Dracula. Yeah, Dracula. The king of the vampires is not the sort of ‘villain’ one would expect to cross swords with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, is it? Odd choice, but not out of the realm, really, because the fact is Count Dracula has been a Marvel Comics character since the classic Tomb of Dracula stories of the 1970s by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. And in the second episode of “Avengers Assemble,” he was invited to join the villainous Cabal. I’ll see you after the jump to find out what happens when the prince of darkness meets the Avengers!
Why Dracula?
We are back once again to the question of villain choice. Do the true foes of the Avengers suck? Surely they must as the writers of this series don’t seem to want to use them. Red Skull fights Captain America, MODOK Iron Man, Doom the Fantastic Four, and Dracula? Van Helsing or Jonathan Harker, maybe the X-Men if we really stretch it. I’m just wondering, will we be getting any Avengers villains with this Avengers cartoon?
Dracula Strikes
Undead vampire ninjas are a nice touch. Another nice touch is running into a mirror because they can’t see their reflection. I love the logic. And at least we know now where the Black Widow was last episode. My only question is that if Captain America has a past with a vampire, why wouldn’t it be Baron Blood?
Regardless, allied with the Red Skull, Dracula (not Count, it’s insulting, because he’s, you know, king of the vampires) has vampirized the Black Widow and attacked the Avengers. He wants Cap’s life in exchange for Widow’s.
Dracula’s appearance, much like the Space Phantoms and the Midgard Serpent is decidedly not like his comics incarnation, or at least not like the most recognizable Wolfman/Colan version. Sad. I can’t help but think the “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” cartoon would have gotten it right.
Team Dynamics
The personalities and camaraderie of the Avengers is getting better with each episode however. I still have issues with Thor, but he’s not acting as dumb as he did earlier. On the same note, Hawkeye and the Falcon aren’t that dumb either.
Their teamwork needs work, as does their head work. They already know, or at least Cap does, that ultraviolet light incapacitates vampires, why aren’t they armed that way to begin with? And why confront Dracula at night anyway? As long as we’re on the subject, isn’t Iron Man’s unibeam solar powered?
These are small things but they make up for a little bit, some of Dracula’s minions do look a bit like Baron Blood in silhouette. Thor’s talk about legends is nice, as is Iron Man’s obsession to make magic sync with science. I am still a bit annoyed that Tony Stark is taking all the credit for the Falcon’s wings. Why do they have to steal T’Challa’s thunder? It’s like Elvis swiping from the blues.
Hulkula
One of the prime rules of writing is asking the question, what is the worst thing that can possibly happen? And the answer is always just do it. “Blood Feud” plays that card well in the end by having Dracula bite and feed on the Hulk. Result – a vampiric Hulk and a Hulked out Dracula. Too bad it’s temporary.
Despite the illogic of the Avengers fighting Dracula, this wasn’t a bad episode overall. But what were those tiny mini-shields Cap was throwing??? See you this coming Sunday when next the Avengers Assemble!
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