At its North American launch last fall, Disney+ had just about every Marvel cartoon ever made, from 1979's Spider-Woman to the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series. But a few weeks ago, a somewhat unusual addition was made to the streaming service: an anime called Marvel's Future Avengers.
If you're not plugged into anime specifically or foreign television deals more generally, you've probably never heard of the series. So what is Marvel's Future Avengers? And is it any good? That's what we're here for. So, read on before you add the show to your Disney+ watchlist.
Marvel's Anime History
Of course, Marvel is no stranger to the Japanese market; the company has been making inroads to it ever since the truly wonderful tokusatsu Spider-Man series of the 1970s (which, lest we forget, has one of the best theme songs in TV history) that helped to pave the way for Super Sentai and Power Rangers.
And, of course, there was the Marvel Anime quartet of 2009-2010: four 12-episode shows from Marvel, acclaimed animation studio Madhouse (One-Punch Man, Death Note) and Warren Ellis that tossed Iron Man, Wolverine, the X-Men and Blade into Japan-set adventures. That led to two direct-to-video films, 2013's Iron Man: Rise of Technovore and 2014's Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher. With all these projects doing well, eventually, a TV anime was commissioned.
Directed by Toshiaki Komura, written by King Ryū and animated by Toei Animation, Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers aired for 51 episodes from 2014 to 2015, and followed five kids who got caught up in a Loki-orchestrated plot that saw the Avengers shrunk down into devices called DISKs (Digital Identity Security Kit) that were meant to trap villains. With each of the kids given a biological code that enabled them to summon specific heroes, the stage was set for essentially Bayblade-meets-Marvel; naturally, of course, there was a tie-in toyline.
Given that it aired in several East Asian versions of Disney XD and Disney Channel, and that those countries have a high English-speaking population, an English-language dub was commissioned that featured an all-star cast of voice actors, such as Travis Willingham and Matthew Mercer, who had been, and continue to be, in various Marvel animation projects.
Wanting to keep the partnership going after Disk Wars' success, Marvel Animation brought Ryū over to Madhouse and director Yūzō Satō for Future Avengers, which aired for two seasons from 2017-2018 on Japanese satellite channel DLife. Currently, only the first 26-episode season is on Disney+.
What Is Future Avengers About?
Future Avengers doesn't really begin with Earth's Mightiest Heroes at all, but rather, on an island amusement park turned secret Hydra base. Under the leadership of Red Skull (voiced in English by Liam O'Brien), Hydra has been developing nano machines and conducting genetic engineering experiments on kids, resulting in loyal soldiers like Makoto (Max Mittelman), who has air-based powers; Bruno (Todd Haberkorn), who has powerful robotic limbs; Adi (Xander Mobus), who's a technomancer; and Chloe (Jeannie Elias), a shape-shifter. Brainwashed into thinking Hydra are good and the Avengers evil, the four dream of serving Red Skull loyally, with Adi and Chloe made into soldiers at the start of the series.
However, once off the island, they discover the extent of Hydra's manipulations and, returning home, break Makoto out. But in the chaos, the two are captured, with Makoto fleeing all on his own to Avengers Tower and to Tony Stark (Mick Wingert, doing a flawless Robert Downey Jr. impersonation).
While Iron Man believes him, he refuses to let Makoto come back to the island to free his friends. Not taking that lying down, Makoto eludes F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), meets up with the Avengers -- Tony, Captain America (Roger Craig Smith), Hulk (Fred Tatasciore), Wasp (Kari Whalgren) and Thor (Patrick Seitz) -- to help fight Skull and rescues his friends, although Bruno seemingly winds up dead.
With nowhere to go and, in Chloe and Adi's case, wanting to atone for their crimes, the three kids petition the Avengers to join and, although somewhat divided, the team agrees, taking the kids under their wing and calling them the "Future Avengers." The kids eventually get code-named Hurricane (Makoto), Charade (Chloe) and Codec (Adi) and team up with the Avengers, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel and many other heroes as they fight Hydra and the Masters of Evil.
Is Marvel's Future Avengers Any Good?
Even given that Disney+ only has the first season, which ends on a cliffhanger, Marvel's Future Avengers is fun. It's a well-animated, smartly paced superhero cartoon that's leagues above the visual quality of most modern Marvel cartoons while not trying to reach beyond its modest ambitions of "Kids' First Handbook of the Marvel Universe."
If your kids are (and statistically speaking, they probably are) fans of My Hero Academia, they'll certainly enjoy this. And, given that it's a Disney show, there's (thankfully) no fan service to be found.
So if you're deep-diving into Disney+ beyond the big name stuff, give Future Avengers a watch. It's a fascinating interpretation of Earth's Mightiest Heroes; hopefully, Hurricane, Charade and Codec show up in the comics soon.