Marvel Mania (1999-2002)
A sort of mini-block on Fox Kids, made to help promote Marvel Super Hero Island at Islands of Adventure. (This promotion also led to
The Woody Woodpecker Show staying on for the fall season to promote Woody Woodpecker’s Kidzone at Universal Studios Florida.) Similar to the USA Action Extreme Team, these shows were made by different producers, but set in the same universe, with crossovers happening… semi-regularly, actually (as opposed to just once for the Action Extreme Team), thanks to the regular crossovers in Marvel as a whole and the fact that all these characters where sharing a theme park land. In addition, Universal (who made Islands of Adventure) helped fund each of these shows, though they were still owned, copyrighted, and distributed by their producers.
The Amazing Spider-Man
Producers: Columbia Tristar Television, Adelaide Productions
Ride Tie-In: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man
Initially planned at Saban, this series was set to be a low-budget but faithful retelling of the early Spider-Man issues. When Sony got the rights to Spider-Man in 1999, rather than decide to scrounge for what was left over (which IOTL resulted in Spider-Man Unlimited), Fox Kids decided to bite the bullet and go to Sony and pitch the idea, which they accepted, on the condition that they up the budget some. It was also around this time that Universal got involved, deciding to tie it into The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, the Islands of Adventure ride.
The show itself was a retro-style return to form for Spidey, keeping the idea of faithful adaptations of the original comics. The retro nature even expanded to the theme song, a jazzy remix of the 1967 theme! The show mainly adapts the early The Amazing Spider-Man comics, hence the title, as well as the character’s debut in Amazing Fantasy. Originally, it went in order, issue by issue, story by story, with some exceptions made for flow- “The Return of the Vulture”, the 7th issue and 10th story, is the 13th episode, rather than the actual 13th story and 10th issue, “The Enforcers”. After the successful first season, however, the show started skipping a bit- still keeping things in order, but focusing on more famous arcs and characters (specifically the ones that were at Islands of Adventure, such as Green Goblin and Venom). It also started taking a bit more liberties with the source material- the Green Goblin, for instance, is revealed as Norman Osborn in his first appearance, rather than keeping it a mystery (because at that point, EVERYONE in the audience knew who he was). Nevertheless, the stories generally remained faithful to the comics, and the changes were understandable, so not too many jimmies were rustled. Overall, a ratings success and a critical one at that.
The Hulk
Producer: Universal Cartoon Studios
Ride Tie-In: The Incredible Hulk Coaster
While Universal funded all of the shows and made the theme park they were meant to promote, this was the only show of the original four-series lineup they actually produced. It was also the only one not to directly adapt the comics, instead opting for original stories. (It also means that the ride queue footage I’m showing you is actually accurate to the show!)
It was, in essence, an animated remake of the 1978 live-action show, with Banner wandering from place to place while working a cure for the Hulk after he is driven from his lab in the first episode. (The 1996 animated show also used a similar set-up.) More comic elements made their way in, such as the gamma bomb origin and supporting characters Rick Jones and Betty Ross, alongside Universal-owned elements from the live-action series, such as the Lonely Man theme (now used as Banner’s leitmotif).
The series was extremely dark, with elements of tragedy and horror, making it clear how the Hulk has become an unstoppable menace and to what lengths Bruce is willing to take to destroy the beast once and for all. However, there are moments of levity- the Hulk has his heroic moments and his heartwarming ones, and there’s plenty of comic relief in the forms of the endlessly hammy General Thunderbolt Ross, the now-bumbling reporter Jack McGee, and an original character, a female psychologist who doesn’t believe the Hulk even exists despite literally everything. (She’s out of the picture by the season one finale, where she briefly comes face to face with the Hulk and is understandably shaken by it. However, a later episode brings her back, turning her into a deranged conspiracy theorist as her Hulk encounter completely shattered her worldview.) More importantly, Fox Kids censorship meant the show was still safer in content than the actual theme park ride it was meant to promote, whose queue video includes General Ross with a constant cigar and a scene of Banner BLEEDING!
The series, while the black sheep of Marvel Mania due to its dark tone and not adapting the comics directly, was also successful in part due to that. It was the most critically acclaimed for its maturity, to the point where it was one of two Fox Kids shows to later go into reruns… on Adult Swim. (The other being John Kricfalusi’s
The Ripping Friends.)
Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes
Producer: Saban Entertainment
Ride Tie-In: Doctor Doom’s Fearfall
Saban’s series for the block, a Fantastic Four tie-in, stuck to the “low budget but faithful” approach of the unmade show that became The Amazing Spider-Man. Thanks to the Four being more consistent in lineup and their smaller rogues gallery, this show was the most faithful to the original comics, with the IoA mandated foes being limited to mainstays Doctor Doom and Galactus, as well as ally Silver Surfer, and even special guests Black Panther and Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner! This left plenty of room for characters NOT at Islands of Adventure, such as the Skrulls and Mole Man. Nevertheless, there were a small handful of changes, such as getting the Four into their costumes right out of the gate instead of waiting a few issues/episodes. All in all, it’s a solid show, and much better than the 1994 cartoon… not like that was a high bar, to be fair.
The Uncanny X-Men
Producers: 20th Century Fox Television, Saban Entertainment
Ride Tie-In: Storm Force Acceleratron
Marvel Mania’s first season was on Saturdays, from 10:30 AM to 12 noon. Following the success of Marvel Mania’s first season and Fox Kids wanting the one and a half hours of Saturday back, the decision was made to make Marvel Mania a half-hour block on weekdays at 4:30 PM, with a different show each day. For this, a fourth and fifth show was required- and 2000 was when Storm Force Acceleratron was added to Marvel Superhero Island. In addition to tying into Islands of Adventure, this series came shortly after the X-Men movie, allowing the show to serve as a tie-in to the movie as well. This also meant that while Saban was a producer on the show, the copyright ultimately fell to Fox themselves and not Fox Family Worldwide, and thus was not included in the sale to Disney in 2001.
This show essentially serves as a reboot of the X-Men 1992 cartoon and an adaptation of the comics. It attempted to start the whole “low budget, true to the text adaptation” thing again, after their success of the Fantastic Four. However, since this was a tie in to Islands of Adventure, the roster had to reflect the X-Men represented AT the park, so the line-up of heroes is quite different. It consists of existing launch members Professor X, Cyclops, The Beast (blue from the start), Iceman, and Jean Grey (not Marvel Girl), as well as Wolverine (but of course), Storm (whose ride is what the show was meant to tie into), Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. As such, the series goes out of order in adaptation, though it is primarily meant to showcase the early days of the students like the early comics- making them all teenagers in the process, like those early issues. However, the stories themselves are still told as faithfully as possible (through the changes and under Fox Kids’ infamously strict network censorship, of course). All in all, it’s seen as a fairly worthy, if slightly redundant, successor to the original series.
The Avengers: United They Stand
Producer: Universal Cartoon Studios
Ride Tie-In: None, but the characters could be found throughout the park.
While there wasn’t a fifth ride at Marvel Super Hero Island, the Avengers characters were just as big a mainstay as Spidey and the X-Men, so obviously they would be the new stars. It came down to Universal to produce, as the Hulk was a part of the Avengers “family” of licensing (IoA had picked up four Marvel “families”, or character groups of heroes, villains, and supporting cast, to license- The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and Spider-Man), and Universal had produced The Hulk.
While much lighter than The Hulk, the series had a similar art style and crew, thanks to being produced by the same studio. It also chose to focus on original stories, though it adapted the comics a bit more often. The Avengers’ lineup here consisted of the same as at Islands of Adventure- Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, the Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, alongside non-IoA character The Wasp, Ant-Man’s life partner. While not as well received as The Hulk or even The Amazing Spider-Man, it was still better received than The Uncanny X-Men or Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes- and even then, those were modestly well-liked. It was “middle of the road” on a road where both sides are paved with goodness.
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After Fox Kids was sold to Disney, the shows reran semi-often up until the 2010s. All of them were briefly on ABC Family’s Supercharged block (the unofficial name for their action block), alongside shows like Medabots and Galidor. After the contracts expired, Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes remained, being the one series Disney had the rights to, and was treated as well as they treated the other big Saban Marvel shows like the 1994 Spider-Man and the 1992 X-Men. Fox, still having the rights to The Uncanny X-Men, briefly gave it to 4Kids Entertainment to show on the FoxBox to promote the X-Men sequel, X2.
Similarly, Cartoon Network picked up The Hulk to air on Adult Swim (and occasionally Toonami) to promote the film, and picked up The Avengers: United They Stand to air on Toonami in the process. (They also picked up Sitting Ducks, The Woody Woodpecker Show, The Mummy: The Animated Series, and classic Woody Woodpecker shorts as well, the first being the same as IOTL, and the last to air on Boomerang.) CN also picked up The Uncanny X-Men after the FoxBox, around the same time they picked up Futurama and Family Guy for Adult Swim.
Nickelodeon, meanwhile, picked up The Amazing Spider-Man to cash in on the 2002 Spider-Man movie, build up hype for the upcoming and ill-fated Spider-Man: The New Animated Series for MTV, and to help boost its own similarly ill-fated SLAM! block (taking the place of Men in Black: The Series from IOTL), and then aired on the regular schedule for a while, especially when Spider-Man 2 came out.
Jetix continued airing Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes, and in 2006 picked up the other Marvel Mania shows. The Amazing Spider-Man owner Sony Pictures also gave Jetix Jackie Chan Adventures, The Hulk and The Avengers: United They Stand owner Universal gave Jetix The Mummy: The Animated Series, and 20th Century Fox only had The Uncanny X-Men to offer anyway. The Marvel Mania shows broadcast on Jetix through its end in 2009, and then on its successor Disney X-D until 2012. Now, all of the Marvel Mania shows have torn through the barriers of ownership and are on Disney+, though through a bit of fenangling (that IOTL also resulted in the 2008 The Incredible Hulk film and all of Sony’s Spider-Man stuff also being on D+) and a corporate merger that brought The Uncanny X-Men under Disney’s purview.
