Iron Man And Captain America: Heroes United is the latest Marvel animated offering that could be seen as a sort of extension of the “regular” Marvel cinematic universe. There are references to the films, not big ones, but enough for viewers to connect the dots. The timing, however, is odd. With the events of Captain America 2, one has to wonder how S.H.I.E.L.D. would move forward and the answer (according to this offering) is “rather sparsely”.
Here Red Skull is once again determined to get those super soldiers up and running. This time he has employed the help of Taskmaster (Is that Clancy “Mr. Krabs” Brown? Yes, it is!) to take on Captain America and Iron Man. Here the two heroes are having a bet as to which hero’s method is better, Captain America’s planning and tactics or Iron Man’s ability to improvise.
Initially I was disappointed as every other Marvel cinematic universe hero shows up once, very briefly, in a sort of dream sequence. That does change. I don’t want to give it away, but it was nice to see more than these two heroes being featured.
Overall this is a decent and fun story. The voice actors don’t try to imitate their live action counterparts, instead they make the roles their own. More than that though is the action, watching these two heroes go up against some enemies as well as each other.
While Iron Man And Captain America: Heroes United is enjoyable it isn’t devoid of problems. At one point Jarvis mentions a scan of life forms 5 meters ahead, but when they show up (enemy soldiers) they are clearly much more than 5 meters away. And that classic line from The Avengers is once again delivered here, only this time it doesn’t pack the same comedic punch. Then there’s the animation. It seems like every 5th frame is missing. This isn’t as obvious during the action sequences but instead when the characters speak. The mouth movements are anything but fluid.
Marvel’s live action films may not be appropriate for younger kids, but this is a great way to let them watch their favorite heroes in action a bit bigger than a weekly animated series.
Disney provided me with a download code to view the film through Disney Movies Anywhere app. This means I’m not able to stream it through my PS3 onto my main television, unless I want to plug my laptop to my TV using an HDMI cable. This is a digital only release.