Day 311 of the challenge! Thought I’d give Marvel animation another try with Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United. Oof.
I’ll start by saying that I am very much in the “DC rules superhero animation” camp. They’re struggling quite a bit on the live action side of things no doubt, but they rule their animation. Marvel is the inverse. The MCU is an unstoppable behemoth of incredible live action films, but they’re hemorrhaging in animated features. It feels like Marvel is painfully aware of that, because they sure tried their damndest to make Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United feel as MCU as possible.
To start, both heroes are designed to greatly resemble Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., down to their superhero armor/costumes (their dialog is PAINFULLY not either of them however). The score is a discount Alan Silvestri MCU soundalike (with some tracks from actual MCU films thrown in for good measure), and there’s even a heavy Captain America: The Winter Soldier (which came out the same year) aesthetic near the beginning of this 70 minute slog to finish selling the illusion. Think of it as Diet MCU. Or MCU lite, with a twist of indifference and off-putting animation.
The “homages” (for lack of a better term) run much deeper than that, but this should give you a good indication. I’d be okay with the film borrowing so haphazardly from the MCU if the story was at least fun or suspenseful, but Iron Man and Captain America: Heroes United (ugh that title) is as cookie cutter and tension free as they can possibly come.
That Avengers 4 trailer out yet?