User blog:ARTaylor/20 Years of The Avengers: United They Stand

Last week marked the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of The Avengers: United They Stand. The series began airing on October 30th, 1999 and lasted thirteen episodes before ending on February 26th, 2000. It was the final series to begin airing in the Marvel Animated Universe, though Spider-Man Unlimited would finish afterwards.

The series follows the adventures of Earth's mightiest heroes: the Avengers. They are led by Ant-Man (Rod Wilson), who has just taken command of the team. He is joined by his wife Wasp (Linda Ballantyne) as well as Scarlet Witch (Stavroula Logothettis), Hawkeye (Tony Daniels), Wonder Man (Hamish McEwan), Vision (Ron Ruben), Tigra (Lenore Zann), Falcon (Martin Roach), and their trusted butler Edwin Jarvis (Graham Harley). They team up with former Avengers like Captain America (Dan Chameroy), Iron Man (Francis Diakowsky), and Namor (Raoul Trujillo). They face off against their most dreaded enemy Ultron (John Stocker) in addition to Kang (Ken Kramer), Agatha Harkness (Elizabeth Shepherd), Swordsman (Paul Essiembre), Baron Zemo (Phillip Shepherd), the Masters of Evil, Zodiac, and Attuma (Philip Akin).

The series was greenlit during Marvel Entertainment's financial issues of the late 1990s. Eric and Julia Lewald, of X-Men fame, were approached to oversee the series with Ron Myrick creating the visuals. The creators were unable to use the "Big Three" of the Avengers Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor as the rights to characters were tied up. Two would end up guest staring while all three were seen in the opening credits. They ended up using the West Coast Avengers as the inspiration. It was joined by a tie-in comic that featured additional characters like Black Panther, Quicksilver, Black Widow, Baron Strucker, Doctor Doom, and A.I.M..

Reception to the series was never kind and it has often ranked among the worst superhero shows ever made. Longtime Marvel fans were confused as to why the Big Three were absent and the emphasis placed on relatively minor characters. The biggest point of contention was the companion toyline as the show emphasized power armors for different situations, that were then sold as different toys. The series received a Region 2 home video release but never a Region 1 release. It will be included as part of the Disney+ streaming service.