User blog:ARTaylor/25 Years of Iron Man and Fantastic Four

Today marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the premiere of Iron Man and Fantastic Four. The two series were the next installment of the Marvel Animated Universe following X-Men. They aired together as part of The Marvel Action Hour. Both series lasted twenty-six episodes across two seasons, eventually ending on February 24th, 1996.

Iron Man follows Iron Man as he juggles his superhero life with Force Works with his professional life as the head of the powerful business Stark Enterprises.

Throughout the first season, Iron Man and his allies War Machine, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, and Century must stop Mandarin and his allies MODOK, Blacklash, Blizzard, Dreadknight, Fin Fang Foom, Grey Gargoyle, Hypnotia, Justin Hammer, Living Laser, Titanium Man, and Whirlwind (called The Hand for whatever reason). Tony Stark would have a flirtatious relationship with Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, and his personal trainer Veronica Benning with each vying for his affections, similar to Betty and Veronica of Archie Comics.

In the second season, Mandarin is thought to be killed. While The Hand disbands due to having no leader, so do Force Works following their lack of trust in Tony Stark. Only Spider-Woman and War Machine stay with him, along with his artificial intelligence H.O.M.E.R.. Iron Man would encounter new varying threats like disgruntled former employees, dangerous hackers, S.H.I.E.L.D., Hulk and Leader, and engage in the Armor Wars that would bring him into conflict with fellow heroes. This season saw him begin a serious relationship with Spider-Woman while at the same time War Machine struggles with claustrophobia following a near-death experience. Throughout this season, the secretly living Mandarin would search for his missing rings while plotting a final confrontation that would expose the true identity of Iron Man.

Fantastic Four had no central villain like its sister series, instead opting to adapt more of the classic issues from the comics. In the first season, they would encounter Puppet Master, Namor, Skrulls, Mole Man, Doctor Doom, Annihilus, Silver Surfer, and Galactus. Mister Fantastic would spend several episodes trying to cure Thing of his rocky condition. Ben Grimm would fall in love with Alicia Masters. The Fantastic Four would make their home in the Baxter Building, often annoying landlord Lavinia Forbes.

In the second season, an attack by Doctor Doom forces the team to move into the Four Freedoms Plaza. The team fights the Frightful Four which leads to a trilogy of episodes involving the Inhumans. Human Torch would fall in love with Crystal, but the season-long subplot of the Inhumans getting trapped would result in him longing for her. They would fight Black Panther, Hulk, and the Impossible Man while being forced to make a deal with Galactus to help Thor defeat Ego the Living Planet. Eventually, Doctor Doom returns to steal the power of Silver Surfer in an epic final battle.

The first seasons of both series were overseen by Ron Friedman, and were heavily criticized with complaints being numerous. Viewers noted numerous animation errors and story issues. Iron Man was seen as being too close in style to The Transformers and G. I. Joe wherein the villain's schemes would be stopped by the episode's end and no events had any significance on another. Fantastic Four was criticized for its preposterous and illogical stories. It did not help anything that they were airing alongside X-Men and Batman: The Animated Series, which both took a far more serious approach. In one infamous critique, the Fantastic Four series was made fun of in the comic book pages of Fantastic Four.

Friedman was let go following the first season and a new crew was brought in along with a new animation company. The new producers honored the stories of the first seasons but quickly forged a new style, as evidenced by the Fantastic Four moving and Force Works disbanding. Stories took a more serious tone. While adapting classic stories, they would be updated for the 1990s and modern audiences. Critics did note that both series saw dramatic improvements, with some moments being ranking amongst the best superhero series moments that had been seen at the time. Unfortunately, neither series could escape the perception that came with the first seasons. Ratings remained low and both were eventually cancelled.

The legacies of the series usually depends on which season the viewer focuses on. The first seasons typically cause them to rank along the worst superhero animated series, though a focus on the second tends to rank among the better series. The most significant aspect of both series that has lasted is that they connected several of the Marvel series of the 1990s. Fantastic Four used the character models from X-Men for cameos and featured direct references to the series. The actors playing Iron Man, War Machine, and Nick Fury on Iron Man would return to play the characters on Spider-Man, which also used their designs. Hulk's appearances on both series would have a follow-up on his own series The Incredible Hulk.

Both series have received complete DVD releases and are set to appear on The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney+.