ULTIMATE AVENGERS
Starring the vocal talents
of:
Justin Gross, Michael Massee, Marc Worden, Andre Ware, Nolan North, Grey DeLisle,
Olivia d'Abo and Nan McNamara
Directors:
Curt Geda & Steven E. Gordon
Running Time:
72 mins
"You are the Avengers"
As the Second World War came to an end, Captain America (Gross) led the final attack on the Nazi stronghold but as the Germans faced defeat they unleashed an alien weapon. With all of this strength and courage, Captain America manages to stop the aliens but at the cost of his own life. Sixty years later Nick Fury (Ware), the head of S.H.I.E.L.D faces the same threat. To combat he put together a team of Earth's mightiest superheroes and calls them 'The Avengers'.
With DC Comics dominating the animation field, Marvel fights back by grouping together its ultimate superheroes but can they take on the Justice League?
After unparalleled critical and commercial success with the 'Batman', 'Superman' and 'Justice League' animated series franchises, DC gained the reputation of producing not only quality animation but actuate representations of their characters and intelligent and well written stories. The man behind this success was Paul Dini, writer and producer and the man who single-handedly put DC on top when it came to animation. Marvel however where ruling the roost on the big screen however with 'Spider-Man', 'X-Men' and 'Blade' saving them at the box office they had them beat there but the war had only just started. Now Marvel is fighting back with their first straight to DVD feature length animated adventure.
Based on the Marvel version of DC's 'Justice League', the 'Ultimate Avengers' brings together some of Marvels biggest superheroes. Leading the line is the return of Captain America. Super soldier Steve Rogers is resurrected from his WWII grave to fight a menace that threatens the world again. He is joined by Marvel's most destructive force, the Hulk. Bruce Banner is now working for S.H.I.E.L.D. to recreate the super serum that gave Steve Rogers his powers. Hank and Janet Pym, Giant Man and the Wasp bring their unique skills to the fold. Billionaire playboy Tony Stark brings his crime fighting alter ego Iron Man into the fold. Nordic God of Thunder Thor and Natalia Romanoff's Black Window completes the team. Led by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Nick Fury, this is a team that is ready to face the alien threat again.
The animation on the feature is first rate. You can tell that Marvel have thrown some money at this as it successfully looks almost comic book like in its presentation. It is a shame that they didn't do the same with the story. As an origin story for the Avengers it works OK but it is the lack of back-story for most of the characters and the silly alien invasion story that lets the film down. Whereas Paul Dini and his creative concentrate on story and character, Marvel have gone more for the looks than substance.
'The Ultimate Avengers' is a decent animated feature but one that could have been so much better. With classic comic book characters like these, they deserve a more developed story and one that celebrates the powers and complexities. This is a good first effort but the second film needs to be so much better or DC will be the superheroes of animation.
