REVIEW -- Avengers Assemble - Episode 3: Ghost of a Chance

Avengers Assemble returns to Disney XD with the first continuation of the series after their 1-hour premiere last month, in the form of this week's episode, dubbed "Ghost of A Chance".

Disney XD had a repeat of their Marvel Comics' animation block around midnight last night, so I figured "Why not?" and watch this to see if this show is going to get any better from the initial impressions that I got from it.

The Plot: 

The episode opens with Falcon flying through the city while carrying a box. Iron Man shows up and pesters him about the box's contents. When Falcon refuses to tell him, Iron Man repeatedly takes and drops the box to watch Falcon dive to retrieve it each time. When they land, Falcon admits to being nervous about his first official day as an Avenger and is afraid he'll be late. After walking into the Avengers' meeting he opens the box to reveal cookies baked by his mother. The rest of the Avengers, minus Hawkeye, Iron Man and Captain America, fight over the cookies.

Iron Man and Falcon run into Hawkeye who questions Falcon's identity. Iron Man assumes he's in a bad mood, but the real Hawkeye is trapped in the wall like a ghost. Thor is the next victim of being replaced by ghost-like creatures and trapped in a portal to their world. During a sparring match with Falcon, Captain America faces the same ghostly fate and attacks him. Falcon realizes something's wrong and goes to find out what. Soon, he and Iron Man are the only ones left to fend off these copies of their teammates and investigate how they got there. Eventually Iron Man falls victim to them as well and it's all up to Falcon.

These ghosts came to get rid of the Avengers since they were the biggest threat in Earth's dimension. Their goal is to free their "brethren" from the portal now being guarded by the fallen Avengers. Falcon tries to destroy the portal, but is warned by his enemy that he will trap his friends in their new prison. Meanwhile, the Avengers take to destroying these creatures and keep them from getting through the portal once the fake Hulk breaks through from the other side. After being seemingly defeated, The Falcon creates a vortex that sends the false Avengers into the middle of the battle on the other side of the portal. They and the rest of their kind are defeated and the portal destroyed. -- via Wikipedia

The Verdict: 

To make a long story short, this episode pretty much serves as that inevitable episode that comes along in a bulk of these superhero cartoons where the creators have to prove to everyone why the lamest member on the team is actually pulling his weight among the rest of the team. We saw it back in the '90s with Jubilee (X-Men), Ma-Ti (Captain Planet and the Planeteers), Voodoo (WildCATs), and even before that with the Wonder Twins (Superfriends). I guess they are trying to get the campy stuff out of the way first for they can focus on the start of Red Skull's recruitment for the Cabal on the next episode, which is going to debut Doctor Doom in this series. 

The Falcon did himself no favors on this episode. He comes off as annoying and idiotic as Reptil on Super Hero Squad. Don't look at me like that... That show has it's moments... Any Marvel Comics-related show that can reference Screaming Mimi gets some cool points from me. If I may add, Falcon was cooler on that show than this and that's just sad. 

Let's get back on topic... I don't care what kind of superhero you are, but your mom doesn't need to be making the rest of your teammates cookies for your first day. That sounds like something that would have you laughed off the team instantly. I will admit that I did enjoy seeing the other Avengers fighting over the cookies though. 

That being said, it's really hard to take show serious where there a TON of bad one-liners and cringe-worthy puns thrown around every corner. This show literally transforms the Avengers into a group of college frat boys (plus one girl with Black Widow around...) as they seem to take next to nothing seriously. 

"Ghost of A Chance" was The Falcon's time to shine, but it wasn't worth the detour at the cost of further developments to the Cabal storyline, which is completely absent in this episode. I'm giving this episode a 1 out of 5.