Invincible. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. My Adventures with Superman. X-Men ‘97. Harley Quinn. Creature Commandos. What If…? We may be in a new golden age of animated superhero shows. With Marvel Animation set to expand its offerings with Marvel Zombies and Eyes of Wakanda, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is dipping into the medium for the first time. Meanwhile, under the guidance of James Gunn, DC kicked off a new film universe using animation with the release of Creature Commandos. It looks like superhero cartoons are back in a big way, and with their re-emergence has come variety, especially in terms of style.
Look at a still frame from any of the shows listed above, and you’ll instantly recognize that they belong in different universes. From character design to background layouts, it doesn’t take much to figure out what show you’re watching based solely on the animation. Put everything in motion, and it becomes even more obvious. But is one style superior? With so many options, is there a single show that best utilizes animation to bring comic book heroes to the small screen?
In search of an answer, I graded each show based on three weighted categories to determine the best superhero animation. Character and set design are both worth 25%, while action and movement are worth 50%. After all, it hardly matters how great Superman and Metropolis look if his fight scenes are disjointed and underwhelming. So, which show came out on top? Let's find out...
X-Men '97
Character: C
Set: B-
Action and Overall Movement: C+
Overall: C+
It almost feels unfair ranking X-Men ‘97 last because of the nostalgia factor. This is an updated take on a cartoon that originally ran over 30 years ago, so a dated animation style is actually part of the charm. The characters are flat and only mildly expressive. The backgrounds are plenty detailed - reminiscent of the old matte painting style that was common in animation’s earliest days - but lack depth. The character movements, while far more fluid than they were in the original show, still come off as stiff. And that’s all perfect. This is a show meant to capture the feeling of the original, so a radical change to the animation would have been wrong. Still, subtle updates in movement, especially for action sequences, are appreciated.
In the end, X-Men ‘97 is of another time. The throwback style puts it in a class of its own, but when it comes to the fast-paced action of comic book shows, evolution has been key. If anyone can appreciate that, it’s a group of superpowered mutants.
My Adventures with Superman
Character: B
Set: B+
Action and Movement: B-
Overall Grade: B-
Obviously, individual taste is a key element in any ranking. Find a dozen "Who's the Best Batman?" lists, and you might come up with a dozen different number ones. (Kevin Conroy is the correct answer, by the way.) Preferences in animation style is no different, which is why My Adventures with Superman is low on my list. I’ve never really gotten into anime. In some places, it feels like too little, while in others, it’s too much.
On one hand, the colors are solid and not obnoxiously bright. The character designs are sleek, but the emotions are over the top. Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura is the model for character reactions and it’s just too much. Toss in action sequences that can feel choppy at times and this is a style that works fine, but hardly elevates the story being told.
What If…?
Character: B -
Set: B
Action and Movement: B+
Overall Grade: B
Now and then, What If…? toes the line with the uncanny valley. It’s not the nightmare fuel of Polar Express, but there are moments when the characters get maybe a little bit too real looking. Still, it’s a unique style that allows for incredibly smooth action that, at times, feels almost rotoscoped. The backgrounds are highly detailed and full of depth, so much so that it’s occasionally a bit disorienting as your eyes struggle to find the correct plane to focus on.
It is the rare animated show, though not the only one on this list, that has to take real-life actors into account in the character design. Considering that challenge, What If…? does an admirable job of maintaining the overall look and feel of the MCU without sacrificing the joys of animation.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Character: B-
Set: B+
Action and Movement: B+
Overall Grade: B+
This show is the epitome of a comic book in motion. The characters are outlined in bold, thick lines. The backgrounds are rich with detail and vivid colors. Comic book panels are even utilized in transitional moments, which gives the entire show a distinct feel.
From an action standpoint, this is where things start to get good. Like any moving media portraying the Wall Crawler, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has to tackle the mechanics of the titular hero’s unique movements. Everything has to be fluid and chaotic at the same time, and this show nails that combination by moving the perspective nearly as much as the characters themselves.
If there’s one major complaint with the animation, it’s the lack of expressivity in the characters’ faces. Everyone has the same black and white eyes, leaving little room to infuse them with subtle ticks and responsive tells. The series’ voice acting helps to bridge that gap, but the animation could do more to give the characters depth.
Invincible
Character: A-
Set: B+
Action and Movement: A-
Overall Grade: A-
Invincible just looks clean. The lines are sharp, the backgrounds layered, and the characters are drawn with detail. If Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man lacks emotive details, Invincible sets the bar. Every character is imbued with unique eyes and facial details that give the audience a deeper insight than you can get through voice acting alone.
Plus, the action is really solid, with fight scenes packing more weight than other shows on this list. When someone lands a punch, you can feel the force behind it, and a healthy spray of blood doesn’t hurt either. Invincible is what you imagine when you read a darker, heavier comic book with life-and-death stakes. It’s beautifully drawn and the fact that it's animated doesn’t diminish the stakes of the story in any way.
Harley Quinn
Character: A
Set: A-
Action and Movement: B+
Overall Grade: A-
Sometimes, a cartoon just looks like a cartoon. I grew up on Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, and Batman, so DC superhero cartoons hold a special place in my heart. From an animation style, Harley Quinn is a worthy, albeit far more mature, successor to those shows. The colors are bold and the backgrounds are highly textured, which helps the smooth, crisp character designs to pop off the screen. Where Invincible is filled with normal people in fantastic costumes, Harley Quinn is a cast of uniquely designed characters existing in an equally unique world.
This is a rare case where the action doesn’t blow any other show away, but it’s still really good. Maybe it’s the throwback to childhood I mentioned, but the punches, kicks, and gravity defying leaps all feel like the kinds of movements that set the bar for what heroes and villains should be able to accomplish in the face of physics.
Creature Commandos
Character: A
Set: A
Action and Movement: A-
Overall Grade: A
Creature Commandos and What If…? occupy the same unique space of bringing live-action characters into animation. Where the Marvel version tends to work from live-action to animation, Creature Commandos has the advantage of introducing mostly new characters via animation first, with an eye towards live-action later. The advantage is that the characters can be bold and bright without looking cheesy. The Bride is a great example, with her multi-colored skin and towering stature. When she does make a live-action debut, the visual will no doubt be impressive, but the animated version will be hard to top.
Toss in excellent use of lighting to give each scene depth and some well paced fight scenes and Creature Commandos is everything you could hope for from a comic book show in terms of style. It’s not over the top one way or the other, the colors are bright, but not unrealisticly so, and the characters are drawn with as much emotion as any on the list.