mackknopf | Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Reply)

"Did the natives surrender?"

"They did not." -- Nameless flunkie to Kang the Conqueror after meeting the Avengers.

If you're not watching The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, why aren't you? I suppose I will accept the following answers: you have an irrational dislike of superheroes, your cable or satellite service doesn't get Disney XD, or you've let your inner child grow old and gray. For the rest of you, definitely check this show out! It has provided some of the purest pleasure on television that I can remember in some time. Even Kristin said she would like the Avengers -- if she was a ten-year-old boy. Okay, that's not the best recommendation on the planet, but I'll take what I can get.

Christopher Yost is the lead writer. He has written episodes of the cartoon X-Men: Evolution, as well as arcs of the comic books New X-Men and X-Force. Earth's Mightiest Heroes provides entertainment for all ages, in my opinion. It's clean enough that a kid can watch it, but well plotted enough and with such good dialogue that adults can also enjoy it. The voice actors are uniformly excellent, and the characterizations are spot on. The cast includes a host of heroes and supporting players from the Marvel universe, along with a team core. The recurring heroes include Tony Stark the futurist, the gruff and inwardly conflicted Incredible Hulk, the stranger in a strange land who is Thor, the regal Black Panther, Hawkeye the ex-SHIELD agent, the engaging Ant-Man and Wasp, and of course, the noble Captain America.

But don't worry, other supporting characters show up as well from all time periods of the comic's history. There are minor changes. For instance, Nick Fury is now a black man, a good idea probably borrowed from the Ultimate Marvel universe (don't worry, none of the bad writing was brought over, only that). Continuity comes from a mix of classic Avengers comics and new plots from more recent stories. Longtime readers of the various comic book incarnations should immediately feel at home. The show seems firmly set in a wider Marvel universe, with cameos by villains of all stripes, alien heroes like Captain Marvel (a revised version, though). SHIELD is running national security; international terrorist groups are rampant; prisons have been built in the Negative Zone (though no superhuman civil war has yet happened); and even the Fantastic Four have made a background appearance.

52 episodes are in production, and apparently 19 have aired. The show is only 22 minutes long, but I find that perfect for my attention span. Many episodes also have cliffhangers leading into the next broadcast. Past storylines have included super villains breaking out from containment facilities, Kang the Conqueror attempting to save his future, the Red Skull and HYDRA attempting to conquer the world, the imminent Kree/Skrull war, and the mischief of Loki. I could go on, but I haven't seen a bad or disappointing episode yet. The overall plot currently revolves around who let the supervillains out of their various prisons in the beginning of the season, and the trouble they are causing. In-between, we have attempts at world takeover and domination, revenge schemes on the Avengers, invaders from the future, and a brewing alien war that's coming to Earth. In short, viewers get to see all the classic storylines they know and love, but rewritten to make them fresh. I haven't seen any episode that I can specifically point to as being straight out of the comics, though I could be wrong. Generally the basic ideas are taken and entirely new stories made from them.

Why do I like superheroes so much? That's an essay all by itself, but for now I'll say that I love morality plays, the clash of good versus evil, right versus wrong, and struggles to see if might can be used in the service of right (the major theme of T.H. White's The Once and Future King, the story of King Arthur, which I would argue is an ancestor to the genre). As to charges of simplicity, I say that good versus evil is not the same as "black and white" morality, and that superheroes are not only generally positive fantasies, but also a lens to examine morality. This is also the reason why I dislike heroes who are portrayed as people as bad as those they fight, and I have little use for mere killers in my fantastic literature.

To be a superhero is to stand for something and to try to live up to an ideal, even if the issues are as murky as those in Alan Moore's Watchmen, where the main characters are morally checkmated from acting. Did I like Moore's protagonist in V For Vendetta? Yes, I did. But V is a revolutionary, as well as a ruthless killer, and that's a different kind of hero. I am not saying that heroes can never kill. I am saying that it should never be a first or preferred choice, only a last alternative.

Batman is as dark a superhero as I can tolerate, but he would likely call himself a crimefighter or a vigilante instead. He also doesn't kill people, because that's where the moral line is for him (though he'll gladly violate civil rights or beat someone to a pulp). Wolverine does kill, but much of his career is about redemption and struggling to contain the beast within and use it for good. People like the Punisher who routinely act as judge, jury, and executioner are just distasteful.

I can even empathize with antiheroes like Magneto, the Malcolm X of the mutant world, but he's still traditionally written as a bad guy. Readers aren't meant to emulate him; he's what happens when people with power decide that the means justify the end. Magneto is the dark side to the dream of his friend and enemy Charles Xavier (the Martin Luther King analogue), the future that will happen if prejudice is not overcome.

So what are you waiting for? We all need more superheroes in our lives. Go watch The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, today!