#DempseyPappion

[adamwatchesmovies]

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008)

Looking back, I don’t know about these Marvel animated movies. When they were first released, I thought they were fun. Since, either my standards for superhero films have gone up, or I've been sent to an alternate universe where they were never that great. I wouldn't call Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow a bad movie, but its appeal is limited to children - young children.

The Avengers brought peace to Earth's nations and for a while, everything was good. The heroes settled down and started building families of their own. Then, the android Ultron (voiced by Tom Kane) wiped them all out. 12 years later, a new group of Avengers is poised to take up their legacy: the son of Captain America and Black Widow, James (Noah C. Crawford), Thor’s Daughter Torunn (Brenna O’Brien), Giant-Man and Wasp’s son Pym (Aidan Drummond) and Black Panther’s heir Azari (Dempsey M. Pappion). Together these young heroes may have what it takes to save the world.

Having younger heroes that look up to their parents and struggle to fill their shoes is a setup ripe with drama. There are times where Heroes of Tomorrow dips its toe in this. A good example is Torunn, whose father isn't dead but is gone to rule Asgard. “Has my father abandoned me? Am I even his daughter? Wouldn’t he have helped the world if he was out there?” There’s only so much the film can do with its 8 characters within the 78-minute running time but there’s some meat there.

The overall lack of characterization wouldn’t be so bad if these new characters didn’t feel like much of the same. Of course, Kid America is going to have a shield, and not only that, but he’ll become the leader of the team. What could the son of Giant-Man and Wasp do, duplicate BOTH of his parents’ powers? The film mixes things up a little by having Black Panther’s son wield Storm’s powers (the X-Men characters is never shown, but you know she’s the mother) but what kind of curse did Hawkeye bring upon himself and his family that they're all doomed to wield nothing but arrows against killer robots? Magneto’s kids don’t have the same abilities as he does. This often feels like less of a "new generation" and more of a "everyone drank a youth potion".

My observations about the characters, even the plot – which is ok, but a little bit been-there-done-that – are the kind most young viewers would not make. If you have children who want desperately to see the big Marvel movies, but won’t appreciate them, will get frightened by the action or just aren’t mature enough to see these pictures, consider this as an alternative. Once they grow out of it, replace The Next Avengers with the real deal.

I struggle to categorize Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow as good or bad. It’s ok. The animation is of TV quality, the plot is adequate, it makes a few interesting choices with its premise, but it’s nothing to write home about. I can’t recommend it for adults, but if my kids wanted to see it, I’d pop it in the machine in a heartbeat. (On Blu-ray, August 15, 2016)