The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

[Green1]

I will admit, the newer supers cartoons are MUCH better written than some of the unwatchable crap us older guys had to put up with. Remember 1970s/early 80s Superfriends? /gag.

Still, no supers universe has still gotten it right. Ever notice no matter how many catastrophies happen to the city, it is always bussiness as usual and no damage to the city next episode?

Off topic, but I think there was only one setting that got the whole "superhuman" folks popping up gotten right: an old roleplaying game series called the Trinity series. First one was called Adventure that was set in Captain America's (1920s-1940s) era with the first supers. Second one, Abherrant set in 1990s with supers becoming VERY commonplace. The last, Trinity, set post apopolyptic where wars between supers have decimated everything and alien races are around. The comics world, if more "realistic" would resemble Trinity more.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah, well, as a consumer of escapist fantasies, I'm not gonna sit through any more stories about 9/11.  There are limits, and I reached them years ago.

[Green1]

Yeah, well, as a consumer of escapist fantasies, I'm not gonna sit through any more stories about 9/11.  There are limits, and I reached them years ago.

No, BU... not sob stories of normals. Almost all cartoons do now have (some) character development nowadays. Even My Little Pony is doing that (god forbid). I want gritty, realistic world development. Let the reprocussions from battles affect from one episode to the next.

Oh yeah... and main characters need to die.

[Buster's Uncle]

Meh. 

Escapist. Fantasy.

[Unorthodox]

I want gritty, realistic world development. Let the reprocussions from battles affect from one episode to the next.

Oh yeah... and main characters need to die.

Those are few and far between.  Batman: The Animated Series of the 80's/90's probably the best, followed by the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (both rather brief), all headed by pretty much the same team of writers. 

The old 80's/90's Xmen series is another that springs to mind. 

No, cities might not remain leveled, but there were usually reprocussions that carried from one episode to the next.  Perhaps most drastic in the Justice League Unlimited run. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Justice League Unlimited FTW!

[Unorthodox]

I typically hate DC (outside Batman), but JLU kicked some serious ass. 

[Buster's Uncle]

It's tough to put a finger on why it was so good.  The pre-Unlimited seasons were merely okay, often pretty dull.  It can't have been as simple as all the cameos of assorted supers walking around the sattelite...

[Unorthodox]

It was the 'dark'/realistic world that suddenly sprang up.  Governments getting all anxious about this super powered space base with a mega laser pointing at earth manned by superhumans, and all.  The whole levels of grey on the right/wrong of the multiple sides, etc.  Often you could realistically question the hero's actions (and many people did).  No one was ever totally right/wrong with few exceptions.  JL lacked much of that for the first half-3/4 of it's run until they setup the unlimited run at the end. 

[Buster's Uncle]

So a lot of it's down to better villains and stories that were about something?  That's probably it, yes.  The first two seasons suffered from lame, often faceless menaces.

...

I've started a second thead with the rest of the first season here.  The OP has my impression as of the first 12 episodes posted in this thread.

[Unorthodox]

Villains make the story. 

Any story. 

[Buster's Uncle]

No doubt, no doubt.

[Unorthodox]

The hulk...ugh.

Episode 2 or 3 I think. 

Bad enough they expect me to believe a rocket launcher ripped off a helicopter still might work, but to have the Hulk attempt to use it as anything other than a club is just horrible...and then he's cracking one liners in the middle of it all?  Heroic Hulk always has this problem to some degree, but this is as bad as "Planet Hulk".  At least Planet Hulk had more rage. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah, not that the classic retarded Hulk is right for early Avengers either, but I fancied that that version would have been sorta fun in a team, al la all those years in the Defenders, with the coaxing and bribing with beans.  This version is sorta none of the charm of the retarded Hulk with none of the dramatic possibilities of the truly thuggish Hulk who was around to found the team in the comics. 

[Unorthodox]

Yeah, not that the classic retarded Hulk is right for early Avengers either, but I fancied that that version would have been sorta fun in a team, al la all those years in the Defenders, with the coaxing and bribing with beans.  This version is sorta none of the charm of the retarded Hulk with none of the dramatic possibilities of the truly thuggish Hulk who was around to found the team in the comics. 

Oh, I get that hero hulk cant be total rage machine, but Hulk OUTSMARTING enemies?  (and making fun of their stupidity in the process)  That's just WRONG.  (and my 9 year old even noticed)  Avengers Movie Hulk had a good balance.