Though it featured a version of the franchise's biggest team of superheroes, The Avengers: United They Stand is easily one of the worst Marvel cartoons ever made. This is due to a plethora of reasons, including its weird designs, worse art style and equally as bad stories and characters.

The show's roster wasn't what fans would expect when they think of the Avengers. Though Wasp, Giant-Man and Hawkeye were stalwarts on the team for decades by that point, the faces of the franchise were all notably absent. Appearing in just a brief cameo in the intro, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor have little to no role in The Avengers: United They Stand.

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THE WEST COAST AVENGERS

The show's main roster was made up of Wonder Man, Hawkeye, Tigra, Giant-Man, The Wasp, Falcon and Vision. This was the case because the team was intentionally based on the West Coast Avengers from the comic book series of the same name. Captain America, Iron Man and Thor appear in the show's intro, as well as in a few pictures throughout the series, but have no real roles beyond that.

One reason given for why this decision was made was that the creators didn't want a team of mostly B-list heroes to take a backseat to superstars like Cap and Iron Man. While this is a somewhat understandable excuse, there's actually another explanation that has nothing to do with the creative process that makes things much clearler.

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During the late '90s, Marvel was ravaged by financial ruin, which led to the cancellation of several projects. When plans for an Avengers cartoon were first started, there were also plans for a Captain America animated series. When Marvel's monetary troubles forced them to sell the rights to their characters, this meant that they were no longer in charge of who they could give an animated series to.

Since they wouldn't be able to make spinoff shows for Captain America or Thor, the characters barely show up in United They Stand. Strangely enough, Cap's one episode spotlight still feels like a backdoor pilot for a cartoon that would never see the light of day. The planned second season was meant to introduce Thor properly, giving the God of Thunder more emphasis than either Captain America or Iron Man had gotten so far. Unfortunately, that season never saw the light of day, and audiences likely weren't interested in what was obviously a team of B-list heroes.

This issue was made even worse by the fact that the actual roster was written and drawn terribly, barely resembling their comic book counterparts both physically and in terms of their portrayal. With no major heroes to help it overcome its poor reception, The Avengers: United They Stand would only stand around for one brief season.

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