Most people remember the early days of Disney XD’s Avengers run as a bit of a mixed bag. It had big shoes to fill after Earth's Mightiest Heroes was cancelled, and fans were—to put it lightly—skeptical. But then we got to 2017. Specifically, we got to Avengers Assemble Season 4, also known as Secret Wars. This wasn't just another batch of episodes. It was a massive, sprawling experiment that basically threw the traditional team dynamic into a blender and hit "liquefy."
If you haven't watched it in a while, you've probably forgotten just how weird it got.
The season starts with a gut punch: the original Avengers disappear. Gone. Just like that. Instead of the usual Stark-led banter, we’re left with a "New Avengers" roster that feels like a fever dream in the best way possible. We’re talking Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Vision. It was bold. It was risky. Honestly, it’s exactly what the show needed to stop spinning its wheels.
The Secret Wars Pivot That Changed Everything
So, the plot is loosely—and I mean loosely—based on the 2015 Jonathan Hickman comic run and the original 1984 Jim Shooter classic. The Leader and the Cabal manage to scatter our main heroes across time and space. This isn't just a "monster of the week" setup. It creates a vacuum. Seeing T'Challa try to lead a team of rookies while Tony Stark is trapped in a different dimension adds a layer of tension the show previously lacked.
The stakes felt real because the safety net was gone.
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Think about the character growth here. Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) serves as the audience surrogate, and her wide-eyed "I can't believe I'm an Avenger" energy balances out the stoicism of Black Panther. It’s a dynamic that the MCU films didn't really get to explore in this specific configuration. Avengers Assemble Season 4 took advantage of the medium of animation to do things live-action budgets simply wouldn't allow at the time.
Why the New Avengers Roster Worked
Most shows would have brought the "A-Team" back within two episodes. This season? It made us wait.
- Black Panther’s Leadership: T'Challa isn't Steve Rogers. He’s a king first. Watching him navigate the ego of a team that doesn't quite trust his methods yet is fascinating. He’s calculated, almost cold, which contrasts perfectly with the impulsive nature of Ant-Man.
- The Visual Variety: Because the Beyonder (yes, he shows up) creates Battleworld, the backgrounds actually matter. We go from a noir-inspired 1940s New York to a prehistoric jungle. It’s eye candy.
- The Villains: The Cabal is back, but it's the threat of the Beyonder that really looms over everything. He’s voiced by Liam O'Brien, who brings this sort of detached, god-like curiosity to the role that makes him genuinely creepy.
Battleworld and the Weirdness of Earth-12276
Let’s talk about Battleworld. In Avengers Assemble Season 4, Battleworld is a patchwork planet made of pieces of different realities. It’s a comic book nerd's dream. One minute you're watching a Western-themed episode, and the next, you're in a world where vampires have taken over. It basically turned the show into an anthology for a few episodes while maintaining a core narrative thread.
It was chaotic. It was loud. It was fun.
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The episode "The Immortal Weapon" is a standout. Seeing Iron Fist and Black Panther team up to fight Dracula’s forces in a mystical version of K'un-Lun is something you just don't see in standard superhero fare. It broke the formula. The writers clearly stopped caring about "brand synergy" for a minute and just decided to play with the toys in the sandbox.
Acknowledging the Flaws (Because It Wasn't Perfect)
Look, I’m not saying it’s The Wire. The animation quality in Avengers Assemble Season 4 can be inconsistent. There are moments where the character models look a bit stiff, and the dialogue occasionally leans too hard into "Saturday morning cartoon" territory with some truly cringey one-liners.
Also, if you're a die-hard fan of the original 616 Secret Wars comic, you might get annoyed. This isn't a 1:1 adaptation. It’s a remix. Some people hated how much the Beyonder’s backstory was simplified. Others felt the "New Avengers" stayed center stage for too long. But honestly? The change of pace was worth the trade-off. It’s better to have a show try something weird and stumble than to have it play it safe and be boring.
The Legacy of Season 4
By the time we hit the finale, "Beyond," the scale is ridiculous. We have the original team back, the new team fully seasoned, and a cosmic showdown that actually feels earned. It served as a soft reboot that proved the Avengers Assemble brand could survive without relying on the exact same character beats every single week.
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It also paved the way for Season 5 (Black Panther's Quest), which took an even more stylized approach to the art. But Season 4 remains the "Big Event" of the series. It’s the one where they finally stopped trying to be the movies and started trying to be a sprawling, cosmic comic book.
How to Watch It Today
If you’re looking to revisit this, it’s all on Disney+. But here is a tip: don’t just binge it in the background while you’re scrolling on your phone. Pay attention to the world-building in the Battleworld arc. There are so many tiny cameos and nods to obscure Marvel lore that you'll miss if you’re not looking.
- Start with the "Shadow Showdown" two-parter to see the transition.
- Pay close attention to the "Vibranium Curtain" episodes for some of the best Black Panther action outside of the films.
- Watch the "New Year's Resolution" episode for a weirdly poignant look at Howard Stark and Peggy Carter.
Avengers Assemble Season 4 is a reminder that Marvel animation is at its best when it embraces the "Secret Wars" mentality—take everything people know, break it into pieces, and see if you can put it back together into something even more interesting. It’s not just a kids' show; it’s a love letter to the messy, complicated, "everything-is-possible" nature of the Marvel Multiverse.
To truly appreciate the arc, watch it alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series crossover episodes. It provides a much broader context for how the cosmic side of this universe was functioning while Earth was being torn apart. If you're coming from the MCU movies, the transition might feel jarring, but give it four episodes. By the time the Beyonder starts reshaping reality, you'll be hooked on the sheer ambition of it all.