The Super Hero Squad Show | |
---|---|
Genre | Action Adventure Comedy Science fantasy Slapstick |
Based on | |
Developed by | Matt Wayne |
Voices of | |
Theme music composer | Parry Gripp David Ari Leon |
Opening theme | "The Super Hero Squad Show" Theme |
Ending theme | "The Super Hero Squad Show" Theme (instrumental) |
Composer | Guy Michelmore |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 52 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producer | Dana C. Booton |
Running time | 22–23 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | Cartoon Network |
Release | September 14, 2009 – October 14, 2011 |
The Super Hero Squad Show is an American superhero animated series produced by Marvel Animation. It is based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figure line from Hasbro, which portray the Avengers, the X-Men, and various other characters of the Marvel Universe in a cartoonish super-deformed style. [1]
The show is also a self-aware parody of the Marvel characters, with influences taken from on the comedic Mini Marvels series of parody comic books, in that the heroes tend to find themselves in comedic situations, and have cartoonish bents in comparison to their usually serious personalities (such as The Incredible Hulk being jovial and good-natured but with "major anger issues"). The series was produced by Film Roman and Marvel Animation. It is available to stream on Disney+. [2] [3]
Prior to the beginning of the series, the villainous Doctor Doom attempts to acquire the limitless reality-bending power of the "Infinity Sword" in pursuit of world domination. Iron Man foils his plan, but the sword is shattered in the process, creating numerous "fractals" that rain down on Super Hero City.
Doctor Doom has since forged alliances with various supervillains, forming his Lethal Legion in order to hunt down the scattered fractals. Doom's forces, including his two primary henchmen MODOK and Abomination, dwell in Villainville, which is separated from Super Hero City by a giant wall. Opposing Doom's evil plan is Iron Man, now leading the elite team known as the Super Hero Squad, consisting of himself, Falcon, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Thor, and Wolverine. Marvel initially intended to put Spider-Man in at least one episode of the show, but Sony Pictures Entertainment (who owned Spider-Man's television rights at the time) appears to have chosen not to allow it. However, Spider-Man appeared in games based on the show and other tie-ins.
The Super Hero Squad is headquartered in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and are frequently aided in their defense of Super Hero City by their boss Captain America, S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Ms. Marvel, rookie "Squaddie" and Wolverine's apprentice Reptil, and many more of their superhero friends.
By the end of the first season, the Infinity Sword is reforged when the supersized giant Galactus arrives to devour the Earth. It is later revealed that the Infinity Sword can be wielded only by someone who wields The Infinity Gauntlet. Silver Surfer rejoins Galactus as his Herald and leaves the team with the Infinity Sword in his possession. As of the aftermath of the battle, Villainville is destroyed, and his henchmen are arrested, except for Doom, who flees. A video game called Marvel Super Hero Squad was made although Josh Keaton who plays Moon-Boy in the series, now played as Spider-Man. It included other people with the same voices as well. This video game was made by Blue Tongue Entertainment, Mass Media and Halfbrick Studios.
A second season focuses on traveling to different parts of the Marvel Universe, the galaxy, different dimensions, and through time. Thanos becomes the main antagonist for the first half of the season, seeking the six Infinity Gems to prove his superiority to Nebula and gain supremacy over the universe. He eventually gains all six Infinity Gems.
The squad's roster was changed in the season, due to Silver Surfer leaving the cast to once again become a herald of Galactus. Scarlet Witch [4] replaces Surfer, with original squad members Iron Man, Hulk, Falcon, Wolverine and Thor returning. Thor receives his "chain armor" as a gift from his father Odin in the episode "Support your Local Sky-Father".
In the second half of Season Two, the Silver Surfer, who was corrupted by the Infinity Sword steals the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos, takes over the universe, and transforms into the Dark Surfer, replacing Thanos as the main antagonist of the season. In the series finale, the Dark Surfer is defeated, the Infinity Stones and Infinity Sword are destroyed, and everything goes back to normal, though Silver Surfer has to pay his debt for what he did as Dark Surfer.
The second season premiered in the United States on October 23, 2010, on Cartoon Network [5] to coincide with the release of its video game follow-up, Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet .
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 26 | September 14, 2009 | February 20, 2010 | |
2 | 26 | October 23, 2010 | October 14, 2011 |
During the first season in the opening sequence of the show, there is a running sight gag similar to The Simpsons and The Fairly OddParents where the Hulk picks up an Infinity Fractal and is transformed by its power into something different every episode, such as the classic grey-colored Hulk, a toddler Hulk, a disco Hulk parodying John Travolta, a Hulked-out Wolverine, Bruce Banner, and a Hulk similar to Homer Simpson. This feature was removed in the second season. Additionally, each episode's title card is a homage to a classic comic book cover as are some of the episode titles.
The show's executive producers included Alan Fine, Simon Philips, and Eric Rollman, with Joe Quesada and Stan Lee as co-executive producers. Cort Lane was supervising producer. Mitch Schauer, creator of the Nickelodeon series The Angry Beavers , was the show's supervising director and character designer. Matt Wayne was the show's story-editor and head writer. [6] Other writers include Michael Ryan, Nicole Dubuc, Atul N. Rao, Eugene Son, James Krieg, and Mark Hoffmeier. Novelty songwriter, Parry Gripp composed the theme song.
Head of Marvel Television and comic book writer Jeph Loeb explained the series as something everyone would like, stating "Marvel Super Heroes have always entertained fans of all ages in our comics, and we're proud to offer an animated series that families can enjoy together. With the most exciting super-powered adventures, The Hub can now offer the greatest fun of all—experiencing Marvel for the very first time. So whether you want to fly with Thor, suit up with Iron Man or smash with Hulk, this series has everything your family wants to see from our heroes." [7]
The show's first season was to debut on Cartoon Network in the United States on September 19, 2009, [8] but aired five days earlier on September 14, 2009. The second season of the series, based on The Infinity Gauntlet , premiered on October 23, 2010, at 6:30am (ET) and stopped being shown on Cartoon Network on February 19, 2011, with episode 40 ("Fate of Destiny!"). Afterward, new episodes aired only on Teletoon and were available to purchase on iTunes. On July 23, 2011, the series returned on Cartoon Network, at a new timeslot of 12:00pm (ET). [9] Although in the next following weeks no new episodes aired. In September 2011, Cartoon Network announced that The Super Hero Squad Show would be airing new episodes on weekday mornings at 7:00am (ET) starting Monday, October 3, 2011. [10] The series ended on October 14, 2011. A total of 52 episodes were produced for the show. Hub Network began airing the series on January 30, 2012 as part of their daily weekday line-up and aired on Discovery Family until January 30, 2015. [7] [11] As a result of Cartoon Network losing the rights to the show, all Super Hero Squad content has been removed from the network's website except for video clips on YouTube. On January 3, 2020, both seasons of the show were added to Disney+. [12]
The series first premiered on Teletoon in Canada on Sunday, September 13, 2009, at 8:30am (ET) as part of the network's Action Force block. The show returned on Teletoon on Sunday, February 6, 2011, at 7:00am (ET) for the debut of the second season. All 52 episodes aired in Canada, ending on July 10, 2011.
The series premiered on December 4, 2009, in Australia, on ABC3, in October 2009. [13]
It was aired on Nicktoons in the UK. The show also used to air reruns on Disney XD in the United States.
Most of the episodes have been released on DVD across several volumes by Shout! Factory.
Five volumes have been released on DVD so far. Hero Up contains episodes 1–6, Hulk Smash contains episodes 7–11, Don't Call Me Wolvie contains episodes 12–16, Tales of Evil contains episodes 17–21, and Mother of Doom contains episodes 22–26. Home video releases of Season 2 have yet to be announced.
Magna Home Entertainment released The Super Hero Squad Show: The Infinity Fractal War (Vol 1) and Titanic Team-Ups (Vol 2) on June 2, 2010, and The Lethal Legion Strikes (Vol 3) on September 8, 2010. Each DVD includes 6–7 episodes of the show, as well as character profiles. (Australian release). The final volume of Season 1, entitled Quest for the Infinity Sword (Vol 4) was released on November 3, 2010, containing the final six episodes of Season 1. Season 2 The Infinity Gauntlet (Vol 1) is currently available. Infinite Thanos (Vol 2) was also released on November 2, 2011.
Vivendi Entertainment under the named Vivendi Entertainment Canada released two volumes under the names of The Super Hero Squad: Hero Up, Squaddies (Vol 1) and The Super Hero Show: Titanic Team Ups (Vol 2), both released on May 4, 2010. [25] A Vol 3 was announced to release on June 29, 2010. [25] But to a conclusion the Vol 3 DVD never hit markets. Since this happened, Vivendi didn't release a Vol 4 DVD either. On September 28, 2010, [26] Vivendi released a The Super Hero Squad Show: The Complete Season 1 DVD set containing an unnamed Vol 3 and Vol 4. It is unknown if there will be any Season 2 DVD releases.
Rob Keyes of Screen Rant said, "In short, this is just a big pile of awesome for kids. For adult Marvel fans, it's still a fun watch too, especially if you have children of your own to share the experience with. There's a lot of shout outs (and a few jokes) for the fans that only adults would pick up on," [27] while Shawn S. Lealos included it in their "10 All-Time Best Animated Series Based On Marvel Comics" list. [28] Philip Etemesi of Comic Book Resources ranked The Super Hero Squad Show 10th in their "13 Best Animated Movies & TV Shows Featuring Black Panther" list. [29]
A four-part comic book series based on the show called Marvel Super Hero Squad was released in the fall of 2009. The series was a success and Marvel renewed the series in January 2010 as an ongoing series, now entitled: Super Hero Squad. The comic does not feature only characters from the show, but also characters outside the show. As of December 8, 2010, Super Hero Squad had a total of 12 issues released. No new issues have been released since, seemingly indicating that the comic book franchise has been cancelled. Trying to bring back the franchise, Marvel released a Super Hero Squad Spectacular where the Beyonder sends them to another planet with their Lethal Legion foes.
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the primary Marvel continuity. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four #48.
James P. Starlin is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Nebula, and Shang-Chi, as well as writing the acclaimed miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet and its many sequels including The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade, all detailing Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Gems to court Mistress Death by annihilating half of all life in the cosmos, before coming into conflict with the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Elders of the Universe, joined by the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Gamora, Nebula, and Drax.
Adam Warlock is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #66–67 created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, originally named Him. The character would later be significantly developed by Roy Thomas and Jim Starlin. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comic Books, the character has appeared over several decades of Marvel publications, and starred in the titles Marvel Premiere and Strange Tales as well as five eponymous volumes and several related limited series.
The Infinity Gauntlet is an American comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics. In addition to an eponymous, six-issue limited series written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, crossover chapters appeared in related comic books. Since its initial serialization from July to December 1991, the series has been reprinted in various formats and editions.
The Infinity Gems are six fictional gems appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, named after and embodying various aspects of existence. The gems can grant whoever wields them various powers in accordance to the aspect of existence they represent, and have the potential of turning the wielder into a god-like being when the main six are held together. Thus, they are among the most powerful and sought-after items in the Marvel Universe; playing important roles in several storylines, in which they were wielded by characters such as Thanos and Adam Warlock. Some of these stories depict additional Infinity Gems or similar objects. Although, the Infinity Gems altogether give its user nigh-omnipotence, the Gems only function on the universe they belong to and not on alternate realities.
Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in The Invincible Iron Man #55. An Eternal–Deviant warlord from the moon Titan, Thanos is regarded as one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. He has clashed with many heroes including the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.
Gamora is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jim Starlin, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #180. Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos, and the last of her species. Her powers include superhuman strength and agility and an accelerated healing factor. She also is an elite combatant, being able to beat most of the opponents in the galaxy. She is a member of the superhero group known as the Infinity Watch. The character played a role in the 2007 crossover storyline "Annihilation: Conquest", becoming a member of the titular team in its spin-off comic, Guardians of the Galaxy, before becoming the supervillain Requiem in the 2018 crossover storylines "Infinity Countdown" and "Infinity Wars".
Pip the Troll is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The Grandmaster is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in The Avengers #69. The Grandmaster is one of the ageless Elders of the Universe and has mastered most civilizations' games of skill and chance. Different media appearances depict him as the Collector's brother.
Annihilus is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily as an adversary to the Fantastic Four. The character debuted in Fantastic Four Annual #6, which was published in November 1968. Annihilus was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and was notably featured in the "Annihilation" event.
Ronald Lim is an American comic book artist living in Sacramento, California. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics on their various "cosmic" titles, most particularly the Silver Surfer series.
The Stranger is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Collector is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Don Heck, the character first appeared in The Avengers #28, during the Silver Age of Comic Books, and has been a recurring antagonist in various storylines over the course of the ensuing decades.
Nebula is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roger Stern and John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Avengers #257. Originally depicted as a supervillain, Nebula was later depicted as an antihero and member of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Marvel Super Hero Squad is an action figure line marketed by Hasbro beginning in 2007. The line features 2-inch (51 mm) scale replicas of comic book heroes from the Marvel Comics universe. Each figure is portrayed in a cartoonish super-deformed style. The line was designed for younger collectors, but has become a hit with fans of all ages despite the "for ages 3 and up" category status. Marketed initially as four two-packs per wave, Super Hero Squad has branched out to include larger multi-packs, vehicles, and mega-packs containing larger characters in scale with the 2-inch (51 mm) line.
Since the 1960s, The Marvel Comics superhero, Thor has appeared in a wide variety of media outside of comic books including films, television programs and video games.
The Avengers are a superhero team created by Marvel Comics that appear in comic books. Aside from comics, the Avengers appear in various forms of media such as in novels, television shows, movies, videogames and stage shows.
The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book Fantastic Four #48, published in 1966.
Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet is a fighting video game, and the sequel to Marvel Super Hero Squad. It was released in November 2010 for Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Wii, and was released for the first time on a Microsoft console, the Xbox 360. Similar to the first game, it features cartoonish super-deformed versions of the Marvel Comics characters, as seen in the Marvel Super Hero Squad toy line, as well as the television show. The 3DS version was released in 2011.