...I was going to have another link there, but I can't find that I ever did a review of the movie I Know That Voice.
Okay, scratch that, this opening about some of the stranger voices I've heard so far in this series will wait until next week, because I need that post to link to.
Let's just get into the action!
When we stopped last time, things were starting to come together. Akira, Hikaru, and Chris arrived to stage their rescue of Jessica and Edward. Jessica managed to bring the Wasp into active play until she was called back to her DISK, Hulk was in a DISK in the possession of the good guys, and Edward was hiding like the sissy he is.
However, before a brave rescue could be undertaken, Whirlwind summoned a tornado around the freighter the bad guys were on, preventing the good guys from getting close enough. Hulk would be able to withstand the maelstrom, but when Akira attempted to "D-Smash" him, he just got an error message, like he was trying to run early software on a late version of Windows.
Oh, and Spider-Man was getting his butt kicked so severely on the ship that even Diablo, the weakest physical combatant on the ship (and I'm including Edward in that assessment) is able to tag him a few times.
We get a flashback of Akira and Hikaru's father talking with Tony about problems with the DISK system. Converting a person into energy is a tall order (and I like how their father tries to recommend the use of Pym particles, but Tony just shuts it down), but a way to simplify the process was to classify the people "captured" into different groups. They are Tech, Energy, Fight, Power, and Animal.
Iron Man, obviously, is in the "tech" class. Captain America is "fight," Wasp is "animal," Thor is "energy," and Hulk is "power." Sadly, the wristband syncs up with the first hero or villain summoned, and since all three kids on the plane have already summoned someone before, none of them are able to summon anybody from another "class."
I want to point out that Tony is a massive jerk, since he idly comments "I guess we'll have to think of an animal-themed hero" when rattling off which Avengers are which class. Apparently he completely forgot the Wasp even exists.
Normally, this actually wouldn't be a problem, but it's important to remember that the kids' biocodes are limited, meaning that the bad guys on the ship can probably just swap villains and summon whoever they want whenever they want.
It actually puts into context just how difficult things will be for the good guys.
Back on the ship, Whirlwind continues to be a lot more useful than he ever was in the comics.
On the ship itself, the bad guys are wishing Loki would show up, since they can't keep them at bay forever. King Cobra shows up with Jessica in tow, and tosses the Wasp's DISK back to that female reporter villain for safe keeping. Edward, watching the whole thing from where he's hidden, has managed to find a large pipe to wield, so he's at least a bit tougher than last time when he just cried and ran.
The bad guys radio down to Abomination to wrap up their fight with Spider-Man and bring him up to be D-secured, and Edward silently apologizes to Spider-Man and Jessica, wishing he could, "but I can't!"
On the plane, Tony is volunteering to face Whirlwind's storm, moving all power to defense to see if he can punch through. Why they don't have Thor, the guy who summons storms try taking on another guy's storms, do it, I have no idea. Jarvis gives Iron Man a 54% chance to make it through the storm. Nobody really likes the odds, but Thor and Cap agree with Iron Man. Cap even points out that they do "things this dangerous on a regular basis."
Tony's also taking a bracelet and the Hulk's DISK with him, figuring that once he's on the ship, he can find Edward or Jessica and have one of them summon the Hulk to tip the scales a bit more in their favor. Tony heads off while Akira accuses him of always "overdoing it."
We just to another flashback, where the boys' father explains a bit more of the family's past. Two years before their father joined the DISK project, the boys' mother passed away. Their father has regrets for taking off and leaving his boys behind, stating he hasn't been much of a father to them. Tony's response is to suggest throwing a huge party when the DISKs are resolved, so the boys can see "just how cool their dad is."
It's a really nice bonding moment, and helps show that underneath the jerkish behavior, Tony takes what's happening to the boys seriously, since he was good friends with their father.
In the present, Tony has a small conversation with Jarvis as he flies towards the storm. Jarvis points out that if Tony wants to lie, he shouldn't use Jarvis' name to do it. Jarvis also asks where Tony pulled the "54%" from in the odds.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Jarvis responds.
Jarvis has actually calculated the odds of making it through, but Tony, having watched a lot of Star Wars growing up, doesn't want to hear the odds.
Inside the storm, Tony's force field (oh, did I forget to mention that he has a force field? My bad) starts getting drained immediately, so Jarvis puts every non-essential system (including himself) into sleep mode. On the plane, the kids are extremely worried to the point where Hikaru tells Akira to call Tony back and D-secure him, but Tony insists he be allowed to finish it.
We get a really poignant scene here, where Tony finally calls Akira by his real name instead of "Samurai Boy," and states that he knows that everything that's happened is his fault (or Loki's fault. I'd go with "Loki's fault"), and he'll not only save the boys' father, but also fix everything that's gone wrong.
It's at this point both of Tony's wrist repulsors give out, and he goes flying into the storm wildly, unable to control himself. Cap tells Akira to call Iron Man back, but Akira hesitates, choosing to believe in Tony.
Through the magic of a child screaming his name, Tony is able to get just enough power to finish blasting through the storm...at which point he plummets like a rock and crashes into the ship in front of the bad guys, power depleted. The Hulk DISK goes flying and bounces across the deck, where it ends up...
Well, hello, Edward.
The bracelet required to summon the Hulk, however, landed about fifteen feet away, out in the open and in the sight of the villains. They haven't noticed it yet, but that's only because there's a ragdoll Iron Man to be dealt with.
Edward stands up to get the bracelet...and knocks over his pipe, revealing his location to all the villains.
Jessica mutters about Edward being a klutz and decides it's time to save the day HERSELF, so...well, she bites King Cobra's tail.
This has the completely unexpected by "anybody using logic" result of making King Cobra scream in pain and drop Jessica. She immediately makes a break for the bracelet, and tosses it to Edward before the reporter grabs hold of her again. The goons all make a break for Edward as he fumbles with the bracelet, trying to get it on. It looks bleak, then, Edward says the magic words. "Hulk! D-Smash!"
I just want to point out how awesome the Hulk's summon is. I didn't even notice what was going on in the background of all the other summons, but when the Hulk is arriving on the scene, to represent power they put an actual sun behind him.
The goons immediately call back their own villains, so on the deck we have, on one side, Edward and the Hulk. On the other we have the goons, Diablo, MODOK, King Cobra, Abomination, and a captive Jessica. That is, until Jessica wiggles free from the reporter, but she slams her head against a railing and goes down like a wet rag.
The reporter, at this point, says the smartest words in history:
The goons check in with Diablo, who states that there's still residual "alchemy" (sigh) in the Hulk's system. He steps forward, and attempts to once again seize control of the Hulk's mind.
It does not go well.
It gets even worse for the bad guys, though, when the Hulk winds up (swinging his arm around while still holding Diablo's head in a scene I WISH I could convert into an animated gif) and then chucking the alchemist into the air, taking both him and Whirlwind out of the fight.
With the storm gone, Thor and Captain America are both quickly summoned and sent into the battle as well. I do get to notice the backgrounds for Cap and Thor, though. Cap gets columns of fire erupting around him and Thor gets winds blowing around him and lightning strikes all around him. They jump down onto the ship, where Iron Man is quickly helped to his feet.
The bad guys do have one ace in the hole, though. They still have the Wasp's DISK, which the reporter threatens to have crushed so she'll never "see the outside world again" (read: she'll be killed).
However, when she reaches into her pocket for the DISK, well...
Let me put this into perspective for you.
Jessica has, in the space of three episodes, staged a jailbreak from her cell, stole the Wasp's DISK and a summoning bracelet, stared down one of Loki's goons without even blinking in fear, summoned Wasp and talked to her like a grown-up would, sent out the SOS, sacrificed herself so Edward could get away, broke free from an actual supervillain to get Hulk into the fight, and, once she was restrained by the reporter, picked the reporter's pocket before escaping to make sure the bad guys would have no leverage.
Chris was willing to stand his ground in front of the Hulk. That takes balls. Jessica makes Chris look...well, not like Edward, but man, she's up there in Cap's being willing to fight the Hulk levels of bravery.
So how was she able to grab the DISK? As she puts it, "I asked my father to give me all kinds of lessons. Piano, golf, dance...and magic tricks."
It turns out she was just pretending to be hurt, since her biocode wasn't fully charged.
It's fully charged now.
You know what that means.
On one side, Wasp, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Cap. On the other, Loki's five goons, Abomination, MODOK, and King Cobra.
Cap yells out those infamous words, "Avengers, assemble!"
Cut to credits!
.... <CENSORED>. I wanted a huge fight!
Aw, man.
So, uh, yeah. Next time, huge fight on a ship. Good guys, bad guys, so on, whatever. Man, I was really looking forward to that battle...which I guess is a good sign that the episode did a good job building up the scene.
Be here next time for what I'm sure is going to be a great episode, because if the Japanese do one thing right in their animation, it's insane fight sequences!
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