Avengers Assemble (TV series)

Avengers Assemble is an American animated television series, based on the fictional Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, which has been designed to capitalize on the success of the 2012 film adaptation. Avengers Assemble premiered on May 26, 2013, on Disney XD. The series is a replacement for The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It airs alongside Ultimate Spider-Man, while Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. will be added to the "Marvel Universe" television block in August 2013. Additionally, it features a near-identical cast and crew with both shows, and shares continuity with them as part of the block. Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle (a group known as Man of Action) have been confirmed to be the executive producers of the series. On the Mighty Marvel Podcast #122 it was revealed the series would debut with an hour long slot featuring episodes 101 and 102 titled "The Avengers Protocol Part 1" and "The Avengers Protocol Part 2", respectively. The show will air in Australia on the new channel Disney XD from 10 April 2014.

Premise
Falcon (the newest member of The Avengers) is the main eyes and ears of the viewer as he fights evil and saves the world with his teammates (consisting of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Thor).

Season One
When Red Skull is dying due to his imperfect Super Soldier Serum, he teams up with MODOK (who upgrades HYDRA's tech) to kidnap Captain America so that Red Skull can transfer his mind to a more fit body. After his defeat by a reassembled team of Avengers, Red Skull takes Iron Man's armor for its life support system leaving Tony for dead. The Avengers get Stark to a new armor, but Red Skull attacks them at the mansion and is again defeated with the Avengers Mansion destroyed during the fight. Red Skull plans to take away everything the Avengers hold dear from their lives to their country by trying to have them hated by the people for failing to save the day.

To even the playing field, Red Skull brings together his team of power giants called the Cabal where his invitational transmissions are shown to have been received by Attuma, Doctor Doom, and Dracula. The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. intercept a transmission and the Avengers remain together to battle the Cabal. To stay close after Avengers Mansion blew up, they set up their base in Avengers Tower.

With the threat of the Cabal, the Avengers fight them at every end as well as other threats that come to Earth.

Season Two
Joe Kelly confirmed that Disney XD renewed the show for a second season.

Main cast

 * Laura Bailey – Black Widow
 * Troy Baker – Hawkeye, Loki, Doombot
 * Adrian Pasdar – Iron Man
 * Bumper Robinson – Falcon
 * Roger Craig Smith – Captain America, Torgo
 * Fred Tatasciore – Hulk/Bruce Banner, Thunderball, Volstagg
 * Travis Willingham – Thor, Bulldozer, Brok

Additional voices

 * Charlie Adler – MODOK
 * Drake Bell – Spider-Man
 * J.B. Blanc – Mangog
 * Brian Bloom – Hyperion
 * Dave Boat – Thing
 * Corey Burton – Dracula
 * Cam Clarke – Piledriver
 * John DiMaggio – Wrecker, Galactus
 * Robin Atkin Downes – Glorian
 * Nika Futterman – Gamora
 * Ralph Garman – Mojo
 * Seth Green – Rocket Raccoon
 * David Kaye – J.A.R.V.I.S., Space Phantoms, Blood Brother #1
 * Tom Kenny – Impossible Man
 * Maurice LaMarche – Doctor Doom
 * James C. Mathis III – Heimdall
 * Chi McBride – Nick Fury
 * Liam O'Brien – Red Skull, Blood Brother #2
 * Kevin Michael Richardson – Ulik, Groot
 * Anthony Ruivivar – Star-Lord
 * Daryl Sabara – Aaron Reece
 * Dwight Schultz – Attuma
 * J.K. Simmons – J. Jonah Jameson
 * David Sobolov – Drax the Destroyer
 * Jason Spisak – Justin Hammer
 * Cree Summer – Darlene Wilson
 * Frank Welker – Odin

Crew

 * Joe Moeller – Casting Director
 * Collette Sunderman – Voice Director

Development
Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television and a producer on the series, stated that the series is intended to closely echo the tone and feel of the 2012 The Avengers film. The series will feature a combination of 2D and CGI animation. Avengers Assemble was originally reported as a "continuation" of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but later reports confirmed it as a completely separate series (though a flashback in episode 8 does have the Avengers featured in their respective models). Episode 8 did make references to Nick Fury's teenage superhero program from Ultimate Spider-Man (Adrian Pasdar, Roger Craig Smith, Travis Willingham, Fred Tatasciore, Troy Baker, Chi McBride, and J.K. Simmons have also voiced their respective characters on that show) indicating that both shows are in the same continuity.

The series aired on July 7, 2013, with a 1-hour preview of the series aired on May 26, 2013. The first episode was made available free on iTunes on May 21, 2013.

Reception
Reception on the series has been mixed. It has a rating of 6.6 with 897 votes on IMDb with a score of 6.4/10 on TV.com.