A “Galactic Storm” Is Brewing [Review]

In the newest episode of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! the Kree come to attack Earth! Click “More” to read our review!

S2, Episode 23: Operation Galactic Storm

When S.W.O.R.D. is engaged by a Kree war fleet, the Avengers are called to action. The Avengers consult Mar-Vell. He tells them that the Kree want to use the Earth’s solar system as a launching point for invasions using wormholes. However, if the Kree continually create wormholes near the Sun, it would tear the star apart and kill everything in the system. Mar-Vell offers his assistance by outfitting the Quinjet and their spacesuits to handle deep space travel. Before they are able to take off, they are attacked by stealth ops Kree, but they are able to escape. While the Avengers battle the invasion force at the Sun, Yellowjacket and Agent Brand try to stop the stealth Kree on Earth. Once believing the stealth team is there to free Ronan the Accuser, they are actually there to pick up his gear and blow the prison sky high. Unfortunatley, the Avengers at the Sun, are already too late to stop the wormhole from being generated. They come up with a plan to have Hawkeye destroy the ships holding wormhole open. The Avengers succeed in destroying the wormhole, at the cost of Black Panther’s life, but not without facing down the entire fleet of Kree warships.

Once again, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes goes back to the well of previously established stories from the Avengers’ past and do it incredibly well. This time, the series looks to come to its conclusion by focusing on a story that has had incredibly long lasting effects that ripple across the Marvel Universe to this day. In fact, it could be argued that the comic version of “Operation Galactic Storm” has had longer effects on a publisher’s line than any other comic book story ever without being retconned entirely.

But enough about that, let’s talk about this episode in particular…

First of all, this is, from start to finish, a hugely action oriented episode. From the pre-title sequence that spends a couple minutes setting up an ominous tone that runs throughout the entire episode, to the very last moment that mirrors that tone with another that will carry into the next part of this arc, it’s an edge of your seat thriller of an episode. In fact, it’s almost a little too old for the Disney XD crowd. That’s not a bad thing, but it evokes some of the action cartoons I watched as a kid that most parents would likely not want ot show their younger children today.

This episode has to pay thanks to much of what this series has built in these two seasons. Captain Marvel and a Kree Sentinel are present. Ronan the Accuser is back. S.W.O.R.D. is involved. The biggest refrence to a previous episode, though, comes from finally seeing exactly what Kang the Conqueror was trying to warn the Avengers about in his first episode. We had been wondering exactly what decision would Captain America make that would be so wrong that it would destroy the Earth? Not only that, but how could a man’s choice break the sun in two?

This reference to the Kang episode provides the true emotional weight of the episode. It’s one thing for us to say, “Oh now I get it… That scorched earth future Kang showed the Avengers was because of this impending battle against the Kree.” It’s another thing when Cap is reminded that he makes a decision that leads to that future. It’s yet another thing when that decision costs the life of one of the finer Avengers the show portrayed throughout its run. Cap has to sacrifice someone in order for the plan to work, and that’s not an easy thing for a soldier who, despite knowing battles sometimes costs lives, always wants to make sure everyone comes home safe.

If this is the story that this series is going to go out on, I think they’ve done a heck of a job getting it started. It’s full of action, but instead of trying to cram story into an action plot, or, on the other hand, dropping the story completely, they take us back to things that happened previously in the series to set us up for this one. I’m so excited to see what next week’s episode gives us!

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