Missed Opportunities in Superhero Animation

[Hypestyle]

What If...

Hanna-Barbera chose to produce The Avengers (instead of, or, hey, in addition to, the DC-based Superfriends) ?
It could have aired on NBC or CBS during the 70s - 80s time frame, if it was produced concurrently with Superfriends. Back then, HB did produce the short-lived Thing solo cartoon while they also were producing SuperFriends on the ABC network.
It could have been great to have some Avengers cartoons produced for TV back in the 70s going into the 1980s. So many Marvel based franchises, solo or team-based, went for years and decades without anything newly produced. Gen Y and Gen Z folks kind of take for granted the stuff that's available in modern streaming and cable-network-based availability.

If the show started circa 1973-74, I could see core characters being Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Vision. I could see other characters cycled in and out like Hank Pym (Yellowjacket?), Quicksilver, Black Knight, Vision, and Beast. The plots would in retrospect be overly simplified, but still enjoyable from a kid's viewpoint.

Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends was dramatically under-ordered by NBC during its run on the network, spending the last couple of years there purely in reruns. Unfortunately, we'll never know if more could have happened with more generous network liaisons back then. It could have been incredible to eventually see a syndicated package of 65 episodes of that show.

We never got to see the original Captain Marvel interact on Super Friends, presumably because the Shazam! characters were licensed to Filmation for the 70s live action show (and eventually, the short lived Kids Super Power Hour shorts in 1981.)

A fully-realized Fantastic Four cartoon, with all four original members, in the 1970s and 80s would have been great.
by the late 70s, Defenders could have been a partner show for the Avengers, focusing on the team of Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Namor and Hulk, with other guest heroes from that world rotating in and out. Daredevil, Power Man & Iron Fist could have been featured in particular.

It's too bad that a "traditional" Teen Titans show was never produced in the 1980s era heyday. that could have been cool. Imagine if they had the same animation as the production team behind the syndicated Bionic Six television show.

In the 1980s, when Hasbro struck a deal with Marvel to produce comics for GI Joe and Transformers, not to mention the partnership to produce the cartoon shows, it would have seemed like a no-brainer to strike a reciprocal deal to produce a syndicated cartoon show(s) based on Marvel characters, and even toys-- but of course, in the midst of this, Marvel strikes a deal with Mattel to make the Secret Wars toys, which fizzle out after barely 2 years.

Too bad that the original Avengers vs. Justice League comic book one-shot fell apart; it could have been, at the time, a great opportunity to have a seemingly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to produce an animated mini-series or telefilm based on that.

The Pryde of the X-Men pilot apparently didn't spark a commitment (from whom, exactly?). It's too bad. I actually liked that episode's animation vs the 1990s show, as popular and influential as it became. I would have liked having at least a few seasons of that 80s incarnation.

[Immortal Weapon]

I wish that Fox had committed to the Silver Surfer cartoon in the 90s. It was pretty out there for a kids show and it could have popularize the cosmic side of Marvel before Guardians.

[Frontier]

The pitch for a Superman Family cartoon.

[Hypestyle]

I wish that Fox had committed to the Silver Surfer cartoon in the 90s. It was pretty out there for a kids show and it could have popularize the cosmic side of Marvel before Guardians.

it would have been great for that show to last several seasons.

The pitch for a Superman Family cartoon.

what was the pitch? How long ago was this? Curious.

[Vakanai]

The Long Halloween a decade ago when they were still capable of making truly great animated movies like Under the Red Hood, Crisis on Two Earths, The Dark Knight Returns, Flashpoint Paradox...
The recent animated version of TLH was alright, but it wasn't great. I'll always be a little disappointed over what could've been a for sure classic.

[CliffHanger2]

Always wanted to see more of the supers on that Bionic 6 episode. Where they ended up in a superhero town. Maybe a spin off. Still waiting for a digitally remastered set of that series. The stuff on yt doesn't do it justice.

[babyblob]

When Dc started doing their animated movies really well and were killing it. I wish Marvel would have copied that and done some of their own. We got a couple Marvel Animated flims but they wernt that great. The Ultimates 1 and 2, A Punisher and Black Widow team up feature. The best was the Wolverine vs Hulk and Hulk Vs Thor.

Marvel has a huge collection of minis and story lines that could be done really well with animated releases. So they did and still are missing a great opportunity.

[Immortal Weapon]

I wish Marvel did more anime shows. The X-men anime was awesome though the rest were mediocre. I would have liked to have seen Madhouse do Captain America. The dream would be to see Trigger get their hands on a Marvel IP.

[babyblob]

I would just love to see a Good Secret Wars series. Not the Rehash we got in the Spiderman Animated series.

[j9ac9k]

It's a real shame Green Lantern only got the one season. We know they would have introduced other earth Lanterns and we never got to see Sinestro's turn to evil. I'm sure we would have gotten a Sinestro Corps War eventually.

[SteveGus]

What If...

Hanna-Barbera chose to produce The Avengers (instead of, or, hey, in addition to, the DC-based Superfriends) ?
It could have aired on NBC or CBS during the 70s - 80s time frame, if it was produced concurrently with Superfriends. Back then, HB did produce the short-lived Thing solo cartoon while they also were producing SuperFriends on the ABC network.
It could have been great to have some Avengers cartoons produced for TV back in the 70s going into the 1980s. So many Marvel based franchises, solo or team-based, went for years and decades without anything newly produced. Gen Y and Gen Z folks kind of take for granted the stuff that's available in modern streaming and cable-network-based availability.

If the show started circa 1973-74, I could see core characters being Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch and Vision. I could see other characters cycled in and out like Hank Pym (Yellowjacket?), Quicksilver, Black Knight, Vision, and Beast. The plots would in retrospect be overly simplified, but still enjoyable from a kid's viewpoint.
.

I was around then, in my early teens. The 1970s were a grim time for animated superheroes. There was a great deal of handwringing about 'violence' in children's programming at the time, and most of the early series' flaws come from the fact that Superman et. al. weren't allowed to punch the bad guys. An Avengers series made with the same constraints would be even worse. This is what made Thundarr and He-Man such a breath of fresh air in the 1980s.

[CosmiComic]

Could any of those cartoons be good back then?

[Vakanai]

I wish Marvel did more anime shows. The X-men anime was awesome though the rest were mediocre. I would have liked to have seen Madhouse do Captain America. The dream would be to see Trigger get their hands on a Marvel IP.

I enjoyed the Iron Man anime the most and didn't think the X-Men one was all that good, and definitely not awesome. Different strokes I guess.

[K7P5V]

Definitely, my choice would be...

Watchmen

[Castle]

I enjoyed the Iron Man anime the most and didn't think the X-Men one was all that good, and definitely not awesome. Different strokes I guess.

The X-MEN anime was actually good on a technical level. It appeals to a more niche comic fan base, who are very intelligent and geeky smart on a book level. I liked it on that basis , but felt the story was just not the best choice to use for a first season or to introduce X-Men to anyone who does not know much about it.

It was way too heavy and the story too complicated because they went for the Legion story and some other stuff I don't even remember. Additionally it was way too grim for a first season. Yes, I get it X-Men has always been darker and heavier but the anime was just way too much at a first glance to go that route.

What made X-MEN TAS good was that it had some balance with the light and dark stuff. X-MEN Evolution started off much lighter than got dark as the seasons went by, which made that a natural step, but the anime was just dark and heavy and with a not so easy story-arc.

While I am a X-Men fan and liked that the anime was done, because I am all for more stand alone self contained comic stories that enriches the lore of my favourite superhero universe, I only saw the X-MEN anime once and don't plan to really watch it again. However I have seen X-MEN Evolution and X-MEN TAS many times.