This past weekend's episode of
Ultimate Spider-Man introduced the
Guardians of the Galaxy to the shared Marvel Universe. I know you guys are going,
"What? You're still watching this crap?" I'm still not too fond of this show, but when I saw the teaser commercials for this episode, I had to see how they were going to portray the Guardians in this series.
Episode Synopsis: (Full Spoilers below)
Peter and Sam are playing a spaced based video game when they are interrupted by Aunt May who tell them they need to do their homework and Peter had to take the trash out, Sam used that moment to make a swift exit. While Peter was struggling to get a trash bag into the can he heard a rustle and a strange squeaking sound, when he opened the nearby can he saw two read glowing eyes. The creature leaps out revealing itself to a talking Raccoon with a giant laser gun, who threatened Peter. After a brief scuffle they are stopped by Sam revealing the the creature is Rocket Raccoon his old mentor and allies. Rocket told Sam they have a mission to save his old team and he puts on his Nova armor. As they prepare to telelport away, and Sam says goodbye, Peter jumps into the light and is teleported with them.
Rocket Raccoon and Nova have no time to send Peter back head out on the mission as Spider-Man puts on his costume. When Rocket Raccoon's ship is pulled into the Chitauri ship, Rocket fakes surrender so that they can free the captive Guardians of the Galaxy members. Nova introduces the team in mid battle; Peter Quill alias the Starlord half earthling half alien royalty armed with his amazing Element Gun, Drax the Destroyer loose canon great fighter, Gamora is widely known at the most dangerous woman in the universe and killed in the use of every weapon, Rocket Raccoon he is like if Wolverine was a master strategist Raccoon with a laser gun and rocket pack. But he is not actually a Raccoon his alien species just resemble the Earth Raccoon and Groot is a sentient alien plant who spends most of his time within a pot of soil, and state "I am Groot". After a brief battle they take down the Chitauri troops with relative ease. The leader of the Chitauri reveals himself, a galactic Warlord known as Korvac.
Afterwards, Spider-Man discovers that the Chitauri are planning to destroy the Earth as it is home to many heroes such as the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Doctor Strange, the Hulk, Howard the Duck and Devil Dinosaur. The Guardians plan to run the Chitauri ship into the sun while fighting the Chitauri forces. When their tactic does not work, the Guardians end up making their way towards the Dark Matter Cannon. While Nova and Spider-Man head to the Dark Matter Cannon, the Guardians fight the Chitauri and Korvac. Spider-Man is told by Rocket Raccoon to throw Groot as Korvac much to his confusion, but he does and Groot grows into a giant humanoid tree and begins to smash Korvac. After Korvac is defeated by Groot, Nova destroys the Dark Matter Cannon and the Chitauri ship is destroyed. Nova says his goodbye to Spider-Man who decides to stay with his old team and sends him back to earth where he heads home for some sleep. At a rooftop Spider-Man meets the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Trainees to inform them of Nova leaving the team and how amazing he was in space. As he was saying this Nova appeared behind him mocking him, it is revealed he stayed as someone will need to protect earth.
The Verdict:
If I am perfectly honest here, I was surprised that the Guardians of the Galaxy appeared in this series this early in its run. At the same time, I loved their character models, save for Rocket Raccoon's that looked like he caught rabies before the episode started. This iteration still doesn't top the iteration that was showcased in
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' last season. Instead, this version of the Guardians of the Galaxy mirrors the team roster set to appear in the upcoming live-action film. That should come to be no surprise as Marvel and Disney are using both this show and
Avengers Assembled to groom audiences into recognizing these characters before they appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This is Nova's most serious episode out of the entire series to date, as we get the sense that the Guardians are his family, much like the episode of
Teen Titans when Beast Boy was reunited with the Doom Patrol in the wake of the incoming threat of the Brotherhood of Evil. I wish they would give Nova his own episode that explains his backstory and origins, much like White Tiger's during the team's first encounter with Kraven the Hunter in this series.
This version of Korvac (voiced by James Marsters) is dumbed down significantly than the versions portrayed in the comics. I found this to be quite the letdown as
EMH put so much effort into his story when the Guardians of the Galaxy made a guest appearance on that show. Here, it's just another half-assed villain tossed into the mix that you will easily forget about by the time the next episode rolls around. I don't get how Man of Action could do such a great job with establishing the villains in the
Ben 10 and
Generator Rex universes, but failing to make them click in this series.
This episode has another soft spot in my heart as it is officially the last animated cartoon that Michael Clarke Duncan graced his voice acting talents to before his untimely demise last year. He voices Groot in this episode.
The best part of this episode is how they gave the impression that Nova was leaving the team of
Spider-Friends (Yes, that's what I'm calling Spidey's team of allies in this series) to rejoin the Guardians of the Galaxy, where he really belongs. During this entire "good-bye" moment, the only thing I could think of was that
"Great, now if only Spidey can get rid of the other three losers and maybe this show may have hope in the future..." Just to kill my buzz, they pull the swerve and Nova is sticking around after all. Way to go Marvel, if only you could get rid of these losers, yet you don't have the balls to pull it off. This show would be a bit more bearable if Spidey is on his own.
As a result, this episode continues the trend of mediocrity that's has become the norm in this series that wasn't even saved by the debut of Ultimate Deadpool (voiced by Will Friedle) in Episode 16. It's a shame too as the cosmic realm is one of my personal favorite sections of the Marvel Universe. I'm sad to say that the Guardians of the Galaxy didn't provide anything new nor awe-inspiring to
Ultimate Spider-Man. I give this episode a
2.75 out of 5.
Post a Comment