User blog:ARTaylor/A Look Back at 2019

Well my fellow true believers, the year is coming to a close and another is just around the corner. It's that time when we look back over what happened over the last twelve months as we move forward.

We saw the release of Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts, Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands, Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri, and Marvel Rising: Playing with Fire. Avengers Assemble came to an end. Guardians of the Galaxy, Big Hero 6, and Spider-Man continued their airings.

We saw the eightieth anniversary of Marvel Comics; fiftieth anniversary of The Marvel Super Heroes; twenty-fifth of Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man; as well as twentieth of Spider-Man Unlimited and The Avengers: United They Stand.

The film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse became a runaway hit becoming Sony Pictures Animation's biggest hit while nearly sweeping every single Best Animated Feature award including those for the Annie and Academy Awards. The film's song Sunflower by Post Malone and Swae Lee topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that characters from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse may make their way onto television. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller announced a deal with Sony Pictures Televison to develop a number of animated and live-action series. The first sequel to the film was given a release date for 2022.

Rob Liefeld hinted that the cancelled Deadpool series may not be completely dead, just without the involvement of Donald Glover and his brother.

Marvel announced five series for release on the Hulu streaming service. Those shows are M.O.D.O.K., Hit Monkey, Tigra & Dazzler, and Howard the Duck which will all crossover into The Offenders. The move is a clear reference to the Netflix series, that brought four series into The Defenders. Marvel also announced What If...? for the Disney+ streaming service. The series will be the first animated entry into the worldwide phenomenon known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They also announced Spidey and His Amazing Friends and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

POW! Entertainment announced the animated series The Amazing Stan.

Disney released the Disney+ streaming service. In addition to a number of beloved animated series, this was the first full official release of Marvel animated series Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man Unlimited, and The Avengers: United They Stand.

Marvel, Disney, Fox, and others were sued over the theme song to X-Men by Ron Wasserman.

The biggest news to hit Marvel animation had to deal with behind-the-scenes drama involving personnel. First, rumors began circulating that Jeph Loeb was leaving Marvel. Then we learned that Marvel Television was shutting down and being absorbed into Marvel Studios with Kevin Feige taking over. Anything not currently in production was shut down. While the Hulu series were confirmed safe, the fate of the other announced shows are still unknown.

Tragically, this year we lost William Morgan Sheppard, Joseph Sirola, Luke Perry, Rick Bennett, Cameron Boyce, Gabe Khouth, Stuart M. Rosen, Robert Axelrod, Tom Lyle, Dorothy Catherine Fontana, Jarad Higgins, and Rene Auberjonois.