The newest entry in the series of LEGO Avengers animated specials, Mission: Demolition introduces us to Dennis (voiced by Will Friedle), a janitor at the Damage Control crew who keeps having to clean up after superhero fights in the city. Dennis is a huge fan of the various costumed heroes the Marvel Universe has to offer and enjoys his job, since this is the closest he’ll ever get to meeting some of his idols. The problem is, he’s pretty bad at his job, and his clumsiness leads to him accidentally breaking just about anything he touches. Considering they’re all living in a world made out of LEGO bricks, that is a big problem.
Dennis still tries to remain optimistic, as he explains his life’s story to the audience, by breaking some more stuff, in this case “the fourth wall”, by addressing the people watching the movie. This leads to a short argument with She-Hulk (voiced by Tiffani Thiessen), who claims she was the one who did this first in her comics, and is one of the reasons she sued Deadpool for copying her, banning him from appearing from this movie. It’s a silly scene but feels at home in this special, and also raises a valid point.
Excited about attending Avengers Con, and wanting to finish up work early, Dennis is tricked by a new intern at Damage Control named Terry to break into a vault and use a device that could help clean everything faster. Terry (voiced by Kevin Smith) seems friendly enough, but also suspicious at the same time; these LEGO movies aren’t exactly subtle about things like this, but that is all part of their charm. The two find the mysterious Regal Practical Duster, which was apparently discovered by Reed Richards and has the power to consume anything. When only certain letters of its name are lit, it clearly and ominously spells GALACTUS, and goes on a rampage absorbing everything and everyone in its path…including most of the Avengers. Terry also becomes a full fledged villain when he obtains the cosmic axe that enables him to reshape the world, thus becoming Terrax (Terry with an axe, get it?).
With the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Panther and Black Widow
and a few other heroes captured, alongside… Tom Brady, who happened to be present there, things seem dire. Dennis manages to save at least Vision’s head, and the android’s head is still functioning for the time being. It explains to him they have to go to Avengers Tower and get a power booster, which should give the android enough power to phase through Galactus and escape. It is now up to Dennis to save the day! After being inspired by Vision’s words that being an Avengers means being the best version of yourself, he quickly dons a bizarre costume (that would feel a bit odd even within the Marvel Universe, and that’s saying something!) and becomes D-Man, later known as Demolition Man.
He’s joined by (or rather, he tries joining) a second team of Avengers, consisting of Captain America (Sam Wilson), Wolverine, Dazzler, Moon Girl, Moon Knight and Daredevil. The heroes aren’t too keen on working with Dennis – though Wolverine does kind of like his mask, seeing as it’s so similar to his. What follows is a big fight, with the Avengers fighting Terrax and his monsters. There are some pretty good moments spread throughout, with some nicely timed choreography, but the new Avengers end up being captured, as well. In the end it shouldn’t surprise many that Dennis is the one to help save the day, with his uncanny ability to break just about anything he touches. It’s predictable, but handled well enough and gives some kind of closure to Dennis’ arc in the movie. Now that both Avengers teams are free, alongside a few other mighty Marvel heroes, an all out LEGO battle commences. Similar to the earlier one, it also has some really nice visuals and creative gags showing the heroes taking out the villains. There’s really not a lot to comment on all of this, other than maybe offering a beat by beat breakdown of the fights, but it’s still a pretty entertaining scene, overall.
The movie’s ending also seems to imply Dennis is joining the Avengers, though it remains
to be seen if he will be present in any of the follow-up films. The chances of him appearing in live-action projects seems less likely, but you never know. For those wondering, yes, Demolition Man is an actual character from the comics and wasn’t just made up for this movie. Though his comic book origin and life story differs from what was shown here, he’s still one of the many inhabitants of the Marvel Universe, and it is fun to think him getting his own movie, albeit in LEGO form.
The end credits also feature a gag, a bit of a follow-up to the She-Hulk scene earlier in the film. Deadpool (voiced by Jason Mantzoukas) finally arrives, during the credits, but She-Hulk starts beating him up since he wasn’t allowed to appear here. It’s a silly scene and it feels a bit too long honestly, but does make some sense considering these two characters and their habit of “breaking the fourth wall”. Plus like I said, the gag was set up earlier. In a way, this is also a bit of a commentary on how She-Hulk’s live-action series on Disney+ featured a scene of her jumping out of the show and onto the Disney+ platform.
As a whole, this was a fun movie; the story wasn’t the greatest, but it had some heart put into it, as well as the usual humor that is featured in these LEGO movies. My favorite gag was probably seeing Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur pretend to be Moon Knight and Daredevil, so they won’t be billed for the damage they caused in the city. And wouldn’t you know it, once Moon Knight appears and hears that Dennis works for Damage Control, he brings up how he keeps getting bills for stuff he didn’t do. Then you have Dazzler insisting that superheroes need catchy theme songs. Vision’s head, malfunctioning plays “Gloria” by Laura Branigan (inspired by Dennis’ annoying neighbor’s name). “Holding Out For A Hero” is also used on the soundtrack later on.
It’s also among the most crowded LEGO Marvel movies, at least from what I can remember. Apart from the two Avengers teams featured here, you get to see how busy the city is… perhaps trying to show it from Dennis’ perspective, that of a non-powered human who just happens to live there. You have the Frightful Four (three of them, anyway) driving recklessly on the streets, or Iceman sliding around, Thing and Gambit planning a card game night (and being disappointed that Howard the Duck can’t attend), or meeting Ghost-Spider at the local hotdog cart. Rocket Raccoon and Groot rummaging through some junk. The Punisher running his own gym (where his goal is to “punish those calories!”). The Invisible Woman cannot be seen, obviously, but she can be heard. There are a few neat “Easter Eggs” too, such as a “Merry Marvel Marching Society Wants You” poster seen in the background of Dennis’ apartment, or the theater showing a 3-D Man movie… now in 2-D.
The voice acting is solid. Will Friedle stars as Dennis/Demolition Man. Friedle has voiced several other characters over the years, including other young heroes such as Terry McGinnis/Batman Beyond, or Deadpool (on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series), to name a few. Kevin Smith also has a few voice credits in his filmography, but is perhaps better known for being behind the scenes, working as a writer or director or whatever. Then you have some role reprisals, such as David Kaye as Vision, Roger Craig Smith as Captain America, Laura Bailey as Black Widow, Fred Tatasciore as Hulk, Travis Willingham as Thor, or James C. Mathis III as Black Panther, all roles they previously played in previous Avengers cartoons (not necessarily LEGO). Steve Blum returns as Wolverine, a role he’s played in numerous other projects over the years. Then you have John Stamos as Iron Man, and Lily Sanfelippo as Ghost-Spider, reprising their roles from the Spidey & his Amazing Friends animated show aimed at pre-schoolers (well, Sanfelippo was replaced by Audrey Bennett starting with season 3 of the show). Last but not least, Diamond White returns as Moon Girl, and Tatasciore also offers the vocal effects for Devil Dinosaur, both roles they also play on the Moon Girl animated series. Tom Brady voices himself! Overall, the ensemble cast works pretty well.
LEGO Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition was written by Eugene Son, and directed by Ken Cunningham. It is now available to stream – and worth watching! – on Disney+.
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