Hero Up, Volume 2
The Super Hero Squad Show features a variety of Marvel universe characters that team up to fight Marvel villains. The team and their nemesis — Dr. Doom and his cronies — are all pint-sized versions of their comic book counterparts, a design decision that works nicely. The stories take place in Super Hero City, whose mayor is none other than Stan Lee who offers his voice acting talents from time to time.
Each episode sets up a basic conflict with the overall story arc being that of the Infinity Sword, a device of magnificent power that Dr. Doom is eager to get. Thor, Falcon, Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, they’re all here, and they’ll Hero Up to fight the good fight and stop Dr. Doom from succeeding. The series consistently balances humor with action and maintains a steady pace that keeps it interesting from episode to episode. The twenty minute run time of each episode works out great for kids and adults alike, but you’ll also realize how quickly you got through this DVD too as it only takes just a bit over two hours to complete.
Volume 2 logically picks up where Volume 1 left off, which is the seventh episode of the first season. The series is currently well into their second season and why these DVD volumes offer such little content is still curious and disappointing to me. That said, Volume 2 includes the following episodes:
-From the Atom…It Rises! – Scorpio is introduced as a new villain to the city but Nick Fury pitches into help the Squad.
-Night in the Sanctorum! – Falcon is blamed for causing the crash of a Helicarrier and while the team is on the move, Dr. Doom henchmen Enchantress and MODOK attack them.
-Ant Man helps the Squad retain an Infinity Fractal after Dr. Doom sends in some minions to steal it from the Squad’s helicarrier.
-Wolverine quits the Squad and joins a Canadian team and Ringmaster is introduced as a new villain.
-The Squad must battle the Skrulls, but they’re not alone — the Fantastic Four come to help.
-It appears Black Widow has joined the Squad but is this for real or is something more sinister going on?
Volume 2 DVD
Presentation quality on the DVD is on par for what you would expect for a modern cartoon on disc. The box art and menu look good as well, and the image quality of the show is sharp and colorful, no complaints. For audio, viewers can toggle between 2.0 and 5.1 sound, and there are the following extra features:
-Interview with Tom Kenny (2m) – Voice of Iron Man talks (very briefly) about the show and encourages kids to read the comic books that these characters and stories are based on.
-Hero Profiles – A collection of still images with a picture and text about the members of the Squad.
-Concept Art Gallery – About twenty images of concept art depicting about five characters in the show.
-Super Hero Squad Online Trailer
With that, let’s get to the summary…