Ranking Every Marvel Animated TV Series From Worst To Best

A mall-baby may eat chilli fries, but do they also star in the best cartoon show?

X-Men Animated Series
Marvel

Marvel's animated escapades have garnered a massive reputation over the years, and for good reason too. Though it's probable that most will now mark their introduction into the worlds of cowls and capes supplanted by a healthy dose of cinematic stardom, it hasn't always been that way. For many years, this introduction came via the airwaves on a given Saturday morning, sandwiched in-between flurries of adverts and that one cartoon you sat through just because your favourite repeat of X-Men was going to air straight after.

I am, of course, talking about cartoons. And when it comes to cartoons, Marvel have a pretty long and expansive history. Starting all the way back in 1966, the world's preeminent comic book publisher has been releasing animated shows based on their biggest heroes to critical and indeed commercial avail. For many - myself included - they marked the start of a long (and often fraught) journey into mystery. It's pretty clear that they have an important job to do, even if their main one is to, you know, sell some toys.

Given that some of these shows were, at their core, just a bunch of glorified adverts, it makes sense that a few would be lacking in the ol' quality department. That doesn't mean, however, that there haven't been some truly fantastic animated shows, and while Marvel may lack the BTAS equivalent to well and truly assert themselves as the proverbial champions of the animated arena, that certainly hasn't stopped them from churning out some absolute bangers from time to time.

28. The Avengers: United They Stand

A show that based its line-up on the West Coast Avengers, United They Stand could never really find the success that its immediate predecessors (Spidey and Iron Man) could. In fact it was terrible. Not much else to say really.

I mean, the outfits looked kind of cool I guess? And it's always nice to see Clint getting a starring role now and then. Bar that, it's a big old pile of 'meh'. 0/10, would not watch.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.