AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES S1x017

"THE MAN WHO STOLE TOMORROW"
Written by Andrew Robinson | Directed by Sebastian Montes

The Plot: Kang the Conqueror arrives at Earth in the early 21st century. Meanwhile, Captain America trains Tony Stark in hand-to-hand combat at Avengers Mansion, but the pair is soon attacked by Kang, who announces his plan to eliminate Captain America from the timeline. Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Panther soon join the battle, with Ant-Man, Wasp, and Thor close behind.

Kang explains that his future was compeltely wiped out by a temporal storm, which he believes to have been caused by the existence of an anomaly -- Captain America -- which should not exist in the 21st century. He then transports the Avengers ten years inot the future, showing them the post-apocalyptic ruins of New York City, caused by a Kree/Skrull war which Captain America helped to incite. Kang then demands that the Avengers turn Captain America over and allow him to conquer the planet in order to prepare it for the coming war.

The Avengers refuse, and while most of the group battles Kang, Iron Man seizes control of his time travel chair and transports everyone back home. Kang then teleports away, and his invasion fleet apperas in space around his flagship.

Continuity Notes: First appearance of the Fanstastic Four's headquarters and Negative Zone portal, as Ant-Man, Wasp, and Thor escort the recently captured Blizzard to Prison 42, a facility built in the Negative Zone by Stark, Pym, and Reed Richards. (The FF are seen in a photograph, but are on a voyage to the Earth's core when the Avengers visit.) 42 is staffed by Hank Pym's Ultron robots, including Ultron-5, the version that became a super-villain in the original AVENGERS comics.

Do I Know That Voice? No sir, I do not.

My Thoughts: So this is the beginning of a Kang trilogy, and as such it's mostly all setup. We get a couple of nice character moments between Iron Man and Captain America -- this is basically a story about the two of them coming to terms with one another -- and of course the introduction of 42, the Negative Zone prison is a big moment that will lead to something down the line. Plus the Fantastic Four tease is fun -- though it's a little disappointing to see that they apparently live in compound of some sort rather than a high-rise building.

But overall, there's really not a whole lot to say about the episode. Kang has never been one of my favorite villains (I actually like him better as Rama-Tut), so his appearance alone doesn't do much for me. The best parts of the episode are at the beginning, in the comical scene where Cap gives Tony some hand-to-hand pointers. Other than that, the episode is just a lot of fighting with a bit of Kang monologuing (though at least he has the decency to provide visual aids for his presentation).

My recollection is that this entire arc failed to impress me when it originally aired, but I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough. Next week is part 2, "Come the Conqueror". (And incidentally, it's almost exclusively multi-part arcs for the rest of the season! After this Kang 3-parter, we have two stand-along episodes followed by an Ultron 2-parter and then an Asgard trilogy to close things out.)