In case you did not know, I am a huge Marvel fan. I have seen most of the Marvel movies, both in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU) and outside of the MCU. Besides that, I have played some of the video games, and although I have not read any Marvel comic book, I know about a decent amount of the lore from the comics. As someone who feels strongly about Marvel, I am bound to have a few hot takes about the franchise. For example, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is my favorite of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, and Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently my least favorite of the MCU Spider-Man movies. Probably my biggest hot take as a Marvel fan, is that in my opinion, the show, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, is better than the majority of the MCU. Many people would probably be shocked to find out that I know about this show and find it to be better than most of the MCU. From what I could tell, those who have watched the show agree with me. In case you did not know, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was a show that ran on Disney XD for two seasons from 2010 through 2012. Despite being on the lesser known Disney XD, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was very well received. Unfortunately, it got cancelled after only two seasons with lots to be desired. However, it is still a really great show, and this review will explain why The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is better than the majority of the MCU.

I think the best way to start talking about The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is by bringing up the one of the first things that is seen when watching: the opening. The theme song to The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is “Fight as One” by Bad City, and it is a great theme song. The opening starts with Hydra destroying the city as Tony Stark watches. As that happens, the theme song starts, and it starts with the line, “Our world’s about to break.” After that happens, Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk. As Banner transforms into the Hulk, the lyric says, “Tormented and attacked.” That is supposed to be a reference to the troubles Bruce Banner and the Hulk faced, and that they, in other words, were tormented and attacked. After that, we see Captain America. The line that is said as Captain America appears is, “Lost from when we wake.” That is supposed to be a reference to the fact that Captain America woke up in the 2010s, after being asleep for seventy years. After that, there is a shot of Thor going from Earth to Asgard. As Thor appears, the line, “With no way to go back” is said. That is a reference to the fact that Odin wants Thor to protect Asgard, but Thor thinks that the people of Earth need him. In other words, going back home is hard for Thor. Then, there is a shot of Tony Stark turning into Iron Man, and as that happens, the line, “I was standing on my own, but now I’m not alone” is said. That is supposed to be a reference to the fact that Iron Man once stood on his own, but then founded the Avengers, so he is no longer alone. As the chorus of the “Fight as One” plays, the Avengers are defeating the bad guys who were destroying the city. “Fight as One” is a great theme song because not only does it sound great, and not only does it fit really well with the opening, but it is about how these characters have/had their own problems, and that they eventually overcame those problems. Basically, if those fictional characters can overcome their problems, you can as well. Anyways, the opening ends with a shot of the Avengers that appear in the episode, which is a detail that I really like, and then the camera zooms out to the logo of the show. On top of all of that, the animation for the opening, and show in general, is really good. It is almost like a comic book style brought into 2-D animation. For better or worse, season two changed the opening, where it is now a narration by Nick Fury introducing the main four Avengers, and that they, along with the rest of the Avengers united against a common threat. I personally dislike that change because “Fight as One” is that good in my opinion, but if this review convinces one to watch the show, and that one person like the change, I will not argue against that person.

The first five episodes of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are an introduction to each of the Avengers that appear in Season 1. Episode One is about Iron Man, Episode Two is about Thor, Episode Three is about the Hulk and features Hawkeye, Episode Four is about Captain America, and Episode Five is about Ant-Man and features Wasp and Black Panther. Each of these episodes are solid introductions to the Avengers. My favorite of these episodes is the Captain America introduction episode because although it is pretty much the story of how Captain America and Bucky died and won World War II (although it is slightly different from the MCU), it is animated in a unique 1940s-esque style that still matches the show’s animation style and it features a Wolverine cameo. On top of that, after Captain America and Bucky died, there is still a few minutes left of the episode. That is because the rest of the episode focuses on Kang the Conqueror. Kang the Conqueror’s world was getting destroyed, and Kang traced the reason of his world’s destruction to Captain America’s “death.” It is then revealed that Captain America has been frozen in ice all this time and is not dead, and because Captain America is not dead, that ended up in the destruction of Kang’s world. As a result, Kang spends the rest of the show trying to defeat the Avengers and unaliving Captain America so that he could save his future. One of the many things that The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does better than the MCU is Kang the Conqueror. In The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, not only does Kang has a great motivation to go against the Avengers, but Kang is also very powerful, and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does a great job showcasing Kang’s power. In the MCU on the other hand, they claim that Kang has defeated many variants of the Avengers, yet this Kang got defeated by a bunch of ants. If this review makes you want to watch the show, but you do not have Disney+, the introduction episodes to The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are uploaded to Youtube by Marvel HQ, so you could basically watch those episodes for free. After the introduction episodes, there is a two-part episode where all of the villians escape from prison as a result of Loki’s antics in the Thor introduction episode, and one of these villains, Graviton, is causing lots of destruction and wants Nick Fury dead because of their past. By the end of the two-part special, the Avengers are formed. The original team consists of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, and Wasp. Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Panther joined later on in season one, and Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Vision joined in season 2. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes adapted many storylines from the comics and did them better than the MCU. Examples of these are the Kang storyline (as I previously stated), the Ultron storyline, and the Secret Invasion storyline. All of those are done much better in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes than in the MCU. Ultron in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was created by Ant-Man (who in this show, is Hank Pym, and not Scott Lang), and basically Ant-Man is a pacifist who joined the Avengers only because Wasp (who is Janet Van Dyne in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and not Hope Van Dyne) joined. Throughout the show before Ultron, Ant-Man’s pacifist ways got in the way of battle at times. By this point, Ant-Man has been working on Ultron to help humanity without fighting. However, Ultron malfunctions and becomes evil. Ultron’s goal is to destroy the Earth because humans are bad (basically same motivation as Avengers: Age of Ultron). Ultron in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is more comic accurate than the MCU because Ultron’s mouth does not move and he does not crack jokes. On top of that, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does a great job of showing Ultron’s power, and he is a threat throughout both seasons. In the MCU, on the other hand, even though Ultron was objectively a good villian, he was not very comic accurate, and they killed him off in his only movie, when Ultron is supposed to be so powerful that he should last multiple movies, like Thanos and Loki. After the Ultron Saga of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Hank Pym leaves the Avengers, and stuff happens that I probably should not spoil. The Secret Invasion/Skrull Invasion arc of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was done so much better than in the MCU. The Secret Invasion storyline was teased in Season 1 where at the end of the episode where Hawkeye, Captain America, and Black Panther try to defeat Black Widow, it is revealed that one of the Hydra guys was a Skrull. A Skrull is a shapeshifting alien species in Marvel, that also happens to gain memories of the person they shapeshift into, and they try to use that to take over the Earth. At the very end of season one, a Skrull invades the Avengers Mansion, and takes the form of one of the Avengers (to avoid spoilers, I will not say who). Then, during the Fantastic Four crossover episode, Dr. Doom kidnaps Sue Storm and Wasp, so the other Avengers and Fantastic Four have to save them. Going a little off topic here, this Dr. Doom is commonly seen as the best adaptation of Dr. Doom. I have not seen any of the Fantastic Four movies, but from what I have heard, Dr. Doom was wasted in those projects. All of that being said, Dr. Doom was really good in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Dr. Doom in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is smart and powerful. Dr. Doom in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is so powerful that when the Avengers and Fantastic Four both fight him, Dr. Doom still technically wins. In the Fantastic Four crossover episode, defeated all of the Avengers, and forced them to leave. The only problem with Dr. Doom in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is that he is only present in two episodes That episode ends with it being revealed that Sue Storm was a Skrull, and that was why Dr. Doom kidnapped her and Wasp. Later on, Black Widow kidnaps Tony Stark so that she and Nick Fury could explain to him what Skrulls are, and that there is a Skrull on the Avengers team. When Iron Man gets back to Avengers Mansion, he explains what Nick Fury just told him about Skrulls, and there is a distrust between the Avengers as a result. Some of them leave, including Iron Man, who works restlessly to find out who the Skrull in the Avengers is. It is then revealed that was Nick Fury’s plan. Now, Iron Man, along with the other Avengers who quit were now cleared. It was also the Skrulls plan, because they wanted to infiltrate the Avengers and destroy them from the inside, which we as the audience see, but it is not exactly told (which is a good thing because of show and don’t tell rule). That is all I will say about the plot of the Skrull Invasion saga of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for now. Basically, the Skrull Invasion storyline in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is done very well because the plot twists are done in a way that they are shocking, but make sense when thinking back, and the plot twists also serve the plot. Another thing that makes the Skrull Invasion storyline in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is that we have grown attached to the characters, so we are seeing how they would react in that type of situation, and there are great character moments as a result. Another thing that makes the Secret Invasion storyline so great is that it is built up in season one, and then season 2 does what season one set up, and does it very well. In the MCU’s Secret Invasion show on the other hand, the plot twists are done for no reason other than shock value, it is a smaller event, when it is supposed to be a larger event that should take up an entire saga, and that it does not feature any of the Avengers other than War Machine, when it is supposed to be a huge, Avengers-level event. Also, on top of all of that, Secret Invasion just was not a good show in general. 

As for the characters, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does a great job adapting the Avengers. Iron Man is based on Robert Downey Jr.’s take on the character, and that is a good thing because this Iron Man, like RDJ’s Iron Man, is charismatic and likable, but at times, does not take things seriously. However, by season two, Iron Man gets some character development where he starts taking things a little more serious (as seen with the Secret Invasion storyline) and he transfers the title of leader of the Avengers to Captain America because Iron Man thinks Captain America is more worthy of that title. Also, at the start of the show, Iron Man thinks that only he should be stopping these supervillains by himself. By the end of the prison escape episodes and teaming up with the other Avengers, Iron Man realizes that they could work together to defeat the supervillains. On top of that, Iron Man’s voice actor, Eric Loomis, does a great job voicing Iron Man because he not only sounds exactly like Robert Downey Jr., but he also conveys some of the same charisma as RDJ. That being said, Iron Man was definitely done better in the MCU rather than in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and the fact that Iron Man in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was based off of the MCU Iron Man kind of proves it. If you disliked how Hulk was portrayed in recent MCU content, I feel like you will enjoy The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’s Hulk adaptation. Despite common misconceptions, Hulk and Bruce Banner are not the same person. They are just two people in the same body, and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does a great job of showcasing Banner and Hulk’s relationship, and the pain that they went through. Hulk in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is great because it takes the Hulk/Banner relationship seriously and the Hulk is actually smart. In recent MCU projects on the other hand, Hulk is taken as no more than a joke and is dumb (which is ironic since Hulk in Avengers: Endgame is called Smart/Professor Hulk). If you do not like how Thor has been portrayed in the MCU as of recent, you will most likely enjoy The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’s adaptation of Thor. As I have kind of stated earlier, Thor chose to protect Earth as opposed to Asgard, and he did not really have to protect Earth. Because he did not have to protect Earth with the Avengers, but chose to anyway, that makes him more compelling and likable. On top of that, they do not make Thor into a joke like the MCU did. Captain America in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is arguably better than the MCU, but one could argue otherwise. I personally think that Captain America is better in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and I will explain why. As I have briefly mentioned earlier, Captain America woke up after being trapped in ice for seventy years, and as a result, Captain America’s character main arc is about adapting to the modern world. In the MCU, Captain America is obviously one of the better MCU characters and Captain America also has to adapt to the new world in the MCU. However, my problem is that they turn Captain America into Joe Biden at the end of Avengers Endgame, and make Captain America live in the past. I understand that they wanted to give Captain America a good ending, but it is kind of character assassination in a way. All of the Avengers in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are great and proper adaptations of them from the comics (apart from maybe Iron Man, but it is better that he is based on RDJ’s Iron Man). For example, Captain Marvel (or as she is called in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Ms. Marvel) is actually a likable character. Ms. Marvel is strong, confident, and a little bit cocky, but not in a Tony Stark way or a condescending way, the latter of which being what the MCU did with Captain Marvel. Hawkeye has a comic accurate design, which admittedly would probably look kind of dumb in live action, which is probably why Hawkeye does not look comic accurate in the MCU, but that design looks really good in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Hawkeye The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is like the human of the group, because although they technically are all humans (except Thor and Hulk), Hawkeye is the only one without any special powers. Hawkeye is confident, cocky, defensive, and hasa sense of humor. Plenty of what I just said about Hawkeye can technically apply to Hawkeye in the MCU, and I think Hawkeye was done well in the MCU. However, I prefer Hawkeye in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes rather than in the MCU because we see more of Hawkeye in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes than in the MCU, and also because Hawkeye looks comic accurate in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.  Another thing I like about The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is how it uses the larger Marvel universe and features various characters from the Marvel universe. There are appearances from the Fantastic 4, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson (voiced by J.K. Simmons), Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Wolverine. The episodes featuring these characters were great, and it was fun seeing their interactions with the Avengers. According to the leaked plans for season three, they were going to adapt the Avengers Vs. X-Men storyline, and have Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver join the Avengers. I am sure that if a season three had come out, it would have done that storyline very well. Overall, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes did a fantastic job adapting the Marvel characters and universe to television. (Say that again?)

When season one of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes came out, it was so well received at the point where they started working on a season two. However, season two of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes would eventually be announced to be its last, and that it would be replaced by the show, Avengers Assemble, the next year. Furthermore, the main writers of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes got fired during the production of season two, and the main writers of the first couple of seasons of Avengers Assemble were tasked with rewriting the second half of season two. As a result, the finale felt anticlimactic and rushed as a result. To give the writers credit, there were still good episodes of the second half of season two, and the finale did somewhat feel like a final episode. However, this show could have lasted way longer, as there were plans for five seasons, adapting storylines like Ragnarok (which was set up in season two and never paid off), Avengers Vs. X-Men, Civil War, Secret Wars, etc. As for Avengers Assemble, I have not seen the show myself. From what I have heard, the show is not bad. However, it is nowhere near as good as The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and it is more of an animated series based on the MCU rather than comics. Avengers Assemble lasted for five seasons on Disney XD from 2013-2019. In my opinion, good for Avengers Assemble for lasting that long. Getting five seasons is pretty impressive. However, that is also bad for The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, because that is a show that genuinely deserved the five seasons because there was a plan from the beginning, that was to adapt the comics, whereas Avengers Assemble’s plan was to be based on the movies, which is a problem because there were new Marvel movies coming out every year, so it would change said plan. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was made to tell a good story, whereas Avengers Assemble was made because the movies were popular, and it was made to capitalize on the MCU. On the bright side, Marvel might actually revive The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes because the success of X-Men’97 (revival of X-Men: The Animated Series). X-Men’97 was widely considered to be the greatest Marvel project since Avengers Endgame, and with people disliking many of the new Marvel projects, a revival of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with the original writers would be a breath of fresh air.

So is The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes better than the MCU? In my opinion, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is better than the majority of the MCU, and had The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes continued, it might be seen as one of the greater Marvel projects, if not the greatest. However, it is still a great show, and I highly recommend watching it. I especially highly recommend watching it if you dislike modern MCU stuff, because The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is a breath of fresh air after the modern MCU. However, I must admit that there are a couple of things that the MCU does better than The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. One thing that the MCU does better than The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is Iron Man, as I have already said. Another thing that the MCU does better than The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is that the MCU did the Guardians of the Galaxy better. The Guardians were not bad characters in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but they were definitely more memorable in the MCU. Probably the biggest thing the MCU does better than The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is that the MCU does carrying out the plan better. The MCU basically introduced the Avengers separately, and had them team up, and then build up Thanos as the big bad for multiple movies until he becomes the main villain, and then wins, and then loses the next movie. That was a perfect end to the MCU, until it wasn’t. But either way, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was cut short, and had a rushed finale as a result. Some will probably be turned off by this review because I am talking about a kids cartoon, but there are many good kids cartoons. Gravity Falls, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Sonic Boom are examples of good cartoons. Furthermore, Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men’97 are both widely considered to be the definitive Batman and X-Men projects. Another thing, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes has an 8.3/10 on IMDB, which is second highest rated show on Disney XD, second place to Gravity Falls. In conclusion, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is better than the MCU because The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes adapts the characters and many of the storylines better than the MCU did. Overall, I rate The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes a 9.5/10.