The Avengers are big right now; since Iron Man first hit the big screen there has been a big anticipation about Earth's Mightiest Mortals finally getting together. Along with the live action films featuring most of the original members there was also an animated series that came along which followed the comics original history a little more closely. The show aired on Disney XD, which a sister station to the Disney Channel and features shows a little more action packed.
Naturally after the show aired there came DVD's collecting their adventures. Volumes 1 & 2 contained the episodes featuring the team's formation and early adventures. Now Volume 3 drops covering a stronger team that has learned to trust each other. The first episode titled "Masters of Evil" features one of the comics classic villain teams coming together to take out the Avengers. In the comics the Masters had many incarnations over the years, but the main concept with all incarnations was to have members that were the opposite of each member of the Avengers.
In the episode the Masters infiltrate Avengers Mansion and nearly succeed in taking them out. But thanks to the efforts of Hawkeye and Black Panther the Avengers are able to recover and beat back the Masters until they retreat. In the episode we also learn that there is a larger motive to the Masters plans but we don't learn what that is for a while. After that the following episodes feature the first appearance of a classic Avengers villain: Kang the Conqueror. Taking place over 3 episodes Kang comes from the distant future where he rules over all but the world is not the sparkling utopia we all hope it will be. Due to an unknown set of circumstances the world is a charred crater of destruction and according to Kang it is the Avengers fault.
These storyline takes place over 3 episodes and Iron Man takes center stage here as he repeatedly attempts to crack Kang's superior technology. The final episode culminates in the Avengers taking flight in the classic quinjet and headed toward outer space to infiltrate Kang's command ship to finally take him down. The finale sees Kang finally defeated and imprisoned but we all know that he eventually return to trouble the team and find a way to prevent his future.
Now on DVD, comic fans young and old can sit back and re-live each episode as often as they please. Similar to the first two volumes there is a bonus feature which delves into the history of the Avengers. This time instead of getting a sneak peek at season two, the bonus feature is a commentary on the episode Masters of Evil. In the feature you watch the episode while blocks of text appear on the screen giving you pieces of information regarding the Avengers history as well as their villains.
This being only volume 3 of the entire set it only leaves you wanting more, but thankfully volume 4 came out at the same time so unless you like torturing yourself it would be best to buy both. In this volume you can see the cohesiveness flowing through each of the storylines as now that the team has been established the writers can focus on developing larger plotlines. While these stories are fun for hardcore fans, it may lose some of the younger viewers. Regardless it is highly entertaining and perfectly safe for children of any age.
Purchase Maarvel The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Volume Three From Amazon.com
Purchase Maarvel The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Volume Three From Amazon.com
