Tuesday, December 16, 2008

‘Next Avengers’: Amateur assemblage

Spoilers. This direct-to-video cartoon introduces children of the Avengers in an adventure that pits them against their parents’ deadliest foe, Ultron.

The orphaned children of the defeated team members are interesting new characters: Torunn (Thor’s daughter) firmly believes in a Thunder God she’s never seen; Azari (son of Black Panther and Storm) possesses enhanced agility and can wield lightning; James Rogers (son of Captain America and Black Widow) is an athletic, brooding teen; Pym (kid of the Wasp and Giant-Man) shrinks and is potentially the most intelligent of them all.

They’re being raised single-handedly by an aging Tony Stark (a.k.a. the retired Iron Man), their existence unknown to the conquering Ultron. Francis Barton (son of Hawkeye) eventually joins the team of brave, oft-reckless young adventurers.

It’s written by Chris Yost of “New X-Men” and “X-Force.” There’s good characterization, and nice, fan-pleasing battle sequences. There are appearances by classic Avengers as well in their possible future, older incarnations.

The final showdown, however, somewhat diminishes the attention on the Next Avengers when a gamma-powered god machine takes care of their Ultron problem. Deus ex aside, “Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow” is still quite watchable. And if these characters appear again in a sequel, it would be nice to see them in more traditional superhero costumes that fuse elements of their parents’ uniforms.

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