Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes S01E08 Review: Gollum

Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Season 1, Episode 8: Some Assembly Required

Finally, we're back right after we began the original two-parter. It's a pretty strange format, but I guess it kind of works? We're picking up right where we left off, with the Avengers assembled, Graviton dispatched of and a lot of supervillains running rampant after being unleashed from the prison cells. This episode opens up with the Avengers basically causing the mind-controlling humanoid mandrill called the Mandrill to crap his pants at the sight of not one, but five superheroes ready to kick his butt. Or, as Thor puts it, "he brings shame to all monkeys with his cowardice."

We then spend a significant amount of the first half of the episode just introducing the Avengers Mansion and its vast underground basement facilities and a Danger Room... apparently this version of Tony Stark is really excited about forming the superhuman team. Also, Tony has been working with one Reed Richards (again, like the Wolverine cameo, this came as a pretty big surprise to me) to create an extra-dimensional prison to stash all of these 70+ villains they have to hunt. We get to reaffirm a bunch of character traits, like Ant-Man being anti-violent and all about science and all but ignoring Janet at times, Wasp getting along with everyone and Hulk with the most hilarious "I don't give a shit, when smash?" expression throughout all this. I am extremely unfamiliar with the portrayal of Hulk and not Banner as the main persona, something that I've only been exposed to in video games and Thor: Ragnarok, so it's definitely fun to see here. Thor commenting about how bizarre the concept of a talking house is also very good for some laughs.

Of course, it doesn't take long for the more honourable Thor and the don't-give-a-shit Hulk to quickly come to arguments with each other. As perhaps the two that are the most 'fish out of water' style characters among the Avengers, the two get to argue a bit, but when they are left alone in the mansion, the Enchantress sneaks in and begins to influence the Hulk to behave... poorly. She manifests in the guise of a Gollum/Smeagol-esque Bruce Banner, telling the Hulk how the rest of the Avengers disrespects him and treats him like a monster, causing the Hulk to leave the team... before eventually coming to blows when Tony sent Thor to 'collect' the Hulk.

The Hulk fights Thor and eventually the rest of the Avengers in a park, which is a pretty fun fight. Not sure how Giant-Man managed to avoid getting his skull caved in by the Hulk's punches, though. The Hulk manages to resist from killing Wasp, which I guess is appropriate since Janet is the one who's trying to at least interact positively with Hulk in the first half of the episode, but Hulk still calls it quits anyway. 

It's at this point that Enchantress and his goon, the Executioner, show up to blindside and battle the Avengers, with a pretty cool entrance via axe to Iron Man's chest. Of course, while the villains initially have the upper hand, the Hulk returns, manages to shake off Enchantress's attempt at mind control with a pretty badass roar, Thor charges up Iron Man's suit and they work as a team! Enchantress and Executioner are forced to retreat, and victory for the Avengers! It's the obligatory "newly formed superhero team are at each other's throats, but end up working together and finding true companionship" episode... except it isn't, because as simple as he is, the Hulk knows that the rest of the Avengers will always view him differently and are ready to turn upon him, and actually straight-up leaves the team. It's an interesting twist, but one that works pretty well with how Hulk's been established throughout these past 8 episodes. 

Of course, the final shot of this episode shows Hulk roaring in the Antarctic, causing an ice chunk to collapse and reveal a very familiar shield, so Hulk's slot in the Avengers might be filled sooner rather than later. 

Meanwhile, speaking of filling in voids in the Avengers roster, a running sub-plot in this episode is Black Panther making his way into America, and eventually into the Avengers mansion where he's been lurking in the shadows, observing how the Avengers work. Another minor sub-plot is addressing SHIELD's stance on the Avengers, with Fury telling Stark that he personally supports the Avengers, but at the same time they're on their own. Overall, it's a neat episode that plays up tropes common to a superhero team series, working with some of them while delivering a neat little twist. We also get to build up Enchantress a bit as a presumably recurring villain, which end up being pretty entertaining despite her having a relatively one-dimensional personality. Good stuff.