Ultimate Avengers Movie Collection Blu-ray Review

By Brandon A. Duhamel

April 17, 2012

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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Video Codec: MPEG-2, AVC/MPEG-4
Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
Audio Codec: English LPCM 7.1 (48kHz/16-bit), DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Region: ABC (Region-Free)
Rating: PG-13
Discs: 2 (2 x Blu-ray)
Run Time: 110 Mins.
Studio: Lionsgate Entertainment
Blu-ray Release Date: April 24, 2012
List Price: $19.99

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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Films
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Films

[Rating:3/5]

Ultimate Avengers Movie Collection from Marvel Entertainment and Lionsgate brings together three previously released feature-length animated films, Ultimate Avengers, Ultimate Avengers II, and Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. Being that these have all been out for quite a while, a full review of content is probably not necessary, but I’ll briefly discuss it.

Ultimate Avengers is an origin story of the collaborative superhero group led by Captain America. Beginning with the search for the lost Captain by Nick Fury, the Avengers are brought together to fight off an alien invasion. Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man, Wasp and more tangle in violent, action-filled clashes. Ultimate Avengers II introduces T’Chala, the Black Panther to the Avengers and the fight against the aliens continues. The story lacks the energy of Ultimate Avengers and, despite some action sequences that are somewhat spectacular, the film fizzles quickly. Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, takes place years after all of the original Avengers have been killed out by a robotic threat known as Ultron. With the Earth taken over by Ultron and his minions, the children of the Avengers flee to a faraway planet under the supervision of an Elderly Tony Stark. When Ultron discovers them, they must flee and end up returning to Earth to help free it from the oppression of Ultron.

Each of these films is rooted in the original comics, but they also make some major changes to the mythology and character designs that longtime fans will either love or hate. Personally, neither of them outside of the first, is worth watching repeatedly.

Video Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

These releases stretch back to the early days of the Blu-ray format and Lionsgate hasn’t remastered them. Thus, Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers II both come in the rarely seen anymore MPEG-2 at 1080p. They don’t look bad, but they also aren’t the greatest transfers I’ve seen either. Detail is just a little soft and colors don’t quite pop. Next Avengers has an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement, and although it looks a bit better than the two Ultimate Avengers films, the line art is quite distinct in this one.

Audio Quality

[Rating:5/5]

The audio is excellent all around in this collection. Each film comes with a 7.1 mix in either LPCM 7.1 (48kHz/16-bit) for Ultimate Avengers I & II and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz/24-bit) for Next Avengers. Each film is big and dynamic, with deep lows, clear dialogue, and hyperactive sound effects. These 7.1 mixes make full use of the extra back channels, putting many discrete sound effects back there and lots of atmospherics.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:3/5]

All the original supplements are still here intact and although they read as HD, many are definitely upscaled to HD from an SD source.

The supplements:

Ultimate Avengers 1 & 2:

The Ultimates Featurette (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:23:47)
The Ultimate Voice Talent Search (1.33:1; 1080i/60; 00:05:22)
The Ultimate Gag Reel (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:03:46)
First Look at Doctor Strange (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:07:02)
Avenger Trivia Track
The Invincible Iron Man Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
Avengers Assemble (1.78:; 1080i/60; 00:23:16)

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow:

Featurette: Legacy: The Making of Next Avengers Heroes of Tomorrow (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:10:49)
Featurette: Kid Power: Next-Gen Marvel (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:09:41)
First Look: Hulk Vs. Wolverine (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:03:52)
First Look: Hulk Vs. Thor (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:03:15)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3.5/5]

Ultimate Avengers Movie Collection is a decent if forgettable stop in the Marvel universe. The superb audio is accompanied by acceptable video transfers, but will only be worth it for anyone who hasn’t already purchased the individual releases.

Additional Screen Captures