The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - "Emperor Stark" Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

After sitting out several episodes of Earth's Mightiest Heroes following his conversion in "Ultron Unlimited," Vision came back in a big way with "Emperor Stark." The episode kicked off with a great premise, as Vision awoke after a 30-day repair process to discover that Tony Stark had inexplicably chosen to take over the world. If superhero movies have taught us anything, it's that any device promising free, unlimited energy will eventually be harnessed for nefarious purposes.

The episode was certainly a strong showing for Vision, whose inorganic mind suddenly became a major asset in a world where Purple Man ruled all. His interaction with his new teammates was very enjoyable, particularly when Hawkeye scolded Vision for calling the battle "easy." Hawkeye had his own solid moments throughout. It was amusing to see Cap trick him out of being brainwashed by reminding Hawkeye that he doesn't like to do what other people tell him to. Hawkeye's trick shot in space also stood out as a memorable moment. Buit nothing topped the brawl between Thor and Vision. Seeing the latter take on 500 tons of mass and dive-bomb Thor from orbit had to be one of the top moments in the show's two-year history.

What was interesting about Christopher Yost's script for "Emperor Stark" is that it showed a bit less less direct influence from the Avengers comics than usual. Technically this episode could be said to be inspired by the Emperor Doom graphic novel, but the cast of characters, their motivations, and Purple Man's role in the story were heavily modified. Purple Man is known for committing some heinous acts against Marvel's heroes. And while his misdeeds in this episode certainly didn't outclass those in Brian Michael Bendis' Alias comic, he still managed to hit Tony closer to home than any other villain in the series. The fact that it was all merely revenge for being made to look foolish in public was a nice extra touch. Star Trek: The Next Generation's Brent Spiner made a welcome guest appearance as the voice of Purple Man. Spiner seemed poorly suited for the Joker on Young Justice, but here Purple Man had just the right blend of shrillness and subtle malice.

My only complaint with "Emperor Stark" was that it could have been drawn out longer. The ending in particular could have used a bit more attention. Stark noted his own culpability in Purple Man's world domination scheme, but Cap seemed content to brush away his concerns and deliver a typically heart-warming, sappy speech. The extended brawl between the two brought to mind the conflict in Mark Millar's Civil War comic. For a time it seemed as though the series was moving towards a full-on adaptation of that conflict, but with EMH ending in a few months, clearly that won't be the case. Even so, it would have been nice to see the episode end on a slightly more ambiguous note in terms of the Cap/Iron Man dynamic.

That aside, this was easily one of the better installments of Earth's Mightiest Heroes this season. Next week brings the long-awaited return of Hulk and the resolution of the Red Hulk mystery.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Guardians of the Galaxy Gets a Rewrite

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is getting a rewrite by scripter Chris McCoy.

According to Heat Vision, McCoy doesn't have any produced credits in Hollywood yet but he is one of those hot up-and-comers -- he's had three spec scripts wind up on the famed Black List, the annual collection of the "best" unproduced scripts in town.

According to HV, McCoy's scripts have been praised "for their quirky comedic bent." Which, let's face it, sounds just about right for a film that's gonna feature a tree man, a green warrior dude and a talking, gun-toting raccoon.

Nicole Perlman wrote the first draft of the screenplay.

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

Source : ign[dot]com

Alphas: "The Quick and the Dead" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

"Bill, it's not Gary-vision. It's electro-magnetic perception."

Fresh off his recent role in The Amazing Spider-Man, '80s film star C. Thomas Howell guest starred this week as a young man named Eli whose super-speed powers caused him to age rapidly. Now, newly sprung from Binghamton, Eli is tracking down the old doctors who warped his brain with dangerous experiments in order to try and reverse the condition. It's not the most original TV idea in the world as you've probably seen this spin on Frankenstein's monster play out on shows like The X-Files, Fringe and the like, but fortunately the elements that helped "The Quick and the Dead" rise above last week's season premiere had very little to do with the case.

Team building. Or team re-building, I should say. This episode had a lot going on outside of the case, mostly surrounding Cameron's relationship with Dr. Rosen's daughter, Dani. Dani, a spy for Stanton Parish who has both her father and Cameron unknowingly feeding her inside information. And one of the things I liked best about this newly created dynamic was that it made Nina even more of an outcast. Last week, I mentioned that she was already an awkward fit for the team, so I'm glad the writers decided to run with that and make her behavior even more reckless; even using her ability on Cameron right after she apologized for ruining their relationship with her ability. And then, Nina using her ability on Dr. Rosen at the end just solidified her new role as a "wild card" in the mix. No, she's not Wolverine, but I'm glad the team now has a full-fledged dissenter.

Also, I thought another powerful moment in this episode was watching Cameron see the pleasure that Dani can bring to someone else with her extreme emotion-transference ability. Because, you know, he had just gotten done denying that his relationship with her wasn't enhanced by her powers. So there was a bit of underlying hypocrisy there, even though one could argue that Nina's abilities, while also manipulative, are far more dangerous.

And what a joy it was to have Gary back. Even if it was a more hostile Gary who wasn't taking kindly to sharing his refrigerator with government "jerkasses." His scenes with Cameron were freakin' hilarious ("I'll kill you first. I get up at 7:42!"). Again, there are so many things about Gary's rudeness that could come off as annoying on TV, but actor Ryan Cartwright does an exemplary job of making him sweet and satisfying. Plus, I love how protective the rest of the team gets when it comes to Gary. Even when Gary's the one not behaving properly.

I'm not sure if the characters of Gary's mother and Bill's wife are casualties of some Season 2 cost-cutting, but there are noticeably gone. It's hard to get a handle on Bill sometimes and his wife was a good way of previously doing that. This time around though, Bill got to butt heads with Rosen over certain ego/leadership issues and perhaps, going forward, Bill will have a closer side-by-side relationship with Rosen that will help round him out. Of course, most of the credit for shaping Bill back in Season 1 has to go to Gary.

No, the "case of the week" wasn't stellar, but I liked that it remained connected to the Parish plot; with Parish being the one responsible for Eli's condition. Also new to the as of this episode? The possibility that you can create an Alpha. And I don't mean "in utero," like Brent Spiner's doctor wanted to do back in Season 1. It wasn't all super clear, but it seems as though the brain warping that was done to Eli specifically gave him his powers. It could be that Eli had dormant powers that were awakened or it could be that he was genetically pre-disposed, Fringe/cortexiphan-style, but we'll probably need the fog to lift a little bit more here.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com