Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
File:Next Avengers - Heroes of Tomorrow Coverart.png DVD cover art for Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
Directed by	Jay Oliva
Written by	Christopher Yost
Produced by	Craig Kyle
Music by	Guy Michelmore
Production companies	Marvel Animation Madhouse
Distributed by	Lions Gate Entertainment
Release date	September 2, 2008
Running time	78 minutes
Countries	United States Japan
Language	English

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow is a direct-to-video animated film. It is fifth in a series of animated films from Marvel Animation, based on Marvel Comics by Lions Gate Entertainment. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 2, 2008. The project was originally announced under the title Teen Avengers and later changed to Avengers Reborn. It was then referred to as Next Avengers before being given its full title. A preview of the film (under the Avengers Reborn title) was included on the DVD of the Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme animated film. It is the first of the Marvel animated films to be rated PG as opposed to PG-13.

Plot

After six of the ten Avengers die facing Ultron, Tony Stark / Iron Man takes their children - James Rogers, the son of Black Widow and Captain America; Henry Pym Jr. (or just Pym), the son of Giant-Man and the Wasp; Azari, the son of the Black Panther and Storm of the X-Men and Torunn, daughter of the absent Asgardian Thor and Sif - to a refuge hidden in the Arctic Circle. He raises them for nearly thirteen years before Ultron discovers their existence. When the Vision emerges after a 12-year absence and reveals that he survived - albeit barely - the attack from Ultron, Stark learns that Francis Barton, son of Hawkeye, is also alive. Unfortunately, while the kids are spying on Stark, trying to figure out who the Vision is and what's going on, James accidentally set off the launch of a series of robots that consist of Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Thor, Black Widow and Giant Man, designed in the Avengers' image. As a result, Stark's base is revealed to Ultron. Fortunately, Stark stalls Ultron long enough for the kids to escape, but he is ultimately captured. Before this, the Iron Avengers, the robotic versions of the children's parents, are reprogrammed by Ultron to do his bidding.

Heading to rescue Stark, the four young Avengers meet Barton (whose father survived the initial fight that killed the other five, but was recently killed by Ultron), and team up with him to rescue their guardian. The five then escape Ultron's citadel, (along with an aged Betty Ross), heading for the desert, where former Avenger Bruce Banner, alias the Hulk, is hiding out. After he refuses to help them, James devises a plan to lure Ultron there so as to bring out the Hulk, who can then destroy him. Fighting a losing battle against mechanical doubles of the six fallen Avengers and Thor (whom it is revealed had left to rule Asgard before Ultron surfaced), the young Avengers manage to awaken the Hulk, who fights and ultimately destroys Ultron, ripping him in two. Torunn then flies his body into space to ensure that he can't rebuild himself, and nearly dies in the process. As a result, her father appears to her and explains his reasons for leaving her, and invites her to enter Asgard. Torunn chooses instead to return to her family on Earth, which Thor accepts, telling her that he's proud of her and sends her back in a copy of his armor.

In the final scene, the five young Avengers prepare to return to Ultra City, to deal with Ultron's remaining forces and rescue any survivors.

Cast

The Children

• Noah C. Crawford voices James Rogers: Son of Captain America and the Black Widow and leader of the teenage Avengers. Displays exceptional fighting abilities (most likely due to his father's genetic enhancements, although there's no explicit mention of it on the movie). Originally wields an energy-based replica of Captain America's shield, and then later regains his father's original shield after destroying the robotic copy of his father, after his shield device was destroyed by his mother's robotic version. Like Steve, James has great difficulty doing nothing and often blames himself for the trouble he and his surrogate family get into. It is unknown if he has his father's strength, but his reflexes are inhuman as is his agility. He is excellent in martial arts. He comments he sees Torrun as a sister, but also hints he has feelings for her beyond that.

• Brenna O'Brien voices Torunn: Daughter of Thor and Sif. She wields an Asgardian sword, is able to fly, has exceptional durability (bullets bounce off her skin), and enough strength to cut enemy robots in half. Torunn tries to act as much like an Asgardian as she can, hoping it will make her father take her back to Asgard. In reality, she is very insecure of the fact that while her brothers are orphans whose parents died in battle, Thor merely abandoned her on Midgard. She has a crush on Francis Barton, and possibly James Rogers as well. She is arrogant, but becomes humble as the film goes on.

• Dempsey Pappion voices Azari: Son of Black Panther and Storm (not mentioned in the movie). Inherited his father's martial skills and agility as well as his mother's electric discharges. He is able to form his electricity into a panther-shaped force field. He is named after his paternal great grandfather. He is also a Tony's boy, often trying to get the others to respect Tony's wishes (unlike his father, who, in the comics, was known for disagreeing with Tony). In battle, Azari can channel his electric energy into his belt, turning it into a bo staff. Azari tries to act like the crown prince he is, but often has trouble due to his difficulty controlling the Black Panther Spirit. The fact Storm being his mother is not referred in the movie, most likely to avoid connection to the X-Men characters, although it is easy to guess for comic-fans.

• Aidan Drummond voices Henry Pym: Son of Giant Man and Wasp, and youngest and smartest of the five children. Inherited his mother's energy blasts. Has the ability to shrink, where he gains flight, and to grow, where he gains proportional super strength. His full name is Henry Pym, Jr. as revealed by Vision. Pym has inherited his parents' intellect as well as their powers and is the resident tech-head of the group, able to figure out controls and complex devices quite easily.

• Adrian Petriw voices Francis Barton: Son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Displays exceptional accuracy with his longbow and carries a quiver with explosive arrows, among others. Much like their fathers in the comics, Francis and James argue with each other at first, but eventually become friends. He constantly flirts with Torunn. At first he seems cold and indifferent to his new friends, but as time passes, he shows himself to be just as much the jokester and flirt as Clint ever was.

The Survivors

• Tom Kane voices Tony Stark / Iron Man: Following the Avengers defeat, Tony gathered their children and hid them away in the Arctic. He dons his Iron Man armor to save the children from Ultron, but it's destroyed during their battle.

• Shawn MacDonald voices The Vision: Survived by remaining intangible. He acted as Tony's eyes and ears for monitoring the world and keeping track of Ultron's progress in taking it over. The reason for his return was due to the fact that Ultron had found a way to defeat his intangible state and wounded him severely. Tony didn't have time to repair his body and the kids end up carrying around his head instead.

• Michael Adamthwaite voices Thor: After his father Odin died (presumably in battle), Thor left Earth to rule Asgard, leaving his daughter Torunn in the care of his comrades, The Avengers. Thor appears at the end of the film to rescue Torunn from dying in outer space by transporting her to the Bifrost Bridge. Thor expresses his pride in his daughter for having learned what it meant to be human, the very same lesson Odin strove to teach him, and offers Torunn the chance to return to Asgard and her family. He accepts Torunn's choice to remain on Midgard with her comrades and sends her home, now clad in a suit of Asgardian war armor. He leaves his daughter with the promise that when she does return to Asgard, he, and all her family, will be waiting to welcome her.

• Nicole Oliver voices Betty Ross: Daughter of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and love interest of Bruce Banner / The Hulk. She has remained alive by hiding with the human survivors of New York who, Hawkeye and his son gathered. She reveals where Bruce has been hiding all these years.

• Ken Kramer voices Bruce Banner & Fred Tatasciore voices The Hulk: Bruce has remained alive under Ultron's rule by doing what he has done for many years: hiding in the desert. Unwilling to help defeat the Iron Avengers, it takes a barrage of blasts from the Iron Wasps to bring Bruce's monstrous alter-ego to the surface. Hulk proceeds to pound the Iron Avengers into scrap metal and is then attacked and seemingly defeated by Ultron. Pym's insults to the Hulk's pride allow him to summon the strength to tear Ultron in half. Once his place as the strongest one alive is firmly reestablished, Hulk gathers Betty in his arms and leaps off into the sunset, happy with the woman whom he loves at last.

Villains

• Tom Kane voices Ultron: The main antagonist. Iron Man (not Henry Pym as in the mainstream series) created Ultron to be a force for peace, but its programming evolved, coming to think that the only way to truly bring order to Earth, was to control it. Then it attacked the Avengers, killing most of them (Captain America, Wasp, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Storm, Giant-Man, and Black Widow). Before they died, however, Iron Man gathered their children and took them to a safe place in the Arctic Circle. Later, when James accidentally activated the Iron Avengers, Ultron detected the energy source, found the Iron Avengers and took control of them. He later captured Iron Man and imprisoned him in the Citadel. The children rescued him and escaped with some help of Hawkeye's son, Francis, and the Scavengers, all that remains of humanity. In the desert, James turned on the ship that he, his friends, Iron Man and Betty escaped in to lure Ultron to the Hulk. The evil robot arrived and battled the Hulk, knocking him out. He then blasted at James with an energy blast which nearly killed the boy. The Hulk grabbed Ultron, beat him and ripped him in half. When Ultron started to rebuild himself, Torunn grabbed the two separated pieces and threw them into space where Ultron could not rebuild himself.

• Iron Captain America: The leader of the Avengers and robotic father of James. He was the one who inspired the Avengers to join. Captain America was the first Avenger to fall. After his death, Ultron took his mask and damaged shield as trophies. Iron Captain America wields two shields along the movie, the first of those probably containing vibranium and a very strong metal that would resist almost everything and it could slice through almost anything too. After the attack on the citadel, the first Iron Captain America shield is destroyed by acid, and in the final battle in the desert he wears the original Captain America shield instead. The Shield acted like a boomerang which allowed Captain America to throw it and it'll come back to him. With the strength, agility, stamina and courage of a high-peaked athlete, and the martial arts of an expert, he is a very valuable team member, probably the most dangerous. His robotic version was the only Iron Avenger to speak. After causing large rocks to fall on him, Iron Captain America dropped his shield which allowed James to take it (James's Shield device had been destroyed by Iron Widow). Iron Captain America was destroyed by James when the young Avenger threw his new shield at the robot, cutting it in two. Captain America's real name is Steve Rogers.

• Iron Black Widow: James's robotic mother. She could fire lasers of electricity from the gauntlets on her wrists and maybe she could shoot a zip-line that allowed her to swing around the sky-scrapers, also she had a belt that contained small bombs. Her gloves and boots contained small suction cups that allowed her to crawl up walls like a black widow spider and she was supposedly Captain America's second-in-command because of being his wife and plus being a martial artist. She died facing Ultron. Her robotic version, Iron Widow was the first Iron Avenger to be turned evil. The Black Widow's outfit remains in Ultron's trophy room. Iron Widow has an extra pair of arms and can turn her hands into guns. She was destroyed by the Hulk. Black Widow's real name is Natalia Romanova Rogers.

• Iron Black Panther: The Black Panther, T'Challa, was the king of Wakanda and the father of Azari, whom he had with Storm. T'Challa was able to leap at extreme heights, conduct martial arts and also become invisible in shadows with his yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. He had the strength and fierceness of a King with a suit that is covered in vibranium. He was the ruler of Wakanda and nobody understimated him. Claws on his hands and feet were very sharp like a panther's. Ultron killed him by choking him. Iron Panther has the ability to transform into a robotic-panther. Iron Panther was destroyed when Azari blasted the robot with an electricity blast, saying "You're not the Black Panther! I am!". His torn mask remains in Ultron's trophy room.

• Iron Giant-Man: The robotic father of Pym. Giant Man (aka Henry Pym) was killed during his fight with Ultron. His mask was kept by Ultron as a trophy. Giant Man (Ant Man/Yellow Jacket) was very strong, he was able to control ants with a mind control machine and grow to an oversized giant that could create shockwaves. He is the first to attack since he is the strongest and the biggest. Pym manages to fight the giant robot as a giant himself but has to retreat when Iron Giant Man released several Iron Wasps from his mouth. Iron Giant Man was destroyed when the Hulk tore off his head.

• Iron Thor: Torunn's robotic father. He was able to fly at high speeds, become resistant to almost any attack, lift heavy objects and manipulate the weather with his strong, gold hammer. He is one of the strong ones. Thor was entrusted by his father the Golden Hammer and placed a spell on the hammer that only allowed people who were loyal and trustworthy enough to pick it up. Of course Thor and his father could pick it up, but also Captain America and the Hulk (Because of his strength) were also known to lift it. Iron Thor is the only Iron Avenger that matches a still-alive Avenger. Iron Thor mainly attacks Torunn and causes her to lose her sword. The real Thor telepathically returned the sword to Torunn and she used it to battle the Iron Thor. The robot was destroyed when Torunn stabbed it in the stomach and ripped it in half.

• Iron Hawkeye: Hawkeye's metal-versioned father. Hawkeye's real name was Clinton Barton and his son's name was Francis. Hawkeye had extreme luck ability, enhanced sight and accuracy that teams up with his archery skills very well. His arrows ranged from normal arrows, fire arrows, freezing arrows, zip-line arrows exploding arrows, boomerang arrows and even arros that could release more arrows with great accuracy. The Iron Hawkeye's left hand is the bow and it fires energy-charged arrows. Hawkeye survived the initial fight, but was recently killed by Ultron before the young Avengers entered Ultra City. During the fight, Hawkeye (Francis) destroyed Iron Hawkeye's bow, but the robot revealed to have a spare in his right hand, which Francis responds with "Aww! Come on!". Francis destroyed Iron Hawkeye by shooting explosive arrows in the robot's feet, back and face.

• Iron Wasp: Pym's mother is a robot version. Wasp died after one of Ultron's laser blasts blazed her back and cut her wings. After that, she plummeted to her doom. Wasp was able to shrink to the size of a wasp but a bit larger and could blast stinging beams that could dent and punch a hole metal. She could also fly at speeds of 40km and revert back to her normal size and still fly by her wings and shoot beams. Ultron collected Wasps's jacket as a trophy. There are several Iron Wasps that were released from Iron Giant Man's mouth that started attacking Pym. He shrank and fired blasts from his hands at Bruce Banner, hoping to make him angry and bring the Hulk out. Pym failed, but the Iron Wasps blasted Banner until the Hulk came out and eliminated all the Iron Wasps. Wasp's real name was Janet Pym.

• Ultra City Drones: Ultron's servants. One of them was able to injure Vision as he left the city. When the children arrive, they destroy some of the drones, although one was able to injure Torunn. They were last seen in Ultra City where one was trying to pull Torunn's sword out of the ground and not succeeding due to the fact that the sword was made of Asgardian material that only Asgardians could lift. Thor, telepathically, took the sword back to Torunn.

Comics

The Next Avengers will make their comic book debut in Avengers #1, as part of Marvel's Heroic Age event. In the preview, the team is shown fighting Immortus.

They appear in the first six issues of the Heroic Age Avengers, but play a small role. When the current Avengers travel forward in time, they are knocked out by the Next Avengers, and brought to Hulk and Iron Man. Later, they perform recon work, and witness the defeat of Ultron by Kang and his Legion. Finally, they kill Immortus, after he murders Stark and Hulk.

See also

• List of animated feature-length films
• Marvel Animation

External links

• Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow at IMDb
• Official site
• Next Avengers @ Marvel Animation Age
• IGN interview mentioning the film
• First Look: Avengers Reborn