Internet Archive's in-browser video player requires JavaScript to be enabled. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature.

Marvel Super Heroes 1960s Cartoon Series Preservation

by: Marvel Comics

Publication date: 1967

Topics: Comics, Cartoons, Marvel, Thor, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Namor, Sub Mariner, Fantastic Four, Hulk

Language: English

In 1966, Marvel Comics hired animation company Grantray-Laurence to create "The Marvel Superheroes", a series of daily cartoons based on their titles Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and the Sub-Mariner. As it was Marvel's first foray into television animation, the producers stretched out the budget by using existing stories and artwork. Original comic art pages were Xeroxed and used as key frames, with animators adding only mouth and limb animation. Body movement was often accomplished by animating still images across a background.

Fortunately for comic fans, this cost-cutting move preserved for all time the original artwork of Gene Colon, Don Heck, and Jack "King" Kirby, and the dialog of Stan Lee. It was exactly what readers have always asked TV and movie makers to do: just film the comics.

A year later they released the Spider-Man series, with one of the most iconic theme songs ever. While early episodes dealt with the web-slinger's traditional rogue's gallery, later episodes dealt with more generic villains. While Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr did character designs, they were not directly involved in the artwork, and Stan Lee had only a story consultant position, leading to some inconsistencies with the comics.

Also in 1967, Hanna-Barbera released their Saturday morning Fantastic Four series. While the veteran animators created their own animation, the character designs by Alex Toth were simple and elegant, and the storylines mirrored many of the early adventures of the team, though some modifications were needed as they could use none of the characters from the previous cartoons. This made adapting the two aquatic episodes particularly challenging, as they could not use the Sub-Mariner, a character that debuted in the modern era as a foil for the FF.

While Spider-Man saw home video release about 20 years ago, The Marvel Superheroes and Fantastic Four were never fully released in any form. The original opening and closing of The Marvel Superheroes was particularly hard to find, and is in the poorest shape. The episodes here are made up of the best copies I could find, often from other collectors. They were upscaled using Topaz Video Enhance AI and edited chronologically. Because Marvel used only certain storylines from across their first 5 years of publication, some chapters will have multiple episodes of one character, while others don't appear at all. For example, one of the 5 original shows, The Sub-Mariner, doesn't even appear chronologically until Chapter 8.

Many fans my age still remember these cartoons, but had given up ever watching them again assuming, as one person told me, they were "lost to time". It is both a pleasure and a privilege to preserve and restore these tales of suspense and journeys into mystery, the first experience many of us had of the super heroes we love so much.

Addeddate: 2021-07-25 02:21:43

Identifier: marvel-super-heroes

Scanner: Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1.6.4

plus-circle Add Review

comment
Reviews

Reviewer: Chartifan - - January 25, 2023
Subject: You've Inspired Me

These are great. You've inspired me to do a similar project to yours but it's not chronological like yours. I use the Cap,Thor,Hulk,Iron Man and Sub mariner cartoons as well as episodes from the 1967 spidey series (first season, far better season IMO) as well as the 70's FF and spider woman series and the 1981 Spider-Man series (not the amazing friends version)

Reviewer: Rodrigo González145 - - November 4, 2022
Subject: marvel super héroes 1960

Excelente aporte!!! estas caricaturas son una joya olvidada en el tiempo, lástima que no estén subtituladas.
saludos.
PD.: si alguien tiene los subtítulos por favor que los comparta.

Reviewer: Ovalvox - - July 2, 2022
Subject: Brings back memories

I have watched two of these episodes so far. The first one and the Avengers one. I plan on watching every episode. I loved these as a kid. I have them all on DVD. Some of my most prized possessions. I love the way the you have organized this. I get to watch you bounce around the 66 episodes, Spider-Man and the FF4 in each segment and keep a general theme like origins and Avengers. What a great site. Disney will never remaster and release or re-release any of these gems. Great job on putting this all together. I’m glad I discovered this!

Reviewer: Calaan - - May 21, 2022
Subject: Regarding the comment at the beginning

I put the copyright statement at the beginning of each movie to make it clear that that I am claiming no copyright over these videos. Disney, while not the original creator, does own the copyright. I created this video as a labor of love to preserve a vital piece of comic history.
But it is important to recognize the historic failings of the stories we love. While I do not recognize any "anti-family" content from Disney, I do recognize the racial and sexist stereotypes used in the original Marvel comics. The Pidgin English of Wong Chu and other Asian characters and Jane Foster's complete lack of agency are only two examples.
As an English teacher I would never dream of censoring these stories. However, by acknowledging these biases ahead of time it becomes possible to use these products of entertainment as tools for education on the important strides we have made as a society, and the distance we still must cover to live up to the standards of these heroes. Excelsior!

Reviewer: Enduring Fun - - May 19, 2022
Subject: This is a cool project except for the ridiculous comments he stuck on the beginning.

He didn't create the content, nor did dumb disney.
With all the anti-family and mockery of Fatherhood dumb disney has put out over the last several years, I can't think of anything that would be contained in these stories that would disturb anybody rather than entertain. I'd be interested to see a summary of the parts of these cartoons that disturbed the guy who posted them (by the way, thanks for doing it!)

Reviewer: Linda Lee Tatro - - April 2, 2022
Subject: Exotically...what?!?

I love these videos. They are now my Saturday morning. And sometimes afternoon. Maybe evening.

:)

But the theme song... really! Am I hearing this correctly '...exotically neurotic...' HAHAHAHA or worse yet '...exotically erotic...' ???!!!??? What the heck?

(A friend once remarked that she was erotic about housecleaning and everyone at the party about died laughing.)

Reviewer: James Cheney - - November 17, 2021
Subject: Thank you

I can only echo the previous review: it's like being a kid again and watching them fresh. They are as I remember them...and yet I watched them in black and white with waves of static on a tiny set. It's the underlying boldness of drawing and story telling that sold them, then and sell the now. These are singular tributes to comic book art with participation of the creators themselves. Thank you for saving and sharing.

Reviewer: Perry Pruitt - - September 4, 2021
Subject: classics forever!!!

I JUST WANT TO SAY FROM ME TO WHOEVER MADE THESE EPSIODES,A GREAT THANK YOU!!!!! I LOVE HOW YOU FORMATTED IT LIKE IT WAS A TV SHOW WITH OPENING AND CLOSING CREDITS.IT MADE ME FEEL AS THOUGH I WAS A YOUNG KID WATCHING CARTOONS ON EITHER SATURDAYS OR WEEKDAYS.EXCEELENT JOB INDEED!!!!

11,651 Views

166 Favorites

8 Reviews