10 Superhero Cartoons That Deserve To Be Revived After Marvel’s X-Men ’97 Success

X-Men ‘97 has proven how successful a superhero cartoon revival could be, and it could even open the doors for similar projects in the future. There are plenty of great animated Marvel and DC shows that were canceled too soon for reasons that had nothing to do with the show’s quality. For example, Young Justice was initially canceled because it didn’t sell enough toys. Although Young Justice was lucky enough to come back, many shows in similar situations never did.

This means some of the best DC and Marvel animated shows have still never been given a satisfying conclusion, and that there is likely still an audience interested in seeing these series come back. Some of these shows would also lend themselves to being aged up to focus on more mature stories, as has been seen in the changes made to X-Men ‘97 so far.

10
Spider-Man: The Animated Series And X-Men ’97 Could Revive The MAU

Spider-Man: The Animated Series Ran From 1994 – 1998

Spider-Man: The Animated Series seems like an easy choice for Marvel to revive. This version of Peter Parker was already hinted at in an early scene of X-Men ‘97, and the show will reportedly feature some crossovers. The ‘90s cartoon Spider-Man may turn up in a future episode, giving Marvel the perfect setup to revive his series. Even if Spider-Man isn’t in X-Men ‘97 himself, knowing he exists in the world should be good enough to start establishing the old Marvel Animated Universe again.

When they were both on the air, Spider-Man: The Animated Series used to crossover with X-Men: The Animated Series and other Marvel shows at the time. This was essentially an animated precursor to the MCU, and it could be brought back under Marvel’s new Marvel Animation banner. With X-Men ‘97 already renewed for a second season, it’s clear Marvel is willing to continue exploring this world, so a second parallel series doesn’t seem to be out of the question.

9
Batman Beyond Has Two Possible Ways To Continue

Batman Beyond Ran From 1999 – 2001

Batman Beyond is an interesting case when it comes to canceled animated shows. Although it never got a proper conclusion in its run, it was given a finale in the form of Justice League Unlimited, season 2, episode 13, “Epilogue.” The episode showed Terry McGinnis 15 years after the original series took place when he is now an adult and still active as Batman. The episode ended with Terry continuing to be the new version of The Dark Knight.

This means Batman Beyond could feasibly be revived in one of two ways. If the show wanted to focus on a younger Terry, it could fill in the 15-year gap between the original series and “Epilogue.” Alternatively, the show could pick up after “Epilogue” and feature an adult Terry. This second option may work best if DC wants to age up Batman Beyond with its original fans. Either way, audiences would likely be excited to see more of this unique and well-received version of Batman on the small screen.

8
Spectacular Spider-Man Ended With A Lot Of Dangling Plot Threads

Spectacular Spider-Man Ran From 2008 – 2009

Spectacular Spider-Man is highly regarded by audiences and is considered one of the best animated Spider-Man shows, if not the best in its own right. One of the series’ main strengths was that it leaned into the human element of Spider-Man. The show created a rich cast of characters and made Peter’s connection to even the most minor of his villains feel meaningful. It was nice to see a show that trusted young viewers to care about meaningful interpersonal relationships as much as they did Spider-Man punching bad guys.

Although Spectacular Spider-Man’s showrunner, Greg Weisman, says he had stories that would last the show five seasons, it was canceled after only two seasons. This happened when Sony sold their rights to use Spider-Man in animated TV shows in exchange for an extension of their film rights. Though Marvel, and then later Disney, had the rights to make Spider-Man shows, Sony retained the rights to everything involved with Spectacular Spider-Man. That’s why the show’s version of Peter could show up in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but Marvel wasn’t allowed to continue making the show.

7
Justice League Unlimited Has A Lot Of Characters It Could Explore

Justice League Unlimited Ran From 2004 – 2006

After two seasons of the DC Animated Universe’s Justice League show, the roster of the team was expanded and the show became Justice League Unlimited. As the name implied, the new team consisted of an absurd amount of DC characters, including more obscure ones like Deadman and Booster Gold. This was a stark contrast to Justice League, which focused primarily on seven core heroes.

Unlike many of these shows, Justice League Unlimited did have a fairly satisfying series finale, though it was by no means a definitive conclusion to the world of the show. What makes this series such a great choice for a revival is that its extremely deep roster of characters means there were still a lot of stories it could have told. The series also often provided more mature stories, like its adaptation of Alan Moore’s “For The Man Who Has Everything,” meaning Justice League Unlimited could easily be aged up to fit an older audience without feeling drastically different.

6
The Avengers: United They Stand Never Got A Fair Chance To Succeed

The Avengers: United They Stand Ran From 1999 – 2000

The Avengers: United They Stand was an Avengers cartoon that was connected to the Marvel Animated Universe along with X-Men: The Animated Series. Unfortunately, the series never really got a fair chance to succeed due to several factors outside its control. One of the biggest issues was that the show wasn’t allowed to include major Avengers like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America. The show ended up being canceled after only 13 episodes.

Now that Marvel has brought back the Marvel Animated Universe with X-Men ‘97, it could take a second shot at an Avengers show set in the universe. Marvel would no longer have to worry about not having the rights to all the Avengers and could include any roster they wanted. This could make the show into the version that never got to exist in the first place.

5
Teen Titans Never Got A Satisfying Ending

Teen Titans Ran From 2003 – 2006

Teen Titans is one of DC’s best-regarded animated shows. The show characterized each of its five main heroes very well and did a good job of sharing attention between them. This made each of them feel fully realized and allowed the show to tell some deeply emotional stories by the standards of an animated superhero show. Teen Titans also had a quasi anime-inspired visual style that allowed for some of the best action sequences in any DC show of the time.

Although Teen Titans’ showrunners knew that it would end after five seasons, they intended the ending to be unsatisfying, saying real life rarely has satisfying conclusions. Whether this ending was good is debatable, but it left the door open for more stories. The team appeared as recently as 2019 in Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, and the entire original cast is still playing their characters on Teen Titans Go!, so a revival doesn’t seem completely out of the question. That said, Teen Titans Go! is cheaper to produce and may be a barrier for the original series returning.

4
Static Shock’s Co-Creator Disliked Its Final Episode

Static Shock Ran From 2000 – 2004

Static Shock wasn’t just an entertaining show about a superhero, but it also set itself apart from other shows at the time by tackling some serious social issues. For example, season 2, episode 11, “Jimmy” was about a boy who brings a gun to the community center in hopes of shooting his bullies. Although the attack isn’t carried out in the episode, the show still took a pretty unflinching look at the issue of shootings like this and handled the topic well for a kid’s cartoon show.

Despite being successful, and even winning a Daytime Emmy Award, Static Shock was canceled due to toy sales not meeting expectations. The show never got to plan a big series finale, and Static’s co-creator Dwayne McDuffie even said he hated the finale that did air. Bringing the series back would allow Static Shock a chance at a better ending. Its focus on important social issues would also make it appealing to the adults who used to watch it when they were younger.

3
The Incredible Hulk Would Give The Character The Attention He Deserves

The Incredible Hulk Ran From 1996 – 1997

The Incredible Hulk was another entry in the Marvel Animated Universe. Though it never properly crossed over with X-Men, it did have appearances from other MAU characters like Iron Man, War Machine, and Doctor Strange. While it’s hard to find an official reason why the show was canceled, there is speculation that the show’s change to a more lighthearted tone in its second season may have been a contributing factor. This would actually make it a perfect choice to revive in the vein of X-Men ‘97, as it could go back to its darker tone for an older audience.

Another reason it would be nice to get a Hulk show is that the character hasn’t had the chance to be the star of any Marvel projects for a while. With Marvel seemingly deciding that it won’t be making a solo Hulk movie, it would be nice to at least have a show starring Hulk for audiences who want to see more of the character. If the show proved popular, it might even encourage the MCU to realize Hulk’s potential to be a lead character.

2
Iron Man Would Fill The Void Of Tony Stark In The MCU

Iron Man Ran From 1994 – 1996

Unlike other Marvel Animated Universe shows, Iron Man was never a huge hit. This could have partially been because Iron Man was not nearly as popular of a character at the time as he became following the first Iron Man movie in 2008. The series also didn’t have as engaging storylines as other MAU projects. Though the show itself wasn’t as well-loved as X-Men or Spider-Man, a revival could give the series a second chance.

Iron Man is arguably one of Marvel’s most popular heroes now, thanks to his stint in the MCU. Now that the MCU no longer has an Iron Man, audiences would probably be excited to get a new project featuring the character. The Iron Man revival could also crossover with X-Men ‘97, something the original MAU Iron Man never did, though War Machine did appear in an episode.

1
Green Lantern: The Animated Series Suffered Because Of An Unrelated Project

Green Lantern: The Animated Series Ran From 2011 – 2013

Green Lantern: The Animated Series was in part created by DCAU architect, Bruce Timm, and carried on his tradition of well-crafted stories and characters. The show also included a lot of Green Lantern lore that was established by Geoff Johns in one of DC Comics’ best runs of Green Lantern. Although the show itself was well-received, it ended up getting canceled due to the failure of another infamous DC project.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series began airing in 2011, the same year as the disastrous Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds. After the movie’s failure, toy sales dried up for both the movie and the show. Green Lantern: The Animated Series was canceled due to these low sales. With the DCU gearing up to reintroduce several Green Lanterns, it might be the perfect time for DC to give this Green Lantern show an X-Men ‘97 revival, so long as the new live-action versions hold up better than the last one.