The Marvel Super Heroes

The Marvel Super Heroes is an American animated television series starring five comic book superheroes from Marvel Comics. The first TV series based on Marvel characters, it debuted in syndication on U.S. television in 1966.

Produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, headed by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence, it was an umbrella series of five segments, each approximately seven minutes long, broadcast on local television stations that aired the show at different times. The series ran initially as a half-hour program made up of three seven-minute segments of a single superhero, separated by a short description of one of the other four heroes. It has also been broadcast as a mixture of various heroes in a half-hour timeslot, and as individual segments as filler or within a children's TV program.

The segments were "Captain America", "The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man", "The Mighty Thor" and "The Sub-Mariner".

## Production

Sixty-five half-hour episodes of three seven-minute chapters were produced, for a total of 195 segments that ran initially in broadcast syndication from September 1, 1966 to December 1, 1966.

The series, produced in color, had extremely limited animation produced by xerography, consisting of photocopied images taken directly from the comics and manipulated to minimize the need for animation production. The cartoons were presented as a series of static comic-strip panel images; generally the only movement involved the lips when a character spoke, the eyes, and the occasional arm or leg, or a fully animated black silhouette. The series used the original stories largely in their entirety, showcasing Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Don Heck art, among others, from the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books.

Stan Lee, Marvel's editor and art director at the time, said in 2004 that he believed publisher Martin Goodman negotiated the deal with Grantray-Lawrence and that Lawrence chose the characters to be used. Lawrence rented Lee and his wife a penthouse apartment at 30 East 60th Street, near Madison Avenue, for Lee's use while he worked on the series. (Lee lived in Hewlett Harbor, New York, on Long Island, at the time.) Lee recalled, "I really don't remember any reaction from the Marvel artists involved. I wish I could claim to have written the [theme song] lyrics, because I think they're brilliant, but alas, I didn't". The songs were written by Jacques Urbont. In the meantime, Grantray-Lawrence subcontracted production of *The Mighty Thor* segments to Paramount Cartoon StudiosTemplate:Citation needed (the animation division of Paramount Pictures, formerly known as Famous Studios), headed at that time by Fleischer Studios veteran Shamus Culhane.

Marvel announced the series in the "Marvel Bullpen Bulletins" of the November 1966 issues, stating in that monthly fan page's hyperbolic style that, "It won't be long before our swingin' super-heroes [sic] make their star-studded debut on TV, appearing five nights a week — that's right, five — count 'em — five nights a week, for a half-hour each night. So you've just got time to make sure your set's in good working order — check your local paper for time and station — and prepare to have a ball!"

## Cast

* Carl Banas - Bucky Barnes, Super-Adaptoid
* Sandy Becker - Steve Rogers / Captain America
* Bernard Cowan - Narrator, Odin, Melter, Captain Torak, Morgan, Ringmaster, Sando/Colonel Von Kraz,
* Jack Creley - Jack Frost/Professor Shapanka
* Len Carlson - Quicksilver, Loki, Mad Thinker, Nathan Garrett / Black Knight, President
* Vern Chapman - Edwin Jarvis, Super-Adaptoid
* Henry Comor - Gargantus
* Gillie Fenwick - Baron Heinrich Zemo, Radioactive Man, Leader, Batroc the Leaper, Space Phantom, Dr. Cedric Rawlings, Heimdall, Mister Hyde, Sandu, Premiere Pouldu
* Max Ferguson - Hulk
* Margaret Griffin - Pepper Potts, Black Widow, Countess de la Spirosa
* Tom Harvey - Happy Hogan, Giant-Man, Iceman, Chameleon, Super-Skrull, Anton Vanko / Crimson Dynamo, Borok
* Paul Kligman - Thunderbolt Ross, Red Skull, Warlord Krang, Mole Man, Metal Master, Power Man
* Vita Linder - Betty Ross, Lady Dorma, Jane Foster, Enchantress, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Sharon Carter, Peggy Carter, Lorelei, Celia Rawlings, Hippolyta
* Don Mason
* Douglas Master - Senator Harrington Boyd
* Ed McNamara - Swordsman, Titanium Man, Boomerang, Mad Thinker
* Claude Rae
* Henry Ramer - Major Uberhart, Doctor Doom, Wolfgang, Vashti, Mandarin
* Paul Soles - Bruce Banner, Attuma, Rick Jones
* John Vernon - Iron Man/Tony Stark, Sub-Mariner/Prince Namor, Major Glenn Talbot, Major Corey
* Chris Wiggins - Thor/Dr. Donald Blake, Hawkeye, Kraven, Grey Gargoyle, Byrrah, Balder, Jack Frost, Molto, Professor X, Count Nefaria
* Peg DixonCite error: Closing `</ref>` missing for `<ref>` tag Fox Video released a version titled *Marvel's Mightiest Super Heroes Gift Set* (EAN #0024543004134).

In 2003, Hulk segments giving his origin story appeared as an extra on the Buena Vista Home Entertainment DVD release of the 1996 animated television series *The Incredible Hulk*.

In September 2004, Buena Vista Home Entertainment announced plans to release *The Marvel Superheroes Show* on June 28, 2005, as a five-DVD set titled *The 60's Superheroes*. By February 2005, however, the release was off the schedule.

On May 21, 2007, the UK company Maximum Entertainment released four two-disc sets, for Region 2, each set containing 13 episodes of the Captain America, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner and Thor segments respectively, with each episode re-edited into continuous, half-hour segments. On August 25, 2008, the UK company Liberation Entertainment released a two-disc set of the Hulk segments, re-edited into 13 20-minute episodes.Template:Citation needed. The Series Premired On Jetix/Toon Disney On September 20, 2020.

1. ↑ *The Marvel Superheroes* Episode Guide. TV.com. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.
2. ↑ Template:Cite book
3. ↑ Template:Cite journal
4. ↑ Jon Burlingame (2015-07-14). The Marvel Super Heroes Songs: The Inside Story. The Film Music Society. Retrieved on November 18, 2018.
5. ↑ Marvel Bullpen Bulletins: "Sensational Secrets and Incredible Inside Information Guilelessly Guaranteed to Avail You Naught!", in *Tales of Suspense* #83 (Nov. 1966) and other Marvel comics that month.
6. ↑ Butler, Kevin S. (n.d.). New York City Kid Show Roundup: Marvel Superheroes [sic]. TVParty.com.
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
11. ↑ *Weekend Magazine* (May 24, 1969)
12. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
13. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
14. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
15. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
16. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
17. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
18. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
19. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
21. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
22. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
23. ↑ http://www.animationmagazine.net/top-stories/iron-man-the-first-and-cheapest
24. ↑ http://www.animationmagazine.net/top-stories/iron-man-the-first-and-cheapest
25. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivrygiir\_Lo
26. ↑ Archived copy. Retrieved on April 9, 2015.
27. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
28. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
29. ↑ The Marvel Super Heroes on TV! Book One: Iron Man (2017) - by J. Ballmann, ISBN 9 781545 345658
30. ↑ Powell, James W. (June 17, 2003). 'The Incredible Hulk' (Animated Series). (review) DVDTalk.com. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.
31. ↑ Lambert, David (September 24, 2004). The Marvel Superheroes - Capt. America! Hulk! Thor! Iron Man! Sub-Mariner!. TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.
32. ↑ Lambert, David (February 1, 2005). The Marvel Superheroes - Studio Says 'Superheroes' are Off the Schedule. TVShowsonDVD.com. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.
33. ↑ "Jon T" (pseudonym) (July 23, 2007). 'The Marvel Super Heroes': Classic Comics in Suspended Animation. Toon Zone. Retrieved on January 12, 2011.