Back in the '90s, Marvel was in a creative free-for-all. From comics to television, creators were making outrageous decisions that fans would forever remember. Their most successful endeavor was in the animation medium. While X-Men: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series were the tentpole properties, they weren't the only ones.  Iron Man: The Animated Series was one of the earliest animated adaptions of the character and wouldn't be the last.

The '90s was a transitional phase for animation. Rather than being Saturday Morning toy commercials, kid's cartoons became more story-driven TV shows. The early parts of the decade still had many shows that played out like toy commercials and followed very similar styles to more successful shows like Transformers, however. The era would typically frame its series based on how the toylines were being continued or discontinued. Characters were created for toys before hitting the screen. Iron Man: The Animated Series would follow this same model.

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Iron Man The Animated Series

In the first season, Iron Man focused more on the commercial aspect versus the overall quality of the show. Not only did its animation suffer, but the series also had zero cohesion, and each episode was just a one-off adventure to defeat a new villain. A lot of what can be found in the first season rarely, if ever, connected between each episode, and it ended up hurting the show by its second season.

Iron Man wasn't the only Marvel show released around this time. Episodes of Iron Man typically aired alongside the Fantastic Four show. This pairing should have helped Iron Man, but it only hurt the show because the Fantastic Four series was altogether a much better series. While the show was not at its best, the toyline that came out was. Adoring Iron Man fans were able to pick up countless suits that were seen in the show. Unlike the Transformers, where characters would be phased out as their toys got discontinued, Iron Man had countless suit variations to collect.

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hulk iron man 1994 animated (1)

When the show first premiered, it featured some cutting edge CGI effects to show off how Iron Man suits up. For television, this was a pretty big deal. However, that effect, along with the entire first season's animation style, felt very disposable. There wasn't much substance due to so much focus being put on showing off the new suit, hero or villain. While the first season wasn't its best, it introduced many Marvel heroes before they became household names. Characters like Scarlet Witch, War Machine and Hawkeye all made their debut in 90s animation.

Many modern Marvel fans assume that Iron Man's main suit allows him to travel underwater, coast the upper atmosphere or brave a volcano's heat. In the early cartoon series, Tony had a suit for each of those occasions. While the real reason was to sell toys, the in-show logic didn't make a lot of sense. After all, a genius engineer like Tony would have come up with one suit that could do all of these things. Future cartoons would still have suits for various needs, but it became much less of a spectacle.

Iron Man has always had suits that would make perfect toys. However, it was 1994's Iron Man: The Animated Series that brought that idea to the forefront. While the first season was a glorified toy commercial, similar to Transformers, it laid the groundwork for what would be Marvel Animation as the world knew it. Iron Man is not perfect, it's not the best looking and it definitely didn't have a strong story, but fans still appreciate the corniness and the fun that it offered from a much simpler time at Marvel.

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