Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow DVD Review

Hey folks, Valkor here. I’ve never had the chance to catch any of Marvel’s newer animation films. Ultimates, Iron Man, and Doctor Strange, all went by the wayside. Nothing against them but I simply wasn’t interested. I find some American made animation lack the punch that I’m used to getting with Japanese animation. Last week the latest Marvel flick slipped under the Val-Cave’s door and while I’m still not too impressed, I was happily entertained with Marvel’s “Next Avengers”.

The Story

Next Avengers tells the tale of the children of the now deceased original Avengers. Captain America and Black Widow begat James Rogers (Noah Crawford), Black Panther and his Queen spawned Azari (Dempsey Pappion). Giant Man and The Wasp gave birth to Pym (Aidan Drummond) and Thor somehow produced a daughter named Torunn (Brenna O’Brian). But it would seem that Tony Stark (Tom Kane) created an assistant named Ultron (also Kane), who had gained sentience and then sets out killing the Avengers and all the planets heroes, taking over the world. Killing all except Iron Man who snags the kids, hides them in a protective dome, and trains them in their abilities. However one day the Vision finds their hideout, which piques the children’s curiosity. This leads them to Starks hidden control center where he created giant robots that look like the original Avengers. James accidentally sets them off, which alerts Ultron of their whereabouts and quite frankly all hell breaks loose. So now it’s up to the young Avengers to put a stop to Ultron once and for all. And in doing so they’ll learn more about their parents, themselves, and more importantly how to fight as a team.

The Good:

The story is pretty solid and straightforward. We don’t spend too much time learning about the original Avengers; We get a quick surmise of what happened to them, about their kids, etc. But their children encompass the entire story (As it should be), with some nice surprises. Vision was the first surprise, I mean seeing as he’s a robot he should have been the first to go. But oh well. Second is Hawkeye’s Kid, who is just so damn cool and so damn smooth, just like his dad. Finally there’s the Hulk, who doesn’t show till towards the end. (Which we’ll save for the bad section). The action is pretty tight, nothing jarring, and the animation is pretty standard stuff, being just a step up from television standards. The voice work is hit or miss, with more hits than misses. The best of the bunch is Aidan Drummond who voices Pym. He’s freaking cute and funny at the same time. Tom Kane does excellent work as Tony Stark as well as Ultron. The rest of the cast fits their counterparts, though not as impressive as the aforementioned.

The Bad:

The Hulk. I’m sorry, I know this is gonna sound like nitpicking, but come on! Basically the only way to solve the Ultron problem was to sick the Hulk after him. The answer was so simple, yet it pissed me off because of its simplicity. I’m not a big fan of the voice either. (No offense Fred Tatasciore).

The Ugly:

N/A

Whilst I wait for Marvel’s next big event film (Punisher 2 w00t!!), I’m thankful we have the animations to tide us over. While the hardcore might find Next Avengers so-so, the average viewer might find it worth watching, especially the younger set, plus it’s fun and entertaining for the family. Out of 5 TOV stars I gotta give Next Avengers (Available now on Blu Ray and DVD) 3 stars. And it’s been Valkor tested and TOV approved.