Which Spiderman/X-men cartoon is the best?

[sdp]

Spectacular Spiderman was indeed spectacular even if it didn't get a full run. But I guess because of that it didn't show enough of the spideys mythos so I can see how it is not the definitive spiderman cartoon. despite the shortcomings I think Spiderman TAS gets too much hate. sure it hasn't aged perfectly but I still think its not only perfectly watchable but the best interpretation of a more complete spidey mythos in animation. The MTV show was alright, it tried a bit too hard to be "hip" but the style was fun, I loved the new girl they made up for the show as well. but its far from an amazing cartoon. its fine for what it was. The new cartoon I'm not counting on it being great at least not for the defintiive spiderman cartoon mostly because it's a team up show and while it may be awesome it wouldn't be a true spiderman cartoon with all the team ups. I should also mention that Spiderman Unlimited is not a terrible show, it has a a few stinkers but also plenty of great ideas and I wish we had seen more of it.

As far as X-Men. Wolverine and the X-Men was a fine cartoon, would have loved a second season, didn't like some of the changes but it was interesting. Evolution had a great run, not the definitive version in my opinion since it went a bit too far from the source material with some characters, especially the first season. show is great though. And yes despite its short comings I also feel that the 90s Xmen cartoons is the definitive version, not that the others aren't good but we got so much of their x-men mythos.

I'm trying to judge this without nostalgia goggles and I think I do a good job at it, but I do realize how much hate the 90s shows get.

and since we're talking about Marvel...

The new avengers cartoon while not as amazing as some people say its definitely fun. umm the 90s avengers cartoon is average, not that bad. the 90s ironman/fantastic four are pretty bad, both seasons, not just the first like some people may have you believe. the hulk cartoon is alright and the silver surfer is pretty good.

I would love another marvel animated universe like the one in the 90s, it didn't matter that there were continuity flubs since it meant each series could do whatever it wanted and not worry about continuity with the other shows, something maybe the comics should take into account. it was still cool seeing heroes from other shows in your show. my mind was blown as a kid when the x-men showed up on spiderman.

[Ashangelo]

Originally Posted by Jester

Especially when it ended on a cliff hanger.

Tell me about it. Ugh, so irritating.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I don't know why the 1990's X-Men animated series wouldn't be considered the best, or for that matter, one of the best animated efforts Marvel released for a good number of years.

Storytelling with dramatic beats, very decent animation, nice character designs, entertaining voice work, continued storylines, ect ect. Yeah, it was pretty much the best in what fans growing up during the early-mid 1990's and were fans of X-Men (the debut) could hope for.

The 1990's Spider-Man animated series achieved this as well, though Marvel did try with Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and the Incredible Hulk. Unfortunately, there's definately reasons why those shows were short lived with fans during the '90's, and X-Men TAS along with Spider-Man TAS continued for a number of years.

It was definitely the best in the 90's, but the only true test of quality is time, and time has shown 90's X-Men to be pretty hilarious in numerous unintended ways.

Even as a huge fan of both Spider-Man and X-Men from the 90's, I'm willing to say this. I love Spider-Man TAS way more than Spectacular, but I still think Spectacular is the better show. I think if you look at it objectively, without any nostalgia blinding you or any bias, it's a pretty clear choice.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by sdp

the 90s ironman/fantastic four are pretty bad, both seasons, not just the first like some people may have you believe. the hulk cartoon is alright and the silver surfer is pretty good..

What was so bad about the 2nd seasons of Ironman and F4? Better animation style, plots were on par with what the other Marvel toons were doing and they had some cool cameos. Hulk had an awesome first season followed up by an almost unwatchable 2nd season.

[Redeemer]

Hmmm...there are some interesting opinions on here. I have to say I like the 90's spider-man the best as for any spider man series, I watched most of his incarnations to a degree, but I think I still need to give spectacular another chance.
As for xmen I think I like X-men evolution better, only bc when it aired I was in middle school/High school and I could relate to the characters better, but I have a lot of respect for the 90's xmen, I would like to re-watch the series eventually. Unfortunately I have never seen Wolverine and the xmen, I would like to watch it eventually.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

What was so bad about the 2nd seasons of Ironman and F4? Better animation style, plots were on par with what the other Marvel toons were doing and they had some cool cameos. Hulk had an awesome first season followed up by an almost unwatchable 2nd season.

yeah it had better animation but the plots while i guess improvement over S1 weren't that much better either, they still lacked and weren't that great. In fact I kind of prefer the S1 of FF and IM over S2. While the plots were worse IM at least had a huge cast of characters that even if they only served as fan service it was fun to see this "east coast" avengers animated and I found that more amusing to watch than the slightly better plots of S2. Same thing with F4, the first season seemed to try to adapt more "classic" F4 stories which is also why I like it over the second. Same thing with Hulk, the first season I felt was not that great, all episodes are very similar and they went over board with the special guests. In the second season I found the inner battle between grey/green hulk far more interesting even if the plots were less dark.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Peanut

It was definitely the best in the 90's, but the only true test of quality is time, and time has shown 90's X-Men to be pretty hilarious in numerous unintended ways.

Even as a huge fan of both Spider-Man and X-Men from the 90's, I'm willing to say this. I love Spider-Man TAS way more than Spectacular, but I still think Spectacular is the better show. I think if you look at it objectively, without any nostalgia blinding you or any bias, it's a pretty clear choice.

I find blinding to be too strong of a word in looking back at the series. We are, after all, talking about a show that's nearing the 20 year mark and aired during years where it was especially difficult to watch comic book related material that wasn't clearly the standard saturday morning cartoon fare that kids growing up during the 1990's were unfortunately used to. Were there exceptions to this? Of course. But at the same time, there sure was ALOT of fluff as well.
Has later shows done a more sufficient job in pulling back from being quite so melodramatic? Sure. I would certainly hope approaches to the material would have evolved for the better by this point. However, when cease to focus so heavily on that, and round off the choices in terms of animation, character designs, particular voice acting (some were of course better than others), and overall impact of the shows in what they brought to the table ... I agree. The choices couldn't be more clearer.

[Rikirk]

Spectacular Spiderman was best, and the 1967 cartoon for purely nostalgic reasons.

[Fugitoid Jones]

I really like both the 90's Spidey series and Spectacular. I guess if I had to choose one, I'd probably go with Spectacular, just because I prefer Spidey as a teenager experiencing high school drama, as opposed to the adult Spidey of the 90's series.

As for X-Men, I haven't watched all of X-Men: Evolution (only the first 2 seasons) or Wolverine and the X-Men. But I love the 90's series. I don't care what the haters say, I think the animation is decent, the stories fun, and the voice acting/dialogue to be awesome. Not many cartoons make me literally LOL, but the dialogue for Beast and Wolverine in that series could do it, and the voice acting I thought was generally spot on with how I imagined the characters' voices sounding like when I'd read the comics.

[AquaParade]

Spectacular Spider-man has my vote. The animation was incredibly fun and the season plots were well fleshed out. Although, at least once an episode I will roll my eyes at a super lame piece of dialogue, or awkward "high school exchange" between two characters.