avengersrewatch

[avengersrewatch]

Fair. I started a whole dumb blog to talk about it.

E16: Widow's Bite

Speaking of lady superheroes, here is something else I don't like about this series (and it seems like I have a lot of complaints even though I am rewatching this cartoon because I like it better than other versions): the Hawkeye and Black Widow subplot.

Since the beginning mini-episodes, Hawkeye has thought Black Widow betrayed him to Hydra and that she was a double-agent. And that's fine, even though everyone watching knows she's not evil by now because Black Widow has appeared in the movies at this point. So she's actually more familiar than Hawkeye to a lot of viewers.

So he has been hunting her down and this episode is a lot of continuation of that. I think it makes Clint look stupid that he hasn't figured it out. Because it is definitely made clear in this episode, as if it wasn't set up before, that she is still working for SHIELD and trying to protect him while she is undercover.

I feel like Widow should be part of the Avengers team by now, but instead both Widow and Mockingbird continues to work for SHIELD and Janet remains the only lady on the team. I can't quite figure out why this should be.

Of course this is also the era of "Marvel thinks girl toys don't sell" so maybe that is why?

It's also unclear exactly what the Avengers are at this point. Tony points out that they are supposed to be dealing with the Breakout (the super villains who escaped prison which is the whole start of the series) and Widow isn't one of them. Which would make sense as a reason the organization exists. But they also do other missions, like the alien robot we just saw in the previous, so why can't Barton try to bring this criminal to justice. Nick Fury tries to say because HYDRA is too complicated, but... is it? It doesn't seem that way on the show.

What I like about this episode:

Captain America and Black Panther duo. It's such a fun dynamic. Steve and T'Challa go after Hawkeye, but without permission from Tony. Steve says no one can take on HYDRA alone and T'Challa says he knows what it is like to be blinded by vengeance. So together, they know better than Hawkeye but don't actually stop Hawkeye, just hover like parents hoping their kid will make friends at pre-school.

I repeat T'Challa and Steve are acting like they are Clint's two dads, hoping he and his new bff Bobbi, beat all the Hydra agents up but if he doesn't, they will swoop in and rescue him. (Which they do.) Meanwhile, they are secretly high fiving in the Quinjet that Hawkeye made a "little friend."

After Mockingbird pops up and Hawkeye decides to team up with her, T'Challa says "at least we know his weakness now if he were to turn on us." Like that's a thing he's been worried about. T'Challa is going to fling women at Clint if he goes rogue. I don't know why this makes me laugh so hard. (It's kind of a Batman thing to say.)

There's also a funny bit when they lose Hawkeye, Tony is mad and says he told Hawkeye not to go after Hydra why did they help him? And T'Challa and Steve are both like "I didn't hear you say that." (Steve says it sounded more like a suggestion than an order, and T'Challa says in Wakanda the words of avenge and revenge are the same. So you guys were just confused about the definitions of words, I get it.)

Just when Steve is freaking out that Hawkeye's signal is lost, T'Challa's like "I have faith he will contact us," and an unknown signal appears in the middle of the ocean. Hawkeye's location. T'Challa's like, "That's my boy."

Cool shots of everyone running at the hydra guys. Panther shreds Grim Reaper's arm scythe.

Odd thing:

Madam Hydra (Viper edition) is introduced and there is a scene where she pulls the pin of a grenade out with her tongue, that is cool but also weirdly suggestive for a kid's cartoon.

Unless this cartoon isn't intended for kids in which case Hawkeye is REALLY dumb.

[avengersrewatch]

E49: The New Avengers

I started this because I wanted to talk about Kang. I'll go back to the regularly scheduled episodes but I wanted to jump ahead in the Kang storyline in EMHU.

Kang doesn't appear as the main villain again until the second season, episode 49 "The New Avengers."

In the cold open, Kang (who has escaped from prison) is working on a time machine. The Avengers attack. At this point the team is: Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Thor, Hawkeye, Wasp, as well as Vision, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers and Yellowjacket/Hank Pym. You don't really have to worry about the new characters (though I think it's pretty self explanatory) because they are immediately sent into some kind of time void by Kang, who declares he has defeated the Avengers.

This episode is interesting because a lot of the speculation for Avengers: Secret Wars has suggested other heroes will have to tap in for the Avengers. And that is sort of what happens here except it is heroes from the EMHU, not other universes.

We jump back in time (I think). Kang is sill in prison and three members of the Council of Kangs appear to him. The old one who seems to be closest to Immortus says the Avengers are growing in power and they might be a threat to all Kangs (very similar to the post-credit scene of Quantumania). They tell him that even though the Council of Kangs have agreed not to meddle in another Kang's timeline they are making an exception, and return his armor to him.

They replay the cold open, with more fighting, and also it shows that Tony initiates the "New Avengers protocol" right before disappearing into time.

Meanwhile, in New York, weird stuff starts appearing. Old timey planes. Robots from the future. Japanese ninjas. Dinosaurs. Cowboys fighting Medieval knights. That kind of thing.

JARVIS locates the "chosen recruits": Spider-man (Peter Parker), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Luke Cage, War Machine (James Rhodes), The Thing (Ben Grimm) and Wolverine (Logan).

I wouldn't mind a line-up like this for Secret Wars. I'd get Andrew Garfield, Michael Chiklis, Hugh Jackman, Wesley Snipes, Evan Peters and maybe some more. Another Hulk? Quake? (I'd say Luke Cage but I am still hopeful they might integrate the Netflix universe into the MCU.) Emma Stone as Spider-Gwen?

Spider-man is the one getting information from JARVIS so he is kind of the leader except everyone makes fun of him. I feel like this would be a good way to redeem Andrew Garfield, who is a great actor, from the bad Spider-man movies he got saddled with.

Spider-man wants to come up with a plan but of course Wolverine and Luke Cage are like, "Nah, let's punch." It doesn't go well at first. But then Spider-man is all, "We have to work as a team." It's always so funny to me that this has to be stated aloud in movies and shows. Spidey also has a plan for Kang's machine but he needs someone to draw Kang away.

Rhodey volunteers. And we get a fastball special with the Thing taking Colosuss' role. This is something I would like to see on screen before Hugh Jackman retires as Wolverine. Just yeet him across the screen.

Spider-man and JARVIS try to break the machine. Spidey realizes his Spider-Sense will alert him if he is doing anything wrong. So he powers down the machine.

Kang is angry, but with the power shut down, the Avengers return from wherever Kang sent them. The New Avengers and the Regular Avengers all watch him vanish into time. (Here I would put some more fighting but this show is only a half hour.)

Iron Man makes Spider-man a "reserve" Avenger and gives him an ID card.

[avengersrewatch]

E19: The Kang Dynasty

So here it is, the Avengers head to space to confront Kang the Conqueror! It's episode 19, "The Kang Dynasty" not to be confused with Avengers: Kang Dynasty coming soon. Though they LOVE reusing the same titles from comic books to cartoons to movies. ("Age of Ultron" was a a run of comics and they used the name for the second Avengers movie even though it was more like "A Day or Two of Ultron" in that case.)

Our team is: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Wasp and Ant-Man. All the white people since T'Challa went back to protect Wakanda from Kang's invasion of Earth. (Well, I guess Hulk is green.)

We are almost immediately another Avenger down, because Kang locks his weapons onto the Avengers (which would include much of New York as well), and Thor jumps out of the spaceship and absorbs the blast/sends it back to Kang with Mjölnir, so it will not kill millions. Wasp worries he is dead but Hulk assures her "goldilocks is tough" and I know he's right because I've seen this show before.

I feel like any variant of Thor can be counted on to do something very stupid but heroic to save people. Like in the comics, he dives into the Godbomb using two Mjölnirs to stop Gorr. In the movies, he takes a blast from a star to forge Stormbreaker. Here he's absorbing the full force of future lasers. What a dummy; I love him.

Just about everyone gets to do something fun this episode. Hawkeye is psyched he gets to shoot from the Quinjet at alien craft. Jan gets to fly around in space, since Tony made her a suit that allows her to, and she is awed by space. I would argue, you should be awed by space. It's objectively cool to be in space.

As a result of Jan and Tony keeping the alien craft off the Avengers' ship, they are not with the others when they arrive in the ship. Hulk gets to punch a hole in Kang's spaceship (the Damocles), allowing the Quinjet to land aboard. And he says "that was fun." I have never seen the Hulk so happy.

Jan tricks Kang's own scarabs into blasting holes in the ship so she and Tony can sneak in. At the same time, we get the news that all the ships around Wakanda have "disappeared." (So T'Challa's having some fun even if he's not with the team.)

If only millions of people on Earth weren't dying this would be the best day ever.

Hank leads the others to the "time drive", the thing that allows the ship to time travel. If they destroy it, then the ship will go back to where it belongs. But meanwhile, Wasp sneaks through the air ducts of the ship and finds Ravonna, in her stasis. Jan, being Jan, wants to know if she is okay.

Ravonna has, of course, appeared in the MCU in Loki and I am still confused as to what her connection with Kang is in that universe. Here it's a bit simpler. Kang loves her, and she's dying because of the time anomaly.

There is fighting. Kang captures Steve, who he blames for everything. They bicker until Tony shows up and hacks into the Damocles' system. Some fighting. Steve and Tony beat Kang. The Avengers send all the ships on Earth back to the future. They are about to send Kang and the Damocles back when Wasp stops them.

See Wasp doesn't want "Princess" Ravonna to die, and if they send her back then she will be erased from existence. She spills all the tea that Kang loves her and did all this to keep her alive (which seems to embarrass Kang). The Avengers are like, "Bro, we could have helped you" but Kang is like "NEVER!" so they have to fight some more until he's down.

They put Kang in one of the Negative Zone prison cells, while Reed Richards (first appearance, he doesn't speak) and Hank study Ravonna's stasis. Ultron stands by menacingly.

It's not the most epic of battles. At the end, it feels like neither side has "won." On the other hand, it seems the solution to Kang is to let Wasp and Ravonna hash things out. She can't talk in this, but if she could I bet she'd be more reasonable. And while we haven't seen Ravonna and Kang's relationship in the MCU but we have seen that he respects (even though he feels betrayed by) Janet Van Dyne.

Ravonna and Jan. BroTP.

[avengersrewatch]

E18: Come the Conqueror

He's back for round two. Let's fight Kang the Conqueror!

Multiple space ships appear over New York. They blast bombs that seem to turn into giant robots. Hydra has giant robots too. I just think Kang should have cooler weapons than the Nazis. He's from the future and they are the past.

A lot of people in New York definitely die in this opening. It shows buildings being blown up. But Captain American comes to help one kid with glasses. Goddamnit, Steve there were kids in the buildings too. ("Fantasy violence" for that is acceptable for young people is weird.)

T'Challa figures out the robots are Kang's due to the "Egyptian styling" to them. (I don't know what this means. Did ancient Egyptians have robots?) I think I could tell it was Kang from the ending of the last episode, but thanks, T'Challa. It turns out he's right because Kang refers to the robots as "scarabs" so what do I know.

Some cool fight action here that I will not narrate. (Wasp gets to save the boys in the Quinjet!) But basically, it turns out Kang is invading all of Earth, not just New York. So millions are probably dead right now. It cuts to other cities like Cairo, London (where Black Knight fights), and the Golden City in Wakanda. Because of this, T'Challa leaves to help Wakanda.

Hulk and Hawkeye find out the robots have some form-up/Megazord ability. It makes Hulk a wee bit angry. At least that's something Hydra doesn't do.

Steve does sadface when he sees the city burning and says they need an army. Wasp says she knows where there is an army: the Negative Zone where all the Ultrons are. They were supposed to be a peacekeeping force and now have to be reprogrammed to understand "violence." I am sure there will be no consequences to this!

Ant-Man and Wasp shrink down and figure out how to send the ships back to their correct time--sending them back to the future. Hulk and Thor send more to the future until none are left in New York. Huzzah, except for every other city!

Tony's big contribution is to realize Kang isn't on the ships but in space, observing. But me, the viewer, knew that from last episode so it doesn't seem like a brilliant deduction.

This episode is a lot of smashing.

[avengersrewatch]

E17: The Man Who Stole Tomorrow

Okay! We're here! I started this rewatch because I wanted to talk about Kang and Janet Van Dyne a lot before Quantumania. I have seen that by now, and also 17 episodes of this show.

You might not remember that when Captain America was introduced in the mini-episodes, Kang was as well. Kang believes Captain America is the cause of some kind of time anomaly and he comes to EMHU Earth to kill him in this two-part episode.

(It's also implied, later on, that the thing Captain America does that causes a time... problem? Time issue? I don't know the term, happens later on this season. When Captain America touches the Cosmic Cube (aka the Tesseract in MCU speak), it is supposed to grant someone their wished for world. Baron Strucker wants to remake the world so that Hydra won WW2, but Steve gets to it first. But the world doesn't change much when Steve touches it. It just makes it so Bucky survives in the past. And, honestly, Steve should have been more specific with his wish because Bucky simply surviving means he is tortured as the Winter Soldier. I suggest you think a lot harder if you ever get the chance to touch the Cosmic Cube, reader.)

Spoilers for later this season and next! But Kang is trying to stop Steve from destroying the future.

It's interesting because some have argued that, in the MCU, Steve Rogers going back in time to live with Peggy Carter should create a branch timeline but the writers and directors of ENDGAME don't agree as to what happened. With the TVA added to the mix, Steve's happy ending should have just been pruned immediately as soon as he arrived. Yet somehow he seems to have grown old in the past.

I don't understand any of that, and unless Chris Evans agrees to come back, I don't think Steve Rogers will be the cause of the multiversal war that has been predicted for the MCU. But he still could be, I guess.

This Kang is more, well, cartoon-y than MCU Kang. He is voiced by actor Jonathan Adams, who is also a Black man but otherwise not that similar to Jonathan Majors.

This Kang is motivated by love. We know this because he's always staring longingly at a woman in stasis--Ravonna Renslayer (though we are not to that part of the story yet). He also just shows up at the Avengers Mansion and is like, "Hi, I'm Kang. I am here to kill Captain America." There's no elaborate plan or organization, like we see from He Who Remains in Loki.

He brings the Avengers (whole team this time!) into the future to see NYC after the sun has burned up the planet, which is somehow Cap's fault according to Kang. Also, "BTW," Kang says, "I'm going to conqueror your world so you can survive the coming Kree-Skrull war." Because Kang's solution to every problem is him being in charge.

There is a moment where Steve is like "okay maybe I should let Kang take me? Because of the whole Earth burning up thing?" And Tony's like, "nah, this guy is a jerk." (Literally he says Kang might be their "only hope" but "he's being a real jerk about it.")

So the Avengers fight, even though no one has any idea what is going on.

Kang is like, "Gross, I'm just going to leave you here in this destroyed Earth to think about your decision."

Except Ant-Man calls a bunch of ants to cover Kang and knock him out of his time-chair. All of humanity died, but there are still insects on this planet. This scene is fairly similar to the one we saw in Quantumania where Hank arrives with a slew of ants that drag Kang away. Except this time it also involves Hulk smashing as well. (Giant Man smashed in the movie?)

This gives Tony time to "hack" Kang's time chair. (I should mention Black Panther is able to cut Kang's armor with his vibranium knives.) Tony recognizes some Stark Tech in the origins of the chair, and is able to bring them all back to the Mansion.

Kang is very upset that Iron Man is sitting in his chair. (It sounds like he has a pretty personal and intimate relationship with this chair.) Tony zaps him. Then Thor hits him with a lightning bolt and Kang retreats to his big space ship and brings more spaceships from the future to "conquer" the 21st century.

Steve is like, "he'll be back."

And in more ominous news: Hank has a whole bunch of Ultrons in the Negative Zone at a "new" prison. I'm sure that will go super duper for everyone.

[avengersrewatch]

E16: Widow's Bite

Speaking of lady superheroes, here is something else I don't like about this series (and it seems like I have a lot of complaints even though I am rewatching this cartoon because I like it better than other versions): the Hawkeye and Black Widow subplot.

Since the beginning mini-episodes, Hawkeye has thought Black Widow betrayed him to Hydra and that she was a double-agent. And that's fine, even though everyone watching knows she's not evil by now because Black Widow has appeared in the movies at this point. So she's actually more familiar than Hawkeye to a lot of viewers.

So he has been hunting her down and this episode is a lot of continuation of that. I think it makes Clint look stupid that he hasn't figured it out. Because it is definitely made clear in this episode, as if it wasn't set up before, that she is still working for SHIELD and trying to protect him while she is undercover.

I feel like Widow should be part of the Avengers team by now, but instead both Widow and Mockingbird continues to work for SHIELD and Janet remains the only lady on the team. I can't quite figure out why this should be.

Of course this is also the era of "Marvel thinks girl toys don't sell" so maybe that is why?

It's also unclear exactly what the Avengers are at this point. Tony points out that they are supposed to be dealing with the Breakout (the super villains who escaped prison which is the whole start of the series) and Widow isn't one of them. Which would make sense as a reason the organization exists. But they also do other missions, like the alien robot we just saw in the previous, so why can't Barton try to bring this criminal to justice. Nick Fury tries to say because HYDRA is too complicated, but... is it? It doesn't seem that way on the show.

What I like about this episode:

Captain America and Black Panther duo. It's such a fun dynamic. Steve and T'Challa go after Hawkeye, but without permission from Tony. Steve says no one can take on HYDRA alone and T'Challa says he knows what it is like to be blinded by vengeance. So together, they know better than Hawkeye but don't actually stop Hawkeye, just hover like parents hoping their kid will make friends at pre-school.

I repeat T'Challa and Steve are acting like they are Clint's two dads, hoping he and his new bff Bobbi, beat all the Hydra agents up but if he doesn't, they will swoop in and rescue him. (Which they do.) Meanwhile, they are secretly high fiving in the Quinjet that Hawkeye made a "little friend."

After Mockingbird pops up and Hawkeye decides to team up with her, T'Challa says "at least we know his weakness now if he were to turn on us." Like that's a thing he's been worried about. T'Challa is going to fling women at Clint if he goes rogue. I don't know why this makes me laugh so hard. (It's kind of a Batman thing to say.)

There's also a funny bit when they lose Hawkeye, Tony is mad and says he told Hawkeye not to go after Hydra why did they help him? And T'Challa and Steve are both like "I didn't hear you say that." (Steve says it sounded more like a suggestion than an order, and T'Challa says in Wakanda the words of avenge and revenge are the same. So you guys were just confused about the definitions of words, I get it.)

Just when Steve is freaking out that Hawkeye's signal is lost, T'Challa's like "I have faith he will contact us," and an unknown signal appears in the middle of the ocean. Hawkeye's location. T'Challa's like, "That's my boy."

Cool shots of everyone running at the hydra guys. Panther shreds Grim Reaper's arm scythe.

Odd thing:

Madam Hydra (Viper edition) is introduced and there is a scene where she pulls the pin of a grenade out with her tongue, that is cool but also weirdly suggestive for a kid's cartoon.

Unless this cartoon isn't intended for kids in which case Hawkeye is REALLY dumb.

[avengersrewatch]

E15: "459"

This is an interesting episode to watch because it's the introduction of Carol Danvers to the EMHU. And it's different from the comics canon (which is super complicated and involves a Kree wishing machine) but also pretty different from the MCU origin in Captain Marvel.

Here Carol is introduced as Janet's friend. I don't know how they met but I am DYING to know. Jan is a socialite in this series and Carol is a major in the military. I guess they could've bumped into each other in NYC. Is Carol the person she complains about Hank to? I bet she is.

Because Carol immediately burns Hank by saying hot hot Tony (and suggesting he'd be a good match for Jan). But actually Carol needs Hank's help with something.

Carol introduces the Ant-man and Wasp to "Dr. Philip Lawson." This is an odd change because Mar-vell, the Kree hero who was the first Captain Marvel went by the human alias Walter Lawson in the comics. It was changed to Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning) in the film Captain Marvel. Philip Lawson is less often used (I associate Philip with the variant Mahr-vehl from the Ultimates universe/1610). But I guess none of these human names are his real name.

The "twist" to make Mar-vell a female character in Captain Marvel was new for the MCU. (Although I don't know why we are imposing a gender binary on non-human races.)

Whatever gender Mar-vell is, Jan thinks they are hot. Hank is annoyed.

Anyway, something alien crashes to Earth. Both Carol and Jan want to fight whatever it is. Like girls do. There is some fighting in the woods.

It's a giant robot (the titular "459"). Hank wants to talk to it or whatever and normally I would not roll my eyes at such a thing. But it's clearly an instrument of war, and it's shooting lasers at his girlfriend, so like, catch up, genius.

You guys aren't going to believe this, but Lawson turns out to be an alien. I know, shocking. He and Carol get hit by some kind of beam from the robot (she was protecting him) and he turns back to his regular Kree form. He announces himself as Mahr-vehl. Closed captioning confirms the spelling. So he is the Ultimates version. Weird.

They bring Carol to the hospital and call the other Avengers. Mahr-vehl explains himself. This is the first name drop of the Kree-Skrull war which isn't actually relevant until next season, because this robot was sent by the Kree. To destroy Earth. Why didn't you tell them humans already had dibs on this planet, Mahr? Huh? Not a very good scout.

He explains the if the robot encounters resistance, it just blows up the entire planet. Jan actually says, "Hulk, smash him." And I'm kind of on her side here. But Hank stops the smashing (killjoy).

Marvel (I'm not typing all the dumb letters anymore) says he's just here to study humanity and he keeps lookin' at Carol in her bed. It's implied he loves Carol so much he decides humanity should be saved. I am creeped out by this.

He's been lying to her for three years studying Carol? If he cares about her so much maybe he should have a conversation with her? Maybe "psst, I'm an alien?" I think he's a weird, gross creeper and want him smashed.

Hank and Marvel are bros now, I guess. The Avengers (Hank, Jan, Hulk, Thor and Tony) plus Marvel go fight the robot/bomb.

Marvel is wearing a look more like his Ultimates gear (Kree war suit with helmet). He's not the traditional blond-haired, red spandex Captain Marvel. He also has a green glow around him and keeps making constructs out of his nanotech. It reminds me a lot of how Green Lantern looks in cartoons. I can't unsee it.

Jan and Hank fight and also get hit by explosives. Hank tries to protect Jan and takes a blast. He says "I love..." but then urges her to stop the bomb. If you had more words you could've finished that sentence, my dude. You just didn't want to.

There is a cool sequence where Jan flies at the robot, and gets inside but she doesn't actually get to save the day. (Even though getting very small would be a useful power for diffusing a bomb, I think.) Out of nowhere there is a giant floating head of Yon-rogg that Marvel talks to. This is also weird and unnecessary setting up of intra-Kree fighting that the show will never get to since it was cancelled after its second season.

So Marvel takes the bomb and flies into space with it, but he ices up which is weird because he should be able to space travel. Like, he's from another planet. Tony saves him (Tony can totally fly into space, guys, but the alien cant?) And Thor manages to throw the bomb far enough away from Earth when it explodes. That was a shitty plan, Marv.

Jan and Marvel make up before he teleports out of there, a power I did not know he had. Hank fails again to say "I love you" to Jan. And the episode ends with a glowing Carol being able to fly.

But none of this will matter until next season, when there is more space stuff and Carol joins the team. I think this was a way to say "there are going to be more than one lady Avenger!!" without, you know, actually having more than one lady Avenger on the team. However, with so much the setup already this season, I feel like this episode would've been better next season.

So that's the story of how Carol Danvers got superpowers and ditched her stalker in one go.

Rating: Eh, if you're interested.

[avengersrewatch]

E14: Masters of Evil

This is the first time our Avengers get to fight a group of supervillains (well, besides "The Breakout").

The Masters of Evil have been recruiting in the last several episodes. I am not that familiar with this group in the comics, but to my knowledge, Baron Zemo is usually the one associated with the group. Here he has Enchantress, Skurge, Abomination, Crimson Dynamo and Wonder Man (Wonder Man is a hero!)

Wasp catches Whirlwind again. He had the audacity to show up "where [she] shops." Janet is often involved in fashion. I like that she thinks supervillains should pay attention to what labels she has been wearing.

But it's not Whirlwind; it's Enchantress and this is the beginning of the the Masters of Evil's plot... to attack Wasp while she is by herself, shopping. That's cold, guys. She's the littlest and the only woman. Plus she's busy. She tries to fight them all, because Jan is hardcover, but Zemo shoots her in the back. THE BACK! Like a coward. These guys really are evil!

At the Wakandan Embassy, Clint complains about how the Avengers are "a disaster." T'Challa's just chillin', muddling some herbs, while Clint rants. Clint slams Tony, Hank, Jan, Hulk and Thor for various reasons. T'Challa points out he didn't include Captain America (he kindly doesn't also say, "and me, I rock.")

We get to see T'Challa pull a prank on Clint. I'm sad now that we won't really see T'Challa interact with the other Avengers more. (He did remember Clint's name in Endgame, so that's something.) But here he tells Clint he just ate poison. For the lulz.

That's what he gets for shitting on T'Challa's teammates, man! Also, I think it shows that T'Challa likes Clint, weirdly? Because he smiles. And T'Challa rarely smiles. He's very stately. This is Wakandan male bonding, I guess.

Crimson Dynamo attacks Tony (who doesn't have his suit on).

Abomination and Enchantress send Hulk through a portal to the Frost Giant world (too lazy to look up spelling).

Wonder Man and Skurge knock out Captain America and use his ID card to call the other Avengers.

Thor is on a date with Jane. She looks so small next to him. It's adorable. So he is also rudely interrupted.

All of them show up to take on Thor. Which is smart. Clint's criticism for Thor was that he's "crazy" but he's not. He's just from a different place. Anyway, they get him too.

But T'Challa and Clint aren't stupid enough to walk into the Mansion without doing recon. Clint wants to go in hot, but T'Challa thinks innocent lives would be put in danger, and that they have to handle it, subtle-like.

I like how we get to see Avengers who aren't normally teamed up, like Clint and T'Challa, work together. They are both stealthy (Clint is a spy). So this is fun they can have together! Like how Hulk and Thor both enjoy punching things, sometimes each other.

Cap asks Zemo why he's doing this. The war was like 70 years ago, shouldn't he be over it by now? Zemo is not over it. His therapist must be terrible.

The rest of the episode is T'Challa and Clint being trickster bros and roasting the Masters of Evil. Zemo is worried about Ant-Man but he doesn't know there are two more Avengers, get with the times, Zemo!

T'Challa is proud to be an Avenger. Clint wants to do quips.

And they are both pleased with themselves because they get caught but they wanted to get caught because they also brought Ant-Man and Hank is there with a machine that makes Wonder Man go poof!

It's a slug fest after that. Somehow Thor brings Hulk back from the Frost Giants. I guess he can summon the Bifrost? But it looks like a regular portal. Anyone want to explain if Thor's hammer can do this?

This is our main team for season one. There are some more added in Season 2 and guest stars (next episode even), but this is the core group. So this is fun because it's (finally!) the first time we see all Avengers Assembled.

The Masters of Evil give up kind of quickly, and that makes it less fun of an episode than it could be. But it's only because they are going to be back towards the end of the season. So this is a prelude more than anything, especially to Clint's quips.

It is also our first glimpse at EMHU Loki! Though they don't say it's Loki. Enchantress talks to someone who is apparently behind the Masters of Evil.

... and, duh, it's Loki, guys. In his classic costume which is great and makes me think of Richard E. Grant.

Rating: Recommend

[avengersrewatch]

E12-13: GAMMA WORLD!

This two-part episode is one of my favorites from this series. It's just fun. Totally recommend. I know I've been done on some of the episodes and especially the minisodes. But this is one you should watch.

The Leader (Samuel Sterns, who we saw a bit of in The Incredible Hulk and is going to be a villain in Captain America 4) was in the Cube, a prison for gamma-irradiated villains, which is such a specific thing to have. In this world, they have so many guys who have turned into monsters from gamma rays, they have a special place to keep them. And during "the Breakout" (episodes 1 and 2) instead of leaving, he lead the other villains in taking over the prison.

Now they are putting out Gamma rays and turning entire cities (Las Vegas) into gamma monsters, because the Leader can control their minds. I'm kind of sad this will not be the plot of Captain America 4. It would be so fun to have monsters playing at casinos, and monsters dancing in showgirl costumes.

It opens with a very cool sequence of Black Panther and Captain America (on his World War II motorcycle, still puzzling over that choice) chasing Hawkeye, who is still considered an escaped convict even though he helped Iron Man and he's totally innocent. Cap's on his bike, and Panther is running on the side of a building. It's great. This is only really to remind the viewer about Hawkeye.

SHIELD agents interrupt the chase (probably friends of Clint's) and ask for help with the Cube/Gamma World situation. See some of their agents tried to go into the Cube last episode, and they got exposed to the gamma energy and turned into monsters too! So someone has to go into the creepy prison filled with super villains and get the SHIELD agents out. Fun! (Is this really where our tax dollars are going?)

Our Team is: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Panther and Wasp. Ant-Man is away. Doc Samson is also there. He is bummed to see the Hulk ran away because, well, it's Gamma World. You want a Hulk in Gamma World.

Someone should really suggest going to get the Hulk. But they don't. Instead they go inside and they have to be in weird hazmat type suits to keep from being irradiated and it's claustrophobic and about as scary as this cartoon gets. There are monsters in the shadows and if they pierce your suit, you become a monster!

Plus the boundary around the Cube is continually expanding. It will soon hit a town and then a city (I spoiled it, it's Las Vegas).

I just think this is a cool premise. It's obviously a Hulk story. since he is already irradiated. (They really should have at least tried to call him before going in.) Because, first the SHIELD team accompanying them, and then each of the Avengers are taken into the green mist surrounding them and turned into monsters.

That leaves only Thor, who is not human and thus not changed. But he is up against the Leader, the Abomination, the Absorbing Man, Zzzax, the U-Foes, the Wrecking Crew, and all the other Avengers in their monster forms. (Panther is a catlike monster, and wasp has wings. Iron Man looks the most human, but his armor is part of him and the arc reactor dangles from weird black and yellow threads. Cap looks like the Hulk with blonde hair)

Even though this episode tries to make it seem like things will be fine for the Avengers (I guess not to scare kids?). Part two opens with the Gamma Dome reappearing and getting bigger. The Leader makes an announcement to humanity that "I will remake the world in my imagine. You will be perfect, like me. And I will think your thoughts for you."

Someone really needs to go get the Hulk in part 2. And that person is... Hawkeye.

Meanwhile, Thunderbolt Ross is attacking Hulk with the Hulkbusters. Like, dude, did you not see the creepy message about thinking your thoughts for you? Maybe let the Hulk punch that guy. I don't know what that guy's problem is.

Things I like:

-- T'Challa seeming to match the Leader in tactical matters (he is the one who realizes things are traps and such)

-- the Leader is kinda creepy in this. Usually I find his big head ridiculous. Take notes, Captain America 4.

-- Hawkeye being super aggro with the Hulk even though he has zero super powers.

-- The ongoing conversation about whether Avengers should just listen to Tony's orders.

-- Thor gets some action in for the first time since "The Breakout" really. The last couple episodes he was in, he was more of a comedic presence. (I like comedic Thor too I just like a balance.)

-- Hulk's line, "Not stop you. SMASH YOU!" is pretty iconic. I have zero notes.

Rating: Recommend!

[avengersrewatch]

E11: Panther's Quest

Finally! Black Panther joins the Avengers! But first, we have to make it through this episode.

Captain America is telling the other Avengers about the black catsuit guy. And then Panther immediately attacks. This is pulling from Panther's first appearance with the Fantastic Four, where he fights them and then reveals it was all a test. So Panther is testing these Avengers.

To be honest, these Avengers don't do that well in the test, in my opinion. Cap gets in one good hit, and Hank is able to figure out he has a vibranium suit.

It's fun for me when Panther beats up Hank in Giant Man form at least. So it's better than most of the fake fights on this show. (He's so little but he hits Hank in soft places and knocks him over. I would love to see that in live action, Kevin Feige!)

Again we get a depiction of Wakanda that is lesser than the Ryan Coogler films. Panther is basically asking the Avengers to help him overthrow M'Baku's government because "the people are the problem" in that they follow "the old ways." It's cringe.

We also learn Tony Stark tried to get vibranium from King T'Chaka to make weapons before he was Iron Man. Thankfully T'Chaka was like, "Um, no." Panther gives Tony a little side eye that I enjoy.

Long story short, M'Baku has given HYDRA access to the vibranium of Wakanda. And we know from previous episodes it's because M'Baku struck a deal with Klaw. But like, come on, M'Baku. Why are you working with the Nazis? You are literally a huge stereotype of how racists view Black people, why would this go well for you?

M'Baku in the movies is so superior to the early comics and this show. (There is a new M'Baku in the comics now who is just a whole different guy.)

Wasp asks, "So who's up for invading Wakanda?" I like you Wasp, but that is not cool.

So our FIVE Avengers (Cap, Panther, Iron Man, Ant-Man and Wasp) go invading. Thor has straight disappeared in this episode and it is not explained. Maybe they couldn't figure out how Black Panther could take down Thor so they just left him out? Because this episode picks up RIGHT after the last one left off and he was there a minute ago.

The only thing that makes sense is that he saw Jane Foster while fighting in the previous episode, because he trails after her like a puppy. So good for Thor, he's probably making out with Jane instead of invading sovereign nations.

One part I do like is when Tony veers off the flight path T'Challa laid out, and they are immediately shot down by Wakandan forces. Tony says, "you owe me a jet!" and T'Challa's like "that's on you for not listening to me." WHICH IT IS. You can't plan a coup and not even follow the plan.

T'Challa's like "good luck with the Wakandan army, I have to go fight M'Baku for the throne, kbai!" Tony orders Steve to follow him.

For the record, M'Baku believes the vibranium has corrupted Wakanda and he's selling it to HYDRA because he wants to get rid of it and get rid of all technology. And M'Baku in the movies isn't a big fan of Shuri's tech. His tribe lives more simply. But he also doesn't deal with Nazis. That's the part I'm having trouble with, honestly. I'm not being hyperbolic by calling them Nazis, a lot of these guys are the same guys Cap was fighting in the 40s.

Maybe M'Baku can't Google them with because he hates technology so much.

But for all his talk of tradition, when T'Challa challenges him for the throne he refuses to fight and sends the dora milaje to kill T'Challa which also doesn't make sense to me. (Doesn't M'Baku love to fight?) But Cap intervenes and takes on the dora while T'Challa engages M'Baku and defeats him with his "rage."

There is also another fight where Klaw turns into some kind of purple sound ghost at the vibranium mine. Jan and Tony are cute during this fight but I can't describe it.

T'Challa is made king and declares that "the old ways" must end. He's putting a "Council of the People" in charge of Wakanda and joining "the Outsiders" as an Avenger. Because Wakanda must become part of the world now?

He's not even staying behind to put that in writing? Or see how it's implemented? I have concerns.

... but not enough to stop me from being excited the next episode is GAMMA WORLD, the much anticipated return of two Avengers.

Rating: Eh, if you're interested.

[avengersrewatch]

E10: Everything Is Wonderful

This episode introduces a new Avenger whom we have not seen in the MCU--Simon Williams as Wonder Man. Now we are going to see him in the MCU, as a show has been announced. And I can only hope it's more compelling than this episode.

Simon learns Tony Stark has bought up his company, and freaks out. Three hours later he is letting MODOK do weird experiments on him. I just feel like turning yourself into living energy or whatever should take longer than it takes me to watch Avengers: Endgame.

It also turns out to be a misunderstanding because Tony took over his company for good reasons, but just didn't bother to tell Simon before he turned himself into Ionic purple energy?

There's a lot of holes in this plot. Much of the episode is Hank lecturing Tony that he needs to be nicer and not make weapons of mass destruction or whatever. We learn Tony and Hank made Ultron together and Tony sold the robots to SHIELD without telling Hank. So this is really about you, Hank, isn't it? I find him particularly annoying in this episode.

But the result is that Wonder Man ends up joining Zemo and Enchantress on their anti-Avengers team (spoiler alert: the team is called "The Masters of Evil" which I don't think is a a very catchy name).

Subplots: Wasp and Thor hunt down AIM badguys, thhen happen upon Simon after during his transformation, and they make fun of MODOK. They are the Fun-vengers.

Secondly, Nick Fury introduces himself to Captain America. In this timeline, it was Nick Fury's dad (Jack) who fought with Cap not Nick himself. Nick Fury kept Cap's old motorcycle for years, which is kind of creepy if you think about it. Maybe Nick Fury's dad was in love with Cap.

Next up: PANTHER!

Rating: Do Not Recommend

[avengersrewatch]

E9: Living Legend

Let's do a rewatch of EMH before Quantumania, she said, wildly overestimating her own abilities.

For those catching up, the Avengers are currently: Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp. Hulk just left.

So the team needs new blood and they find it... well old blood, I guess while looking for the Hulk. (Janet is very cute when she is excited to be "driving" a jet. She's the audience surrogate in a lot of ways. She's so happy she is an Avenger!!)

Anyway, they find Captain America, and of course, because this show is obsessed with making the Avengers fight each other: he immediately assumes they are HYDRA operatives lying to him about it really being "the future".

I like it when Thor refers to Iron Man as "the robot" because I am still not sure if Thor knows there is a man in there or not.

This is also the first time we see Black Panther in battle. Though he has not yet decided to join the Avengers yet, he appears to help Captain America defeat Baron Zemo after he fully infiltrates Tony's mansion without any problems.

Wasp is the one who is able to convince Steve that he's in the future by showing him the Statue of Liberty (which he somehow did not notice?) and a statue dedicated to Captain America and Bucky

We take a brief trip back to the villain story (remember a whole bunch of them escaped from prison?). Well one newly freed is Baron Zemo in his full purple, fuzzy costume. It's so dumb, I love it so much. There's apparently some bad blood between Strucker and Zemo--Grim Reaper is also there, maybe we will get that villain for the WONDER MAN show?--but they are both Nazis so I don't really have a dog in that fight. Luckily, Zemo hears Captain America is alive and immediately peaces out to fight Steve. He's alive? I MUST TRY TO PUNCH HIM IMMEDIATELY.

We get a flashback to Cap and Zemo fighting during WWII. And Zemo's costume is purpler and fuzzier so you realize the dumb one from before is actually an upgrade. God, I love how stupid it is. I can't even focus. Anyway, Captain America doused Zemo in a virus and now that stupid purple suit is like stuck to him? Yet he still keeps putting (as Okoye would say) "fuzzy adornments" on it so I think he likes it. I don't know what he's mad about.

More bad guy meetings. Zemo talks to Zola (who was in the MCU) and Doughboy (who is sadly, not). Zemo is kind of dying or whatever, and Zola wishes they had a DNA sample from Captain America to create an army of super soldiers cure Zemo. Zemo says he will bring Zola Captain America's head.

He will not.

Luckily for the Avengers, T'Challa is chilling in the Avengers' own house, reading files about them when the Avengers return. They are back for maybe two seconds, in which Thor and Cap bond over how weird JARVIS is ("the building has a voice") before Doughboy attacks. The Avengers fall for this obvious distraction while another Doughboy attacks Jan and Cap at the mansion. (Jan kills Doughboy by getting eaten and exploding him from the inside.)

Meanwhile, T'Challa is just watching all this. T'Challa's, "I guess I will help them beat a Nazi; he's definitely racist." So he gives Captain America back his shield. I like the symbolism of T'Challa being the one to return Cap's shield to him. It's made of vibranium and before this moment, it's kind of stolen resources. (I don't think who made the shield is addressed in this series. In the MCU it was Howard Stark who made it with the only vibranium he had available to him.)

He's like, "here you can have your little frisbee back. I have, like, a shit-ton more." Then he leaves because he knows Cap can handle Zemo.

Captain America and Wasp go help the others, in which Hank figures out something sciencey about Doughboy and he and Tony do a sciene-y thing.

After the battle, Steve and Tony talk and Steve officially joins the Avengers. He when he can meat the Avenger who wears "a black catsuit." I like to imagine Cap was kind of disappointed to learn it was only these four. (No shade to these four, one needs only to look at box office performance in the MCU to realize Black Panther is the coolest one.) I know it. Cap definitely knows it here. Cap's MCU variant knows it when Panther is the first to come out of the portals too. That's just the power of T'Challa.

Only one more episode until Panther joins up!

Meanwhile, Zemo meets up the the Enchantress and they set up bad guy stuff.

Rating: Eh, if you're interested.

[avengersrewatch]

E8: Some Assembly Required

I think you should skip to this one after "The Breakout." Maybe you can watch the episode about Captain America, but boy I wouldn't watch the others.

This episode starts with the Avengers capturing Mandrill. I noted in my last post that Mandrill is gross so this is why I love the Avengers. Mandrill surrenders when he sees the Hulk. Thor says he "shames all monkeys with his cowardice." Nah he shames monkeys with his existence, but I appreciate you making fun of him, Thor. I want to kick him when he's down too.

Meanwhile, on the docks, a black-clad figure comes ashore. Who could it be? Oh gosh I can't stand the suspense. Anyway, the shot of Black Panther (spoilers!) crawling down the chain in the moonlight is cool.

Everyone except Pepper and the Hulk are late to the first Avengers meeting at the Avengers Mansion. I like when Jan lands on Thor's element and just... stays there for the rest of the scene.

Jan is very excited about the Avengers and she seems to be the only one. I think that is why I like this iteration of Jan. She wants to help people. She leaves her "penthouse" apartment to stay at the Mansion (like that's a downgrade? I'm not sure). She's not a reluctant, jaded hero. She's like, "this is so cool. I want to save everyone and kick ass!" It reminds me a bit of Kamala Khan's energy, but she's not a fan. You know? Not everything has to be dark and terrible and angsty.

Speaking of angsty, the Enchantress is manipulating Hulk by pretending to be Banner in his head. Telling him not to trust the Avengers. So Hulk quits. I guess this is a bit similar to Wanda manipulating the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel loves to make the Avengers fight each other for dumb reasons. Thor tries to bring him back, it gets messy.

We get our first "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE" from Tony, which is cool. Less cool is it is to go fight Hulk who should be part of the assembly?

JARVIS figures out there's a strange "energy" around the Hulk and Thor guesses he's been enchanted. Like, could you maybe do these scans before you start hitting each other and damaging property, next time?

Hulk only stops fighting the Avengers when Janet is squished. Because everyone loves Janet, she's just so cute. (And also she and Hulk had that moment in "The Breakout" where she helped him.)

Then there is an obligatory fight with Enchantress and Skurge (Skurge appeared in Thor Ragnarok where he serves Hela, not Enchantress like he usually does, but we never did get the Enchantress, unless you could Sylvie "enchanting" things in Loki which I don't).

Real Banner talks to Hulk--and I should say here they are not only separate entities, they can talk to one another--so it's a bit like Moon Knight and how Steven can talk to Marc. Except it's just in their head and everyone else is like "who's that big green man talking to?" (Strong arguments have been made by people more knowledgeable about the comics that Bruce Banner also has dissociative identity disorder, but that is not really how it is played in the MCU.)

Anyway, Hulk returns to save the other Avengers from Enchantress and Skurge.

(There is a joke that is similar to one in The Avengers where Thor hits Iron Man with lightning and it recharges his power. Since I'm noting similarities.)

Even though Thor offers a bit of an apology, and Jan is sweet, Hulk decides to quit the Avengers. He probably needs some "me" time.

But don't worry because we're about to get a new Avenger on the roster-- and it's not the one in the Black Kitty costume who is seen watching all of this. (I totally understand why T'Challa is skeptical about joining the Avengers at this point. It was their first real day together and they had a knock-down fight. He's going to a take a few more episodes before he decides they are worth befriending. He's like, "I'm gonna wait and see if these white people get their act together. Or maybe I will go to the X-Men.")

Spoilers: It's the one with a shield encased in ice. (Interestingly, a shot like this was cut from The Incredible Hulk where he went to a similar frozen place and Cap's shield was going to be visible.)

Rating: Eh, if you're interested.

[avengersrewatch]

After realizing there are FIVE full episodes of backstory presented as episodes 3-7 on Disney+ (going back in time after the first two episodes), I am starting to realize why no one ever wants to talk to me about Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

[avengersrewatch]

E1&2: "The Breakout"

Okay, I'm skipping ahead to the actual episodes, damnit.

"The Breakout" is the episode that forms the Avengers as a team. In that way it is like The Avengers the MCU film. As I have already noted, the Avengers cast is different. Here it is the original cast from the comic books (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-man and the Wasp. Captain Americas was NOT one of the original Avengers, though he came in pretty early /nerdrant) .

The story that brings them together is different. In the EMHU, it's been established that SHIELD maintains four super villain prisons (The Big House, The Cube, The Raft, and the Vault) will definitely be exploding (metaphorically ) soon. I believe we have seen the Raft in Captain America: Civil War and The Cube in She-Hulk. I guess the Quantum Realm is basically the Big House for Kang right now.

And, of course, this is the episode where all the super villains break out. Nick Fury, who as director of SHIELD is in charge of the prisons, is both asking these civilians for help, and getting in their way a bit. This is a similar dynamic to what we see in the MCU. They are SORT of doing government work, but not REALLY.

As with most of this series (since it was made in 2010), Iron Man is the focus. We start with him, searching for his "stolen" weapons. And we follow him as he learns about the breakout at the Vault.

I'm not sure if it's coincidence or just that this character has been both a villain and a member of the Avengers, but here Hawkeye, like it the movie, both good and bad. He is "escaping" prison but also helping Tony.

There is something kind of neat about the multiple prison structure here. Each Avenger basically has his own prison to defend, and then all them have to work together in the second part to defeat Graviton. (I think this is the only time it has ever been suggested that Graviton is an important Avengers villain. He's just not a top tier guy like Loki to make them come together for their first fight.) Interestingly, the only other two villains kept at the Raft, which is supposed to be the most secure of the Super Villain prisons are Baron Zemo (who we have seen in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and the Purple Man (who was the main antagonist for Jessica Jones on Netflix). Both are going to come back on this show, so this is setup. But, yeah, Graviton.

Banner/Hulk secures the Cube. Iron Man (and Hawkeye) take care of the Vault. Ant-Man and the Wasp fight at the Big House, and Thor fights with Fury at the Raft.

The montage of all the bad guys getting their powers back is a lot of fun.

We get a tiny bit of MODOK (who is in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania) and, of course, the Leader (who will be the villain in Captain America: New World Order)--though we will see much more of him later in GAMMA WORLD.

We also get Doc Sampson. I wonder if Marvel would still have Ty Burrell play that character if they wanted to bring him in for a Hulk project. I'm gonna guess that unlike Tim Roth and Tim Blake Nelson, he'd get recast.

Thor and Jane Foster's dynamic is very cute here.

There is a bit where Hank Pym says he's "disappointed" in Mandrill and that he had "come so far in counseling" and I just want to say, that is not true. Mandrill is gross. He's the worst. His power is rape. Ant-Man is a terrible counselor. (It's crazy that both Mandrill and Purple Man are included on this show for children. Both rapists.)

Anyway, the second part of the episode reveals that SHIELD made Graviton into a supervillain through weird government experiments. (I don't know why the government keeps experimenting on people in the Marvel Comics or EMH universe. It seems to go badly for them most of the time.) He is, understandably, kind of angry that he was imprisoned without any kind of trail or anything.

Notice it's Tony who rushes in to help Janet, not Hank?

Anyway, I don't really like Janet's part of the fight here. She is mostly considered just a pest, except when she aids Hulk, which is more moral support. She's not really shown as an equal threat as the other Avengers. Later fights will prove she is, but here she's still kind of a joke and I don't like it.

What she does do is suggest the men help each other. As if no human male would ever work with other men on their own. It has to be a lady who is like "let's be a team!" If I were a man I'd be kind of insulted by that.

What's funny is that Graviton lifts New York (???) up as a floating city. They do that in Avengers: Age of Ultron. I guess it's an interesting visual but I would never think to do that if I had powers.

Of course Graviton's downfall is mistakenly saying he is "the strongest one there is" and then immediately getting hit by the Hulk. Hulk, we learn, is stronger than gravity itself. Everyone knows that's his thing. Being strong. And the moment where Hulk is surprised Janet would help him (because he is a monster) is oddly touching, but over-played.

The team triumphantly stands over their fallen foe, a shot that is done very similarly in The Avengers.

Thor likes having new friends and wants to go drinking. Fury suggests they all become SHIELD agents to track down all the former prisoners but Tony wants to do it as a team--just not with SHIELD.

Let's call them the Avengers! (Can we drink now?)

Rating: Recommend!

[avengersrewatch]

The theme song is also pretty good. I mean, I suppose Alan Silvestri's Avengers theme is more "cinematic" but this is a lot of fun.

Rating: Recommend!

[avengersrewatch]

M17: Welcome to Wakanda

If you are watching on Disney+, this "mini" episode is the third part of the 7th episode called "The Man in the Ant Hill."

It's really called "Welcome to Wakanda" because it's all about establishing Wakanda and T'Challa and actually has fuck all to do with Ant-man.

Not only do I hate that this got shoved into Ant-Man's episode, I hate it a lot.

I hate how the character we will come to know as M'Baku says "come and face de man ape!!" in a weird-dumb accent. I hate how Wakanda is vaguely African but might also be Central America for all we know because it's just "ethnic". The way foreign countries are in a lot of movies.

I hate how T'Challa is like "if you fight M'Baku, dad, yo will lose," and the explanation of why T'Chaka has to fight is basically "we are a backwards people and don't know how to pick our leaders."

Ooh I hate the design of M'Baku.

I don't like that the two dora milaje we do see are interchangeable and have no personality.

This episode makes us feel a lot for T'Challa who has to watch his dad die. But in making T'Challa smart they make the rest of the Wakandans kind of dumb.

A few things I do like,

I do like that though T'Chaka is hilariously small compared to M'Baku, he gets a few good hits in during the fight. I mean, T'Challa has some gray hair here. I'm not sure how old he is supposed to be but I am figuring T'Chaka is no spring chicken.

The composition of the shots when M'Baku hits T'Chaka and he dies in the (convenient) rain does make me a little teary. It's his dad! I am not a monster!

I'm also conflicted about the Klaw-M'Baku alliance. I know that is how a lot of Western countries destabilized "third world" nations. Is by backing dictators. But I also think it contributes to M'Baku seeming dumb. Like he can't have thought of this himself. He needed Klaw to become King of Wakanda.

LOL. I do like this portrayal of T'Challa. It seems like I hate everything, but it's just so inferior to the Black Panther films Ryan Coogler gives us. I think as an origin story it's also not as good as the BET Motion Comic version of Reginald Hudlin's run on Black Panther. (Like if you want to introduce children to Black Panther.)

Rating: Do Not Recommend