Since 1966 Marvel has produced nearly a hundred animated TV series in partnership with numerous studios and production companies. Beloved by generations of fans, not only do these shows bring iconic comic book characters to life, from the very start they have served as both a launch pad and a showcase for some of TAG’s greatest talents.
1966
The Marvel Super Heroes
Airing on weekday afternoons in select cities, the first Marvel TV series featured segments for Captain America, The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and The Sub-Mariner. It used existing comic book art, with pages Xeroxed for use as key frames. Animators added limited mouth and body movements, and additional movement was made by jostling the camera or panning a scene. A narrator and comic word bubbles guided the scripts.
1967-68
The Fantastic Four
In partnership with Marvel, this was the first Hanna-Barbera production based on a comic book series. While character designs were done by legendary comic book artist Alex Toth, the show featured original animation.
1967-1970
Spider-Man
This animated series is just the first of many for Spidey. There have been 11 Spider-Man series over the years—so far.
1978
The New Fantastic Four
Because the rights to Fantastic Four co-founder Human Torch were tied up, this second animated series based on Marvel’s Fantastic Four debuted H.E.R.B.I.E., aka Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-Type, Integrated Electronics. Shortly after, the character appeared in the comic books.
1979
Fred and Barney Meet the Thing
In this hour-long Saturday morning cartoon on NBC, Fred and Barney never actually met the Thing. They were only shown together during the opening title sequence and in some of the breaks between The New Fred and Barney Show and the entirely unrelated The Thing. This strange pairing came about because Marvel Comics had the rights at the time to some of the Hanna-Barbera franchises and was publishing comic books based on them.
1979-80
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman has gone through a few transformations over the years. As Jessica Drew, she was Marvel’s first superheroine to star in her own animated series. Then, when she reappeared in the 1990’s Iron Man as part of The Marvel Action Hour, she became Julia Carpenter. Jump ahead to Ultimate Spider-Man, running from 2012-2017, and Julia Carpenter was known as Madame Web.
1981-83
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
With the Human Torch tied up once again with rights issues, a new female character was created for this series: Firestar. Along with founding X-Men character Iceman, she teams up with Spider-Man to fight crime—and compete for ratings with D.C.’s Super Friends. Fun side note: Stan Lee narrated the series’ second season.
1992-97
X-Men: The Animated Series
Considered by many to be Marvel’s first truly serialized animated show, X-Men: The Animated Series kicked off the 1990’s Marvel Animated Universe (MAU)—a term created by fans that is now part of the Marvel lexicon. Composed of nine series starring Marvel comic book heroes, the shows made numerous references to one another. The last show in the MAU was 1999-2001’s Spider-Man Unlimited until 2024 and the revival series X-Men ’97.
1994-96
Iron Man
When Jaclyn Seymour-Pritchard received a call from Color Key Artist Phyllis Craig that Marvel needed a color stylist, this would be only her second job in the industry. “Luckily, I shared an office with Tina Oliva, the color person for Hulk and Fantastic Four. She guided me through the process,” she says. Seymour-Pritchard also received support from the newly formed Women in Animation, who she says, “encouraged us wannabes to mingle with the veteran animation professionals during their monthly meetings.” Women continued to provide guidance, especially the team in Craig’s office who helped Seymour-Pritchard make her first ring of cel colors by hand.
1996-97
The Incredible Hulk
In Marvel lore, the network considered the show too dark in its first season. She-Hulk was added as a regular co-star, and as a result, the second season was renamed The Incredible Hulk and She-Hulk.
1998
Silver Surfer
When Marvel’s Silver Surfer was getting underway, Dale Hendrickson wasn’t a computer expert, but he was using a computer to do for his own projects. This led to his being “handed the reins to build up a computer department that didn’t exist,” he says. The show had two teams: one made up of traditional comic book and animation guys and one of 3D guys. “I had to figure out how to marry the two.”
A major influence on the traditional team was the work of legendary comic artist Jack Kirby. “He had this incredibly graphic style of drawing,” says Hendrickson. “The way 3D works, you create an object, then you map it, put a skin on it with texture, images, and such. So, we had a guy, we called him the ‘Kirbinator.’ All he would do is make textures of Kirby-style brushstrokes and linework.” Once scanned in on 3D objects, the result made the show look like a comic book come to life.
2003
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series
Mediums overlapped as this TV iteration was developed to be in continuity with Sam Raimi’s live-action Spider-Man, which was released in 2002.
2015-19
Guardians of the Galaxy
Star-Lord, also known as Quill, loved listening to his Sony Walkman. As a nod to this, many episode titles are puns on classic rock songs, from “Can’t Fight This Seedling” to “Stuck in the Metal with You.”
2009-2012
11 series from Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D. to Ultimate Spider-Man
“We had a boom of animation projects in 2008-2009 after striking a number of deals a few years prior,” says Dan Buckley, President Marvel Comics and Franchise, explaining that this was aimed at ways to creatively co-finance productions with traditional partners. While effective, he says: “We learned there was much more opportunity and room for creative ideas by making these shows ourselves, which helped to truly expand our franchises between our major media releases. Ultimate Spider-Man was a great example of that. Building from there, we launched a number of fantastic shows.”
2021-Present
What If…?
What If …? is the first animated TV show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which consists of numerous movies and TV series set in a shared universe. It explores “what if” alternative scenarios from various MCU films.
2025
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Despite producing decades worth of superhero TV series, “Marvel Animation does not have a ‘house style,’” says Supervising Director Mel Zwyer. “The creative vision for this show, like all other Marvel animated shows, is to be as different from each other as possible.” For this upcoming Spidey series, the artists leaned on visual styles heavily influenced by the company’s Silver Age comics (1961-1970), but putting them in modern-day settings. “It was a challenge to find that balance between going too retro or not enough,” says Zwyer. Using 2D cel-shaded 3D, he adds: “Our goal was to make a show that looked like a moving comic book.”
Image credits: Marvel, Marvel Productions, Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Studios, Marvel Comics Group, Grantray-Lawrence Animation, Hanna-Barbera Productions, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and Film Roman.
