Marvel Animation Studios is teaming up the Hulk and Iron Man for its debut feature, Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United.  A blend of computer-generated and hand-drawn animation, the film will feature the heroes battling Zzzax, an abomination formed of pure energy with the ability to absorb human minds.  Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) will voice Tony Stark/Iron Man, Fred Tatasciore (Ultimate Spider-Man) voices Bruce Banner/Hulk and Dee Bradley Baker (American Dad) will voice the villainous Zzzax.  Marvel's executive vice president of television, Jeph Loeb, is overseeing the project.

Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United will debut on home video April 23rd.  Hit the jump to check out the first images and to see what Loeb had to say about the film and future projects.

The plans for Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United were revealed recently to EW, along with the first images from the upcoming animated feature.  Zzzax, a villain familiar to Hulk fans, will be the main antagonist in the film.  Loeb talks about his presence in the plot as follows:

“We see his origin in the movie. It’s what would happen if the entire Eastern seaboard [electrical grid] went out. The two heroes meet up, thinking of each other as to blame.  Calamity ensues."

Though Stark and Banner were seen riding off into the sunset at the end of The Avengers, this animated film is not necessarily a direct sequel.  As Loeb puts it:

“We welcome people to interpret any way they like.  In tone and character, we want to follow our best leader.”

Heroes United changes up the vocal talent for Iron Man and Hulk, but film tried to capitalize on the relationship that Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo formed on screen:

“The challenge was to pick up the banter between the two of them. Certainly, Adrian Pasdar’s performance is inspired by what Robert Downey Jr. does, and Mark laid down such an incredible path for us to be able to follow,” Loeb says. “You’ll see in Heroes United that Hulk’s a little more articulate.”

Finally, Loeb talks about the possible future for more of Marvel Animation's feature films:

“It’s our hope that we will start doing more feature-length direct to Blu-ray and DVD stories. They’ll more than likely be in team-up situations. We find it works really well when we have big exciting adventures with two or more of our heroes.”