Why don't Marvel comics get adapted into animated films like DC comics do?

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Ultimately Disney needs to take over rather than let Marvel Animation flounder as a separate vertical. Get the crew and team behind their Ducktales 2017 show, Gravity Falls, and other excellent productions they have over to the superhero side.

This would be dope.

Also if we can't ever get Greg Weisman back on Spectacular Spider-Man, he would be perfect for an X-Men show. He is good with both coming-of-age stories and persecution-themed stories. Plus he has a good relationship with Disney due to Gargoyles.

[Marvell2100]

The people currently in charge at Marvel Animation are Quesada and Loeb. Neither of them have expressed interest in making any serious animation. In fact, Loeb went as far as to dumb down their best-produced Marvel show (Avengers EMH) and eventually cancel it. This trend of dumbing everything down and using the cartoons as pure promotional material for the MCU is likely to continue for the near future.

Marvel's What If? will be animated, but that will be an MCU show. That might actually be good.

They need to get Loeb out of there asap.

[Frontier]

The people currently in charge at Marvel Animation are Quesada and Loeb. Neither of them have expressed interest in making any serious animation. In fact, Loeb went as far as to dumb down their best-produced Marvel show (Avengers EMH) and eventually cancel it. This trend of dumbing everything down and using the cartoons as pure promotional material for the MCU is likely to continue for the near future.

Marvel's What If? will be animated, but that will be an MCU show. That might actually be good.

I'm really curious to see what Feige does with it, but I just hope the animation side doesn't just service the MCU.

This would be dope.

Also if we can't ever get Greg Weisman back on Spectacular Spider-Man, he would be perfect for an X-Men show. He is good with both coming-of-age stories and persecution-themed stories. Plus he has a good relationship with Disney due to Gargoyles.

I'm just imagining an X-Men cartoon with all the subplots and characters of Young Justice .

[chief12d]

Direct to video animated movies aimed at adults really doesn’t fit with Disney’s brand image. This is also why I feel The new Blade project in development might disappoint. The only time Disney ever dipped it’s toe into the more mature stuff was under a different name. And they sure as heck aren’t going to use any of their major characters, or try and tie it into the MCU.

This is true too. If Disney ever does start investing in animated Marvel projects it'll probably be stuff in the vein of Into the Spider-Verse. Kid-friendly and focusing on IPs that aren't being prominently used in the MCU (or won't be for some time).

So a DTV Daredevil is unlikely but I could see a Moongirl & Devil Dinosaur CGI movie put to theaters with all the fanfare of a Pixar film. Instead of a raunchy Harley Quinn-esque Deadpool animated series I'd imagine we get something like an all-ages New Warriors with the storytelling of Gravity Falls.

There's definitely wiggle room for Marvel to put out more quality animated content without jeopardizing Disney's family image.

[khrisdrummond]

They need to get Loeb out of there asap.

Loeb been gone for a while now.

[Frontier]

This is true too. If Disney ever does start investing in animated Marvel projects it'll probably be stuff in the vein of Into the Spider-Verse. Kid-friendly and focusing on IPs that aren't being prominently used in the MCU (or won't be for some time).

So a DTV Daredevil is unlikely but I could see a Moongirl & Devil Dinosaur CGI movie put to theaters with all the fanfare of a Pixar film. Instead of a raunchy Harley Quinn-esque Deadpool animated series I'd imagine we get something like an all-ages New Warriors with the storytelling of Gravity Falls.

There's definitely wiggle room for Marvel to put out more quality animated content without jeopardizing Disney's family image.

Yeah, I mean, maybe they wouldn't do stuff on par with the DC Animated Features, but DC and past Marvel cartoons have shown how much mileage you can get out of quality entertainment ostensibly aimed at kids (even Young Justice was originally a kids show).

You just have to get that creative investment and quality in there without all the dumb mandates Loeb forced on Marvel Animation and to stop chasing the movies (or at least do it with more finesse).

[H-E-D]

Loeb been gone for a while now.

Yeah, Loeb left almost a year ago after they gave all his responsibilities to Kevin Feige.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I really enjoyed it too. It had, in my opinion, the best depiction of Thor in his youth (without making him a hedonistic frat bro).

I need to go back and take a look at that. Hulk vs Wolverine was what I zero'd in on at the time, heh.

I hope you enjoy it when you watch it.
I really like Hulk vs Wolverine, and still haven't seen the Hulk vs Thor companion feature

I was shocked at how good it was. Having it cancelled and replaced with a far, far inferior product was very disappointing.

I want to say this is hyperbolic, I really really want to believe it's a strong degree of exaggeration, but what I saw of both shows declares your statement realistic. Someone I interact with elsewhere calls the long running inferior show; Avengers ASSemble for emphasis on how inferior it is.

[Marvell2100]

I'm trying to think of a Marvel character that they could do a animated series similar to Batman:TAS. Maybe Daredevil.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Yeah, Loeb left almost a year ago after they gave all his responsibilities to Kevin Feige.

That's...pretty exciting then. I don't know to what extent he'll be involved, but I'm hoping we can finally get some decent animation projects.

I'm just imagining an X-Men cartoon with all the subplots and characters of Young Justice .

I think it would be even better than Young Justice. Post-Season 1 YJ kinda has the problem of being a show about sidekicks where the sidekicks can't outshine the Justice League. I think this got even more awkward since they brought in Darkseid. Dick and Garfield's teams are the main leads but it wouldn't be logical for them to defeat Darkseid over Batman and Superman, but you can't have them feel irrelevant either. The more the show progresses the harder this balancing act will get.

An X-Men show wouldn't have this problem. Cyclops and his team can outshine Professor X and beat Apocalypse and the Shi'ar directly. And also Greg Weisman's Cyclops would be amazing (just look at what a great leader Kaldur'ahm is).

[Digifiend]

So a DTV Daredevil is unlikely but I could see a Moongirl & Devil Dinosaur CGI movie put to theaters with all the fanfare of a Pixar film.

There's already a Moon Girl cartoon planned. It was announced last year, probably got delayed by COVID.

[Doombot]

The DC animated universe is still coasting on the strength of 20+ years of the Bruce Timm dynasty, along Alan Burnett and Paul Dini and others. Without Timm and that first success and strength of Batman The Animated Series, you would not have the following family of DC animated series and many spin off and animated features. If Timm and BTAS didn't catch lightning in a bottle for that show, I believe DC's animated success would be about the same as Marvel's, which isn't much at all. Marvel did not have a couple decades of clear vision and creative talent that lead and streamlined their content. So much so, that many of the DC animated series are considered among the best representations of those characters available.

DC animated essentially had what Marvel now has for the MCU.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I'm trying to think of a Marvel character that they could do a animated series similar to Batman:TAS. Maybe Daredevil.

There hasn't been a single Daredevil animated series because the character, especially as reconfigured by Miller, is too adult, too dark, and violent for kids. There's none of the baroque theatrically that makes Batman even at his darkest a little fantastic. All Daredevil has is Netflix.

Whenever Spider-Man fans keep insisting that Kingpin is a Spider-Man villain they keep bringing up the cartoons ignoring the fact that the reason Spidey gets cartoons is that he's "all-ages" whereas Daredevil simply has "not suitable for kids" branded on his horned head that prevents him from being adaptated for a medium that's aimed for kids. Granted, Wolverine shows up too and somehow they made the Canuck mass murderer PG-13 but at least the X-Men have giant robots and stuff for him to claw through, as well as high fantasy elements whereas Daredevil is a very gritty, very dark, and sad genre.

The DC animated universe is still coasting on the strength of 20+ years of the Bruce Timm dynasty, along Alan Burnett and Paul Dini and others. Without Timm and that first success and strength of Batman The Animated Series, you would not have the following family of DC animated series and many spin off and animated features. If Timm and BTAS didn't catch lightning in a bottle for that show, I believe DC's animated success would be about the same as Marvel's, which isn't much at all. Marvel did not have a couple decades of clear vision and creative talent that lead and streamlined their content. So much so, that many of the DC animated series are considered among the best representations of those characters available.

DC animated essentially had what Marvel now has for the MCU.

That's true. And even then DC/WB hasn't done a good job since the end of JLU to support its properties in animation. Like after BTAS and Batman Beyond, there have been two attempts at a Batman cartoon (The Batman, and Beware the Batman) but there's not been a Superman cartoon since the '90s nor has there been a Wonder Woman the Animated Series even if Gal Gadot's big success would lead to an overnight pilot order and greenlight for something like that...it could be the next She-Ra.

Instead all the effort has gone to the DTV videos...which have been generally mediocre and regurgitations of stuff they have done better. The only one I like is the Short film based on The Sandman -- "Death" (teleplay written by J. M. DeMatteis).

It could be superhero cartoons are not at all in demand and support for the forseeable future.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Instead all the effort has gone to the DTV videos...which have been generally mediocre and regurgitations of stuff they have done better. The only one I like is the Short film based on The Sandman -- "Death" (teleplay written by J. M. DeMatteis).

It could be superhero cartoons are not at all in demand and support for the forseeable future.

Some of the early DTV's were of higher quality (New Frontier, Under the Red Hood), but overall the 2010's really did hit superhero animation hard (both on Marvel and DC's end). Kinda like how there was a push in the 90s to make superhero animation higher quality and more mature, the 2010's saw a push to undo those things.

Luckily there's been a bit of recent revival in good superhero animation with Young Justice: Outsiders and Into The Spider-Verse. I also hear the Harley Quinn show isn't bad.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Some of the early DTV's were of higher quality (New Frontier, Under the Red Hood), but overall the 2010's really did hit superhero animation hard (both on Marvel and DC's end). Kinda like how there was a push in the 90s to make superhero animation higher quality and more mature, the 2010's saw a push to undo those things.

Luckily there's been a bit of recent revival in good superhero animation with Young Justice: Outsiders and Into The Spider-Verse. I also hear the Harley Quinn show isn't bad.

I saw the Harley Quinn show on HBO Max Free Trial, it's closer to Rick and Morty and The Venture Bros and adult animation in general than anything else. If you like that kind of stuff, I think you'll like Harley Quinn but it's not in the least bit like any superhero cartoon. Still it's pretty interesting in terms of a show centered entirely around supervillains.

I think WB are considering retooling their properties for adult animation because that market is doing pretty well at the moment. But then again with corporate owners as mercurial and capricious as AT and T, nothing is settled.

Marvel are recently doing a cartoon series based on MODOK, set for Hulu...time will tell if that goes well. If it does, we might see a revival.