Some time has passed since Thanos' defeat. With all of the biggest supervillains out of sight or imprisoned, the Avengers put their plan to rally new members on hold and have split to do their own heroics.
An investigation involving AIM's new Adaptoid project soon brings them together again, and reveals a familiar threat thought to have been long gone.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc:
- "Avengers World" ended with Tony announcing plans to expand the Avengers. One Time Skip later, the Avengers have drifted apart and Tony offhandedly mentions that the plan fell apart because there were no new threats.
- Nat's working for the UN, meanwhile, is completely ignored.
- Beneath Notice: Compared to the others, Hulk is able to pass perfectly among the AIM scientists by turning back into Bruce Banner.
- Card-Carrying Villain: As Cap notes, "the Masters of Evil" is pretty on the nose.Captain America: How exactly does one become a Master of Evil?Screaming Mimi: Practice!
- Chekhov's Gunman: The Masters of Evil become important a few episodes down the line.
- Compressed Hair: Natasha is able to hide her long locks underneath AIM's beekeeper outfits, as is Thor.
- Costume Evolution:
- Cap's now sporting the costume he wore in Captain America: The First Avenger.
- Black Widow's got a new outfit based on what she wore in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
- Elaborate Underground Base: AIM's base is hidden under an entire town.
- Evil Evolves: The episode ends with Ultron stealing the Scientist Supreme's knowledge and the Adaptoid nanotech, giving him a look more like his MCU counterpart.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: AIM had Ultron's body lying around. There was no way that was ever going to end well, even before it turns out Ultron wasn't as deactivated as might've been hoped.
- Foreshadowing: On Nat's team entering the AIM base, the camera passes in front of Ultron's shattered remains in a jar, before Sam finds out about it.
- Kick Them While They're Down: Hulk continues pounding on Goliath even after he's already knocked down. The others have to tell him to stop.
- Logical Weakness: Screaming Mimi's Super-Scream can be disabled simply by choking her.
- Mood Whiplash: The episode ends with the Scientist Supreme defeated, AIM's base destroyed and the nearby civilians saved. Cue Ultron popping out of the ground like a daisy, zapping the Scientist Supreme and getting a new body.
- Mugged for Disguise: Natasha, Sam and Steve beat up some AIM goons to steal their outfits. Then it turns out they weren't the only ones with this idea.
- Mythology Gag: Screaming Mimi looks appreciative of Beetle catching her (Beetle, not so much). In the comics, they were a couple during the Niceiza run of Thunderbolts.
- Put on a Bus: Ant-Man's gone, having left when the Avengers started drifting apart. JARVIS is also gone, now replaced by FRIDAY.
- The Quiet One: Beetle doesn't say a word, which Cap comments on.Captain America: Let me guess, you're the quiet type.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: The Avengers find themselves all having infiltrated AIM, but nearly end up attacking each other because they didn't tell one another.
- Worf Had the Flu: Thanks to the time spent apart, the Avengers are off their game through the episode, tripping over one another through the fight.
