'Marvel The Avengers: Volumes 3+4'
(Animation / DVD / NR / 2011 / Walt Disney Video)
Overview: The pulse-pounding action continues with six unforgettable episodes in volume 3 of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Enjoy all the thrills as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk and the rest of the Avengers face off against Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil and defend Earth from a full-scale alien invasion led by the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror! Volume 4 brings us the final seven episodes of Season One. Where Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk and the rest of The Avengers attempt to stop Ultron and his army of robots from ending all of humanity and prevent Loki from unleashing armies from Asgard on Earth!
DVD Verdict: The best thing about The Avengers is the truly seamless melding of silver and iron age aesthetics. Old-school fans will delight in all the countless references to the original Avengers comic books from the 1960s. This applies on virtually every conceivable level, from costume design to inter-character conflicts.
At the same time, we also see at least the beginnings of a far harder-edged iron age cynicism, and even political consciousness - particularly in the characters of Tony Stark, and, arguably, Henry Pym. Neither of these elements were ever even remotely present in the original comics.
Contemporary comic book fans will likewise note the merging of elements from both the original and "Ultimate" Marvel Universes. Yet here again, these disparate elements are so perfectly combined that it is difficult to imagine them ever being apart.
In Volume 3, we witness The Avengers taking on the Masters of Evil, matching wits with the traitor Black Widow and confronting Kang the Conqueror, a dictator from the future. My personal favorite episode of the six is 'The Man Who Stole Tomorrow,' where a dictator, Kang the Conqueror from the far future comes to the present to save his loved one, and timeline from annihilation. And yet to do that he must do one thing...destroy Captain America!
In Volume 4, the final seven episodes of Season One are brought forth. In these Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk and the rest of The Avengers attempt to stop Ultron and his army of robots from ending all of humanity and prevent Loki from unleashing armies from Asgard on Earth! Again, my own personal favorite episode is 'Ultron Imperative,' where we find the devastated team struggling with the loss of Thor. So Ant-Man and Iron Man go about destroying all remnants of Ultron. But they don't realize that Ultron has transcended his body and has infiltrated the world's computer systems! This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Avengers Unmasked: Masters Of Evil - An Animated In-Episode Comic Book Experience Loaded With Fun Facts On Marvel's Avengers And The Villains That Challenge Them
Avengers Unmasked: Hail, Hydra! - An Animated In-Episode Comic Book Experience Loaded With Fun Facts On Marvel's Avengers And The Villains That Challenge Them
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