MARVEL COMIC BOOK
ANIMATED MOVIES
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On this page I have provided a quick summary on animated films that have
been made based on Marvel characters. These were typically films
produced for a direct to DVD and Blu-Ray release.
I do have a page on my site devoted to Marvel live-action
films that you can visit by clicking
here.
Marvel for most of its history in media
outside of its comic books had primarily produced animated TV
shows, but in recent years have produced several very high quality
animated movies for the home video market.
Ultimate Avengers the
Movie (2006)
The first one came in 2006 with the Ultimate Avengers the
Movie. Here Marvel adapts the popular comic book called
The Ultimates into a feature-length animated film with mega
icons Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Giant Man
and the Wasp taking on an alien invasion.
The movie initially centers around Nick Fury and his SHIELD teams
trying to locate Captain America in an attempt to replicate the
super soldier serum for the Avengers project.
They find Captain America who is frozen in ice from the 1940s during
World War II and is later revived back at their headquarters.
The alien invasion threat is imminent and Fury has to recruit talent
in the form of Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp. Black Widow
already part of SHIELD joins the newly formed Avengers. Thor is
unconvinced to join however Cap is asked by Fury to lead the group
and reluctantly accepts.
Bruce Banner privately searches for ways to control the Hulk so he
can become the ultimate super soldier using samples of Cap’s DNA and
other samples from SHIELD in the process.
The group takes on the aliens and seems to have the upper hand and
get temporary assistance by the Hulk. The Hulk after taking out the
remaining aliens suddenly goes berserk on the Avengers with Thor now
flying in to help subdue the goliath.
It’s an all-out thumping and pounding in the Marvel way with all of
the Avengers trying to contain the Hulk from mass destruction.
Marvel put a lot of effort into this film. The animation in this
film is top notch. The voice acting is superb. I don’t believe
anyone will be disappointed in the first Marvel animated movie.
The film is available on DVD and on Blu-Ray.
Ultimate Avengers II: Rise of the
Panther (2006)
The
follow up to the first Avengers animated movie came later that year with the
Ultimate Avengers II: Rise of the Panther.
The Black Panther’s world of Wakanda is the focal point for this new
film. The aliens from the previous film are back and they want the
secret held beneath the city of Wakanda.
The Panther tries to recruit Captain America to help, but is
rebuffed at first. Nick Fury then secretly sends the Avengers to Wakanda to see exactly what is going on there, but are quickly
routed by the Wakandians.
The aliens ultimately begin their invasion and target Wakanda
specifically to gain the precious Vibranium metal held below the depths of
the city and the Avengers return again to help Black Panther and his
people thwart the invaders.
The quality of the film is very much on par with the first movie
and the animation and voice acting are superb. The film is
available on DVD and on Blu-Ray.
The Invincible Iron Man (2007)
The
Golden Avenger after having a nice run with his own animated TV series
back in the 1990s got his first full-length animated movie with
The Invincible Iron Man in 2007.
The origin of Iron Man is told with a slightly different spin. An
ancient prophecy will become a reality when Tony Stark’s team raises
a city buried deep below the surface in China unleashing the four
elementals whose purpose is to resurrect the Mandarin a long dead
emperor. The Mandarin’s temple is within this city and those who
know the prophecy believe that once the Mandarin is brought back the
days of his harsh reign will return.
Jim Rhodes the future War Machine and project manager for Stark is
captured by native hostiles who want to prevent the city from being
raised and hope that Stark will come and rescue him so they can make
Stark create a device to bury the city for good.
Stark arrives to look for Rhodes and is ambushed and badly injured
resulting in the need of an artificial heart to keep him alive. He
too is held captive with Rhodes and builds an Iron Man armor to help
them both escape.
Back at Stark’s secret headquarters Tony reveals his arsenal of Iron
Man armor and uses them in his attempt to stop the elementals from
resurrecting Mandarin.
The same high quality in animation as seen in the earlier Marvel
movies is present in this film. If you like legendary tales mixed
in with modern day technology, this is a movie that you will enjoy.
It is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer
Supreme (2007)
Not
since the 1970s has there been a show or movie devoted to the Master
of the Mystic Arts.
Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme debuted as an animated movie in 2007 with some
incredible animation that in my opinion exceeded the previous two
Avengers movies.
The story focuses on the origin of Doctor Strange where Stephen
Strange has a car accident and badly injures his hands and seeks out
ways to recover in order to re-establish himself again as a doctor.
With no success in sight and at the point of his last resolve, a
student of a sorcery master convinces Strange that he can be cured
if he travels to their temple in Tibet. Here he will go through a
difficult training regimen and eventually acquire and harness the
powers of sorcery to battle against evil forces and take over for
the Ancient One.
He will ultimately have to battle one of the Ancient One’s
disciples-Mordo who has been waiting patiently to replace the
Ancient One only to be trumped by Strange as he is considered to be
more worthy of becoming Sorcerer Supreme.
Mordo makes a deal with the Ancient One’s enemy-Dormammu and kills
the Ancient One. Now it is up to Doctor Strange to avenge and
defeat Mordo.
Doctor Strange has always been one of the classic Marvel creations
that due to the fact that he’s not a mainstream superhero (although
he has had his own titles and series and appeared as a member of the
Defenders and routinely appears in other Marvel superhero titles)
and never had the level of success of say Spider-Man or the Hulk.
This movie was really well-made and well-performed and is definitely
worth adding to your collection. It has more drama than other
Marvel stories due to the nature of the characters. The film
is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow
(2008)
Marvel
turned their attention for their next animated movie to a new wave
of superheroes that were inspired by the Avengers.
The Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow was released in 2008.
Here assembled were five kids who were the offspring of the Avengers
team members that have long since gone.
Together the team of children heroes battle Ultron a long-time
super-villain of the Avengers with the assistance of the real Iron
Man.
It’s a different take than what fans typically would expect from Marvel in their next animated film, however it is well produced
and actually surprises.
The animation and quality of the script and acting is very good and
is a movie that is worth owning. The film is available on DVD
and on Blu-Ray.
Hulk Vs. (2009)
Fans
have been waiting for a film that featured the Hulk in stories where
the Green Goliath takes on some of Marvel’s top fighters in an
all-out, toe to toe, thumping brawl.
The Hulk Vs. movie in 2009 pits Hulk in two separate movies.
The first one has Hulk taking on Wolverine. Wolverine is tracking
the Hulk who has been on the rampage through Canada and the two
battle in the wilderness in a confrontation that most comic fans
might feel reminiscent of their classic battle from the pages of
Hulk #181 and some of the other classic Hulk and Wolverine clashes.
After their initial encounter Wolverine is captured and returned to
the Weapon X program where he meets up with Sabretooth, Deadpool,
Lady Deathstrike and Omega Red.
Wolverine attempts to escape and ends up receiving some help from
the Hulk who was captured as well in his human form as Bruce Banner. The
two battle their way out of the compound not before slamming all of
their captors.
The second film has Bruce Banner transported to Asgard by Loki who
plans to control the Hulk in order to destroy his step-brother Thor.
With the help of the Enchantress the two separate Bruce Banner from
the Hulk and send Hulk upon the gates of Asgard where he goes on a
rampage tearing through soldier by solider by soldier and smashing
Thor’s comrades in the process.
We get to see most of the Thor mythology of characters like
Heimdall at the front of the
rainbow bridge, Balder the Brave, Sif,
Hogun, Fandral, Volstagg doing battle with the Green Giant all the
while as Thor’s father Odin is in his sleep.
The Thunder God gets his turn and squares off with the Green
Behemoth in epic scale as seen in the pages of Journey into Mystery
#112 and Defenders #10.
It is a battle royal between the two with Thor taking most of the
hits.
The Enchantress comes to Thor’s rescue unbeknownst to Loki and now
Thor sets off to find him to release the Hulk from his spell.
Unfortunately for Asgard the Hulk is no longer under anyone’s
control and goes wild. The movie has a very interesting ending
involving Hela and Valhalla and the major players that needs to be
seen.
I enjoyed both movies, but lean more towards the Thor movie since at
that time there hadn’t been a Thor film per se prior to this one.
We see almost all of the Thor mythology of characters move on screen
for the first time which was incredible. We’ve seen Thor before in the
Avengers movies and
in the 1960s cartoons, but not quite on this grand of a scale.
I think you will enjoy this double-feature movie. The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Planet Hulk (2010)
Based
on the popular comic book the Planet Hulk debuted in 2010.
The Hulk lands on an alien planet and is placed into a gladiatorial
prison where he and other warriors fight in an arena like that of
the Roman gladiators of centuries past.
The gladiators escape with the Hulk going on his own path. The
planet is now under siege by an alien race that can infect the
current population and morph them into one of their own. The band
work to save the planet with the Hulk reluctantly returning to help.
There
are some incredible fighting scenes in the arena and Hulk’s blood is
found to be an ever changing life growing product that is like no
other version of the Hulk seen before in TV or film.
Hulk fans will enjoy this film as well as other movie watchers. It
is well-made and keeps the high level of animation, voice acting
that Marvel has maintained in its animated movies. The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Thor:
Tales of Asgard (2011)
In
2011 Marvel produced a film about Thor’s early years in Thor:
Tales of Asgard.
Thor and Loki and their comrades are youthful boys out for adventure
in this film which some may come away disappointed as fans probably
wanted to see Thor in his normal age and size as he appeared in
comics for most of the time.
This film is similar to the early Tales of Asgard stories that ran
in the second half of the Journey into Mystery and Thor comic book
issues showing the life on Thor’s homeland.
The young troop goes on a long journey to find a sword and encounter
many adventures along the way. The film has nice charm and sparkle
like that of the Next Avengers movie and gives a perspective
of Thor not seen often. The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013)
In 2013 Iron Man: Rise of Technovore
ushered in the Japanese Anime style into an Marvel animated film.
Although most of the previous Marvel animated films have been
Japanese produced, this was the first Marvel film intended to have
the entire film look like traditional Japanese Anime.
Iron Man, Punisher, Black Widow, Hawkeye
and Nick Fury are featured. War Machine is at first believed
to have been killed by a mysterious enemy and Iron Man is out for
revenge. He is reluctantly assisted by the Punisher during
Iron Man's investigation into the perpetrators.
We get to see some interesting fighting
between Iron Man and Punisher against Hawkeye and the Black Widow
who are tasked with retrieving Iron Man by SHIELD. The
mysterious enemy turns out to be Ezekiel Stane (son of Obadiah Stane,
a rival of Tony Stark) who plans on using technology to wipe out
humanity.
The animation is top rate and as
mentioned before a new departure for Marvel animated films. DC
has been implemented Japanese Anime style in some of their animated
films with success. This film is on the same scale as some of
those and I think you'll enjoy it.
The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes
United (2013)
Also in 2013 came a second Marvel
animated film for that year called Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes
United. It was inspired by the TV series that was taking
place at that time. A different technology of animation was
used giving it a computer enhancements around typical animation.
The look and feel is a little tough to adjust to, but not uncommon
as some series have taken to this process to give the characters
some depth.
As the title says both Iron Man and Hulk
team up together to take on the Abomination as well as some other
characters including Wendigo, Mandroids and the primary creature
called the Zzzax that was created using the Hulk's gamma energy.
It is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher
(2014)
Returning to the Japanese Anime style in
2014 came Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher.
The Punisher has been offered to work
with the Black Widow in order to take down a terrorist organization
called Leviathan after the Punisher has been arrested for
interfering with a SHIELD mission. He agrees and the two
infiltrate Leviathan in order stop them from selling stolen SHIELD
technology. As in the previous Anime style film the animation
in this film is of high quality. Once again we get to see the
two acrobatic assassins perform in the manner they are best at.
The fighting sequences are the same quality you find in some of the
better action films.
The film is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United (2014)
The second animated film of 2014 was
Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United. This was
inspired by the ongoing TV series at the time with Iron Man and Cap
teaming up together to take on the Red Skull.
The Red Skull's plan is to create Hydra
super soldiers and is working with the Taskmaster who steals one of
Iron Man's suits. Our heroes get some needed help from the
Hulk. The film uses the same technology implemented in the
previous Iron Man and Hulk team up film using computers to enhance
the animation. The look and feel is a tough to adjust to, but
was in keeping with some other animated series of the day. The
animation was a little too stiff
and wasn't on the scale of some of the
other high quality Marvel animated films.
Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!
(2015)
In 2015 in keeping with the Avengers
animated series of that day came another inspired animated film
called Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!
Several Avengers members Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor and
Captain Marvel team up to stop Loki and his comrades who are
stealing Santa Claus' powers in order to take over the world.
A couple of Guardians of the Galaxy
members-Rocket the Raccoon and Groot are also after Santa. The
film is obviously tailored for much younger audiences, but some of
the action is typical of Marvel Comics which will give older
audiences something to watch.
The film is available on online
streaming.
Marvel's Hulk: Where Monsters
Dwell (2016)
In 2016 Marvel's Hulk: Where Monsters
Dwell was released to the direct market. The Hulk at the
request of Doctor Strange battle an onslaught of monsters that have
been generated from young teenagers by a diabolical enemy in another
dimension.
Once again in keeping with the current
Avengers animated series the look and feel of this film is
consistent with that series. The characters are drawn in the
same mold as the TV series. It appears that Marvel had been
for some of these offerings were trying to find a way to promote the
TV series more than trying to offer customers something different.
The film is available on
online streaming.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the
creative minds behind The Lego Movie
and 21
Jump Street, bring their unique
talents to a fresh vision of a different Spider-Man Universe, with a
groundbreaking visual style that’s the first of its kind.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
introduces Brooklyn teen Miles Morales, and the limitless
possibilities of the Spider-Verse, where more than one can wear the
mask. The film is available on DVD and
Blu-Ray.
Happy Collecting!!!
Johnson's Collectibles
