, the council of Kangs. They’re all versions of him from other time-lines.

They claim the Avengers are a risk to all Kangs. They release Kang and return his armour so he can destroy the Avengers. Kang decides to disappear but Iron Man finds him within the arc reactor leading to the scene we saw earlier. This time we see Iron Man tell JARVIS to activate the ‘New Avengers protocols’ before dissipating

We cut to Spider-man swinging across New York. He’s… eating a sandwich… right. He sees the time machine cause distortions like weird buildings, futuristic robot spiders and ninjas which Iron Fist fights off. Luke says he’ll send the bill to the Avengers

War Machine is fighting off the robo-spider, not doing a great job of it but thankfully the Thing arrives to help clobber it. The rest of the Fantastic 4 are doing a diplomatic mission in another dimension. Spidey is running from a dinosaur (just a day in his life really) he tries to figure out what the f*ck is going on but it attacked by a few dinousaurs, thankfully he’s saved by Wolverine who has just shown up.

He takes care of the dinosaurs before getting a briefing by a hologram of Iron Man. He gives them everything to become Avengers including access to the mansion. JARVIS talks to Spider-man through a frequency Spidey uses to sense his tracers (I too would like to know how Iron Man knew that)

They meet up and Spidey briefs them on Kang, he’d got the intel from JARVIS. They confront Kang at Stark Tower. Kang is prepared for all of their attacks and knocks all of them back except Spidey who comes up on his own. Kang’s fortress is almost through. Spidey gives the team a motivational speech about working as a team (it sounds better coming from Cap) Spidey fortunately has a plan but it requires Kang away from the machine. War Machine happily obliges

The thing does a fastball special with Wolverine and they confront him. Spidey heads down to shut down the machine. He decides he can power down the machine by pulling out things, relying on his spider-sense to warn him if he’s doing something wrong. The machine begins to power down and allows Spidey to intervene with the time alterations.

Kang goes to confront Spidey but the real Avengers intervene, knocking Kang into the machine where he dissipates into the time stream. Iron Man offers Spidey an Avengers ID, Spidey wonders if he gets a discount anywhere for a forced attempt at humour as we close out.

New Avengers is not a bad episode, it just isn’t all that special, stemming from the fact that Kang is not the most interesting of villains.

Rating 7.5/10

Operation: Galactic Storm

It’s for the Kree to finally do something

A SWORD team close in on the sun using their captured Kree ship, they detect wormhole activity but it doesn’t appear to be active. Until it becomes active and Kree ships arrive to defend it. They send a message but it’ll take 8 minutes to arrive

9 minutes later Abegail Brand relays the message to the Avengers. A Kree fighter begins to stealthily attack Hydro-base as the Avengers question Mar-Vell about those ship. This sector is pretty easy for them to establish a stable wormhole. When the full wormhole opens it’ll tear the sun in half, creating the future Kang was warning them about.

Mar-Vell offers to help them as they desperately need to get to the sun. The Kree stealth team attacks. Black Panther sees them first, in ultra-violet. They’ve come to free Ronan. He gives the intel allowing the Vision and Hawkeye to see them as well (well only briefly for Hawkeye)

Knowing that all will be lost if the Quinnjet is destroyed Yellowjacket and Abegail stay behind allowing the others to escape as Thor provides some cover. They make it to the sun but quickly get the attention of the Kree. Cap splits the team up. Those that can breathe in space confront the war-ship whilst the others dock with the Kree ship. They find the commander who reveals there to be a Kree sentry on board.

Hank discovers that the Kree are focused on retrieving Ronan’s weapon as Brand finds an explosive device has been planted. By modulating the frequency to that of the teleporter, the space team disable the ship’s force-field and capture the ship, albeit with the commander destroying the controls. Black Panther manages to teleport the Kree Sentry into the sun but it’s too late, the wormhole has already begun to open.

Hank confronts the stealth team who have liberated the weapon and prepare to present it to Ronan, he’s interrupted as Abegail tells him she needs Hank Pym to disarm the bomb (OK…) forcing his retreat allowing Ronan to escape.

With only 6.2 minutes left they have to destroy the ships controlling the wormhole but now they’re on the inside. Hawkeye can make the shot if Black Panther uses the Kree ship’s tractor beam to hold him inside the wormhole. The others decide to accompany him, not wanting Hawkeye stuck in Kree space alone.

Hank says there is nothing he can do to stop the explosion but he shrinks it down into the micro-verse so it doesn’t have much of an impact. The Kree ship encounters engine failure and cannot maintain the tractor beam on its own. T’Challa will have to stay inside the ship to keep it active and it’s slowly falling into the sun. Cap wants to rescue him but Iron Man warns him that if they don’t, Kang’s future comes true.

Panther makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the world but don’t worry, the weight of Cap’s choice and Panther’s sacrifice will be rendered entirely pointless in the next episode anyway. They accomplish their objective and destroy the ships, closing the wormhole as the Kree ship is destroyed.

The other Avengers, plus the SWORD captain find themselves in Kree space, surrounded by an armada of warships

It’s a very good episode, planting seeds that’ll sadly never be followed up on. The biggest gripe I have comes really with the next part.

Rating 8/10

Live Kree or Die

The ships all open fire on the Quinn-jet, with the ships damaged they have no option but to land on the planet but the ship is destroyed as they enter the planet’s atmosphere. Thor, Hawkeye, Vision and Iron Man all seem to have survived the planet, the others landed with the other half of the jet somewhere but may still be alive

They’re attacked by some monster. Thanks to Mar-Vell the others have survived, the sword commander is unconscious (so is likely unimportant to proceedings) they’ve landed on the Kree home-world, in the secure zone and are soon attacked by soldiers and sentries.

Team 1 attack the monster but don’t seem to be having much luck, Thor chips a few teeth and eventually knocks them out. Thor reckons that the Kree sends their recruits to train against the creatures and soon more arrive.

With team 2 Mar-Vell tries to get the Kree to stand down but they refuse. They put up a fight but soon the Avengers are Captured. They find themselves at the beckon of the supreme intelligence, who is watching the fights on various monitors. Mar-Vell tries to get the supreme intelligence to spare them, citing they are able to evolve, which the Kree are unable to do.

The Supreme Intelligence agrees with Mar-Vell, citing the Avengers numerous defeats of the Kree. They want to tap into tap into their powers and will be examined and dissected. Team 1 are being thrashed by the monsters but are sent back by a Kree ship piloted by the Black Panther. Way to ruin everything you did in the last episode. You could’ve waited more than 2 seconds before bringing him back.

They fly through some not particularly great looking CG, Thor agrees to take care of the Kree military using massive lightning strikes. I gotta admit, it’s pretty bad-ass. The other Avengers are being experimented on. Cap struggles and eventually frees himself from their bonds but is quickly knocked back. Thankfully Team 2 minus Thor have arrived to help.

Cap says if they take down the Supreme Intelligence they could end the threat once and for all, they power on him but he’s not going down without a fight. Thankfully the newly named Captain Marvel is around to help. With the army dealt with Thor creates an opening, the Vision tries to hack the systems, and succeeds in temporarily shutting him down. Captain Marvel blasts him as he reboots, shutting him down for good.  It’s possible he also had some involvement in creating the comic cube.

With the Supreme Intelligence shut down for good the Kree army will crumble unless someone becomes a new example to show them a better way. Captain Marvel is the best option for that. Cap is nearly always at his best in this show.

They head back to Earth ready for the season finale

I like this episode but bringing the Black Panther back so soon was a gigantic mistake and weakens the impact of decisions made in the previous episode.

Rating 8/10

Avengers Assemble!

I think by the time this episode was written, everyone knew it was the last one, so time to go out with a bang. Iron Man’s been thinking about how history will remember them (because…) Cap smiles as it’s only the second time he’s mentioned the word history. Suddenly some bad CGI comes over.

At Stark Tower, Terrax arrives saying that Galactus is coming and to prepare for the end. Iron Man attacks but is easily dealt with. The other Avengers attack but Terrax makes quick work of them. He then begins to use Stark tower to create a machine.

Iron Man returns, giving reports that 3 others have arrived building similar machines and blocking the escape of any beings. A vessel arrives as Cap explains who Galactus is thanks to their plans from the Skulls. Knowing they need reinforcements, they call in everyone. Ant-man, Spider-man, Black Widow, the Winter Soldier, the Fantastic 4, the Hulk, War Machine, Wolverine and others arrive.

They split up to defeat Galactus’ heralds and then Galactus himself Cap, Spidey, Quake, War Machine and Iron Fist confront Terrax. Samson, Yellowjacket, Reed, Iron Man and Miss Marvel enter the machine, back with team Cap they gain Terrax’s attention. The Winter Soldier, Sue, Black Panther and the Hulk confront the fire herald. Wolverine, the Thing, the Wasp and the Human torch confront the water herald whilst Thor, Vision, Black Widow, Falcon and Power Man confront the air herald. No sign of Scott Lang yet.

Air-walker (the air herald) is analysed by the Vision, he isn’t alive, he’s made of energy from Galactus. Team Iron Man find Galactus, as he should look. They analyse Galactus and Yellowjacket tries to shrink him… And fails miserably and it begins to attack.

Using the combined team efforts team Cap take down their building. Looks like Ant-man’s fighting the fire herald who is defeated as the Winter Soldier blows up his machine. The Human torch and the Wasp manage to take down the water herald whilst Hawkeye destroys the machine.

Thor and the Vision take down Air walker whilst the planted bombs do their work.  Galactus gets Angry and teleports from his ship. He stands before team Cap and easily reassembles the machines which begin to feed him. Miss Marvel heads out to fight with Yellowjacket, she actually makes Galactus stumble.

Reed and Iron Man theorise that the Galactus consumes anti-matter, Tony gets an idea, send Galactus to the negative zone, a universe filled with anti-matter. Thor arrives to help take on Galactus, striking him with lightning and smashing him with his hammer

Iron Man, Samson, Yellowjacket and Reed evacuate the ship, telling Cap to clear everyone from under it as it begins to generate the wormhole. They pull Galactus through but he tries to pull his way out. Iron Man and Thor lay on one final blast to seal the deal, ending the threat. This is how the Avengers will be remembered.

It’s actually a lovely sendoff to the series, it’s just a pity it doesn’t really answer any of our lingering questions.

Rating 9/10

Season 2 of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes had a weaker overall arc to it, but it used that to its advantage as much as it could, creating some great character development along the way. Actions still had consequences that reverberated across the episodes, even if they didn’t contribute to the ongoing plotlines.

We’ll be taking a break from these retrospectives for a while. But when we return we’ll do so with another of my favourite series, Young Justice. 

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Images used in this review are from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Robot Chicken and and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use