A Day Unlike Any Other . . . Is Still A Month Away So This Should Tide Me Over For Now

I cannot wait for Avengers to hit theaters next month. I've already booked two viewings for that weekend - well, I haven't bought the tickets, necessarily, but I've arranged the theater trips in my head. I suspect I'll see it more times in the theater than any other movie (I hate admitting this but Revenge of the Sith is the move I've seen the most in theaters. I think five times? Maybe six). Speaking of Star Wars prequels, I'm more psyched for Avengers than I was for any of those.

Alas, I have to wait a terribly long month. So, what to do? What to do?

Well, what I AM doing is watching Avengers:Earth's Mightiest Heroes again on Netflix. It's a cartoon, yes, and it aired/airs on one of the multitude of Disney channels (you cut one off, two more spawn in its place), but I can assure you this show is amazing. People liken it to the X-Men show from the 90's. I say it's better - but that might just be because I prefer Avengers to X-Men.

Why is this show so good? For one, it's got a sense of humor. Upon meeting M.O.D.O.K. for the first time, Thor declares, in utter bafflement, "That is a very large head." He then likens the villain to "A frost giant's head on an infant's body." Hilarious. Introducing M.O.D.O.K. alone is a ballsy move. Simultaneously pointing out the ridiculousness of the character is an amusing take (and doing it without diminishing the threat).

What else? It draws from all sources. Sometimes it's like the movies, sometimes like the original run, sometimes like the Ultimates. This allows for a lot more freedom.

You know what stands out most to me though? It doesn't take a million years for origin stories. I'm not saying that it doesn't have episodes that deal with individual heroes before the Avengers are formed, no. The team doesn't really form until - like - episode 5.

What the show doesn't do, which I admire, is laboriously retell Iron Man's backstory or Captain America's. Sure, they might gloss over it briefly here and there, but it's short and sweet and never forestalls the action.

I hate origin stories. Well, not entirely true. Iron Man and Cap do actually have intriguing origins, and the movies handled them well. But now The Amazing Spiderman is doing the origin . . . again? Who, of the people going to see a Spiderman movie, doesn't know the basic origin? How much time does it take to tell? The Incredible Hulk, also a reboot (sorta) shot through the origin in the opening credits. Why not do that? Why retell a story that, hubris aside, isn't all that interesting (until you introduce the Ezekial "what came first the spider or the man or whatever it is" plot . . . but that requires so much more setup - and fuck the fanboys, JMS's run on Spiderman was amazing).

Anyway, my whole point is, I need my Avengers fix and this show, even upon second viewing, is more than helpful. Season 2 just started up this past Sunday, so there's that too. I suggest everyone checks it out.