This past weekend saw the premiere of “DC Nation”, the Cartoon Network and DC Entertainment’s new one hour block of Saturday morning cartoons that is anchored around Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice and features DC-related shorts and interstitials during the commercial breaks.
Marvel Entertainment and its parent company Disney answer back on April 1 with “Marvel Universe”, a one hour block of Sunday morning cartoons on Disney XD anchored around season two of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! and the debut of Ultimate Spider-Man.
Ultimate Spider-Man has a pretty high comic book pedigree on the creative side, with Supervising Producers/Writers Man of Action (Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Steven T. Seagle & Duncan Rouleau), Creative Consultant/Writer Paul Dini (Batman: The Animated Series, Lost), and Consulting Producer/Writer Brian Michael Bendis.
Here’s how Marvel Entertainment describes the first episode, it’s distribution, and the Marvel-related shorts and interstitials during the commercial breaks.
In the storyline, a teenage Peter Parker (voiced by actor Drake Bell) juggles the relatable challenges of high school with the extraordinary challenges of being a Super Hero. Nick Fury (voiced by actor Chi McBride) invites Parker to train with his S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, where Peter’s alter-ego, Spider-Man, will join forces with four other teenage Super Heroes – Nova, White Tiger, Power Man and Iron Fist, on the greatest action and adventure ever as they work to become Ultimate Super Heroes!
The premiere episode (11:00 a.m., EST/PST) is entitled “Great Power,” and the second episode is “Great Responsibility” (11:30 a.m., EST). The premiere episodes will be available on DisneyXD.com and Comcast platforms via VOD and XfinityTV.com directly following the Sunday, April 1 premiere on Disney XD. On April 2, they will be available on Disney XD Mobile VOD available via AT&T, MetroPCS, MobiTV, Sprint and Verizon; along with iTunes, Xbox Live and Sony Playstation.
Rounding out the Marvel Universe block are exciting new short-form series including (the last three series are hosted by Radio Disney’s Morgan Tompkins):
-“Fury Files” – Top-secret access to S.H.I.E.L.D. video dossiers on key Marvel heroes, including Iron Fist, Power Man, Nova and White Tiger and the villains they face, are animated with mix of traditional animation and motion comic art.
-“Marvel Mash-Up”– The Marvel Universe is turned upside down with these hilarious and unexpected takes on iconic Marvel heroes and villains, featuring classic animation edited with a comedic twist.
-“Animated Reality” – Stunt and special effects experts showcase the epic moves of favorite Marvel Super Heroes including Captain America and Spider-Man.
-“What Would It Take?” – Get a glimpse into the science and modern technology required to create the heroes’ gadgets, abilities and tech in real life, ranging from Iron Man’s jet propulsion boots to Iron Fist’s power-packed punch.
-“Master Class” – Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada, explains the artistic vision behind Marvel’s greatest Super Heroes and shows how artists bring them to life.
I’m looking forward to Ultimate Spider-Man, even though the quality of the animation in this clip that Marvel released is not at the level that one would expect, especially after Spectacular Spider-Man, a show that will draw inevitable comparisons.
As for The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! AKA The Best Marvel Cartoon of All Time? Season two kicks off with a team-up between The Avengers and the Fantastic Four.
While season one was very strongly tied into the look and feel of the “classic” Marvel Universe, season two is going to veer towards the movies, with a lot of the characters donning costumes closer to the their movie/Ultimate counterparts (see: Captain America, above). Season two will also reportedly focus on the cosmic with the central conflict being the Kree/Skrull War.
The first season of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! was great fun and I’m really looking forward to the second.
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highly annoyed that Comcast/Xfinity took Disney XD out of my package after having it for over a year…”in order to stay competitive”. Really wanted to check out Ultimate Spidey.
Been watching Avengers S1 on Netflix…very fun show, love the animation.
Almost like they are forcing you to visit piratesbay. 😉
My pet peeve, and it even happened in my own shows, are giant, empty rooms with no props for the characters to interact with. I say fill the meeting room with awesome Kirby machines. Looking forward to the new Spider-man show although I thought the last one was “Spectacular.”
Problem is, Cartoon Network is much more widely accessible than Disney XD. If they had put it on the regular Disney channel, I am sure their viewer numbers would be much higher.
I wonder if the fact that Disney XD keeps their programming kid-friendly 24/7 might help in any way? I agree that Cartoon Network is more accessible, but I bet the strong numbers tell a more complicated story when broken into demographic subgroups.
Disney XD is considered a premium channel now by Comcast, so you have to pay a bunch extra to get it in a higher package with other things like IFC, the Science Channel etc. They cited government regulations when i complained. It was Bull-S i tells ya!
Woulda been awesome if it was on regular Disney Channel.
Does ABC still have Saturday morning cartoons?
It doesn’t really suit regular Disney Channel’s demographic though
@GKFinns / oblivious247: Yeah, from what I was told by a Disney exec, Disney Channel is aimed primarily at girls and Disney XD at boys. It’s reductive, but that’s how they look at it. A few years ago, anyway.
@KenOchalek: Nope. None of the networks do anymore, except Fox, which shows old anime.
Leave Hawkeye’s costume alone!
Saturday mornings > Sunday mornings. However, I’m super excited about the Ultimate Spider-man show. Never really watched the Avengers show but I might as well give it a try. Now that Saturday morning cartoons (and apparently Sunday morning cartoons) are coming back, this gives me a reason to wake up earlier on weekends.
FINALLY! Season two of Avengers: EMH!!! Man that was a long wait!
I’m excited to see how Ultimate Spider-Man turns out. When I was a kid, Batman the Animated Series was the first show that actually compelled me to read the credits, and I’ve been a big fan of Paul Dini ever since.
I loved Avengers: EMH. Can’t wait to see Season Two.
Even if I have to wait until next year to watch them on Netflix.
Wait, Nova is in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon? I am completely sold now
I read that it is Nova but not Richard Rider.
Can’t wait for EMH Season 2. Best superhero show we’ve had for a long time.
Watched The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Season One on Netflix just last week…great show! Can’t wait for Season Two.
I can’t wait for all of these! My 2 year old daughter knows who some super-hero are (mostly Batman and Spider-Man, since they are on Daddy’s shirts a lot lol), I’ll have to watch this with her and introduce her to some more heroes 🙂