My Favorite Marvel-Based Cartoon Series Back In The 90s

If there's anything where Saban actually did right (or even better) than his famed alliance with Toei to create Power Rangers -- I think it's actually his alliance with Marvel Comics and Stan Lee in order to produce Marvel-based cartoons. I would say these are still superior over what new school Disney has to offer IMHO.

I could remember a few of Saban's adaptations of Marvel where I can appreciate it for not borrowing footage from the source. My favorite cartoons produced by him involved X-Men, Spiderman and the Marvel Action Hour -- where Saban Entertainment and Marvel Comics were in alliance. Hmmm... should I mention that he was partly involved with Nintendo and DIC for the Super Mario Bros. Super Show where the less successful sequels no longer had his involvement.

I guess everything started with well -- the X-Men cartoon which was so successful it ran for so many episodes. Sadly, it ended with a dangler where Apocalypse returned into the body of Fabian Cortez or some possible What Could Have Been scenarios. Personally, I even think the writers wanted to make Sabertooth the father of Nightcrawler and Graydon Creed -- which I also wished that they made Wolverine as Sabertooth's half-brother (which was done in X-Men Origins before the cinematic universe got retconned) -- which would have made Creed more insane that he hates mutants while his half-uncle, father, mother and brother are all mutants! 

What I didn't like however was how Apocalypse appeared too early -- IMHO he should have appeared in the later seasons since he's a much bigger villain. Also, it had a vague alignment especially with how Mystique also secretly worked with Apocalypse while she was indirectly working for Magneto (which a later episode revealed that Magneto secretly supervised Mystique's attempt to assassinate Senator Kelly disguised as Gambit) -- later, it's revealed that both Magneto and Mystique only follow orders from said ancient mutant out of fear for their own lives than having any real loyalty whatsoever. Also, I wish that they decided to go with Juggernaut as a mutant since one can see him with the Evil Mutants since I don't always like the comics line either though I wish we still had other characters as regular. Though, I think implementing Callisto's lust for Angel can be that hard to implement (Cyclops took that place) or the whole scene where Angel's wings get damaged AND Apocalypse offers a new set of wings -- which I like better than how he became a Horseman in this continuity. 

Also, I thought that the whole "Beyond Good and Evil" storyline should have been FREAKING the finale. Episodes after that arc could have been used to develop more plot. Sadly, Graduation Day is a freaking weak finale IMHO. I thought that "Beyond Good and Evil" good have been done where we have both the Brotherhood and the X-Men join forces to destroy a greater evil. Maybe, we could also elaborate how Apocalypse once recruited Magneto and Mystique to his cause. Maybe, we we could have it where Cable finally shows up and personally destroys Apocalypse. Have Apocalypse get struck by the telepaths and Cable finally shattering the villain. It would also be fun if we finally saw Apocalypse trapped in the astral plane -- struck by his own insanity! Sigh... so what happened?

For me, the best Spiderman adaptation was actually from Saban's interpretation of said character. I know I've enjoyed the Spiderman 80s series or the Spiderman and His Amazing Friends but I think the 90s Spiderman cartoon was the best. More enemies and more links to the other shows. I also enjoyed how this one didn't hesitate to kill Uncle Ben. If I'm not wrong the previous Spiderman cartoons were somewhat too soft. This was where Spiderman actually dared to add some more seriousness than usual -- while still conforming to the TV-Y7-FV requirements!

I even remembered the whole Spiderman and X-Men crossover which really was one of my favorite crossovers. While I still scoff at the whole Mighty Morphin and Saban's Masked Rider crossover -- I still think the whole X-Men and Spiderman crossover here was better than what we saw in Spiderman and His Amazing Friends. It featured Spiderman afraid he'd mutate and he thinks Professor Xavier was saving mutants. Not to mention, I thought Kingpin as toned down as he is -- is still intimidating at his own right! Also, the finale should have allowed Spiderman to reunite with Mary Jane on-screen -- NOT OFF-SCREEN! 

Not to mention, the Marvel Action Hour (which featured Iron Man and the Fantastic Four) which had two seasons. Is it me or is X-Men that beloved back then? I thought about how Ironman and his team of Avengers (where we also have the not from the comics love triangle of Scarlet Witch, Spiderwoman and Ironman) and some original characters like Hypnotia (based on Vertigo from the Savage Land) or the Fantastic Four. I actually enjoyed this incarnation of Fantastic Four and Ironman beyond the quality of what Disney has to offer today. I also enjoyed how Dr. Doom stole the powers of the Silver Surfer or how the Mandarin had his team of minions. Sidenote, I wish they actually had Quicksilver here and not just the Scarlet Witch in said team.

I thought of a possible list of crossovers that I wish happened. For instance, Quicksilver could have reunited with Wanda or two, have Magneto show up. Then again, I always wanted to throw jokes at the whole idea of Magneto showing up. He could have just stolen the rings of the Mandarin, deflected Hawkeye's arrows, got rid of Century's Axe or even crumple Iron Man inside his suit with just his ferromagnetism. Then again, you know we'd probably see Magneto not take advantage of stuff since I've noticed he tends to prefer using his electromagnetic force blasts more often than not.

Unfortunately, this is one of those moments where I like something that wasn't received successfully. I mean, just think how I'm quite a fan of some movies and series that weren't well-received either. I also didn't find myself a fan of the Incredible Hulk or the Avengers cartoon or Spiderman Unlimited either.

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Still, I think about it just how these shows aren't perfect but they're still entertaining at their own right. Hehe.