Some fans of Marvel may know that Marvel has a "Mangaverse" and now one project related to that called the "Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers" is an anime about The Avengers getting trapped by Loki and it is up to a bunch of kids and Spider-Man to rescue them.
One of the first things fans noticed when the trailer was released is that Thor's facial design looks remarkably "inspired" by Goku.
It would be no surprise though as Goku is one of the most famous anime characters of all time and Thor being designed to look similar to him would make western viewers to feel at ease when watching the show. It also gives Japanese fans who are not familiar with Thor to feel that Thor as powerful a fighter as Goku.
In the anime, portable capturing devices known as "DISKs" were developed to capture evil villains. However, thanks to Loki's machinations, both villains and heroes are sealed up in these Disks and scattered around the world. Amid the chaos, five youths obtained the power to restore these DISK-sealed heroes through a program called "Biocode." These youths received five DISKs that Spider-Man, who narrowly escaped being sealed himself, retrieved. Thus, these five can restore Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and Wasp - the Avengers!
Walt Disney Japan has developed local anime content for the Japanese market in the past most notably the "Fireball" television anime and the "Stitch!" television anime in 2008. The two television anime have inspired prequels and sequels.
Marvel also collaborated with the anime studio MADHOUSE to create four television anime - "Iron Man", "Wolverine", "X-Men", and "Blade". Kodansha published Ryoichi Ikegami's manga re-imagining of Spider-Man in Monthly Shonen Magazine, while Marvel itself created the "Mangaverse".
Toei Animation is producing the "Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers", Marvel's first television anime series for Japanese boys, for Walt Disney Japan to air throughout Japan. Bandai is responsible for the merchandising.
"Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers" will premiere on April 2 at 6:30 p.m. on TV Tokyo and five other affiliates.
