Some of the more popular superheroes were also brought to life through cartoon, ranging from old fashioned versions to more up-to-date modern ones. To keep my own ideas simplistic I could use a cartoon/comic book theme for my imagery as this links in.
Superheroes have been portrayed in animation since the early 1940s. Up until the late 90s animated cartoons have been the most common venue, right after comics, to depic superheroistic adventures. Contrary to movie features and television series they did not require expensive sets and special effects; cartoon shows featuring superheroes became a staple of children's entertainment with a few shows reaching adult audiences.
Superheroes have been portrayed in animation since the early 1940s. Up until the late 90s animated cartoons have been the most common venue, right after comics, to depic superheroistic adventures. Contrary to movie features and television series they did not require expensive sets and special effects; cartoon shows featuring superheroes became a staple of children's entertainment with a few shows reaching adult audiences.
In late 1941, Superman became the first superhero to be depicted in animation, The Superman series of groundbreaking theatrical cartoons was produced by Fleischer/Famous Studios from 1941 to 1943 and featured the famous "It's a bird, it's a plane" introduction. One of the most successful imitations/parodies was Terrytoons' Mighty Mouse series, which became the flagship property of the studio.
A frame from the opening sequence of the 1960s Spider-Man series
With the rise of television in the 1960s, superheroes have found success in animated television series geared towards children, including Filmation's Superman-Batman Adventure Hour and Grantray-Lawrence Animation's Spider-Man, featuring the "does whatever a spider can" theme song.
A frame from the opening sequence of Super Friends
In the 1970s, Japanese anime strove to emulate American superhero cartoons with their own creations. The most successful was Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman) which became a television classic that created a template that many other anime series followed.
In the 1970s and 1980s American superhero animated series were constrained by the broadcasting restrictions that activist groups like Action for Children's Television lobbied for. The most popular series in this period, Super Friends, an adaptation of DC's Justice League of America, was designed to be as nonviolent and inoffensive as possible. The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends were similarly tame. Kagaku ninja tai Gatchaman aired in North America as the Battle of the Planets but it was so severely edited for violence that plots were incoherent although it still won many fans for its distinctive take on the genre.
A scene from Batman: The Animated Series
In the 1980s, the Saturday morning cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends brought together Spider-Man, Iceman, and Firestar. The following decade, Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men, aimed at somewhat older audiences, found critical success in mainstream publications. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly said of the former, "The animation is first-rate, moving Batman across gray cotton clouds and against a backdrop of teetering Art Deco-style skyscrapers. ... In contrast to both the '60s show or [director] [Tim] Burton's movies, the new Batman features plots that actually make sense and an occasional bit of clever dialogue that never curdles into camp".[1] Frank Lovece of Entertainment Weekly said of the latter, "[T]he art is miles above the pasteboard cutouts of the 1960s and '70s superhero 'toons, and the characters are more believably flawed. The dialogue still comes straight from drive-in movies, though...."[2] Series that followed included Superman: The Animated Series (1996) and Cartoon Network's adaptation of DC's Justice League (2001) and Teen Titans. The animation style of Batman: the Animated Series was replicated in the sequels The New Batman Adventures and Batman Beyond and the spinoffs, Static Shock and Superman: The Animated Series and other shows.
In 1994, Phantom 2040 made its debut, loosely based on Lee Falk's legendary superhero The Phantom, and adapted into the screen by Aeon Flux-creator Peter Chung. The series followed the descendant of the Phantom of the original comic books in the year of 2040. Despite critical acclaim, the series was cancelled after two season, but remains a cult favorite. Similarly, Walt Disney Pictures produced the highly acclaimed television series Gargoyles, created by Greg Weisman. This production presented the adventures of a clan of heroic night creatures in stories that owed as much to William Shakespeare and medieval history as they did to traditional superhero fiction.
HBO's Spawn, originally aired from 1997 through 1999, was one of the few animated superhero series to be amied exclusively at an adult audience, as the show featured a considerable amount of gore and sexuality between superman and wonderwoman.
In 1998, Cartoon Network began airing The Powerpuff Girls, a superhero parody designed to appeal to both children and adults. The show spoofed both specific superheroes (like Wonder Woman, Sailor Moon and Spawn, amongst many others) as well as general conventions of the genre (like how violence is often presented as the best/only solution to problems in superhero stories, for example). In the 2000s, the Nickelodeon series, Danny Phantom, earned its own appreciative following with its intelligent humor and appealing character story arc narrative structure.
Taking advantage of a format that affords a level of content freedom for an older and more sophisticated audience than American television demographics would accommodate, original animated video release series featuring the superhero characters of Marvel Comics and DC Comics respectively began with considerable success in the 2000s .
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