AudioShocker

Awesome. Totally awesome. Go watch it.

Nuff said for right now. But as I think of anything else worth saying about the movie, I’ll edit my thoughts into this post.

EDIT 1: Next Avengers is my favorite of the Marvel direct-to-DVD animated films so far.

EDIT 2: Okay, after thinking on it a bit, the only flaw that I can find with this film is the character design and animation of the Hulk. The way the character is conceptually roped into the story works very well for me. But when the Green Goliath finally appears, he just doesn’t look right.

Hulk’s movements are too jumpy and not nearly menacing enough. His body language suggests “Tasmanian Devil” more than “strongest one there is.” Still, this is hardly an issue. The story still works great and the character fits in even if he doesn’t visually fullfil his part to the fullest.

EDIT 3: I really enjoyed the character of Azari in Next Avengers. He’s obviously the kid of T’Challa and Storm. For some reason they never say Storm explicitly, which I assume is because Marvel Studios doesn’t currently have the rights to reproduce Storm in an animated release. He’s also a tad bit underdeveloped compared to his Next Avengers teammates. Still, his straight man persona and wonderful design worked.

Speaking of the design, I found it interesting that Azari had some striking visual similarities to Nezhno a.k.a. Gentle from New X-Men. Nezhno’s vibrainum tattoos look very similar to Azari’s markings that light up with electricity. Since Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost both worked on this movie, I’m curious to know how much Azari was influenced by Nezhno. Actually, considering how long animated features are in production, it’s possible that Nezhno was actually influenced by Azari.

EDIT 4: Here’s another favorable review of Next Avengers by Ed Liu over on Toon Zone. It echos some similar sentiments that you see here (no Storm mention = probably a rights issue), but Ed also has some differing opinions as well (especially his take on Pym’s character, which I didn’t have a problem with at all!).

EDIT 5: The only element of the Next Avengers story that’s truly divergent from the Marvel Comics 616 Universe is the creation of Ultron. Yeah, Cap hooking up with Black Widow is a little far fetched, but Ultron being created by Tony Stark instead of Hank Pym is a radical departure.

Seeing as how Tony is the caretaker of the children and a focal figure in the film, having him directly responsible for Ultron makes sense in terms of this story’s emotional development. It also allows for other small flourishes such as the moment when Pym determines that Azari can break into Ultron’s fortress because the locks are the same as the maintenance hatches at their home.

EDIT 6: As I end my broadcast day here at the AudioShocker, I’d like to give a special mention to the spooky scene where the kids end up in Ultron’s “trophy room.” As they enter, we see the tattered costumes of the fallen original Avengers. It’s not long before the lights click on and reveal a seemingly endless vertical corridor of costumes, alluding to a momentous massacre of Earth’s heroes.

The creepy visual was (in my mind, whether conscious by the filmmakers or not) akin to the Return to Oz scene where we catch a glimpse of the towering room full of interchangeable heads worn by Princess Mombi. Damn, I still get chills just thinking about all those eerie heads!