Can Marvel produce a JLU-like series?

[pastwatch2001]

I've been catching up on all the Justice League Unlimited episodes I missed and I have to say, I'm impressed with this series. Great stories.

 

Then I started to wonder, why can't Marvel do something like this with their animated universe and produce a series similar to this one? An animated Marvel series starring the entire MU. Each episode will highlight an individual or group and tell a story with a larger season-long story arc in the background. Wouldn't that be cool?

 

Marvel has such a great universe of characters but they all seem to always inhabit a pocket universe within the overall MU. X-Men have their space, Avengers in another, then the FF followed by the Spidey-verse, Hulk, etc... Marvel characters have always existed in separate pocket universes. IMO A highly integrated series with all of these characters and their rich backgrounds interacting would blow away even JLU. Just think of the character and story possibilitiess you can get! Personally I've always loved Marvel events that involved many of their characters. I also think its part of the reason comic fans loved the original Secret Wars, Infinity Gauntlet, Onslaught, and are now loving House of M, Civil War and the Skrull Invasion stories.

 

DC seems to be successful in joining their Big Two and then bringing in the rest of the DC universe in all of their animated works. Look at the original Batman and Superman and JLU cartoons. Even Batman Beyond made it in there. And now they're doing it again with The Batman series and JL. Even Teen Titans is getting into the action with their Future Superman storyline. It's a great way to solidify the cohesiveness of their universe and bring their other characters into mainstream attention.

 

What do you guys think? Is this something Marvel should look into if they ever manage to get back all of the ownership rights to their characters? I'm guessing that ownership rights is why DC can do this whereas Marvel can't. Once Marvel has all the rights they can establish a design and look to define their animated universe. Or do you prefer their toons to focus on a single character group with occasional guest stars only? Every few years they can reboot and create another series with the same characters but with a different look/ style and origin. For example the X-men, Wolverine and the X-men will be the third animated version of the mutants. It's no doubt one way to keep things fresh and relevant but I can't help but think how cool it would be if we could have the Marvel Universe unified in animated form.

[robb]

I have been wondering the same thing. i think that it would do just as well if not better than JLU. As was stated there are so many story options to go with. As long as thay do not dumb it down but keep the animation ansd stories on the same line as JLU or the Batman. I would watch the show and buy the dvds.

[ARROW]

In theory, there's no reason why we cannot see a Marvel Universe type series, encompassing all characters.

 

In theory.......

 

However, Marvel's traditional modus operandi with marketing is to treat ANY and EVERY character as their own potential franchise. In a lot of respects, this keeps the dollars coming in for Marvel, because it keeps their offerings diverse and manifold, but it also can isolate some of those characters.

If Submariner, for example, is getting a big push, the company seeking the property might want to secure things line animation rights as well as live action.

That would mean the Submariner would be able to appear in a on-going Spiderman cartoon, for example--unless it was being produced by the same company, or a special clause was agreed to in the deal. Marvel used to be "sloppy" in this regards, and would allow characters to be licensed out with such restrictions--just as DC has done with Warners control.

 

These days though, Marvel is rebuilding themselves into a entertainment conglomerate, not unlike Disney, and they are carefully(?) laying the foundation for internal control over ALL their characters.

We have seen other characters appearing on certain shows.......the 90's Spiderman cartoon had a lot of guest-stars--and that was due to the agreements reached in the deal.

 

Personally, I think a Marvel anthology-style series--either animated or live-action, would be VERY cool.

There's loads of stories and tons of great characters to be had.

 

Doing a multi-part "Galactus" story with the FF for example--would be very cool in animation, as would many of the X-men stories. With cartoons, its a good way of doing more purist translations of the comics stories anyways.

[Bespin refugee]

Yeah, back when the "Marvel Action Hour" was on, I thought about how cool a "Marvels" series would be. I liked seeing the guest stars & cameos in the various shows. Heh, if they could just get the rights to the entire Avengers roster, that'd be about perfect. <_>

 

The DC/WB ownership is still a little confusing; even with them all under the same 'banner'. there are still issues as to who can be used on what series/movies (Bats & Wonder Woman on Smallville, The Baman vs Teen Titans vs JLU)

[hamsterboy]

I seriously doubt they would be able to but it would help them to get someone like Bruce Timm or Paul Dini to work with them. Or perhaps someone like a Jeph Loeb or a Peter David.

[BlueNinja44]

Hmm, I don't know if it's so much the JLU theme I like but the overall animation and story telling was flat out brilliant. And this is coming from a guy who really doesn't like DC Comics at all. My little cousin loves watching JLU and every time I watch it, I am forced to get jealous because the animation is so smooth, the stories really drew me in, and I am forced to remember the days of the 90's X-Men and Spidey cartoons and I am kind of dreading the new Spidey cartoon because that just looks like crap.

 

Gosh, I can't tell you how many times I cracked up at a poor animation in the X-Men cartoon, like Rogue taking off her glove to steal someone's powers but the glove is still on her hand instead of flesh, or Wolverine saying something and his lips aren't moving. If we could get the team behind JLU to make a Marvel cartoon like X-Men, I'd be glued to my T.V. whenever it came on.

[Nightshade_666]

Hmm, I don't know if it's so much the JLU theme I like but the overall animation and story telling was flat out brilliant. And this is coming from a guy who really doesn't like DC Comics at all. My little cousin loves watching JLU and every time I watch it, I am forced to get jealous because the animation is so smooth, the stories really drew me in, and I am forced to remember the days of the 90's X-Men and Spidey cartoons and I am kind of dreading the new Spidey cartoon because that just looks like crap.

 

Gosh, I can't tell you how many times I cracked up at a poor animation in the X-Men cartoon, like Rogue taking off her glove to steal someone's powers but the glove is still on her hand instead of flesh, or Wolverine saying something and his lips aren't moving. If we could get the team behind JLU to make a Marvel cartoon like X-Men, I'd be glued to my T.V. whenever it came on.

 

 

Yeah but the 90's X-men cartoon was still fricken awesome...i wonder what the new one will be like?

[BigBearJahlon]

if a Bruce Timm/ Dwayne McDuffie type of team does a Marvel animated series, then they already have my dvd series money, but untilthen .... I am sticking with Marvel Movies.

 

While some of the Marvel Action Hour showcased other heroes: Ghost Rider, the FF, and the She-Hulk showed up on the Hulk series. Iron-Man featured a host of villians and the Force Works crew. Spider-Man showcased a bunch of heroes from time to time, and the FF series had Thor, the Black Panther, the Inhumans, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, and the Hulk.

 

the stories and the art have to be top-notch otherwise DC is going to win the animation war because the JLU series blows away the Iron-Man and Ultimate Avengers stuff easily!!!

[ARES-god_of_war]

I would rather see a live action Marvel Comics Presents... Kind of like Tales from the Crypt meets Twilight Zone, you know? An anthology series with twists and total "Oh $#!+" moments.

[SheriffofCoffeeTown]

The logistic problem of this is that while DC is owned by Time Warner, Marvel has to farm out its properties for TV shows, creating a conflict in licensing if they ever wanted to team up the big name guys. Having said that, an Avengers toon revolving around the B-list guys would be interesting.

[shrmntnk62]

that would be awesome.