AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES S1x014

"MASTERS OF EVIL"
Written by Christopher Yost | Directed by Sebastian Montes

The Plot: In Manhattan, Whirilwind leads the Wasp on a wild goose chase to a construction site, where he transforms, revealed as the Enchantress in disguise. When she's joined by the remaining Masters of Evil -- Baron Zemo, the Executioner, Crimson Dynamo, Wonder Man, and the Abomination -- Wasp is easily defeated. At the Wakandan embassy, Hawkeye and Black Panther discuss the Avengers. Meanwhile, the Masters of Evil use the Wasp's ID card to enter Avengers Mansion and subdue Tony Stark in the sub-basement. Upstairs, Abomination and Enchantress transports the Hulk to the realm of the frost giants. In the training room, Executioner and Wonder Man take out Captain America.

In Central Park, Thor is on a date with Jane Foster when he receives a priority summons and heads for the mansion. But there, he's confronted by the Masters of Evil. From outside, Hawkeye and Black Panther (both of whose membership on the team is unknown to Zemo at this time) witness Thor's defeat. The duo sneaks into the mansion and, while Zemo and Enchantress speak with their prisoners, begin taking out the Masters. While Black Panther battles Crimson Dynamo and Wonder Man, Hawkeye goes after Zemo, Enchantress, and Abomination in order to free the remaining Avengers. However the heroes are subdued, and Zemo prepares to execute them.

Ant-Man, who was secretly in cahoots with Hawkeye and the Panther, appears with a weapon created in his lab during the chaos. With it, he disperses Wonder Man and then uses his Giant-Man powers to take out the Abomination. This gives Black Panther time to free the Avengers while Thor summons his hammer, which he uses to bring back the Hulk. Wonder Man reconstitutes himself, and a battle royal begins between the assembled Avengers and the Masters of Evil. When the Avengers gain a clear upper hand, Zemo orders a retreat and the Enchantress teleports the Masters away.

In the battle's aftermath, as the Avengers puzzle over what the Masters of Evil were up to, the villains appear in Arnim Zola's lab, where Enchantress reports to a mysterious master.

Continuity Notes: The team lineup at the end of the opening credits features Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Panther -- the full team lineup at last. Going forward, this will remain the default for the rest of the season, but I'll be sure to mention if and when it ever changes again.

During the cold open, a cabbie is seen reading a tabloid newspaper called Excelsior with a couple of little Easter eggs: one headline references a "SECRET SCHOOL FOR MUTANTS?" with a photo of Professor X's mansion, while another screams about a Baxter Building tenant who claims he was "REPLACED BY ALIENS!!"

At the Wakandan embassy, Black Panther explains that he gets his powers from eating the heart-shaped herb, a Wakandan plant that can only be consumed by members of the kingdom's royal lineage. It's also revealed (in a nifty reveal after the fact) that Ant-Man was at the embassy as well, having returned from his studies in Wakanda proper over the past couple episodes.

When the big fight finally starts, there's a fantastic shot of the full lineups of the Avengers and Masters of Evil charging at each other from opposite sides of the frame, akin to the final shot from the openings of CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER FRIENDS and the 1990s X-MEN cartoon.

Though they were shown to some extent in "Some Assembly Required", this episode really gives some good looks at the Avengers' sub-basement levels, including the fact that large portions of the area have "open" ceilings, with bedrock overhead rather than actual finishes. It's a little weird, but also a cool look -- like they have a Batcave under their mansion.

The mystery man to whom the Enchantress speaks in the final scene is very clearly Loki. She tells him that "the pieces are now in place." Earlier in the episode, Zemo tells Captain America that the world has been promised to him by someone, suggesting Loki has pitted the Avengers against the Masters for some unknown reason.

Do I Know That Voice? Negative.

My Thoughts: While not exactly based on it or adapted from it, this episode is clearly inspired by the legendary "Under Siege" storyline from AVENGERS in the 1980s. As in that classic, we have the Masters of Evil ambushing the Avengers, one at a time or in pairs, taking them all out in ruthless fashion. Plus, we have Zemo standing over an imprisoned Captain America to gloat about it. Though here, there's apparently more to Zemo's plan that mere revenge against his hated foe. While he does state, very clearly, that revenge is paramount to him, he also suggests (as described above) that he's doing this for more than that. He's been promised the world by Loki, and he's even willing to do the trickster god's bidding to reach that end. (It's implied in the final scene that the only reason the Masters attacked the Avengers was because Loki instructed them to).

So as has become the norm for this show, we have a more-or-less stand-alone episode which also furthers an ongoing plot. Tune in for the Masters of Evil going at it with the Avengers, but stick around to find out exactly what Loki's up to, and why an imperious leader like Zemo is willing to take his orders.

Hot on the heels of both chapters of "Gamma World", this is another great outing for Hawkeye, who spends his first scene spouting off about everything wrong with the Avengers, then teams up with Black Panther (and Ant-Man, though the viewers don't know it yet) to save the day once again. And he hangs a lampshade on that very fact with a hilarious pronouncement in the fight's aftermath, that he doesn't know how he feels about being part of a team he has to rescue every week.

I spoke a bit about it last week, but I just want to reiterate that this is Hawkeye. I like the MCU's Hawkeye, but aside from brief and occasional flashes, he really isn't the same character as in the comics (or at least the classic comics). The Hawkeye I know and love is cocky, swaggering, and posturing, but has the skill to back it up. He's a hothead, yet rarely actually goes off half-cocked. He's really just a fantastic character, and this is easily the best adaptation of that Hawkeye -- the classic Hawkeye -- that's ever been committed to the screen.

Next week, it's something a little different. As we've seen over the past few weeks, all of Zemo's Masters of Evil were recruited on-screen, usually in brief codas at the end of various episodes. However, we never saw the Crimson Dynamo join the team. But that story was told, in a four-issue limited series Marvel published in 2010 to tie in with the EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES show. And the series was written by showrunner Christopher Yost, so unlike a lot of these sorts of tie-in comics, it can truly be considered canon. So we'll take a brief break from the animated side of this universe to go over those four issues next Friday. Be there!