The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Volume Six: End of the Cosmos
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Plot Summary:
On February 19, 2013, complete Marvel’s The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes collection with Volume 6 releasing with all-new, never before seen bonus footage only available on this 2-Disc Collection.
The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Volume 6, features the most talked about Super Heroes - Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America - in 12 animated episodes that all kids who love Super Heroes, will want to own and watch over and over again! Don’t miss the final volume of this action-packed series that also features guest appearances from favorite Marvel Universe characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Red Hulk, Winter Soldier and War Machine. This final volume features a battle with the biggest Marvel villain of them all, Galactus!
The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is a television series inside Marvel Universe on Disney XD that is inspired by the Marvel Comics Super Hero team of the same name. In each episode, the Avengers defend Earth from unimaginable threats – dangerous Super Villains, time-travelling conquerors, alien invaders and mythical beasts set on the total destruction of humanity. When the forces of evil are so overwhelming that no single Hero has the power to save the world, when no hope is left… the Avengers Assemble! Join Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, and many more of your favorite Marvel Super Heroes, as they discover the value of teamwork and friendship in the fight against evil!
DVD Bonus Features:
1. Avengers Mission Reports (Audio commentary with Cap, Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk) – Sit down with Thor (Rick Wasserman), Captain America (Brian Bloom), Iron Man (Eric Loomis) and Hulk (Fred Tatasciore) as they review “surveillance footage” of their adventures.
2. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Heroic Humor – Featuring some of the funniest dialogue from the series cut together to form a 2-3 minute clip.
3. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Greatest “Hits” – Features some of the best action – biggest Hulk smashes, best Cap punches, etc. to form a 2-3 minute clip
Episodes:
Along Came a Spider
Assault on 42
Ultron Unlimited
Yellowjacket
Emperor Stark
Code Red
Winter Soldier
The Deadliest Man Alive
New Avengers
Operation Galactic Storm
Live Kree or Die
Avengers Assemble!
Street Date: February 19, 2013
Release Format: Two-Disc DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $26.99 (US only)
Feature Run Time: Approx. run time 264 minutes
Rated: TV-Y7-FV
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen (Enhanced for 16X9 televisions)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound
Languages: English and Spanish
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Volume Six: End of the Cosmos! DVD Release Review
By James Harvey
The final episodes of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are now on home video and, while they may not be the best of the series, it’s fantastic to have the series collected in its entirety! The scale of the adventures grow larger and larger as The Avengers find themselves battling enemies on a cosmic scale, resulting in some pretty out-there adventures! Thankfully, the show manages to brings things down to earth for some more adventure that, while smaller in scale, are still just as big.
Since the focus of this review is on the actual DVD release, I will only briefly look at the animated series itself. This final batch of episodes marked a change in the creative team behind The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes ... and it showed. Changes at Marvel Animation resulted in a shuffle behind this series, with the majority of the team who worked on the previous episodes chucked out and replaced with a different group – a collaborative group called Man of Action - for the remaining episodes. And while everything may look the same, the quality in writing took a substantial hit. Comparing the episodes found on this release to the previously available episodes and ... well ... it is extremely noticeable. Most of the episodes are very well done, but the writing at times comes off as hollow, rushed, and sometimes very light. A certain spark that was found in the previous episodes just seems lacking here. But still, the majority of episodes here are really enjoyable and worth a spin.
This collection includes some absolutely fun episodes like “Along Came A Spider...” “Ultron Unlimited,” “Emperor Stark,” and “New Avengers,” while some of the storylines involving the Winter Soldier, Red Skull, and some intergalactic turmoil are also fairly enjoyable. Just note there is a small mix-up with the episode order, but it’s minute and really not worth bringing up since it’s really a non-issue given the episodes included – there’s no real problem with continuity or anything (save for Captain America’s shield). Some episodes on the Volume Five release should have been included here, and vice-versa, but it all worked out relatively fine...at least for Volume Six. Search the forums here, there’s more information there for those interested.
The episodes included in this release are “Along Came a Spider,” “Assault on 42,” “Ultron Unlimited,” “Yellowjacket,” “Emperor Stark,” “Code Red,” “Winter Soldier,” “The Deadliest Man Alive,” “New Avengers,” “Operation Galactic Storm,” “Live Kree or Die,” and “Avengers Assemble!”
Fans of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will definitely want to add this to their collection and, in all honesty, most of the stories found here are basic enough that, even with little to no knowledge of previous episodes, even new fans could get a lot out of these. And, personally, I was surprised to see a light adaptation of the comic story “Red Zone” penned for the Avengers comics by Geoff Johns from the early 2000s. All in all, not the best collection of episodes, but still a mighty fine showing of Avengers adventures.
Moving on to the DVD release, things fall pretty much into place as they have with previous The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes titles. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment continues to provide great a solid general release for the series, giving us yet another two-disc set collecting twelve episodes in total. In terms of audio and video, you really can't ask for better here on DVD. The widescreen transfer on all included episodes is pretty fantastic, though not perfect. Yes, there's some slight compression and noticeable aliasing, but you won't see it unless you're really looking for it. The colors are bright and vibrant, the blacks are solid, and everything appears smooth. And not only will this show look great on your television, but it'll sound just as great! The English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is crystal clear and, at times, just thunderous. Action scenes pop and work all the channels, with quieter scenes sounding just as crisp. Given how action-intensive these twelve episodes are, you'll be very thankful for the audio mix – especially for the series finale episode!
So ... what about the bonus features? Well, they’re nothing to write home about. Outside of some trailers (including one for Iron Man 3 and another for the home video release of The Avengers), we get a handful of these little jokey featurettes. The bonus content – titled “Avengers: Mission Reports,” “Greatest ‘Hits’,” and “Heroic Humor” – is essentially made of character commentary running over clips from the show along with choice jokes and punches. That’s it. A little commentary, but honestly...nothing really worth noting. Bit of a letdown, true, but at least some effort was made (unlike some other studios who refuse to include any bonus content whatsoever). Also to note, there are no easter eggs to be found on this release.
Overall, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes – Volume Six: End of the Cosmos!, is a solid capper to the home video run of the series from Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment. Given that the studio is notorious for not releasing entire runs of animated shows (looking at you, Gargoyles), there was genuine reason to be worried we wouldn’t get these final episodes. Thankfully, the massive popularity surge The Avengers property received this year – thanks to the big screen theatrical flick – helped solidify these final DVD titles collecting the cartoon. Granted, this DVD isn’t the best DVD of the bunch, with the episodes not as strong as previous and the bonus features kind of weak, but it does deserve a place on your shelf. If you’ve been following this series from day one, there is no reason not to own this release to finish off your collection. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes – Volume Six: End of the Cosmos! comes Recommended to own. A worthy finishing chapter, and DVD release, to one of the best Marvel cartoons to date.