X-Men: The Animated Series Spider-Man, Hulk, Deadpool Cameos, Explained

Welcome back to another special edition of Adventure(s) Time, a retrospective on animated heroes of the past. This week, we're looking back on an element of X-Men: The Animated Series that thrilled comics fans. Complex characterizations? Comics-loyal designs? Ongoing stories that carried from week to week? Those are great, but for now, we're discussing those unexpected cameos from random Marvel characters.

Getting An Early Start

The cameos go back all the way to the show's initial opening. Although Thunderbird never a true character on the series, he's prominent on the villains' side in the opening credits. Turns out, Thunderbird was initially intended to be the X-Man to die in the opening episodes. Plans changed, but everyone loved Thunderbird's look. During Season 1, he pops up occasionally in crowd shots.

The first in-continuity cameos occur early in Episode One. When Jean Grey and Xavier walk past a news report on the mutant issue, Cannonball and Domino appear as brief flashes. Magneto and an ad for Genoshan resort can also be seen on the monitors. This is sly foreshadowing for upcoming Season 1 episodes. And while Domino never makes a real appearance, one of the final episodes was entirely dedicated to Cannonball. Oddly, he's comics-accurate here, with blond hair and a Rob Liefeld X-Force design. When Cannonball officially debuts in "Hidden Agendas," he has brown hair and no association with these X-teams.

The cameos continued from there. "Deadly Reunions" opens with Professor X offering psychic therapy to Sabretooth. The villain has brief flashes of Deadpool, Shiva, Maverick, Omega Red, and...Janice. Who's Janice? A character recently introduced in the comics at this time. Janice is a scientist callously murdered by Sabretooth during his days as a secret agent with Wolverine.

The Cameo Crazy Episodes

"Slave Island" goes crazy with cameos, as the X-Men are kept in a mutant work camp. Northstar, Aurora, Caliban, Sunfire, and many early X-Force members appear. Mystique, Pyro, Blob are also shown as prisoners, predating their official debuts later that season. In the Previously on X-Men retrospective, producer/director Larry Houston cites "Slave Island" as the true beginning of the cameos. Characters identified in the script as "Mutant 1" or "Mutant 2" became established characters as he worked on the storyboards.

Later, Season 1 Finale "The Final Decision" brings a brief flash of Ghost Rider, as Professor X probes Gambit's memories. Another reference to a Jim Lee story arc.

Season 2's "Mojovision" is another cameo-crazy episode fans loved. As the X-Men battle through Mojo's TV-reality, we see cameos from the Brood, the Punisher, Psylocke, and the Super-Adaptoid. As discussed earlier, the later episode "Love in Vain" presents villains inspired by the Brood, but with vastly different designs. Psylocke does eventually have a speaking role in "Beyond Good and Evil." As for Super-Adaptoid, the obscure villain popped up in various flashbacks to the X-Men's earliest days.

Another character cameoing in "Mojovision" is Dazzler, her design taken directly from another Jim Lee issue. Here, she's Longshot's make-up artist. Later, Dazzler would appear in a comics-accurate role in the "Dark Phoenix Saga" adaptation. Her hair color was altered to brown here, perhaps to separate her from the character in "Mojovision."

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During the episode "Repo Man," Jean Grey is using Cerebro to search for a missing Professor X. Domino, Nightcrawler, Cannonball, Psylocke, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch all make brief cameos. Again, every character but Domino later has a speaking part.

Another cameo-crazy Season 2 episode is "Whatever It Takes." When Morph taunts Wolverine, he shapeshifts into Deadpool, Omega Red, and Maverick. Deadpool's second cameo, but unlike the others, he never makes a real appearance on X-Men. This episode also presents obscure foes Bloodscream and Roughhouse, exiting a bar as Wolverine enters.

In "Reunion (Part One)" the X-Men finally locate former teammate Morph. The tortured shapeshifter is living as an actor, starring in the role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. How many viewers knew the version of Mr. Hyde he transforms into strongly resembles the Marvel supervillain?

The Most '90s Appearances Of Them All?

Who remembers when War Machine actually had two cameos in one episode? In "Time Fugitives (Part One)" this armor appears as one of Apocalypse’s robot warriors in the future. Later in the episode, we see War Machine in the present day, standing next to Nick Fury and G. W. Bridge as they watch a news broadcast. (Based on this selection, the animators were inspired by the storyline in X-Force #19-21.)

This episode is packed with cameos, actually. Gamesmaster is watching the same Senate hearings on television, while Cable’s Clan Chosen allies join him in the future. Finally, Magik, Cannonball, Warpath, and Feral appear in a montage sequence.

Even More Deadpool?

In the second chapter of the "Phoenix Saga" adaptation, Deadpool appears again as a figure from Wolverine’s past, used by Dark Xavier against him. The most surprising cameo in the episode, however? Howard the Duck, seriously, on Beast’s t-shirt in one scene. Two episodes later, Captain Britain and Dr. Strange cameo as Phoenix transports the X-Men away from Earth. Spider-Man's hand also appears. (Fully animating him for an official appearance wasn't feasible at the time. A "room full of lawyers" was necessary for the X-Men's later appearance on his show.)

"Secrets, Not Long Buried" introduces the small town of Skull Mesa, a haven for mutants. Dozens of 1990s-era mutant characters, such as Forearm, Reaper, Strobe, Random, Tusk, and Senyaka appear. Bizarrely, this episode marks classic villain Toad's only appearance on the series.

And In The Final Days Of The Show...

Obscure Excalibur villains the Technet appear in "Proteus (Part One)." They're shown drinking in a pub Proteus enters after he escapes Muir Island. There are also cameos by other Marvel UK characters outside of the pub, although they admittedly make no sense within the context of the story.

The "One Man's Worth" two-parter featured cameos of various Age of Apocalypse characters, in addition to a redesigned version of the Avengers. (This Captain America had claws!) The multi-part "Beyond Good and Evil" featured background appearances from various characters with telepathic powers. This included Rachel Summers, Stryfe, and Mesmero. (Hypnotism being close enough to telepathy, it seems.)

Perhaps the most audacious cameo occurred late in the series' run, in "The Juggernaut Returns." Here, the Hulk makes an appearance in the Danger Room as one of the robots Xaver uses against Juggernaut. In Previously on X-Men, animator Frank Squillace revealed their sly attempt at sneaking in the Hulk. Deals with various networks and production companies made an official Hulk appearance impossible. But naming the character "Large Green Neanderthal Robot" enabled him to sneak past any lawyers eyeing the scripts!

That’s all for now. If you have any comics-to-animated series you’d like to see covered, just leave a comment or contact me on Twitter.