Marvel Animated Features (Part 2): Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise Of The Panther

Hello, my friends.  It’s been a long while since the first entry, but this particular set of reviews has returned.  Welcome back to the the series known as…

Even though Earth’s mightiest heroes managed to save New York City from an alien invasion, the fight is not over yet.  It’s time to assemble one more time as we dig into…

Originally released on August 8, 2006, this film serves as the sequel to the first “Ultimate Avengers” film.  To see what happened in the inaugural entry, click the link to get all of the details.  In the meantime, let’s check out a savage battle from a not-so-savage city.

We open in the dark continent of Africa and in particular, the hidden city of Wakanda.  The citizens have gathered in front of the palace as their king T’Chaka (voiced by Dave Fennoy) announces that his son Prince T’Challa (voiced by Jeffery D. Sams) has returned from his travels.  However, the celebration is short-lived as two Wakandan citizens try to make it back to their city only to be attacked by a few Chitauri aliens.

As such, T’Chaka prepares for battle.  T’Challa and Nakinda (voiced by Susan Dalian) warn their king that he hasn’t fully recovered from prior attacks.  However, T’Chaka will have none of it as he ultimately heads out to protect his city and people.

Dressed up as the Black Panther, T’Chaka easily mows down the opposing Chitarui aliens.  However, he’s suddenly stabbed through the shoulder by a historic foe named Herr Kleiser (voiced by Jim Ward).  Having survived his defeat in World War II, he proceeds to continually stab T’Chaka.

Just then, T’Challa runs in to see how his father is doing, giving Kleiser the opportunity to permanently wipe out the royal bloodline.  In a last ditch effort, T’Chaka unleashes the Black Panther’s hidden strength as he lunges at his foe and proceeds to fall off a cliff with him.  Not only is T’Challa dismayed to see his father dead, but Kleiser manages to get up from the attack and make his retreat as the prince of Wakanda cries out to the heavens for the tragedy at hand.

Following the opening credits, we cut to the next day where the city of Wakanda is having a funeral procession for the newly-deceased king before ultimately laying T’Chaka to rest in the royal tomb.  Afterwards, Nakinda leads King T’Challa to his father’s secret room called the Eye of Kings.  After spending some time checking out the vicinity, he discovers a series of newspapers that not only mentions Kleiser, but also the hero that originally took him down.

We then cut to a warehouse where Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America (voiced by Justin Gross) is pinned behind a pile of boxes as several Hydra agents are firing away while also attempting to steal some valuable goods.  Cap manages to save a small group of tied-up scientists during the fracas as he proceeds to fight off the opposing figures.

The remaining Hydra agents attempt to escape with their stolen goods, but Captain America throws his shield at the fleeing van as it smashes right through the vehicle and causes it to crash into a storage tank.  It turns out that it contained a highly toxic chemical as it pours right onto the van and melts both it & the Hydra agents.  Cap then discovers S.H.I.E.L.D. agents making their entrance as they’re led by Natalia Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow (voiced by Olivia d’Abo).  However, they soon discover that the fight has ended as they proceed to disengage.

While the remaining Hydra agents are being placed under arrest, we discover that Captain America was supposed to have gone on the mission alongside back-up.  Black Widow tries to tell him that he can’t continually fill the void in his life with this constant recklessness since it would ultimately do him in, but Cap doesn’t accept her pity as he boards a plane and takes off for homebase.

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Steve is confronted by Nick Fury (voiced by Andre Ware) who was informed by Black Widow of the situation.  After getting dismissed from an upcoming mission alongside Bravo Team and ordered to get some much-needed rest, Fury wants to know why Steve has been avoiding a personal life.  Natalia believes that if Cap does cool down, then he would get closer to a normal life but ultimately fear that it would be tragically taken away from him yet again.  In the end, Fury tells him to move on with his life as Steve takes his leave.

We then cut to a specific holding cell where Dr. Bruce Banner (voiced by Michael Massee) is imprisoned for fighting his teammates as the Hulk during the previous film’s climactic battle.  Due to an impending trail, he’s ordered by Dr. Oiler (voiced by Luke Skywalker & the Joker himself, Mark Hamill) to find out when and why he thrashed out against his fellow colleagues.  Despite Bruce doing his best to cooperate, Oiler keeps intentionally pestering him by saying that Banner’s not elaborating his answers enough.  We find out that these two have some history with each other, since it turns out that Bruce bested his workmate for a spot on the SSP Team.  As such, Oiler keeps denying his requests to see Betty and ends the scene by ordering another labmate to pump a small dose of a powerful sedative into the cell.

Later, we find Captain America trying to sleep in his personal quarters.  During his rest, he dreams back to various intense moments of his past: Getting his superhuman abilities in the Super-Solider program, reliving his final mission during World War II & ending up frozen in ice, getting thawed out in modern times and ultimately seeing the graves of his former war mates.  He wakes up in time to see Black Panther sneaking into his room as he proceeds to defend himself and ultimately throws him through a window before jumping out after him.

After they both reach ground level, they’re quickly surrounded by numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.  Nick Fury emerges from the crowd and tells Steve whom he was fighting before telling his squad to stand down and return to base.  Black Panther proceeds to inform our heroes about the death of his father that made him the new King of Wakanda and ends up surprising them when he reveals that Kleiser killed his dad.  Fury suggests for the Avengers to help out, but Black Panther, even as the King of Wakanda, isn’t willing to drop his nation’s age-old law of having all outsiders be forbidden.  As such, he takes his leave back to his homeland.  From there, the scene ends with Fury giving the call to assemble.

We then cut to the following day over at Pym Industries in Brooklyn where Hank Pym a.k.a. Giant Man (voiced by Nolan North) is experimenting on himself by seeing how tall he can grow.  Observing him in action alongside a small group of scientists is his wife Janet Pym a.k.a. Wasp (voiced by Grey DeLisle-Griffin).  However, Hank’s body starts to give out on him once he reaches 60 feet.  As such, Janet gives the order to terminate the experiment as Giant Man is in the process of being slowly brought down to his original height.  However, Hank gets irate at his wife for bringing two months worth of experimentation to an end.  Wasp tries suggesting that they get to work on his mass reduction, but Giant Man refuses to go back to his Ant-Man past.  As such, he storms out of the room just as Janet gets the call from Fury.

We then cut to Mount Everest where Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man (voiced by Marc Worden) is doing some mountain climbing alongside his company’s vice-presidents.  Just as he receives a call from his butler Edwin Jarvis (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), his personal life support system starts to fail on him.  After he quickly manages to replace a dying battery with a new one, he hears about Fury’s call to assemble.  After relaying a message that he’ll arrive when he can, the scene ends with Tony starting to climb back down alongside his corporate partners.

We then have a quick scene where the Thunder God himself Thor (voiced by David Boat) is performing a mystical practice.  Suddenly, he receives a horrific vision that shows his fellow teammates as dead corpses across a battlefield.

Back at the Triskelion (S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters), Prof. Betty Ross (voiced by Nan McNamara) and a crew of scientists are gathering up the remains of a Chitauri spaceship that the Avengers took care of last time, especially since its frame work was made up of a nearly-indestructible alien metal called vibranium.  However, that same material has suddenly become brittle and easily falls apart as Betty wonders how that’s even possible.  Just then, the Pyms and Iron Man arrive as they make their way towards the war room.

Meanwhile, Betty finally goes to see Bruce at his containment cell.  However, she tells him that the Chitauri aliens are still out there despite defeating them last time.  She also tells him about how the remains of the vibranium hull have now started to weaken, but they don’t know why.  Bruce wants to see a piece for himself, but Betty is unable to accept his request since his recent Hulk actions have made everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. lose trust with him.

With every single Avenger gathered in the war room, Fury proceeds to inform them about Herr Kleiser: a Nazi director who’s actually a Chitauri alien and a shape-shifter.  He also survived his ordeal with Captain America during their final battle in World War II and has since assassinated the former King of Wakanda.  The African nation itself is protected so well that neither satellite surveillance nor undercover work has gotten visuals on what the village looks like.  Despite Steve wanting to do this mission by himself, Fury has made this a team effort in order to find out what Kleiser is up to in Wakanda.  Not only that, but he also selects Black Widow as the field leader for the upcoming mission since Cap is carrying too much of an emotional grudge.

We then have a quick scene where Herr Kleiser contacts the Chitauri mothership as they prepare to invade Wakanda in order to obtain a certain meteorite.

Meanwhile, King T’Challa is visiting his father’s grave over at the royal tomb.  He then flashes back to his youth where we find out why he spent some time away from Wakanda.  It turns out that T’Chaka sent him to get some proper education against the wishes of the village elders since he wants T’Challa to better understand the outside world in order to bring some necessary change to the city.

Shortly afterwards, the Avengers arrive in their S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft as Black Widow proceeds to tell her teammates what to do.  She orders them to head towards Wakanda while in a 20-meter spread while Wasp takes to the canopy in order to make sure that no one impedes their progress.

As they make their way through the jungle, Iron Man tells Captain America about how he admired him while growing up for his willingness to make the self-sacrificial act since Tony has been more for the glory, to which Cap tells him that he won’t know “until the times comes”.  From there, they split up.  While making his way through the trees, he flashes back to World War II where he sees some of his fellow troops getting killed by Kleiser.  Cap tries to attack, but is shot multiple times before his foe escapes.  Thankfully, his super-enhanced figure is able to withstand the gunfire.  Sometime later, Kleiser is on a train as he makes his escape.  Just then, Cap activates a bomb, places it in his backpack full of explosives and throws it on top of the rail car just as it enters a tunnel.  The device proceeds to detonate and cause the entryway to collapse.

The flashback concludes as Captain America is confronted by Black Panther who demands him to leave immediately.  Just then, Black Widow and the rest of the Avengers arrive wanting some answers.  Cap says that their enemy is one and the same, since he’s killed innocent people that they’ve known.  Black Panther ultimately agrees to help, but only if Captain America comes with him alone while everyone else heads back to their plane.

As night falls, Black Panther and Captain America sneak their way into Wakanda.  They ultimately come across the city’s big secret: a former Chitauri spaceship.  It turns out that it was shot down back in 1942 by the same natives.  Cap wonders how that was possible given the vibranium hull as he’s led towards a true surprise.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Avengers are making their way back to their plane.  Suddenly, they find themselves under attack by the Wakandan hunters as loads of spears are thrown their way.  Fortunately, our heroes are more than able to defend themselves.

Back in Wakanda, Black Panther and Captain America arrive in the Hall of Kings where T’Challa shows Steve the tomb of his grandfather Azzari the Wise.  During a flashback, it was during his rule as King that he and his people first met Herr Kleiser.  What was originally going to be peace talks turned out to be a ruse as the Chitauri aliens only wanted the city’s main lifeline called the Heart of Wakanda.  The natives ultimately prevailed, but the experience led to the eternal rule of making all outsiders forbidden to their city.  Black Panther doesn’t know what Kleiser is planning, but says that he’ll fight back no matter what.

Suddenly, Nakinda arrives to inform T’Challa about what’s happening outside their home.  She’s shocked to see an outsider within the sacred walls and runs off to inform the elders.  Black Panther easily deduces what she was originally going to tell him.

Meanwhile, the Avengers continue to fight the Wakandan hunters.  However, the natives manage to turn the table with their resourcefulness as Giant Man is pelted with a barrage of arrows.  After a while, he feels woozy and falls unconscious.  After Wasp saves him from the Wakandans, Iron Man goes after the natives.  However, a well-aimed spear completely destroys his arm-mounted gun before a giant log swings in and slams into Tony, causing some damage to his armor.  Black Panther manages to arrive and bring the fight to an end.  Wasp arrives to inform our heroes that Giant Man has been poisoned, since it turns out that the arrows were laced.  Black Panther promises to give them an antidote, but only if they take their leave immediately.

With an antidote in hand, the Avengers proceed to board their plane.  Black Widow contacts Fury and asks to regroup with additional forces, but he’ll have none of it unless they’re forced to fight there and orders for them to return to base.  Upon learning that Betty has requested his presence for something important, Fury also finds out that his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents haven’t been able to contact a certain Thunder God yet.

We then cut to Thor where he proceeds to contact his father in order to find out the meaning behind his recent vision of death.  He’s then shown a glimpse into space where he sees the Chitauri mothership approaching Earth.  Thor decides to go warn his fellow Avengers about the impending craft, but his father Odin (voiced by “Howling Mad” Murdock himself, Dwight Schultz) forbids his son’s actions due to Earth/Midgard having “turned its back on the Gods” and orders for him to return to Asgard.  However, Thor’s feelings for the humans gives him the need to go aid them against the impending crisis.

Over at the Triskelion, Fury arrives to see what Betty Ross has discovered.  She explains that each Chitauri spaceship had a piece of vibranium that was denser than before.  Since the metal already absorbs energy, they think that the particular cube is what serves as a power source.  Using goggles, Betty shows what happens when she tries to tap into the small object.  It proceeds to overload and wipe out the nearby mechanical arms before leaving the test area in shambles.  Fury wonders if the cube has any connection to the suddenly-brittle hull, but Betty doubts it.  However, she does say that there seems to be a concentrated area of the spaceship that could provide them with some much-needed answers.

We then have a quick scene at the holding cell where Bruce continues to watch footage from his last outrage as the Hulk.  After close examination, he finally comes across something very important and wants to tell Betty about it.  However, Dr. Oiler is being purposly difficult and just pumps more sedative into the cell, even though a lab assistant points out that he was unleashing a fairly unsafe level.

Back in Africa, the Avengers’ jet prepares to take its leave back to headquarters.  Suddenly, Captain America picks up a lone Chitauri alien on the ground that’s making its way towards Wakanda.  Defying Black Widow’s orders, he bolts to the mini-plane and manages to escape in time.

As Natalia returns to the bridge and orders to turn the jet around in order to bring Cap back, a fully-healed Giant Man tells her to just leave him behind.  Appalled by what her husband just said, Wasp berates Hank for his flaming ego and that she’s done sticking up for him.

Back in Wakanda, T’Challa is chastised by the royal elders for bringing an outsider into their city.  As such, he’s ultimately stripped of his kingship while the elders assume command.  Shortly after T’Challa takes his leave, he notices a Chitauri alien within striking distance as he springs into action as the Black Panther.

As Captain America searches through the jungle for his target, he suddenly finds Black Panther having already arrived and beating up the otherworldly foe.  With the both of them wanting information, T’Challa suggests that they bring the Chitauri alien back to S.H.I.E.L.D. provided that he gets to come along as well, to which Cap agrees.

Over at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Fury and company discover that the Avengers’ jet is returning to Wakanda against his orders. Suddenly, Thor teleports in and warns them about the Chitauri invasion that’s on its way to Earth.  As such, S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites are able to confirm that the mothership is bearing down on them.

Back in Africa, Captain America and Black Panther fly back to the Avengers’ jet with their captured Chitauri alien in hand.  Cap tells his teammates that he wants to interrogate the hostile foe, but Black Widow berates him by saying that his action is going to put the team’s safety in jeopardy.

Unfortunately, she turns out to be right since Herr Kleiser was disguised as the Black Panther as he and the Chitauri alien unleash their surprise attack.  The Avengers try their best to defend themselves, yet Wasp gets hit and is knocked out cold.  Cap throws his shield and cuts off the alien’s arm, but Kleiser also manages to take it in his possession as he and the Chitauri alien manage to escape.

Upon reaching the smaller plane and taking off, Kleiser orders the mothership to strike back.  As such, it fires a powerful beam that viciously hits the jet.  With the Avengers’ aircraft imploding all around them, Iron Man uses his suit to create a force field around his teammates.  On the ground, the real Black Panther can only watch in horror as the jet proceeds to explode.

Fortunately, Thor was watching this event unfold alongside Fury and company.  As such, he managed to teleport the Avengers back to headquarters and save them from the foreshadowed death vision.  Shortly afterwards, Giant Man proceeds to carry his unconscious wife to the infirmary.

However, there’s little time for our heroes to rest as the Chitauri mothership has already arrived in orbit and proceeds to cast out an energy field around the entire planet.

Over at Stark Enterprises in New York City, Tony’s butler Jarvis sees the growing crisis covered by multiple news sources.  He then proceeds into a hidden chamber where Stark has already arrived as he removes his Iron Man armor.  Upon doing so, he walks alongside Jarvis to pick out the appropriate suit to wear against the Chitauri.  In the end, he comes across and selects the War Machine armor.

Back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Betty pays Bruce a visit in order to find out what he’s been wanting to tell her.  He explains that the reason the Hulk was able to smash through the vibranium hull of a Chitauri spaceship was because of his gamma make-up.  Because it was radiating gamma during its strikes, the hull ended up becoming very brittle.  Thus, it’s Gamma that can penetrate vibranium armor.  Bruce mentions that he has a small Gamma Generator in his lab, but he’s not allowed to conduct experiments due to his recent actions.

Over in the infirmary, Hank sits beside his unconscious wife as she lies in a coma.  He promises to make things right before Captain America comes in to offer his sympathy.  However, a grief-stricken Giant Man blames Cap for his wife’s belief in Steve being the cause of her condition and angrily tells him to leave.

Meanwhile, the Chitauri forces begin their invasion as several aliens land on the ground and proceed to march towards Wakanda.

Fortunately, the African city proves to be more than capable of defending itself as the giant structures reveal their hidden turrets and manage to blast away at the approaching Chitauri forces.

Deep within Wakanda, the citizens are using the downed Chitauri ship to power their defense system as the Head Elder proves to T’Challa that they can guard their home without the need for outside help.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world continues to get pummeled by the Chitauri forces as their own defenses prove to be unable to even slow down the ever-growing menace.  As such, T’Challa sneaks away in order to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. for help.  He explains why the Chitauri wants to invade his homeland: to take their plentiful supply of vibranium.  It turns out that a meteorite fell a long time ago and it supplied Wakanda with a seemingly limitless supply of the particular metal, allowing them to forge numerous weapons out of the unearthly material.  Just then, the Head Elder arrives and throws a spear which strikes the computer and knocks out T’Challa’s communication.  He’s berated again for going against his city’s age-old rule, but T’Challa grabs his outfit and says that if they don’t have help, then Wakanda will fall.

Outside, the monument’s turrets shoot down another Chitauri spaceship.  However, it ends up crashing into the city’s outer walls.  Meanwhile, Herr Kleiser is leading some Chitauri troops towards the city.  Using binoculars, he discovers the age-old ship that Wakanda used to power their defense system.  As such, he orders the mothership to destroy it.  Upon doing so, the turrets shut down and leave the city completely defenseless.

Fortunately, Thor teleports in alongside the rest of the Avengers.  Black Panther is relieved to see that his new friends are alive & well.  However, they’re spotted by Kleiser who proceeds to unleash his troops upon them.

Fortunately, our heroes are able to fend off the initial wave and even save the Wakandans from several opposing troops.

Meanwhile, Herr Kleiser sees Captain America and proceeds to engage.  Still posessing Cap’s shield, he throws it at him in order to attack.  However, Steve manages to catch his iconic weapon and knocks Kleiser off of a cliff as he goes after his hated foe.

Back in New York City, another group of Chitauri aliens begin their invansion.  Janet manages to wake up in time from her coma while Betty Ross acquires Bruce’s Gamma Generator and quickly makes a successful test before running off to join the fight.  Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s forces are unable to stop the growing Chitauri menace from reaching their headquarters.

Janet manages to get into her superhero outfit before an alien manages to break into her room.  Fortunately, she manages to shrink down and evade her attacker before shooting the floor around it, causing it to fall.  Afterwards, Wasp and Betty run into each other as they proceed to team up.

Meanwhile, more Chitauri aliens manage to reach Bruce’s holding cell.  However, their attacks are unable to break through the thick wall.  As such, they capture Dr. Oiler and demand that he opens the cell.  However, that kind of security clearance is only allowed by Nick Fury.  As such, Dr. Oiler compromises by saying that he can kill their target.  As such, he starts pumping very lethal amounts of sedative into the cell before he’s blasted out of existence.

Just then, our two heroines arrive as Betty shoots at the Chitauri aliens with the Gamma Generator.  This creates enough of an opening in their armor for Wasp to use her stingers and blast at their vulnerable innards.

Afterwards, Betty turns on the vents in order to pump out the harmful sedative from Bruce’s cell.  Relieved in knowing that his invention works, Banner uses his last breath to tell her to go to Africa and get his device to Fury.  Without the strength he needs to transform into the Hulk, Bruce ends up succumbing to his illness.  With no time to spare, Betty and Janet make their way to another aircraft and take off for the dark continent.  On the way, they contact Black Widow to let her know of their plan.

Meanwhile, the battle of Wakanda continues as Kleiser manages to grab the severed arm of another Chitauri alien, absorbs it into himself and blasts Captain America into unconsciousness.  Fortunately, Black Panther manages to save him by firing his claw-needles into their foe.  However, Kleiser absorbs the projectiles and fires them right back at T’Challa, stunning him in the process.

Meanwhile, Black Widow sees our two heroines arriving to join the fight.  After she meets up with the Wakandans, they proceed to use catapults in order to strike down the opposing walkers while using bows & arrows and spears to slay the ground forces in order for the jet to come in and safely land.

Upon her arrival, Betty proceeds to hook up the Gamma Generator onto an already-informed War Machine.

Just as Wasp steps down onto Wakandan soil, Giant Man embraces his wife as he’s relieved to see her up and walking again.  However, Janet just calmly tells him that she’s fine in a tone that lets him know that she hasn’t forgotten his earlier moment of prickness.

Betty tells War Machine that once he’s inside the mothership, he should make his way towards the vibranium power core in order to use the Gamma Generator.  Tony says that the only thing that can get in his way is the main cannon that serves as its primary line of defense.  Thor arrives and says that he’ll take care of that particular problem.  Just then, Hank comes in and tells Tony that he’s going to need someone to watch his back while inside.  Upon him saying that he can make room, Wasp warns him that his body will be unable to withstand the small size.  After ensuring her that he’ll be fine, he proceeds to shrink down and prep for battle.

As such, our heroes take to the skies in order to put a permanent end to the Chitauri menace.  Thor manages to use his hammer (Mjolnir) to swat away at the shots from the main cannon while War Machine uses the Gamma Generator to weaken the hull in order to blast open an entryway with some shoulder missiles.  Shortly after they make their way inside, the main cannon finally catches up to Thor as it manages to blast the Thunder God into unconsciousness.

As Tony and Hank make their way to the Power Core, they come across more Chitauri aliens.  Fortunately, War Machine is able to use his missiles and shoulder gun to fend off their attackers.

Meanwhile, Captain America wakes up in time and manages to save T’Challa.  After Steve uses his shield to slice off his foe’s arm, Kleiser strikes back by stabbing the Super-Soldier.  Black Panther helps Cap return the favor by unleashing his inner power and proceeds to rip his foe to shreds.

However, Kleiser manages to bring himself back together.  Not only that, but he proceeds to reveal his actual form.  The scene ends with Black Panther telling Captain America on how they’ll proceed to attack.

Back in New York City, the Chitauri invasion continues its assault.  However, it turns out that Banner did survive as he ends up becoming the Hulk (also voiced by Fred Tatasciore) and proceeds to break out of his holding cell in order to fight the invading forces.

Back in Wakanda, our two heroes put their plan to work as Black Panther lures Herr Kleiser to a certain spot before Captain America knocks him down a steep hole.  It turns out to be a storage facility full of unrefined vibranium as Kleiser ends up falling into the substance.  Our heroes then proceed to flood the entire chamber with even more vibranium.  In the end, the constant stream is too much for Herr Kleiser who finally meets his end by sinking into the mineral as it proceeds to harden around him.

Meanwhile, Tony and Hank manage to arrive within striking distance of the Power Core.  With one last armada of Chitauri aliens approaching, Giant Man tell War Machine to take care of his objective while he fends off the attack.  Hank proceeds to get bombarded with enemy fire while he rips apart the floor in order to deal with some of the aliens.  Meanwhile, Tony arrives at the Power Core and proceeds to blast away at it with the Gamma Generator.  After a while, the device run out of power.  As such, he discards the generator and throws it into the core.  Suddenly, it starts to overload.

The initial explosion manages to give Giant Man and War Machine the push they need to make it off of the Chitauri mothership.  However, another explosion knocks out Hank.  With Tony trapped in a tight grip while he and his teammate fall towards the ground, War Machine proceeds to wiggle his way out and manages to shrink Giant Man down to normal size with plenty of time to spare.  With the mothership continually breaking apart, the planet-wide energy field begins to disperse while the remaining Chitauri warcrafts fall.

War Machine flies back into Wakanda and places Hank onto the ground where a tearful Wasp rushes to her husband’s side.  Giant Man tells her that he’s finally become “the man you’ve always wanted me to be” before the massive strain on his body finally takes its toll and he ends up dying a hero’s death.

However, there’s little time for grieving as the Chitauri mothership is falling out of the sky and threatens to crush Wakanda.  Tony says that he can deflect its descending path and that he’ll “take that posthumous award” if he can’t.  As such, he flies up and positions himself in order to change its path of decline.  However, the scars of battle rears its ugly head as his fuel cells are dangerously low.  As such, he reroutes his life support to give his boosters more power.  He manages to push the mothership away from Wakanda as it safely explodes from a distance, but his suit runs completely out of power as he ends up crashing back down into the city.

With yet another Avenger threatening to cross death’s door, Thor regains consciousness and uses Mjolnir to channel some lightning down from the heavens to act as a defibrillator as it jump-starts Tony’s life-support system and saves his life.  Afterwards, T’Challa sees that he finally has the complete respect of his fellow people.

Sometime later, our heroes arrive back in New York City.  High atop a nearby building, the Hulk sees that Betty is safe and sound among the heroes.  Knowing that he’ll be hunted down yet again, he proceeds to take his leave and go into hiding.  Upon her arrival at the holding cell, Betty sees how the Hulk escaped.  Janet then comes in to tell her “at least he’s still out there”.

Later, a funeral procession is held for Hank Pym.  Afterwards, Tony proceeds to comfort both Janet and Betty…

…while Steve Rogers decides to finally move on with his life.  Now that Kleiser is no more, he can now focus on a serious relationship with Natalia Romanoff as the two of them embrace.

And so, the film ends with Thor celebrating the huge victory alongside Nick Fury as the Thunder God tells his friend of the various times that he actually protected Earth/Midgard in the past.

In terms of character analysis, we’ll start off with Dr. Bruce Banner.  From the scenes we get from him in his cell, it seems that he was willing to cooperate towards his impending trail if it ultimately meant that it helped him piece his life and reputation back together.  However, another person whom he bested in order to get the SSP Post is getting a personal revenge of sorts as his interrogator.  On a sidenote, this SSP Post must be that incredibly good since Bruce also bested Hank Pym to get that job.  After all, that fact was mentioned in the first film.  Anyway, Oiler’s devious nature alongside the fact that he’d give up Banner if it meant saving his skin helps to continue the tragic tales of how messed up Bruce’s life is.  One thing I have to wonder though is that after he supposedly died after a massive amount of lethal sedative was pumped into the cell, does this mean that Banner actually died and his Hulk persona permanently took over his body?  After all, we never see him transform.  Then again, his caring nature towards Betty is still there since he quietly says her name before he goes into hiding.  Did the Hulk also absorb some of Banner’s traits but he’s just able to suppress them?  It’s possible that I’m overthinking for particular character I can’t think of any moment in Hulk lore where that’s ever happened, but I can’t help but wonder about where this character would have gone if Marvel and Lionsgate had ever did an Ultimate Avengers 3?  Of course, that film will never happen since the series died out in 2011.  Either way, Bruce’s actions from the first film had sent him down a path that he ultimately never recovered from.  Michael Massee does decently in the scenes that he’s given.  His performance comes off as caring and alert.  Fred Tatasciore doesn’t have much to do with the Hulk, since he only shows up during the final 15 minutes.  Besides, he has slightly more to do with Jarvis.  Either way, it’s effective enough to hear him roar while smashing a Chitauri walker.

Next up, we get to Betty Ross.  Because Bruce Banner & the Hulk are mostly absent for this film, she’s the one who picks up the slacks for this outing.  In the first film, she helps Fury discover Captain America and brings him back to headquarters in order to thaw out.  From there, she does her best to support Bruce on the project and believes that it can serve as his road to recovery.  Ultimately, she’s dismayed at what he’s done behind her back by the end.  Here, she pieces together everything that S.H.I.E.L.D. would need to know about in order to combat the Chitauri.  For the brief moment that she’s equipped with Banner’s Gamma Generator, she does get to partake in an action scene.  From there, she hands the device over to Tony in order to defeat the Chitauri once and for all.  Meanwhile, her scenes with Bruce prove that she’s still willing to give him a chance despite everything he’s done over the course of the previous film.  In the end, outside forces have dashed all hopes of Banner’s redemption and is left in this relationship pairing.  Just like Bruce, there’s no happy ending in sight.  Unlike her man, at least she’s able to exist within the confines of society, even though she’s left to wonder where he’s gone to as he hides from the world. Nan McNamara does a fine job with someone who’s mainly a supporting character, since she does her best to portray Betty as intelligent, sympathetic and determined towards anything that she sets her mind towards.

Next in line, we have the Norse God of Thunder himself: Thor.  Unlike last time where he only had three scenes and was underutilized, he has more to do here.  His father Odin wants him to abandon all hope for the realm of Midgard since the people of this time seem to have not taken their god-worshiping seriously as it was before in the past.  However, his experience alongside the Avengers in the first film has helped him care for the humans a lot.  Maybe more could have been done with his father physically coming down to punish him in someway for not returning to Asgard in order to prove his point, but Thor has more presence here than he did last time.  This time around, David Boat gets more room to work with and he makes the most of it.  His voice delivery is powerful, his energy is potent enough and he’s able to demonstrate more of his abilities onscreen.

Now, we start to get to the biggest character arcs of the film.  Although this part of the analysis is more towards Giant Man, Wasp is very essential to his progression.  Hank isn’t as cocky and overconfident as he was in the previous film, but he still has a little bit of those traits in his personality.  Janet is definitely the more rock-steady member of the relationship and isn’t going to shy away when her husband gets too far out of line.  As such, her coma ends up being the key moment that makes Hank realize the error of his ways and leads him towards his character-defining moment where he ultimately sacrifices his life in order to become a better man.  Nolan North and Grey Griffin turn in nice performances as they’re nice as a couple by also showcasing themselves pretty good on their own terms.  Nolan North’s portrayal comes off as someone who’s full of swagger, yet ultimately is caring when pushed in the right direction.  Meanwhile, Grey Griffin runs the gambit as she displays Janet as nice and perky in normal situations, shocked and concerned in tense moments, angry and disgusted in times when Hank is being a prick, and finally caring and sorrowful as a result of the climactic battle.

Next up, we’ve got Iron Man.  He still presents himself as being suave and overly-confident, but not to the level that he was in the prior film.  He gets a nice character arc that transforms him from a hero who’ll get the job done but is more for the publicity and fame to a hero who’ll get the job done even if it requires him to risk his own life in order to do so.  The mountain climbing scene where his life-support system was failing and his chat with Captain America in the African jungle served as some neat foreshadowing towards the kind of person he’ll end up becoming by the end of film.  Marc Worden turns in another good job with his performance.  His soft-spoken charms continue to come off in such a natural way that makes Tony so likable.

Out of the original Avengers, the biggest character arc comes from Captain America, yet Black Widow also plays a huge part is his development for the film.  Continuing with the “man-out-of-time” scenario from the last film, all of Steve’s military life was to defeat Herr Kleiser.  After World War II and defeating the Chitauri from the prior entry, he feels incomplete since the majority of the people that he grew up knowing and caring about have long since left this realm.  After T’Challa informs him that his historic foe is still around, he becomes a little more reckless than before.  Furious with how he was deceived and nearly killed alongside his teammates, Cap gets his redemption as he and Black Panther double-team Kleiser and put a permanent end to his long streak of destruction.  Meanwhile, Black Widow is similar to Wasp in that she’s headstrong and rock-steady within her team.  She’s always admired Steve for his drive and determination towards getting a mission done.  She also doesn’t want him to be self-destructive just because he’s somewhat hung up by the past.  In the end, Natalia helps Steve move on with his life by solidifying a relationship that discreetly began from the last film.  Justin Gross is once again stellar in the role, delivering the right intonations to a man who continues to adapt in modern times while looking to close the door on his past completely.  Meanwhile, Olivia d’Abo is solid for a English actress voicing a Russian character.  She’s tough, caring and understanding enough to blend into a role that continues to impress.

Finally, we have the newcomer in Black Panther.  Through the actions of his father, his character arc has him trying to use his outside experiences in order to not only win the complete respect of the Wakandan citizens, but also shape his native land in changing for the better.  He faces resistance from the Head Elder who represents those who are ignorant to change.  That’s understandable, since there’s no way of knowing what will ultimately come out of the execution of new ideas.  Through the help of Captain America and the Avengers, he’s able to solidify not only the promise of a better tomorrow for Wakanda, but also be held in high regard by his people.  Jeffrey D. Sams does a nice job with the role, bringing a level of concern towards his home nation and determination towards overcoming boundaries of multiple designs.

The animation is once again very fluent on multiple areas.  Actions scenes are able to flow nicely, character movements are well-handled and the lip-sync continues to be spot on with all of the main bit players.  While the story from the first film was good enough to carry itself, this movie’s continuation makes it more exciting to watch as it doesn’t have the baggage of having to set up multiple characters.  Meanwhile, Herr Kleiser serves as a cordial follow-up villain since it was hinted early on in the last film of his otherworldly make-up.  His attempts to help the Chitauri reclaim the large amounts of vibranium that serves as the “Heart of Wakanda” is fairly reasonable enough to assemble the team once last time in order to stop him.

Overall, this is a pretty solid film.  The characters get enough time to contribute & are very likable, the story takes off & goes farther than where the first film started from and the action is neatly engaging to watch & enjoy.  Definitely worth watching, but only if you’ve seen the inagural entry first.  Either way, it’s worth your time.

Next Time: Tony Stark is back for another entry, but his iconic origin is getting a new spin as he’ll get more than he bargained for during a Chinese excevation.  This and more awaits us next time in “The Invincible Iron Man”.

Avengers (created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) is owned by Marvel Comics.