Marvel Animation, a division of Marvel Entertainment, is beginning production on The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, a new animated series timed to come out in 2011, just in time for the theatrical releases of The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the series will be produced by Film Roman, the same company behind The Simpsons and King of the Hill.

The first season will be 26 episodes long, and will focus on Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Giant Man and the Wasp. It will be produced by Ciro Nieli (Teen Titans) and the series story editor is Christopher Yost.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is just the latest of numerous animated projects coming out of Marvel, with other titles including Wolverine and the X-Men, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Marvel Super Hero Squad and The Black Panther.

"(This) continues our plan to complement each of our tentpole live-action features with an animated series," said Marvel president of animation Eric Rollman, who is exec producing with Simon Philips. "This new ensemble series tracks perfectly with our 'Road to the Avengers' strategy."