1990s Marvel Animated Cartoons Vs. Marvel Comics
Hey there! Today I'd like to continue my series of articles on superhero-related animated TV serials by focusing on a general comparison between the comics and the cartoons produced by Marvel throughout the 1990s and whether the two correlate or not.
A series of both Marvel and DC comic books. Image source: Pixabay.com
In general, I must say I have not ever been such a tremendous comics magazine fan (although I bought a fair few copies every now and then), but I was definitely quite interested into what Marvel did in terms of televised animation back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when I was still a kid, and if my memory still helps me, I'll try to correlate the comics with the TV series and draw some relevant comparisons between the two.
First thing's first, I should mention the fact that all of the Marvel animated TV shows aired on Fox Kids which was owned by Saban Entertainment and enjoyed popularity worldwide. Some of you who're part of my generation might still remember the Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, X-Men, or Iron Man.
Fan art depicting The Avengers superhero team consisting of Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor. Image source: Pixabay.com
I'll try not to delve that much into what made each individual series great but rather on a rather general comparison between the authenticity of the TV series when compared to the original comic books. Critics state and agree that the Marvel animated series of the 1990s are generally very much truthful to the original comic, albeit artistic license was also applied for the sake of increased box office revenues.
For example, X-Men: TAS, on which a wrote an article recently, is mostly accurate to the plot in the comics but it also presents inconsistencies when it comes to the biographies of some of the major characters (including Cable or Cyclops).
On the other hand, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk, although having been on air less than X-Men, were almost identical to the story arch afferent to each of them in the original comics. However, the fact that the aforementioned spanned only a couple of seasons (compared to X-Men's 5 seasons) made it easier for the writers and producers to stick to the main storyline.
Last but not least, Spiderman, the longest running Marvel animated series to date, seemed to have been the most faithful in portraying the tale of Peter Parker and his foes. Overall, in its case as well as in the case of the other Marvel animated series, there are only minor changes that I can think of when compared to the comics. Can you spot any other differences between the two? If so, kindly let me know below in the comments' section. Thank you!