Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes S01E24 Review: Magic Rocks

Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Season 1, Episode 24: This Hostage Earth

Ah, finally, we're in the end-games of the first season! One of the recurring plotlines has been Enchantress gathering supervillains for her "Masters of Evil" bad guy team, although this particular plotline has sort of been pushed to the background because of all the Kang, Hydra and Ultron storylines. And while the Masters of Evil are mostly rooted in Earth-bound villainy, neither are the Enchantress or the Executioner, who, as we know, are working as the lieutenants of Loki, who, in turn, is working along in concert with the Nordic mythology that surrounds Thor.

And the cold open of this episode shows that the Masters of Evil haven't been idle while the Avengers are busy dealing with other threats. We get to see that the Enchantress and the Executioner is doing battle with someone called Queen Karnilla, the Norn Queen. We don't get to see Karnilla a lot, though, because she's straight-up turned into stone by the Grey Gargoyle, a villain who briefly appeared in the pilot episode "Breakout" and apparently one of the Masters of Evil's newest recruits. The Enchantress claims the legendary Norn Stones, a group of powerful Nine-Realms-warping artifacts... but then the Enchantress turns on the Grey Gargoyle and apparently kills him offscreen! It's a sudden and brutal bit that was definitely unexpected. Sure, the Enchantress acts coy about it, talking about how Grey Gargoyle didn't survive the battle, but the implication that Enchantress and Executioner straight-up murdered one of their allies (albeit one we didn't know well) for no real reason really shows just how little the Enchantress thinks of her mortal allies at this point. Also, considering how death have been mostly implied and never stated outright (or done to non-human characters like Malekith and Ultron) it's definitely a shocking moment.

Of course, Baron Zemo is more than happy to utilize the Enchantress for his ultimate goal -- to conquer Earth. And all previously-seen members of the Masters of Evil return, with two new additions, the Living Laser and Chemistro, both very colourful and fun-looking guys whose appearance here is definitely welcome and much-needed to face off against the likewise numerically-bolstered amount of Avengers.

Meanwhile, working with the whole "magic and science working in unison" bit that T'Challa have preached since episode 20, Black Panther and Iron Man have figured out how to basically track where the leylines/dimensional energy converge on Earth, and, of course, there are eight points, which corresponds to the other Eight Realms of Norse mythology (with Earth itself being Midgard, of course). We actually have Captain America coming in and telling us that someone's done this before -- the Red Skull, all the way back in Captain America's flashback episode, something that I genuinely and completely forgot. Definitely a very neat bit of foreshadowing and intertwining of older episodes, here. Of course, they detect some energy surge on seven of the eight points -- with the eighth point being placed within the heart of an active volcano and thus apparently inaccessible to both hero and villain alike. 

And while at a glance it seems like it's just an excuse because both the Avengers and the Masters of Evil only have seven members each (Hank's off moping, though not without good reason), as someone who really loves Norse mythology, I do note that throughout these three episodes, the realm of fire Muspelheim is conspicuously absent. And I at least know that the fire giant Surtur is indeed a huge Thor enemy, so they might very well be saving him for season two? Anyway, seven points. Thor gives a bit of a rundown of the whole Nine Realms and Yggdrasil mythology. 

And then we get the one-on-one fights on the seven locations, with Wasp and her fancy parka facing off against the Abomination in some icy mountains, Iron Man facing off against the Living Laser in an underground cavern, Captain America facing off against the ever-silent Crimson Dynamo in a fog-filled ruins, Hawkeye traipsing around a jungle while chased by Chemistro, Black Panther having a very civil conversation with Wonder Man at a cemetery (again, hinting at an eventual heel-face-turn for Wonder Man), Thor arriving at Red Skull's old castle and facing Zemo and Enchantress. And, probably my favourite battling pair, the Executioner calmly waiting as the Hulk crashes down in the middle of an island in a lake. 

The actual battles outside of the Thor/Enchantress/Zemo bit really feel like fluff, but they're definitely decently animated. Living Laser is true to his name and the animators have some fun showing just how he's zipping around the battlefield. Abomination and Wasp gets perhaps the most screentime, and while both characters involved think that the Abomination outclasses the Wasp a lot... she's actually delivering some serious resistance. Hulk and Executioner, as mentioned, get a pretty badass and wordless beatdown amidst the splashing water. Baron Zemo apparently has a lightsaber and faces off with Thor with it. And then, of course, the Norn Stones get activated anyway, connecting the Nine Realms together. Thor gets blindsided by Zemo and bound by Enchantress's magics. Wasp takes the time to gloat and is grabbed by the Abomination, only for Giant-Man to show up in a pretty dang sweet moment as he beats down the Abomination to the ground. 

Meanwhile, as the Enchantress continues her ritual, creatures from the other realms begin popping up on Earth, matching the location of the fights (Wasp sees the frost giants of Jotunheim in the icy lands; Hawkeye sees the elves and fairies from Alfheim in the jungle, et cetera) and Thor tries to talk Zemo down... and Zemo, very interestingly, actually is prepared for the Enchantress's eventual betrayal. He puts some mind-control collar on Enchantress's neck, and seems poised to hijack Enchantress's plans and take over the nine realm creatures. Meanwhile, the rest of the Masters of Evil are swiftly taken down. Hulk sends the Executioner into the orbit Team Rocket style, Crimson Dynamo is scared shitless by ghosts and gets bopped in the face, Chemistro gets splashed with his own acid and glued to a tree, and in probably a pretty painful move, Iron Man shoots Living Laser straight into space. Thor manages to beat down Zemo long enough to tell the other Avengers to destroy the Norn Stones. Which they do, simultaneously.... 

And that leads to the second part of the three-parter finale, where the connection between Earth/Midgard and the rest of the World Tree is cut off, but the Avengers are themselves sucked into these other planes. Thor, for his part, finds himself in Asgard, and to his horror Loki sits on the throne.

Yeah, a pretty badass first act, isn't it? The villains may feel like a speed bump more than a real obstacle, but it definitely sells the tenseness of the scenes and Zemo, Enchantress and Thor have some really great interactions with each other. There's a definite sense of world-building, a lot of fun character moments (mostly those three, although Ant-Man, Black Panther and Wonder Man do have their moments) and a lot of badass action scenes. Definitely a great, explosive start to a climactic season finale.