List These 4 Great DC/Marvel Cartoons Of The 1990's From Favorite to Least

[Raider969]

Of all the DC/Marvel superhero cartoons that aired in the 1990's the following 5 superhero cartoons were the most successful/critically acclaimed are: Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures (1992-1999), X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997), Spiderman: The Animated Series (1994-1998), Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000) and Batman Beyond (1999-2001).

Of these 5 successful/critically acclaimed DC/Marvel superhero cartoons of the 1990's, list them from your favorite to least favorite.
This is my list and this is my opinion.

1. Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures (1992-1999)

This is my favorite DC Animated Series of all time. The intro was awesome. I loved the stories of this series (some which came from the comic books) and the Art Deco design of Gotham City. I also thought The New Batman Adventures was great too even though some others did not like it because of the revamp designs. The voice acting was great too. Batman is my favorite superhero ever. To me, this is the best Batman adaptation.

2. Superman: The Animated Series (1996-2000)

Just like Batman: The Animated Series, I love the stories, voice acting and the intro of this show. I loved the pseudo future-past ocean liner Deco design of Metropolis. This show started great and ended great. Superman is my second favorite superhero ever. To me, this is the best Superman adaptation.

3. Batman Beyond (1999-2001)

I really enjoyed this show, with its futuristic Gotham City, the characters, the stories and intro. I loved the sci fi cyberpunk feel of the show. I liked Terry as Batman as well.

4. Spiderman: The Animated Series (1994-1998)

This is my favorite Marvel Cartoon. Spiderman is my favorite Marvel superhero and my third favorite superhero ever. I loved some of the stories they took from the comic books. I really love the intro and the outro, especially when the electric guitar comes on. To me, this is the best Spiderman adaptation, even though others like The Spectacular Spiderman more.

5. X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997)

I really love the intro to this show. It is one of my favorites. This series took the best stories from the comics into the show. To me, this was the best adaptation of the X-Men. I liked every X-Men member.

Even though I listed these 5 superhero cartoons from my favorite to least favorite, I just want to let you know that I love all 5 of these great 1990's superhero cartoons. I believe these are the best adaptation of each character.

Now how would you list these from favorite to least favorite?

[Zero Hunter]

I would probably rate them the same as you. The biggest reason is the DC shows just had such better voice acting than the Marvel shows. As much as I love the X-Men series the voice acting in that show was just so bad in so many places. DC either took more time with their shows or just had better directors to make their voice talent shine. DC was like a seasoned theater troupe while Marvel was like a high school production.

[Kusanagi]

1: BTAS still holds the test of time, one of the best ever.
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2: X-Men: There's a lot of nostalgia here I admit, but I was addicted to this show as a kid.
3: Superman TAS: Honestly could be 2, but I just never enjoyed superman as much as the x-men. I found the first season or so dull, while X-men hooked me from the start. That said the heights of this show (Namely the Darkseid episodes) were some of the best.
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4: Spider-Man tas: whooo boy this show did not age well. I loved it as a kid, but it suffers from poor animation and limits what it could do content wise (no shown punches iirc)

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I would probably rate them the same as you. The biggest reason is the DC shows just had such better voice acting than the Marvel shows. As much as I love the X-Men series the voice acting in that show was just so bad in so many places. DC either took more time with their shows or just had better directors to make their voice talent shine. DC was like a seasoned theater troupe while Marvel was like a high school production.

DC's voice acting generally WAS better than Marvel's or even other cartoons because Warners had Andrea Romano as the voice director, and she liked to record all the voice actors in the same room together as an ensemble so they could play off each other's performances in real time. Most animated productions have one actor in the booth only.

As for these animated shows, I think Spider-Man was lots better than some here seem to think. I remember the action sequences being very well choreographed -- especially for its time. I also liked the more realistic character designs that Spider-Man and X-Men had. I liked the original Batman TAS designs, but did not like the simplified redesigns when the show moved from Fox to WB.

Also, the OP did not put in another great animated 90s DC show -- Batman Beyond. I'd definitely rank it higher than Superman. Even though the Ruby-Spears Superman was not as sophisticated as the Bruce Timm series, I kind of like it better. Again, the more realistic character designs and they seemed to get Superman's power level more correct.

Anyway, as for the 4 mentiioned:

1. Batman: The Animated Series

2. Spider-Man: The Animated Series

3-4: X-Men and Superman about the same. If they didn't botch the X-Men series toward the end in terms of story continuity (how, exactly did Jean return?), then I'd probably rank it higher than Superman.


If Batman Beyond were on this list, I'd rank it at or close to Batman: The Animated Series.

[Raider969]

Also, the OP did not put in another great animated 90s DC show -- Batman Beyond.


If Batman Beyond were on this list, I'd rank it at or close to Batman: The Animated Series.

I decided to add Batman Beyond to the list and changed the title.

[Godzilla2099]

Good list. I agree on the series but I'd make one change to the order.

Only difference is that I would literally swap Spiderman's Animated Series from the 90s as #2 and Superman's Animated Series as #4

Spiderman's Rogues really made this series. Especially Venom and Hamil's Hobgoblin (really underrated). Parker's Character was well done, and I found the fights to be intense. Also loved the opening theme.

The strength for the Superman's Series was its voice acting and some of the best episodes. My problems with it were the lame villains and Superman being so weak to them. Livewire? (her story and character was also lame) Against Superman? That's like a fart vs a hurricane. I'd was hoping for a modern Fleischer Superman Era.

As for the X-Men, it was a three way tie with Batman and Spiderman growing up but unlike those two, this particular series didn't hold the test of time. (X-Men Evolution did)

The Batman Animated and Batman Beyond were and still are masterpieces.

[CliffHanger2]

1) X-Men really good adaptation from the comics and great art direction and storytelling.

2) Spiderman- I found Peter Parker really annoying in this series but Secret Wars saves this.

3) Btas- really bad character design and art-direction. Like seriously rectangles for arms and squares just doesn't look good. And very villain-centric story telling.

4) Superman-I'd say the Fleischer cartons are superior in every way. The episode where Superman sides with the corporations and threatens Aquaman pretty much defines these series for me. Bad.

[Marvelgirl]

1. X-Men and Spiderman. Only because I grew up with Marvel more than DC. This is not objective they are better.

2. Batman and Superman.