NYCC 2014: Marvel Animation Panel

Jeph Loeb, the head of Marvel television, brought some very exciting news to this year's New York-Comic Con. On top of announcing a brand new animated show, he also treated us to clips of Avengers Assemble and Spider-Man: Web Warriors. Because one can never have too many cartoons, he also played an upcoming episode of Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Read on for all of the details!

Guardians of the Galaxy

Jeph Loeb saved this reveal for last, but seeing as it's without question the most exciting bit, we'll be nice and begin with it. Now, we were prepared to write about the Guardians of the Galaxy test footage -- which is roughly a minute ---and how it features and agile display from Rocket Raccoon and a Star-Lord cameo, but why babble about it when you can watch it for yourself? That's right, Marvel posted the test footage online. Oh, and Loeb added that the show is now in production. Enjoy!

Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors

Loeb showed us a clip of Ultimate Spider-Man meeting Spider-Man 2099. The cool part about it? It's all CGI, so 2099's world has a totally different feel to it. Plus, watching the two battle that universe's Green Goblin was a good amount of fun. After that, we were shown a clip of Spidey meeting Spider-Girl. The funny part here is Spider-Girl thinks Peter is just some cosplayer and finds it amusing that it's a male dressing as Spidey. She even says something like, "boys can't be Spider-Girl because they'll just get hurt!"

Avengers Assemble

You remember a little movie called "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"? You know, that Marvel Studios movie that a massive amount of people fell in love with? Well, the continuing conflict between Cap and Bucky is making their way into this show. The roughly 3 minute clip featured the two duking it out and Red Skull was pretty much just an observer. Oh yeah, they were on a missile that was speeding through the sky, too (deja vu?). Both heroes want to go after Red Skull, but they have different ideas of what to do when they get their hands on him. So, commence the fighting! The clip mostly consisted of these two brawling and it was pretty well done and incorporated some decent choreography. And yes, Bucky punches the shield. Meanwhile, Falcon, Hulk, and Thor make cameos and, despite the power the two big guys possess, they're mostly just there for some comedic banter. The core of the footage was Bucky and Cap and honestly, it was pretty entertaining.

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

Everyone loves the Guardians of the Galaxy now, right? Of course they do, so it's only natural they'd begin making more and more appearances. Loeb let us watch the entire upcoming episode of Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. which involves a team-up with the cosmic group. We won't spoil what goes down (because we're kind like that), but we will say there's plenty of Skrulls and a ton of action. Seriously, it felt like there was a punch being thrown or a blaster being fired at least every 3 to 5 minutes. It's a series that's clearly geared towards a younger demographic and it shows. It's the least substantial one we witnessed in the panel,but it makes up for that by focusing purely on action and comedy. So if you or your kid have been digging it, odds are you'll enjoy with this one. That said, it's worth noting that Groot looks really creepy instead of adorable.

If it's anything like Avengers Assemble or the other Marvel shows, then it's a no for me. If it's like Green Lantern the Animated Series, then hell yes :)

Hopefully that test animation is nothing like the final product.

Creepy Groot? Oh noes!

@captainmarvel4ever: the animation from the test footage looks cheap. Check out on marvel youtube channel

really hoping for something closer to EMH or Green Lantern....dislike Assemble and absolutely hate SMASH

Someone should re-write AA or re-cast the voice actors. The HULK not that bad for children.

MAn, I dislike Marvel animation so much the last few years, but I guess having some SUPERHERO cartoons that kids can like is better than having none.

LOL. All these shows suck. I have very little care for this Guardians show.

MARVEL ANIMATION IS BORING!!!

DC ANIMATION RULES!!!

I sure hope that test footage isn't what the final product will look like because DAMN, I've seen My Little Pony fan animations that look better than that.

Rocket is a badass. Loved it.

I see Agent Venom in the corner of that Spider-Man pic, his design looks really well done. Never watched that particular Spider-Man show though.

@granitesoldier: I wouldn't watch it with high expectations.

@thelurker: What that Spider-Man show? I don't plan on it unless it was guaranteed to have Flash being a soldiering badass in every episode, and as far as I've heard he's still in HS in the show so I doubt it'll be there.

As for GOTG? I'm an optimist until proven otherwise.

The Marvel cartoon aren't that bad. After a long day at work I enjoy kicking up my feet and watching some of the new Ultimate Spiderman episodes.

*Sigh* While I'm glad that Winter Soldier is getting some love in the animations department, I'm sad that it's under Loeb's watch. :(

GotG looks interesting, the animation style is pretty cool though I'm worried that the dialogue will be as bad as it's been in USM and Avengers Assemble.

Yeah, I was referring to spiderman. I too, am optimistic about the new GotG series.

Can't be worse than Avengers Assemble, right?

From the trailer Guardians of Galaxy animated series seems promising to be honest. It seems like they are using an updated version of the technology they used to animate in Tron Uprising.

The Ultimate Spiderman TV version of the Guardians were so awful, so thankful they are going in a different direction with this. They had no personality (especially Star Lord who's character pitch said something like - Bland, no humor, personality of paste) and Groot was just creepy (like Gregg said) not adorable. Also Rocket and Starlord where the only one who actually got any lines, Gamora and Drax were put to the sidelines like they were nothing.

@bl00dwerk: that's what they said with smash

GOTG looks AMAZING it looks like a really REALLY awesome anime

I like the choice of going with a lot darkness with some neon.

@timelordscience: Yeah, it really reminds me of Tron Uprising.

God, I hope this isn't what the final product will look like. It looks really cheap. Looks like a flash game you'd find on Newgrounds or something.

The animation looks bad, and Marvel just can't make a decent cartoon anymore

Fortunately I haven't seen SMASH, but I take it it's pretty bad?

@bl00dwerk: they use guns more than their fists

@bl00dwerk: It's terrible.

I'm with @granitesoldier, I'm very optimistic about the new GOTG show, until proven otherwise. And Rocket did look like an absolute badass in the clip, as well he should!! Also, Quill looked awesome, even sounded pretty close to his Pratt; I know its try-out stuff but the animation looked good to me. And another thing GOTG has going for it, which worked as a film, is it's eclectic feel with a mismatched ragteam team of characters, & an eclectic mix of humor & cosmic action going for it, which may work well as an animated series, if done right. As long as the dialogue is better than AA & USM..(shudders)

(USM is the worst; the dialogue is horrible & not even remotely funny; & it makes Spidey look like an immature buffoon, which he's definitely not. And the version of Sam Alexander Nova on the show? What a putz!!)

I also agree with @war_killer, it's great to be seeing Bucky/TWS getting more media attention, but I hate that it's under Loeb. Big opportunities for mischaracterization & poor dialogue there.

I actually enjoyed A:EMH; the epsiodes with Asgard, "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill" episode, & the GOTG guest-appearances(based on the DnA team) was pretty good. I felt it was a show both long-time adult comic fans like myself & kids could enjoy. I'll never understand why they took A:EMH off the air & replaced it with AA; the dialogue & storylines are just poor by comparison. But, I've got to remember, like Hulk & the AOS, it's aimed at a younger audience; whereas the films are more aimed at us. Still hope they can produce a great animated show that kids & adults can enjoy together equally.

Are we talking about a different Spider-girl than May Parker. Because she would know PP was Spider-man so of course she know that a man can be a Spider-man? Besides calling Spider-man a boy just opens for the fastest Hollywood comeback ever: "I'm not a boy I'm a man!".

The animation in the GOTG clip looked terrible. For me, the peak of superhero shows animation style/techniques peaked with Justice League Unlimited, and the Avengers EMH. This meshing of 3D cgi technique into falt animations looks like a Playstation 2 game cutscene technique.

@winter_kills: argh, they made Peter essentially Deadpool with his jokes and constant fourth-wall breaking

GOTG looks like Archer, disappointing actually. Why not just animate? Well then again I've seen some of the marvel shows and wasn't particularly impressed with them either.

Wow! I actually like how the GOG clip looks. After ages i liked animation from marvel. I hope this means they'll return with shows like avengers assemble and spectacular spider man

Holy sh*t Guardians of the Galaxy! Definitely watching that!

I like the look of it, remind sof a cross between Akira and blade runner with that comical foundation.