When Fox television had confirmed it's ordering of 13 episodes of a new animated Avengers series from Saban Entertainment, the same studio responsible for Fox's previous cartoon hits, X- Men, Spider-Man and the short-lived (but critically acclaimed) Silver Surfer. The question all fandom (well, Avengers fandom anyway) was asking was, "What will the Avengers look like?"

Some readers care too much about costumes. The Avengers did have a few very ugly costumes in this series - for instance, I found the Ant-Man armor somewhere between dreadful and insufferable - but, if you think about it, costumes matter very little. Robinson's Starman showed how peripheral to the concept of heroism we should consider trappings like colored tights; this truth applies both when comics abandon conventional costumes for realism and when they abandon them to adopt a new style for a concept.

Militant cartoon-haters played a role here. Whereas most of us can simply turn off a television show about which we care little or nothing, for some, ego-attachment made the loose interpretation of Marvel's second superhero team a personal affront, and its destruction - with any connected creations, including a comics line - a matter of honor.

If you have the free Apple QuickTime Player installed you will be able to click the link below to enjoy the animated commercial for the Avengers: United They Stand cartoon. If you do not have the Apple QuickTime Player installed you can download it for free from the Apple QuickTime Player Web Site. Or if you don't want to download anything - just take a gander at the screenshots below and you will get a good feeling for the animated commercial for the Avengers: United They Stand cartoon.

Characters, the show synopsis or view the QuickTime Movie (1.3MG)