In other Marvel news, it’s a groundbreaking idea: Cartoons for kids:
Marvel has had great success appealing to an older audience with its lineup of direct-to-DVD animated features released by LionsGate. Both of the Ultimate Avengers releases did well (see “Ultimate Avengers 2 DVD Debuts at #5″) and the recently released Invincible Iron Man also appears to have great prospects. But after the release of a Doctor Strange animated feature in August, the next Marvel direct-to-DVD movie will be targeted at a younger audience with the producers adhering to the rules of Saturday morning in order to reach the widest possible audience. Though Marvel claims it won’t skimp on the action in its new film, the violence and the effects of that violence will be toned down.
The new straight-to-DVD cartoon is reported to be Teen Avengers, which will apparently not have anything to do with Marvel’s existing Young Avengers because, really, why would anyone want to see a cartoon based on a critically-acclaimed series co-created by a writer who’s worked on mainstream TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and The OC?
(Alternately, and slightly off on a tangent related to the last post as well, Civil War: The Return seems to suggest an interesting new plot twist for Young Avengers, doesn’t it…?)
January 25th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Its bad enough that DC seems intent on turning all their characters into kiddie cartoons aimed at 5 years olds now Marvel wants to do the same?
I dont particulary like Bruce Timm’s animation style but i cant deny that DC has made some good cartoons that are faithful to the comic characters.
Iron Man does seem better than Ultimate Avengers but somebody at Marvels animation division doesnt seem to be able to grasp that the characters and stories dont need to be changed completely
January 25th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Teen Avengers vs. Young Avengers probably has as much to do with not paying royalties and giving credit as anything else. They won’t have to pay Heinberg a penny for Teen Avengers, and really, they don’t need to since the younger audience they’re targeting is more aware of the foundational characters via the variety of licensed toys and apparel out there than they are the comics they sprung from. My two kids know Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, Captain America and the Hulk from their toys and pajamas, not comics or even the movies. If they can pull off something akin to Teen Titans Go, they’ll have a winner on their hands.
January 25th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Why not Young Avengers? 1) A new issue hasn’t seen print since…..? And probably won’t for a long, long time. 2) Where would you send the kids who love the show? To the TPBs, with two homosexual characters and other relatively mature themes? Don’t get me wrong, my daughter and I both love the comic, but if you’re aiming for the Sat AM kiddie crowd an adaptation of Young Avengers probably isn’t the way to go. Or do you think the 6-12 crowd will be impressed by an animated superhero DVD by “One of the writers of Grey’s Anatomy”?