On Superheroes [Review for Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]

*Warning: Unmarked spoilers may follow. Viewer discretion is advised.*

Dear Failed Villains Anonymous,

First of all, I'd like you to know that just because you didn't manage to conquer a insignificant little planet full of the most backward beings in the galaxy, that doesn't mean you're a total failure. You just need to find a larger world full of more advanced beings, because, you know, they're always easier to conquer. Just ask Beta Ray Bill. Or the skrulls. You also might want to go back to the University of E.V.I.L. and retake that Harmful Radiations course, because everyone (or almost everyone) knows that 999,999,999,999 times out of 1 billion, gamma radiation will just kill you. 

Sincerely, 
A Concerned Fan

***

Well, since I've already posted some of the things that most annoy me, I'll mostly focus on the counteracting aspects that make me like/dislike this show. So hopefully I won't bash anything too hard, but we'll see. 

Also, I haven't finished the last season yet, so edits may appear later on. 

Now. 

I once said that I like superhero movies in general, and this show in particular, for the action and the character development. That's mostly true. 

The characters, for one thing, are pretty-well fleshed out. You have Iron Man/Tony Stark, the rich, more-than-a-little-bit snarky team leader/financier. You have Captain America/Steve Rogers, the morally upright good cop (most of the time, but we'll go into that later). You have Black Panther/T'Challa--he's the king of Wukanda, but he tends to spend most of his time hanging out with the Avengers. I don't know, maybe he has a deputy or something. Anyway.
There's the Wasp/Janet Van Dyne, the feisty girl endowed with insect-related superpowers, and her employer/love interest/partner Ant-Man, aka Giant-Man, aka Henry "Hank" Pym. And Bruce Banner/Hulk. I don't think he needs much explanation.

And the team gets even larger as the show goes on, but there are spoilers involved, so I'll just try to mention them as I go.

Good/Favorite Bits:

• Hank Pym and Bruce Banner. Seriously. They're probably my two most favorite characters out of the whole gang (with Janet/Wasp as a close second). Why? Well...
  To start, Hank is a pacifist, which means it's a miracle he even joined the Avengers in the first place. Even as one of the team, he's prone to try and find a nonviolent solution, usually leading to the "Can't we talk this out?" question (most villains don't want to talk it out). He's also a scientist, and has a slight tendency to go starry-eyed when confronted by new or different technology/ideas (sadly, few villains can appreciate that as well as I can).
  EDIT: Having watched Yellowjacket, let me just clear something up: I like Ant-Man. I tolerate Yellowjacket.
  As for Dr. Banner, well, I like him about as well as I did in the 2012 Avengers movie. Sadly, he gets a lot less screentime in this version; early on, he and Hulk make a deal, in which Hulk will join the Avengers if he gets to stay the Hulk permanently (he does let Bruce out one day per month). 
• Gambit pileup, aka several villains invoking overlapping plans. You end up with several villains all enacting their plans at once, and the heroes generally are only aware of one or two, maybe three. This gets especially prominent in the opening movements of the skrull invasion (and it will drive you crazy, take it from me). This also shows up when you have Loki and/or the Enchantress doing anything. (Seriously, I bet Loki invokes multiple plans and manipulates people just to go buy milk from the store.)
• The action is good, providing, of course, that the episode isn't 90% smashing the bad guy and only 10% doing everything else (a couple episodes have lost me this way). But it is, to a reasonable extent, fun to watch the combat. Notable favorites to watch are Wasp, Iron Man, Black Panther, and Mockingbird. 
• Finally, the fact that the characters are deep enough to get to me to care about them. Most notable is the fact that when a certain Avenger is replaced by a shape-shifting alien, I go crazy because it's tearing the team apart, I know everything they don't, etc. 

Bad/Least Favorite Bits:

• Stupid villains--and when I say "stupid" I mean "lacking in basic logic functions and/or a decent primary-school education". Probably the most egregious example, to my mind, is the Leader. Enveloping the entire planet in a dome of gamma radiation? Seriously? Trying to turn everyone on the planet into mutant gamma monsters? Really? Naming your newly minted utopia Gamma World? Seriously? I know the episode needed a title drop, but that's just ridiculous. Not to mention obvious. Really. 
• Villains who lack reasonable motivation, other than that they're just EEEEEVIL. (Zemo, I'm looking at you.) Villains who lack backstory explaining alliances/actions. (Amora the Enchantress, I'm looking at you.) Also, villains who lack an explanation for their superpowers or abilities. (MODOK, I'm looking straight. At. You.) Granted, I'm probably know at least some of this stuff if I read the comics, but I don't and haven't, so I kinda expect the show to at least give a few hints. 
• As stated above, episodes that are 90% smashing the villain. Breakout - Part 2 lost me this way, because frankly I tend to bet bored after about ten minutes of heroes smashing Gravitron--Gravitron smashing heroes--heroes smashing Gravitron, wash, rinse, repeat. 
• The Gamma World arc in general just really, really, really annoys me. The first episode was okay; in fact, I was mostly into it (and a couple of characters introduced there come back later, so it's a good thing I was paying attention). But Gamma World - Part 2 was just... no. First of all, the "Leader"'s master plan, as stated above. That alone majorly turned me off. Then the episode devolved into an entirely smash-the-villain-centric plot, and I just... zoned. Honestly, about the only things I remember from that episode are a) Hawkeye and Bruce Banner/Hulk having some nice moments, b) Black Panther and Wasp going feral (literally), and c) Absorbing Man having a nice quasi-gladiatorial fight with Thor.
  EDIT: And now that my siblings have caught me up on what I missed, that episode sound even more idiotic. Apparently our intrepid heroes defeat the Leader by... overloading his brain and expanding his cranium. Somehow. Even though the Leader's entire schtick is having a super-enlarged brain that should be able to take whatever the less enlightened can throw at him. Dear EMH scriptwriters: What the heck?

And now, since I've rambled enough, I'll go on.

Conclusion:

Yes, I'm biased. Yes, I watch this show for fun, not strictly to review it, and yes, I like it. But for the sake of the review I'll try to come to a reasonably objective conclusion. 

My verdict? If you don't like superheroes, you probably won't like it. It's a superhero show; there's not really anything I can do about that. If you like character development and such things, you may like it; if you like action, there's a good chance you'll like this, because there is a lot of action. 

That said, it is for the most part a kids' show (I hear it aired on Disney before being cancelled to make room for another Marvel-related show). So you won't see much blood, or cursing, or innuendos (beyond one female character telling another to "stop playing jealousy games" with a guy who clearly has a crush on her). Personally, I think that's a bonus, but everyone's different. 

So, all that having been said, I think I'll give Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes a solid four stars out of five:

***

Aaaand, with that, the first in my series Reviews of Stuff I Like comes to a close! Next will be... a surprise. Ha. Stay tuned.