Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
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Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow | |
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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 | |
Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment |
Release date | September 2, 2008 |
Running time | 78 minutes |
Countries | ![]() ![]() |
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.[1] 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
A battle with Ultron leaves the Avengers defeated, with six of the heroes killed duringthe fight., Tony Stark/Iron Man decides to takes the hero's children to an underground fortified refuge hidden above the Artic Circle:
James Rogers: The son of Black Widow and Captain America; Henry Pym Jr.: The son of Giant-Man and Wasp; Azari: The son of Black Panther's and Storm; Torunn: The daughter of Thor and Sif
He secretly raises and trains the children for 12 years, keeping their true origins secret from them. Suddenly, The Vision arrives at the refuge after hiding for over a decade from Ultron. He needed to warn Stark that Francis Barton, son of Hawkeye, is also alive.
While the curious children are eavesdropping on Stark and The Vision, James accidentally activates a series of Iron Man style robots that mimic the look and abilities Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Thor, Black Widow and Giant Man. After they take off and crash through the refuge's dome, Stark's base is no longer invisible to Ultron's worldwide sensors. Stark, now dressed as Iron Man, is able to stall Ultron long enough for the children to escape, but he is eventually subdued and captured. Ultron is also able to reprogram the Iron Avenger robots to follow his commands.
Sneaking into Ultra City to rescue Stark, the four young Avengers run into Francis Barton, Hawkeye's son. They decide to team up with him, and other resistence fighters, to rescue their guardian.
The five barely escape from Ultron trap in his citadel, along with an older Betty Ross, and they head to the desert, where Bruce Banner, The Hulk, has decided to hide out and keep away from other people for their own safety. After he refuses to help them, James comes up a plan to lure Ultron there so he can cause the Hulk to appear, destroying the robot.
The kids fight a losing battle with the mechanical doubles of their parents. The young Avengers manage to awaken the Hulk, who ultimately destroys Ultron, ripping him in two. Torunn decides to carry his body into space, throwing the two pieces in opposite directions, ensuring that he can't rebuild himself. She nearly suffocates and freezes in the process, resulting in her father resuing her and explaining why he left her on Earth. Thor then invites Torunn to join him in Asgard. Torunn chooses instead to return to her family on Earth. Thor tells her he's proud of her and sends her back in full Asgardian armor.
Finally, the five young Avengers prepare to return to Ultra City, to deal with Ultron's remaining forces and rescue the polulace.
Characters
Children
- James Rogers: Son of Captain America and the Black Widow and leader of the teenage Avengers. Has exceptional fighting abilities like his father. Originally wields an energy-based shield, and later regains his father's shield after destroying the robotic copy. Like his father, James has great difficulty not acting and often takes the blame for any trouble he and his friends get into. He may have his father's strength, but his reflexes are superhuman, as was as his agility and excels in martial arts. He sees Torrun as a sister, but also hints he has deeper feelings for her.
- Torrun: Daughter of Thor and Sif. She wields an Asgardian sword, is able to fly, can create lightning, has exceptional durability (bullets bounce off her skin), and displays superhuman strength and speed. Torunn tries to act as Asgardian as she can, hoping it will make her father take notice of her. In reality, she is very insecure that while her brothers are orphans, Thor merely abandoned her. She has a crush on James Rogers and hints about it throughout the film, though they grew up together, making them very good friends. She is arrogant, but becomes humble as the film goes on.
- 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 electrical mutation. He is able to form his electricity into a panther-shaped force field. He is named after his paternal great-grandfather. He often tries to get the others to respect Tony's wishes. 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.
- Pym: Son of Giant Man and Wasp, and youngest and smartest of the five children. Inherited his mother's energy blasts. He has the ability to shrink, where he gains flight, and to grow, where he gains proportional 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.
- Francis Barton: Son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird. Displays exceptional accuracy with his longbow and carries a quiver with explosive and trick arrows. Much like their fathers, 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 Hawkeye was.
Survivors
- 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.
- 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 subjugating it. The Vision returned because 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 recharging head.
- Thor: After his father Odin died, Thor went back to Asgard to rule, leaving his daughter Torunn in the care of 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. 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.
- 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 had gathered. She reveals where Bruce has been hiding all these years.
- 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. He is then seemingly defeated by Ultron. Pym's shouted insults into the Hulk's ear wound his pride allows him to recover enough to literally tear Ultron in half. Once the robots were defeated the Hulk gathered Betty in his arms and leapt off into the sunset, happy to be with the woman whom he always loved.
Villains
- Ultron: The main antagonist. Tony Stark created Ultron to be a force for peace, but its programming evolved, deducing the only way to bring order to Earth was to control it. It attacked the Avengers, killing most (Captain America, Wasp, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Storm, Giant-Man, and Black Widow). Iron Man gathered their children and took them to a safe place above 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 from Hawkeye's son, Francis, and the resistance fighters called the Scavengers. In the desert, James turned on the ship that they used to escape Ultra City, hoping it would lure Ultron to the Hulk. The robot arrived and after knocking the Hulk out, then hit James with an energy blast, nearly killing the boy. The Hulk grabbed Ultron and ripped him in half. When Ultron started to rebuild himself, Torunn threw the two pieces into space, where Ultron could not rebuild himself.
- Iron Captain America: Iron Captain America wields two shields in the movie, the first a newer version that could slice through almost anything. In the attack on the citadel the first shield is destroyed by acid, so in the desert battle he wears the original Captain America shield. 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, since his own electronic shield was destroyed. Iron Captain America was destroyed by James when the young Avenger cut the robot in two with the new shield.
- Iron Black Widow: She was the first Iron Avenger to be corrupted by Ultron. 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.
- Iron Black Panther: Iron Panther has the ability to transform into a robotic-panther. It was destroyed when Azari used his electrical abilities to blast the robot, saying "You're not the Black Panther! I am!".
- Iron Giant-Man: 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: Iron Thor is the only Iron Avenger that mimics a living Avenger. Iron Thor attacked Torunn and caused her to lose her sword. The real Thor 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: The Iron Hawkeye's left hand is the bow and it fires energy-charged arrows. During the fight, The younger 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: There are several Iron Wasps that were released from Iron Giant Man's mouth and attacked Pym. Unlike the original Wasp, they are human size. 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 followed Pym and blasted Banner until the Hulk came out and eliminated them.
- Ultra City Drones: Ultron's servants. One of them was able to injure Vision as he left the city. When the children arrived in Ultra City they destroyed some of the drones, although one was able to injure Torunn. They were last seen in Ultra City where one was trying, unsuccessfully, to pull Torunn's sword out of the ground. The sword was made of Asgardian material that only Asgardians could lift.
Cast
- Michael Adamthwaite - Thor
- Noah C. Crawford - James Rogers
- Aidan Drummond - Henry Pym Jr.
- Tom Kane - Iron Man, Ultron
- Ken Kramer - Bruce Banner
- Shawn MacDonald - Vision
- Brenna O'Brien - Torunn
- Nicole Oliver - Betty Ross
- Dempsey Pappion - Azari
- Adrian Petriw - Francis Barton
- Fred Tatasciore - Hulk
Additional Voices by Michael Adamthwaite, Shawn MacDonald, Nicole Oliver, and Fred Tatasciore
Crew
- Jamie Simone - Voice Director
Comics
The Next Avengers made their comic book debut in Avengers #1, as part of Marvel's Heroic Age event. In the preview, the team is shown fighting Immortus.[2] This reality has been designated as Earth-555326.
They appear in the first six issues of the Avengers (2010), 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 this reality's version of Stark and Hulk.[3]
See also
References
- ^ "Marvel Animation Age - "Next Avengers" To Be Released In September 2008". Marvel.toonzone.net. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ "Preview: Avengers #1". Comic Book Resources. 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- ^ Avengers #001-007 2010