Marvel's Avengers Ultron Revolution "U-Foes" Talkback (Spoilers)

[RoyalRubble]

Tune in for a new episode of Marvel's Avengers Ultron Revolution, today at 8:30AM ET on Disney XD!

Marvel's Avengers Ultron Revolution "U-Foes"
Episode Debut - November 6th, 2016
Directed by: Tim Eldred
Written by: Mairghread Scott

The team battles a new super-villain, the U-Foes, while the arrival of a new government liaison threatens Hulk's place on the team.

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[Frontier]

What a world we live in that we can get a whole episode based around an evil version of the Fantastic Four, right down to the same exact origin, but we can't even get a small appearance by the team in any show, let alone a mention of them and how much the U-Foes are mimicking them. All we can get is one of the U-Foes saying "fantastic" during the launch, which felt like pouring salt over the wound .

I remember the last time The Avengers played a card game in a cartoon, and how some of the FF actually showed up for it. And I mean, how do you play a game of poker, or basically any kind of card game, in a Marvel Universe and not invite The Thing? That's just not how it's done people .

All that being said, I thought the show did a good job with the U-Foes this episode. Obviously they made fun of how goofy their name is, but they also showcased how deadly they could be, even against a team like The Avengers. I liked that they carried over their origin, even if it made the FF's current embargo situation even more grating, and an enmity with The Hulk given their traditionally his villains .

The action sequences between the U-Foes and The Avengers were also pretty good for the most part, and I liked what little bit of characterization we were able to get for each Foe, even if none of them outside maybe Vector were really developed in-depth. Still, overall some fun villains for an episode .

The only problem, for me, was that they went out very anti-climatically at the end there. I mean, knockout gas, really? After they were able to fight on even terms with The Avengers? It doesn't even make sense for that to take out Vapor, given her powers .

So the government is cracking down on Superheroes and Inhumans, for reasons, and the President has passed a "Super Powers Act" which is just another word for the Superhero Registration Act or the Sokovia Accords. It feels like all this could've used a heck of a lot more buildup and time spent addressing it then Captain Marvel just casually mentioning she's working with the government to study Nuhumans. Heck, outside of Marsh, the Act itself was really glossed over for most of the episode, so it doesn't really feel like that big a deal .

There isn't even any tension among the team over it since they all seem to unanimously be against it, and Marsh, especially Cap and Iron Man. So I'm not exactly sure how this is going to end up leading to Civil War unless something happens that completely changes the team's perspective on things .

Truman Marsh? Wasn't he like the warden of the Vault at some point? And now he's suddenly the government liaison with The Avengers and acting more like Henry Gyrich when he had that job? Weird. Not really much to say about him other then he's your stereotypical obstructive bureaucrat who makes the government look like a bunch of ungrateful pencil-pushers .

I would've thought we'd see Everett Ross or Red Hulk be the team's liaison for some form of synergy with the movies, and I guess Gyrich must have some X-Men embargo on him if they had to dredge up some super-obscure character to basically act exactly like him during his time with The Avengers .

And I'm as surprised as I was in the movies that The Avengers have apparently never had any kind of liaison with the government at this point, given al lthe work they do. I mean, I guess it makes sense in the cartoons since they're not the type really care about that kind of depth in terms of The Avengers' autonomy or lack there of, but I always just assumed Fury and SHIELD (and by extension Black Widow) served that role .

The Hydra soldiers having no idea who's actually leading them at this point felt kinda meta given the vagueness of Hydra's leadership in all the cartoons. And of course Hydra had to be involved with the U-Foes because Hail Hydra .

Though now that I think about it, wouldn't AIM have made more sense to be their backers, what with the science connection ?

This episode probably best demonstrated how far Hulk's characterization has come from seasons 1 and 2 with how reasonably he handles Marsh's criticism of him and getting booted from the team. Old Hulk would probably have pouted like a kid and thrown a tantrum, but he handled things much better here. It was also sweet seeing Widow, and even the rest of the team, defending and trusting him .

You know the government is run by a bunch of idiots when their idea of replacing Hulk, because he's a "loose canon," is throwing Red Hulk onto the team. I mean, this is Thunderbolt Ross with Hulk powers we're talking about, he's even worse then The Hulk when it comes to controlling his temper and controlling himself. It's like they're deliberately trying to sabotage The Avengers and their own credibility .

That being said, if Ross's fanboying of Cap carries over from SMASH, I guess he'll at least follow Cap's orders. Maybe .

 

[RoryWilliams]

This episode just reminded me how lame the current stand-off Marvel has with the X-Men and FF is.

Anyone find it weird that this Marsh guy acts pretty much exactly like Henry Peter Gyrich from the comics? Why not just use Gyrich?

 

[JoeMabbon]

What a world we live in that we can get a whole episode based around an evil version of the Fantastic Four, right down to the same exact origin, but we can't even get a small appearance by the team in any show, let alone a mention of them and how much the U-Foes are mimicking them. All we can get is one of the U-Foes saying "fantastic" during the launch, which felt like pouring salt over the wound .

The embargo was always clunky, but between this and keeping Gyrich off the show, I don't know. It'd be hilarious if this was some passive-aggressive boundary testing on the part of the writers that the hire ups didn't pick up on.

The only problem, for me, was that they went out very anti-climatically at the end there. I mean, knockout gas, really? After they were able to fight on even terms with The Avengers? It doesn't even make sense for that to take out Vapor, given her powers .

Vapor and X-Ray were really holding back their powers.

Truman Marsh? Wasn't he like the warden of the Vault at some point? And now he's suddenly the government liaison with The Avengers and acting more like Henry Gyrich when he had that job? Weird. Not really much to say about him other then he's your stereotypical obstructive bureaucrat who makes the government look like a bunch of ungrateful pencil-pushers .

Yeah, Gyrich at least has flavors and personality to him. Marsh was just so flat. I hope there's something more to him because if there's not, I really hope he doesn't become a recurring character.

And I'm as surprised as I was in the movies that The Avengers have apparently never had any kind of liaison with the government at this point, given al lthe work they do. I mean, I guess it makes sense in the cartoons since they're not the type really care about that kind of depth in terms of The Avengers' autonomy or lack there of, but I always just assumed Fury and SHIELD (and by extension Black Widow) served that role .

I did too. There was something of an implication in both this show and Ultimate Spider-Man that SHIELD's training, and later academy, program was a pipeline for the Avengers. Maybe I was wrong, but that's how it looked.

I wonder if Ultron's role in this season will seem less scattershot and arbitrary at the end.

 

[Troy Troodon]

Here's Truman Mash in a nutshell: "I'm some snooty government strawman, and I bring everybody down by asserting my delusions of granger and belittling others to do things I'm gonna tarnish them for anyway because I'm so snooty that's practically my only factor as a character. Snooty-Booboo Be-Boobo."

Honestly, even if they are going to incorporate some government superhero act like in Civil War, could they at least have gotten Fury himself on board, or some other government representative who is NOT a strawman?! I get we have problems with the government but that doesn't mean we should always make them look like the bad guys. You can have someone be stern and high-strung, but not to this sheer impotence and idiocy. Truman Mash is just being a typical, annoying, hate sinked jerk for no good reason, other than for the sake of being stereotypical, annoying, bland, stupid, angry, hate-filled jerk.

Other than that, I did dig the voice acting for the U-Foes. I'm fairly certain that was David Kaye as the lead. Which is awesome as usual. ^^

 

[Frontier]

Even if they couldn't use Gyrich, for whatever reason, they could've used Maria Hill. She at least has a history of being an obstructive jerk to Superheroes and supporting government control over them, is recognizable thanks to the MCU, and at least her aggressiveness would be far preferable to how forgettable Marsh is .

I did too. There was something of an implication in both this show and Ultimate Spider-Man that SHIELD's training, and later academy, program was a pipeline for the Avengers. Maybe I was wrong, but that's how it looked.

That's what Fury made it sound like to Peter, but then again MAU Fury is kind of a jerk, so he could've been lying .

Now that I think about it, Ultimate Spider-Man is kind of a foreshadowing of government control and regulation over Superheroes ...

I wonder if Ultron's role in this season will seem less scattershot and arbitrary at the end.

At this point, any appearance from Ultron is just going to feel pretty random .

 

[ChessKing]

What a world we live in that we can get a whole episode based around an evil version of the Fantastic Four, right down to the same exact origin, but we can't even get a small appearance by the team in any show, let alone a mention of them and how much the U-Foes are mimicking them. All we can get is one of the U-Foes saying "fantastic" during the launch, which felt like pouring salt over the wound ..

The Fantastic Four did appear in an episode of Hulk and the agents of S.M.A.S.H. when they teamed up with Hulk against the Toad Men/Tribitites.

 

[Frontier]

The Fantastic Four did appear in an episode of Hulk and the agents of S.M.A.S.H. when they teamed up with Hulk against the Toad Men/Tribitites.

True, though that was a very small appearance and outside of that we haven't seen so much as a mention or cameo from the FF in any other Marvel cartoon .

Thing used to show up in other shows too, but that stopped around the same time as the Wolverine guest appearances did .

 

[TheLemsterPju]

True, though that was a very small appearance and outside of that we haven't seen so much as a mention or cameo from the FF in any other Marvel cartoon .

The Fantastic Four were mentioned in "Planet Doom", and the "Guardians of the Galaxy" episode in USM Season 2.

 

[Frontier]

The Fantastic Four were mentioned in "Planet Doom", and the "Guardians of the Galaxy" episode in USM Season 2.

Ah, okay .

Still very minor in the grand scheme of things, and back when the embargo's weren't as stringent as they are now, because Ben and Wolverine were still making occasional guest appearances.

 

[Gold Guy]

I like team vs team episodes in my superhero cartoons, so that was a big plus for me. The U-Team's powers were showcased well here.

But as Frontier pointed out, the climax was not only lame, but potentially plot-hole filled. Why would knock-out gas effect a character who can turn into that gas? Or someone who can literally become energy? Eh, whatever.

 

[Dustellar]

Defeat Vapor with knock-out gas it's like defeat Hydro-Man with water...

 

[Manhunter]

Never have I wished for a character to be a HYDRA mole as much as I do Truman Marsh.

 

[Troy Troodon]

Never have I wished for a character to be a HYDRA mole as much as I do Truman Marsh.

You know, if he was in cahoots with the bad guys the whole time that would make a heck of a lot more sense.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Here's the cast list for the episode:

Spoiler

 

[Troy Troodon]

So, Vector is NOT David Kaye... oops.

 

[ChessKing]

In the comics Truman Marsh was the administrator of the Vault Prison. He vowed to never let any inmate escape no matter what the cost.
He only appeared in 2 issues, Venom killed him by tossing him into a pool of Radiation.

 

[Frontier]

They must not have very big or meaningful plans for the team's liaison if their pick for that role is such a minor and obscure character who's entire life in comics can basically be summed up as "Venom Victim #627" .

 

[TheVileOne]

I enjoyed that we got some callbacks to Agents of SMASH with Vista Verde and a Red Hulk appearance. I was kind of wondering what happened to the Agents of SMASH since there is a sort of loose continuity of sorts with all these shows. I can only assume that the Agents of SMASH went their separate ways at some point. They were still together technically during the Contest of Champions.

The embargo was always clunky, but between this and keeping Gyrich off the show, I don't know. It'd be hilarious if this was some passive-aggressive boundary testing on the part of the writers that the hire ups didn't pick up on.

I'm not so sure about that. The U-Foes were pretty much as they were in the comics here. They were basically the anti-Fantastic Four, and their origin was very similar. They did a space flight designed to recreate the incident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. Hulk was involved as well.

 

[Frontier]

I'm not so sure about that. The U-Foes were pretty much as they were in the comics here. They were basically the anti-Fantastic Four, and their origin was very similar. They did a space flight designed to recreate the incident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. Hulk was involved as well.

It's just jarring to see characters so reflective of the FF be central to this episode when the FF have been so marginalized and downright nonexistent in the current cartoons.

And having one of them say "fantastic" during the experiment can't have been anything but deliberate