AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES S1x019

"THE KANG DYNASTY"
Written by Brian Reed | Directed by Sebastian Montes

The Plot: The Avengers and their Ultron army depart Earth for Kang's Damocles Base even as it launches a tremendous energy beam at Earth. Thor exits the jet and intercepts the beam, but falls to Earth as the Avengers continue on their mission. The Avengers fight their way through Kang's armada, with Iron Man and Wasp flying out into space to assist the Ultrons. Cap, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and Hulk infiltrate Damocles with the two remaining Ultrons. The group is confronted by Kang's elite guardians, who take the upper hand with their time controlling technology.

Wasp and Iron Man manage entrance to the ship, and Wasp goes scouting, finding Kang's love, Ravonna, in suspended animation. Meanwhile, Cap's team attempts to destroy the ship's time drive and knock it back to the thirty-first century, but they're interecepted by Kang's robots. Kang himself appears to confront them and prepares to destroy Captain America. Iron Man arrives to help. He destroys the base and has the final Ultron take control of Damocles Base, sending all of Kang's ships and warriors back to the future.

Ultron is about to finish the base as well, but Wasp arrives, explaining Ravonna's condition, and the fact that she will cease to exist if she's returned to the thirty-first century. The Avengers defeat Kang after he refuses to surrender, and he is incarerated in Prison 42.

Continuity Notes: All of the Avengers except Hulk wear some pretty corny matching-but-individualized spacesuits in this episode. Even Thor, who shouldn't need it. Iron Man's does look kind of cool, though, the red-and-silver color scheme bringing to mind his "Silver Centurion" armor from the 1980s comics.

In the episode's final moments, we see Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, studying Ravonna alongside Hank Pym (as a sinister looking Ultron watches from behind Pym). HERBIE the robot also makes a cameo appearance in the scene. Neither Richards nor HERBIE speaks in the scene.

Also at the end of the episode, Kang reminds Iron Man and Cap that the worst is yet to come for the Avengers, and it will start with Cap's betrayal of the team.

Do I Know That Voice? Not this week.

My Thoughts: Like I said a couple weeks ago, Kang has never really done much for me. I know that he, possibly along with Ultron, is considered the Avengers' "big bad"; basically considered by most to be their Doctor Doom, the guy that comes out every so often with a massive story where the stakes are at their highest. But for some reason he just doesn't click with me. I suppose it could be partly because I find him kind of goofy-looking, but I don't think that's all there is to is. I also just find him boring. So if I have one nice thing to say about "Kang Dynasty", it's that the episode, even taken as part of a trilogy, is mercifully much, much shorter than the 2000-01 AVENGERS comic book storyline from which it borrows its name.

Because really, I don't have much more that I can favorably say about it. There aren't any especially notable character moments, and as noted above, the Avengers look kinda ridiculous in their matching spacesuits. I do like that we have evil Ultron all set up and ready to go now, but I mentioned that already last week. So I guess this is gonna be a short post, because aside from that, I got nothin'!

Next week, Asgardian mythology returns to the fore as the Avengers encounted the "The Casket of Ancient Winters"!