Marvel Animation in 2023

[Frontier]

2023 was a productive year for Marvel Animation with a few shows and big movies.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse


A sequel to the massively popular Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film, the first in a two-part story features Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) growing into his own as a young Spider-Man while grappling with his responsibilities as a hero, son, and student all the while continuing his relationship with fellow Spider Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld). When a meeting with a group of Multiversal spiders led by the Spider-Man of 2099 Miguel O'Hara (Oscar Isaac) turns dark, Miles is forced to stick to his convictions and battle across dimensions to do what he feels is right.

The second part of the story, Beyond the Spider-Verse, is currently in production.

Spidey and his Amazing Friends


The second season of Spidey and his Amazing Friends features Spidey (Benjamin Valac) and his Amazing Friends of Ghost Spider (Lily Sanfelippo) and Spin (Jakari Fraser) alongside other heroes as they work to keep the city safe from villains and various other problems. Season 2 also saw the debut of The Thing (Andy Milder) of Fantastic Four fame.

Season 3 of Spidey and his Amazing Friends, featuring even more new heroes and villains, will premier in 2024.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur


Based off the comic book of the same name, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur follows the adventures of girl genius Luna Lafayette (Diamond White) living with her family in New York. After a teleportation incident leads her to team-up with a giant red dinosaur named Devil (Fred Tatasciore), Luna with the help of Devil and best friend Casey (Libe Barer) fight crime and help others all the while also contending with the whims of the Beyonder (Laurence Fishburne).

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur currently has a second season in the works to premier in 2024.

Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Red


A new CG animated Lego Marvel special premiering on Disney+, Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Red features the World's Mightiest Heroes searching for Black Widow (Laura Bailey)'s missing father Red Guardian (Trevor Devall), enlisting the aid of Wolverine (Steve Blum) to help find him and running afoul of The Collector (Haley Joel Osment) and featuring Red She-Hulk (Laura Post) as well.

What If


The second season of the Disney+ streaming show features more spins and twists on the Marvel Cinematic Universe including an episode that features an 80's variant of the Avengers, a Marvel 1602 spin on the MCU, a new original hero Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), a Christmas episode starring Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and more of Captain Carter (Haley Atwell) and Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Season 3 of What If is currently in production.


What are your thoughts on Marvel Animation in 2023? What did you enjoy/didn't enjoy? What are you looking forward to for Marvel Animation in 2024?

 

[Rick Jones]

I was such a big fan of the original Spider-Verse and I really didn't know where I should my expectations for Across but they surpassed them completely.

I'm glad that programs like Moon Girl and Spidey existed for the kids, as well as the continued Lego Marvel specials.

It was nice to see What If...? come back after an extended period, though I still wish they were a bit more ambitious with what they could do with it.

I hope that 2024 will push things even further. 2023 was a much better year for Marvel Animation than 2022.

 

[RoyalRubble]

Across the Spider-Verse was probably the best Marvel animated project of 2023. A good sequel to the hit from a few years earlier, which also sets up nicely the next installment. I don't have a lot to comment on it but enjoyed the series of movies so far and I doubt the third entry will be that much of a disappointment.

Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur was also surprisingly good. In a way its animation style is similar to the Spider-Verse movies, which is creative and kind of fun to watch. The stories were also good, wit some neat surprises along the way and I am looking forward to the next season.

What If? had a pretty solid second season, probably a bit better than the first one. It's kind of nice seeing them move a bit further from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though still using it as a starting point they're going in more different directions than just re-imagining some of the live-action movies, this time mixing them up a little more and creating some original stuff, as well.

2024 is shaping up to be a better year for Marvel Animation, with Moon Girl season 2, X-Men '97, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Eyes of Wakanda. Possibly even the third What If? season, unless they save it for next year. I am interested in all of these shows, and it's cool seeing more Marvel animated projects are on the way.

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was my highlight of the year. A wonder in both a storytelling and technical level. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was a lot of fun as well. It has a fresh creativity that I've been missing from Marvel animated television. I haven't seen the other projects.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

He are some quick thoughts on the Marvel animated projects I saw this year.... no offense to any Spidey and his Amazing Friends or Lego fans but yeah didn't see those so have no opinion of them.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse: Sans maybe pushing some of the family messages a bit too hard in the third act and well how the team who made this film was actually TREATED by the director and others which are hopefully issues smoothed over later, this is one of those incredible perfect little animated movie. I can't say yet if it's better then the first because this one does need it's other half to really gel on some level and give a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. I know people gang up some on Return of the Jedi when talking about the original Star Wars trilogy but if it totally sucked then it wouldn't matter how good Empire Strikes Back was, Episode V would still suffer so we'll have to wait till... only hopefully 2025 to know how this functions. But man they upped the drama and comedy and action and multi verse angle so well and honestly what I really appreciate is that this movie actually questions and really beats down on a lot of the meta and rules spider man purists have about the character. Seriously "canon events" that the other Spideys subscribe to (even if not fully hearted IMHO a good reason why Miles was able to get away more in the end) might as well be specific tag lines so many Spider Man stories have that you just assume shouldn't be changed even when they should. It made me remember much as I did enjoy No Way Home how some of the messaging of that film I wasn't a fan of and if this is flipping the script on that and other works I very much appreciate it but yeah we'll have to see more in the coming years but on it's own still a great experience and hope Beyond really nails this trilogy home.

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur: You know with such incredibly laid out fight scenes and shots I can forgive a lot of the shortcuts and lack of movement we sometimes get in smaller moments. And though the lessons can be laid on thick and obvious sometimes it does actually teach and have some unique perspectives that are worth drawing focus to. And I have to give major props to really elevating the character of Lunella and her story to a level most comic book animated heroes would rarely get. Seriously animation wise the last character to get this type of depth and care put onto their world who wasn't banking on the strength of being head lined by Spider-Man, The X-Men or an Avengers (you know after Iron Man 2008 made the idea of an Avenger heading up their own show cool) was... what Silver Surfer? Sans you know the streaming series as yeah kids cartoons wise this easily rises above everything since the Spectacular Spider Man/Wolverine And The X-Men/Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes era and shows a lot of promise. I just really wish they would stop with the emotional shortcutting cause yeah I can't defend the show when it does that. It's clear it wants to hit certain beats in a script cause it wants those down moments and saddest hours but yeah a lot of the time cheats either how the characters or scenario would react just to get that. Moon Girl trying to get Devil to leave her in "Moon Girl Landing" Edwardo finding out Lunella didn't like his project in "The Beyonder" Adria thinking Moon Girl betrayed the community in "Like Mother Like Moon Girl", Lunella telling Casey off for over marketting her for her bar mitzah in "Today I Am A Woman". Like when the show does drama it EARNS it works well (Morlak and Mimi's backstory works well for instance) but man it keeps cheating a lot of those earns and that's hard to keep forgiving so yeah stop making me have to forgive you doing that Moon Girl.

What If Season Two: The team well A.C Bradley specifically admitted this was written during the start of the pandemic thus why a lot of the scripts and ideas typically avoided some of the dark places the first season had which honestly I do feel is a problem. Though I do feel tone and really amping DOWN the jokes in episodes that are meant to be more serious is an overall problem this show has, honestly what made the idea of What If so compelling to me is how you were never quite sure what you could get or what direction you could go in. I do wanted some stories for the characters to obviously work out and for them to not be screwed over but this doesn't have the pathos season one had with stuff like "What If Dr. Strange Lost His Hearts Instead Of His Hands" or even the credible villain scheming of "What If Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark." Hell in terms of pure comedic romps there was only ONE this year with "What If Happy Hogan Rescued Christmas" while the first season had two I would say were more full on romps. That said though there are those and some episodes's more specific problems there was still a lot to like and this shows there is still a lot of gas for this idea I hope season 3 is able to run with better then this season did as yeah I do feel this is a step down from what came before.

 

[SweetShop209]

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur was the highlight for me, though SpiderVerse and Lego Marvel are also good.