‘X-Men’ And ‘Spider-Man’ Cartoons From The 1990s Are Available On Disney+
When users realized the early preview of Disney+ was up and running, a Reddit user shared the following screenshot that sent a shockwave of nostalgia straight to my core:X-Men, which aired from around 1993-1997, is back. Fellow users in the comments pointed out that other animated shows in the franchise, likeX-Men: EvolutionorWolverine and the X-Men, are currently not available, nor are Fox’s live-actionX-Menfilms (yet).
However, several Spider-Man cartoons are reportedly available, includingSpider-Man(1981),Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends(1981),Spider-Man Unlimited(1999),Ultimate Spider-Man(2012),Spider-Man(2017), andSpider-Man Shorts(2017). Thankfully, the cream of the crop is also accessible:Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the 1994 series that I devoured as a kid and whose wild, ambitious later-season storylines introduced me to several other key characters in the Marvel roster.
The one-two-three punch of those primary Batman, X-Men, and Spider-Man animated series molded my early love for those characters and provided an excellent entry point for young audiences who didn’t have easy access to the comics. It helped that these shows didn’t talk down to kids and often involved serious dramatic storylines which touched on ideas like death. I still remember Wolverine’s pained reaction to losing his pal Morph in the two-parter pilot ofX-Men: The Animated Series, and I haven’t rewatched that since the early ’90s. And I can’t talk about X-Men without dropping in that absolutely killer opening title sequence:
Since Disney+ has yet to officially announce everything that will be available to stream on Day One in the United States, we can’t say with 100% certainty thatX-MenandSpider-Manwill be available stateside. International rights deals could mean that some shows are only available in certain countries. But our fingers are crossed that U.S. audiences will be able to revisit these animated classics when Disney+ launches in the U.S. onNovember 12, 2019.
