This article is a complete revision of the article published last week. Thanks to BleedingCoolNews.com, it has been reported that Marvel TV News has been posting fabricated news. The commentary posted for this article has been revised.
Since Marvel’s Avengers box office success rumors continue to circulate on whether Marvel Animation would cancel Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the animated series airing on Disney XD in favor of a new Avengers cartoon that reflects the style and tone of the movie. While no official announcement has been made it is high speculated that Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will be cancelled after completing its second season in favor of a new Avengers animated series titled: Avengers Assemble, which is set to premiere in 2013.
Earlier in the month Marvel officially renewed the Ultimate Spider-Man for a second season along with a new Hulk animated series, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Even though the true fate of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes remains a mystery, fans can expect new material coming out of Marvel Animation. However, based on Marvel Animation’s previous track record how long will each current and, or new animated series last?
In terms of Movies, Marvel Studios knows what they are doing. Marvel’s Avengers became a box office giant, The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters next month, and many other movie projects are in the works for phase two of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. Animation, DC animated properties, continues to trump Marvel in animation. In the 90s Marvel had two successful cartoons that aired on FOX Kids: X-Men and Spider-Man animated series’, while the Fantastic Four, Iron-Man, Hulk, where on UPN, all these animated series were set in one animated universe where characters guest starred on different cartoons. The most famous and expensive cross-over for Marvel Animation was the X-Men guest starring on Spider-Man. X-Men and Spider-Man both ran for five seasons on FOX Kids which defined what most kids watched on Saturday mornings over ten years ago. However, another successful cartoon that debuted on FOX solidified DC’s superiority in animation, Batman the Animated Series. Batman ran for many years on FOX until Kids WB! acquired the rights to air and produce new episodes. In the long run, Batman the Animated Series lasted significantly longer than six seasons and a movie, as it spun off into other animated series: Batman Beyond, Superman the Animated Series, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited, and Static Shock.
Since Batman’s debut Warner Bros. animation continues to produce acclaimed animation for their fans, the most recent being Green Lantern and Young Justice which are currently airing on Cartoon Network. In addition, the audience who grew up watching Batman in the 90s can now enjoy Warner Bros. direct-to-video movies, the latest being Superman Vs. The Elite followed by the highly anticipated The Dark Knight Returns. (Not to be confused with Dark Knight Rises, Dark Knight Returns is an animated adaption of Frank Miller’s revered Batman graphic novel.)
After X-Men and Spider-Man concluded, Marvel Animation never really experienced the long lasting success Warner Bros. and DC enjoyed. In early 2000, Marvel produced Avengers: United They Stand and Spider-Man Unlimited. Unfortunately, both series’ lasted less than a season since their timeslots put them against Pokémon. Fortunately, Marvel had moderate success with X-Men Evolution, an X-Men animated series with a different depiction of their characters. The X-Men were teenagers in high school, Wolverine’s killer instincts and rough attitude was toned down, and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants’ were delinquent students. In retrospective, X-Men Evolution was a fun cartoon that appealed to children, but it did not set up a new animated universe, and it was not a mainstream adaption to the comics.
In 2008-2009, Marvel Animation debuted two new animated series: Spectacular Spider-Man and Wolverine & the X-Men. Unfortunately, both series were cancelled prematurely as Disney bought Marvel Entertainment. Spectacular Spider-Man was not renewed after a third season due to licensing rights and plans for the proposed, now current, Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. Wolverine & X-Men was well-received by fans and retained the characters modern, mainstream outfits. Plans for a second season were underway as the show would have focused on the Age of Apocalypse storyline and introduce new characters: Cable, Deadpool, Magik, and reintroduce Colossus and Emma Frost, but Marvel and their partners were unable to work out finances for the show. To this day there is a Facebook.com fan petition webpage to revive the Wolverine & the X-Men.
Ironically, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon debuted a year ago to hype audiences’ for Marvel's Avengers, and the movie helped promote the cartoon’s second season. So the question to ask is why cancel another good cartoon? Fans enjoy Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes because it is an animated mainstream adaption of the entire Marvel Universe and it has a lot of potential to revitalize Marvel’s animation heyday in the 90s.
Whether you are disappointed or not, Marvel Animation wants to make a new animated series reflective of Marvel’s Avengers movie. Some viewers enjoy seeing the mainstream storylines and lighter tone in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but Marvel is moving forward in creating Avengers Assemble. Hopefully Marvel can establish a new animated universe with Avengers Assemble, or at the very least create a television series that last longer than two seasons.
Since X-Men Evolution’s conclusion no animated series from Marvel has lasted longer than two seasons. Wolverine and the X-Men and Spectacular Spider-Man were cancelled due to Disney’s acquisition of Marvel and their animated movies were overall inferior compared the Warner Bros. direct-to-video movies. Worst thing Marvel could do in the near future is cancel both Avengers Assemble and Ultimate Spider-Man. Time will tell. Until then, enjoy Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as much as possible. No official word on a complete first season DVD set release.
You can check out Wolverine & the X-Men season 2 concept art here along with the Facebook.com fan petition webpage.
