In the '80s, Marvel Productions ran a syndicated television block on weekend that showcased various cartoons from the company. Most of this screen time for this programming block, which was dubbed the Marvel Action Universe, was dedicated to re-runs of Marvel cartoons such as 1978's The New Fantastic Four, 1979's Spider-Woman, 1981's Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends and 1982's The Incredible Hulk,. An X-Men series, Pryde of the X-Men, also premiered, though it never got past its pilot.

However, the MAU was more than just Marvel cartoons. Instead, the 90-minute block also featured such cartoons as RoboCopDungeons & DragonsDino-Riders and Defenders of the Earth. In essence, this animation block was marketed as a single universe shared by multiple cartoons -- a vibrant promotional poster published in old Marvel comics shows Spider-Man swinging into action beside the cyborg RoboCop, a roaring brontosaurus towering behind them. Practically, though, none of these shows ever really crossed over. The only real major crossover came when the X-Men appeared in an episode of Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends produced years before the MAU got started. As a result, the MAU lacked the coherence of more recent cinematic universes.

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The nature of the block was more Hanna-Barbera-esque, with separate shows being banded together in arrangements that were financially beneficial to license owners. Even though this curation was a bit haphazard, the MAU succeeded at introducing viewers to cancelled cartoons they may have missed or have been too young to enjoy during their runs. As such, the MAU’s ability to expand its fanbase’s interests helped lay the foundations for shared on-screen universes to come.

The inherently symbiotic structure of the MAU entailed piggybacking off the longstanding popularity of Marvel content to boost other shows. Simultaneously, syndication captured the audiences for other properties and familiarized them with Marvel's ever expanding world of comic books and on-screen ventures. This worked to the mutual benefit of all properties involved.

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Dino-Riders, for instance, mainly existed to sell Tyco's line of prehistoric toys. This wasn't an uncommon strategy at the time, considering media franchises like Transformers came into existence for the very same purpose. Still, while toy sales were a significant part of 1980s children's programming, Dino-Riders faced competition from shows such as 1987's Dinosaucers and 1988's Denver, The Last Dinosaur. As such, it's totally possible putting Dino-Riders alongside more established series helped boost its sales and fanbase by giving it an edge those other shows didn't have.

The inclusion of RoboCop, for its part, is somewhat odd, though also proved mutually beneficial. The cybernetic upholder of law first appeared in Paul Verhoeven's 1987 film, which was far from child-friendly and was rated-R. However, the Kenner toy company launched a line of RoboCop action figures, which might explain how the franchise ended up having a child-friendly iteration. Later, RoboCop even got its own limited comic book series from Marvel, showing that the more mature film could, with certain tweaks, appeal to younger audiences. These weren't the only comics inspired by the MAU to release. Marvel brought back issues based on the 1981 Spider-Man sh0w, retitling them "Marvel Action Universe," and even gave Dino-Riders a comic adaptation.

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In the end, the MAU's ability to broaden viewers' fandom by putting together shows helped bring new fans to franchises they might not have previously known about, and it's this very liking fans take to new characters and narratives that has made shared on-screen universes so successful today. While the MAU's individual components may fit together oddly, the block as a whole did a splendid job of tapping into existing fanbases and leveraging them to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

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