Put a few heroes together in a group, call yourself a team and it’s bound to capture the attention of just about everyone especially those of the sordid type. Various villains have come out of the woodwork to challenge the Avengers. The team keeps facing threat after threat in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Volume Three — Iron Man Unleashed, a DVD collection featuring six episodes from season one of this popular animated series.

“Masters of Evil”
The Enchantress has gathered a group consisting of the Executioner, Wonder Woman, Abomination, and Crimson Dynamo with Baron Zemo leading this team to systematically take down the Avengers right in their own home. One by one, the Avengers fall to their enemies with the end almost in sight. it’s up to the newest members Black Panther and Hawkeye to come to rescue.

“459”
Captain Mar-Velll, an agent from the Kree, an alien race, has been deployed and secretly studying Earth. However, the Kree Sentry has decided to come to destroy the planet. Captain Mar-Vell teams-up with the Avengers to stop this attack. After the attack, Mar-Vell hopes he can convince the Kree to stop the invasion on Earth. Meanwhile, Carol Danvers discovers she has gained super powers from this incident.

“The Man Who Stole Tomorrow”
Kang the Conqueror has come from the 41st century to save his timeline from being wiped out. In order to do that, he has to eliminate the one anomaly to the space-time continuum that is the cause of this chaos: Captain America. Of course he needs to get through the Avengers to accomplish his task. But how do the Avengers defeat an enemy whose technology is far superior to even their most modern advancements? It’s up to Iron Man to live up to his genius billing to save the day.

“Come the Conqueror”
After a small setback with the Avengers, Kang has decided to conquer this timeline in order to save his and unleashes his armada upon Earth. The Avengers do everything in its power to fend of this invasion while Iron Man does his best pinpointing the location of the mothership. But will he be too late his discovery before Kang finishes his assault? The only way the Avengers can hold him off is to use Hank Pym’s army of Ultron robots.

“The Kang Dynasty”
With Kang’s ship located, the Avengers take the battle to him in space. But will defeating Kang actually make things better or worse for the Avengers? No matter what happens it seems that the worse is still yet to come.

“Widow’s Sting”
Even though he’s now a member of the Avengers, Hawkeye still has unfinished business with Black Widow. He is hot on her trail despite the fact that Nick Fury has told him to leave it alone since it’s S.H.I.E.L.D. business. Not one to follow orders, Hawkeye gets help from Captain America, Black Panther, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mockingbird as they locate Black Widow, Baron von Strucker, and HYDRA. But things are definitely not what they seem to be when there is an infiltration of the extra-terrestrial kind.

The battles have escalated even further since “Gamma World,” as the Avengers find themselves in dire situations that become even more perilous than the previous. One of my favourite episodes is “Masters of Evil.” I just love when a supervillain group is formed to take on the good guys. The way the villains take down the Avengers one by one is awesome but at the same time you know that the heroes will prevail. Still, it’s the drama that makes things exciting.

While the Avengers still have to locate the escaped villains from the breakout, new threats from outer space are introduced. The Kree is an alien race that is in a long standing war with their sworn enemies the Skrulls. The fact that they are introduced only means that those shape-shifting Skrulls can’t be far behind, or maybe they are already here hiding on Earth. It would explain why the Kree is interested in this planet all of a sudden. It also plants the seeds for the second season Kree/Skrull confrontation.

Advanced alien technology is one thing but technology from the future becomes even more problematic when Kang comes knocking. I love Kang’s portrayal as a conquering warlord. It makes him even more dangerous than ever. Plus, he is no slouch in combat situations. He will get his hands dirty if necessary but prefers to fight from afar. In a way his portrayal reminds me of Darkseid from the DC Universe, though Kang isn’t nearly as powerful as the Lord of Apokolips.

There is no shortage of new characters with the introduction of Carol Danvers, Captain Mar-Vell, Mockingbird, Madame Viper, the Kree, Kang, and even Ultron. Surprisingly they all have important roles that lead to the bigger picture. It’s all the foreshadowing that makes things that more exciting because it becomes a matter of when it is all going to happen: interstellar warfare is coming, the Enchantress has a bigger game in mind, and Ultron is going to go rogue.

The voice acting is superb. The characters feel real and have natural conversations, or as natural as anyone would when discussing aliens and supervillains. The animation has a very anime quality to it in terms of style and action. I also like the use of bright colours throughout the series adding to that bold excitement.

The DVD's bonus feature "Avengers Unmasked: Masters of Evil" showcases the "Masters of Evil" episode with trivia captions popping up on the screen.

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Volume Three — Iron Man Unleashed continues the sequence of episodes from season one. It reveals that the threats are only getting bigger than the team ever expected. Not only do they have to contend with menaces on Earth but from those coming to invade it as well. The Avengers are definitely living up to the “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” moniker.


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Related Reviews
The Marvel Superheroes (1966): Captain America: The Origin of Captain America & The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull   ||  The Incredible Hulk: Origin of The Hulk & The Power of Doctor Banner   ||  The Invincible Iron Man: The Death of Tony Stark & The Crimson Dynamo   ||  The Mighty Thor: Enter Hercules & Battle of the Gods  ||   Sub-Mariner: Atlantis Under Attack & To Conquer a Crown 
Spider-Man (1967-1970): The Origin of Spider-Man & The Kilowatt Kaper 
Fantastic Four (1978): The Olympics of Space 
Spider-Man (1981): Dr. Doom Master of the World   ||  Lizards, Lizards Everywhere  ||  Spider-Man Vs. The Vulture: The Vulture Has Landed 
Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (1981): The Origin of the Spider-Friends  ||  A Firestar Is Born  ||   Spidey Goes Hollywood  ||  The X-Men Adventure
The Incredible Hulk (1982):  Unmasked  ||  Volume 2: The Incredible Shrinking Hulk 
Spider-Man (1994-1998): Spider-Man: The Ultimate Villain Showdown  ||  Daredevil Vs. Spider-Man  ||  Spider-Man Vs. Doc Ock  ||   Spider-Man: The Revenge of the Green Goblin  ||  Spider-Man: The Venom Saga
The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008-2009): The Complete First Season  ||  Attack of the Lizard  ||  Volume Two  ||  Volume Three  ||  Volume Four  ||  Volume Five  ||  Volume Six  ||  Volume Seven  ||  Volume Eight  
Wolverine and the X-Men (2009): Volume One: Heroes Return Trilogy 
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010-present): Volume One: Heroes Assemble  ||  Volume Two: Captain America Reborn  


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***This is part of my 2012 Funny Pages Write-Off. Let your inner geekdom out. You have until the end of July.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD