Episode #23 - Empowered
Original Airdate 3rd November 1996

MODOK finds one of The Mandarin's rings and is terrified to learn that he is still alive, searching for his remaining rings

Credits
Screenplay By: Greg Johnson
Directed By: Bob Arkwright
Music By: Keith Emmerson
Animation By: Koko Enterprises
Guest Starring: Robert Hayes as Iron Man/Tony Stark, Dorian Harewood as War Machine/James Rhodes, Tom Kane as HOMER, Jim Cummings as MODOK and Tony Ito as The Mandarin

Review: This episode, much like Fantastic Four’s Hopelessly Impossible is basically a clip show, with very little new animation. However, unlike the aforementioned episode, this one had reason for being, and actually had a story behind it. The episode reunited The Mandarin and MODOK, and recapped him collecting his rings.

I always liked this plot as it created a great build up for the character, especially after seeing Iron Man whoop his ass every week. I felt that the Mandarin truly did become a great villain in this season, and especially liked how he found his rings himself, rather than have his lackeys do it for him. Whilst the Irish one still makes me cringe to this day, a lot of them are pretty cool, if a little short.

The episode also shows some of Iron Man’s fight scenes. This stuff is just tedious clip show filler, and the episode doesn’t benefit from it. Whether or not this episode was simply a way of cutting costs or not is unknown, but it’s effective in building up the upcoming Iron Man/Mandarin fight.

Basically, if you haven’t seen it, you’ve not missed anything, and if you have, no harm done. Whilst I’d loved to see another episode instead of this, it’s still pretty enjoyable to watch.

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