10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About X-Men: Evolution
6. It Worked In References To Lots Of Other Marvel Characters And Lore Despite Some Legal Issues
Licensing agreements were, in the 2000s, a massive headache for Marvel, due to the fact that over a dozen different entertainment companies had rights to Marvel's properties.
Although this technically limited what the producers could do with other Marvel entities, Kids WB was constantly asking for more references to the larger Marvel world, leading to the producers being sneakily creative:
One of the masks worn by the vandals in the Season 3 episode 'Mainstream' is of classic Marvel Comics dragon Fin Fang Foom; the Season 3 episode 'Under Lock and Key' recreates the original 1963 X-Men team of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, and Angel, which Iceman calls the 'cool team'; Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat), sleeps with a stuffed purple dragon, a reference to Lockheed, her pet from the Excalibur comic; several Avengers are referenced (Captain America appears in a World War 2 flashback liberating a concentration camp with Logan, a background sign in New York references Stark Enterprises, and a small Spider-Man nod appears when Angel reads The Daily Bugle); Nick Fury, SHIELD, and HYDRA (led by Viper) all become important plot devices in the later seasons.
It would be interesting to see what they could do now with all of Marvel back under one roof!