Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel

Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel is a cross-over episode of the animated series Phineas and Ferb, that featured characters from Marvel Entertainment, specifically in their incarnations from the Marvel Universe shows on Disney XD. It aired on August 16, 2013, on Disney Channel and on August 25, 2013, on Disney XD.^[1][2] The special was released on DVD on October 1, 2013.

Plot

One ordinary day, Phineas, Ferb, and their friends are surfing on an asteroid belt in outer space ("Surfin' Asteroids"). A beam from Dr. Doofenshmirtz's "Power-Draininator" bounces off of the kids' space station and hits Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk, who are facing off against Red Skull, Whiplash, Venom, and M.O.D.O.K. in New York City ("My Streets"), rendering them powerless and allowing the villains to escape. On the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, Nick Fury notifies them that the beam came from Phineas and Ferb's satellite, and they go to the boys' house to confront them, only to find that they had nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, after finding out that Doofenshmirtz's Power-Draininator has drained the heroes' powers, the villains pay him a visit, initially thinking him to be an evil genius but realize that isn't so. After running some less-than-evil errands with Doof, which include stomping on a bed of leaves and going up the down escalator ("My Evil Buddies and Me"), the villains decide to bring the heroes to them by causing trouble in the Googolplex Mall.

Meanwhile, Phineas, Ferb, and friends plan to assist the heroes in a self-built shed, aptly titled the "Secret Hideout for Emergency Defense" (or S.H.E.D. for short), which appears small on the outside but is quite big on the inside (As Ferb puts it, using a bit of British sci-fi technology, a vague reference to the TARDIS.) They build a machine which will temporarily duplicate their lost powers, but due to Candace's interference, the heroes' powers end up mixed up. The heroes and Phineas and Ferb, decked out in their Beak suit, go to the Googolplex Mall to face the villains, but are quickly subdued, and subsequently rescued by Agent P, wearing a superhero costume. Back at the S.H.E.D., due to Candace interfering again, Baljeet is struck by a gamma ray from the rebuilt power-replicating machine and turns into a Hulkified version of himself before storming off. Phineas lashes out at Candace and revokes her S.H.E.D. card while Buford goes out to look for Hulkjeet.

Candace and Isabella lament that they can't seem to do much to help ("Just Trying to Help"), while Doofenshmirtz creates a second and improved Power-Draininator. Finally with the device in their hands, the villains betray Doofenshmirtz by imprisoning him in a cage and announce their plans to destroy the Tri-State Area with the Power-draininator before using it to drain the powers from every other superhero to take over the world. The villains also spot Agent P and imprison him as well. To that end, Red Skull had MODOK make several modifications on the device so that it can drain off living energy and matter as well. Despite the odds being against them, the heroes go off to confront the villains. The heroes are given aid with help from Agent P (who manages to use nailcutters to cut himself and Doofenshmirtz out from their cages) and Doofenshmirtz, who shoots waffles at the villains with his Waffle-inator as revenge for their betrayal against him. Meanwhile, Candace and Isabella go to outer space and discover the heroes' powers held in a data collection tank in the space station. They land the space station in Danville, and the heroes are given their powers back ("Feelin' Super"). The kids watch as the heroes defeat the villains ("Feeling Froggy"), and Phineas apologizes to Candace for his behavior earlier. With the villains stopped, Nick Fury thanks the children for their work, and a hot dog vendor (voiced by Stan Lee) gives out free hot dogs. Candace then takes the opportunity to bust the boys for their crashed space station to Linda, but Doofenshmirtz manages to fire up his Disintegrator-nator to disintegrate the station, leaving no evidence. Doofenshmirtz is finally relieved that he has given some aid to help save the world, but is now saddened that no one was watching him.

During the credits, the kids approach Agent P and take off his mask, revealing himself to be, in fact, Ducky Momo. He flees, and Perry shows up a few moments later, with the camera panning to reveal Agent P's superhero suit and a Ducky Momo mask in a trash can nearby.

Background

In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment.^[3] This was the first animated crossover between Disney and Marvel. "Our partnership with Marvel has yielded big returns this year – first with the launch of the Marvel Universe block on Disney XD, and now with production beginning on the Phineas and Ferb / Marvel special. To paraphrase Phineas himself: best year EVER!", said Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide.

Production

The episode was officially announced at Comic-Con. "Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel is an exciting animated special for everyone at Disney and Marvel. Bringing together the worlds of Phineas and Ferb and Marvel's The Avengers is a ton of fun for fans of both properties", said Dan Buckley, publisher and president of the print, animation and digital divisions, Marvel Worldwide, Inc. "It's a thrilling opportunity for these two franchises to take advantage of each other in a way that may go beyond this one special. Fans of all ages are in for a very special treat!"^[4]

Phineas and Ferb co-creators, Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Dan Povenmire worked closely with Marvel writers to adapt the characters to work together.^[4] They originally had a scene where Iron Man uses Thor's hammer. The Marvel writers did not allow that, forcing Marsh and Povenmire to re-board that entire scene.^[5]

On June 6, 2013, USA Today released the first full-length trailer for the special.^[6] On July 7, 2013, during an episode of Avengers Assemble, Disney XD aired a 90-second sneak peek of the special.^[7] On August 12, 2013, verified users of the "Watch Disney Channel" application got to watch the special before it aired on television.

Drake Bell, Adrian Pasdar, Travis Willingham, Fred Tatasciore, Liam O'Brien, Charlie Adler, and Chi McBride reprise their roles from Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Red Skull, M.O.D.O.K., and Nick Fury respectively. Additionally, Peter Stormare voices Whiplash, Danny Trejo voices Venom, and Stan Lee makes a cameo.^[8]

Reception

Ratings

Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel had 3.8 million viewers, the series highest ratings in six months. It ranked as the night's number one TV telecast across major youth demos and was the number one cable TV telecast in total viewers.^[9] In the United Kingdom it garnered 234,000 viewers when it premiered on September 12, 2013.^[10]

Critical reception

Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, saying "Instead of worrying about Disney 'kidifying' Marvel, just enjoy the Phineas and Ferb magic in this animated mashup".^[11]

Daniel Alvarez of Unleash the Fanboy gave it 4.5 stars out of 5 saying "Overall, Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel is one of the most fun things to come out of Marvel animation recently. The dialogue is great and you will find yourself laughing out loud at some parts. It's fun for all, young ones and longtime comic fans alike".^[12]

Denette Wilford of Huffington Post Canada enjoyed it, but noted that it wasn't as good as Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension.^[13]

Broadcast

The special premiered in the United States on Disney Channel on August 16, 2013 and on Disney XD on August 25, 2013. In Canada it premiered on August 16, 2013 on Family and on August 18, 2013 on Disney XD. It aired on August 17, 2013 on Disney Channel in India and on September 12, 2013 on Disney XD in the UK and Ireland. It was broadcast on April 10, 2014 on Disney XD in Australia. In the original US airing, the song "Surfin' Asteroids" had the vocals cut, but when it was rerun, the vocals were added.

References

External links

• Official trailer
• Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel at the Internet Movie Database