From the moment Disney purchased Marvel, people were drawing a line between their Disney XD channel — an attempt to lure more of the lucrative audience of young boys — and the Marvel characters. Marvel animation has been running non-stop on the cable channel ever since, but in April, the Marvel Universe programming block will roll out with the new Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon as the tentpole. Produced by Man of Action — Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven Seagle—the creators behind Ben 10 and Generator Rex, with input from Jeph Loeb, Joe Quesada, and Brian Michael Bendis, the show does not lack for comic book bonafides.

Plus, it’s got JK Simmons reprising his lifetime role as J. Jonah Jameson. Soundboard that.

Marvel Universe debuts on Sunday, April 1. Other programming in the block will include the return of “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” and new short-form animation series and live-action interstitials.

THIS is what Disney paid $4 billion for.

Disney XD will launch Marvel Universe, a dedicated Marvel programming block, with the new series “Ultimate Spider-Man” as its centerpiece, on SUNDAY, APRIL 1, it was announced today by Gary Marsh, President and Chief Creative Officer, Disney Channels Worldwide at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, California. Marvel Universe on Disney XD will be the ultimate place for fans to find exclusive Marvel content, including new animated short-form series, live-action interstitials and the series return of “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.”  The block will be home to Marvel’s biggest superstars, such as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and many more to introduce dynamic stories of action, adventure and heroism to a whole new generation.    
 
Marsh said, “Iconic Marvel heroes and villains and stories with core values of accomplishment, discovery and growth make Marvel Universe a perfect complement to Disney XD and a destination for parents and kids to experience together.” 
 
“Marvel Universe block is an incredible animated ride filled with fantastic action and adventure,” said Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television. “The spectacular team of writers and animators capture stories with all the dynamic fun you can imagine. Disney XD is the perfect place for families and Marvel fans of all ages to come together every Sunday.”
 
Acting as the keystone of the Marvel Universe block, “Ultimate Spider-Man” features a teenage Peter Parker juggling the typical growing pains of high-school with the not-so-typical growing pains of being a Super Hero.  As the newest member of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, Peter finds himself on a team with four other teenage Super Heroes. 
 
Produced by Marvel Animation, the series’ award-winning creative team includes Joe Quesada (Marvel’s CCO), Paul Dini (“Batman: The Animated Series,” “Lost”), the creative powerhouse Man of Action Studios (creators of “Ben 10” and “Generator Rex”), comprised of lauded creators Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steven T. Seagle; and Brian Michael Bendis (visionary behind Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man comic series).
                                                                            
The voice cast includes Drake Bell (“Superhero,” “Drake & Josh”) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Chi McBride (“Boston Public,” “Pushing Daisies”) as Nick Fury, JK Simmons (“Spider-Man”) as J. Jonah Jameson, Stan Lee (“Spider-Man”) as Stan the Janitor, Clark Gregg (“Iron Man”, “Thor,” “The Avengers”) as Agent Coulson and Steven Weber (“Wings”) as Norman Osborn.

1 COMMENT

  1. ““Ultimate Spider-Man” features a teenage Peter Parker juggling the typical growing pains of high-school with the not-so-typical growing pains of being a Super Hero. As the newest member of Nick Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, Peter finds himself on a team with four other teenage Super Heroes. ”

    “Ultimate Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends”?

    How soon before we see “US-M / Young Justice fan fiction? (Might I suggest a meet-up between Nick Fury and Batman? Who has the cooler gadgets? Who is the better fighter?)

    Chi McBride as Sgt. Fury!

  2. Morales is barely coming out … it would make more sense if they started with the old spidey…hopefully I prefer the regular marvel universe over the ultimate

  3. There used to be this great show called “Wolverine and the X-Men”. For this to truly be great, they need to bring the show back and include it in the block.

  4. I’ve always been disappointed that the SPIDER-MAN animated shows of the past 30 years haven’t attempted a retro-60s look. BATMAN captured the style of the 1940s with its “Dark Deco” look, and Spider-Man would look great with a “Mad Men” flair.

  5. casey, kelly, rouleau, seagle, loeb, quesada, dini, and bendis. man, that’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, with so much input from so many sources, there is the potential that this will become a muddled mess,but the animation does look good. i guess we’ll have to see if fans will buy into spidey as an “agent of shield” while (just guessing here) juggling school, work, mary jane, and aunt may (if they decide to keep any of the usual spidey plot points in play). i guess we’ll see, tho’ if he is working for shield, one would think that he is drawing a paycheck from them (and hopefully they won’t bring up the same ridiculous reasons that spidey doesn’t get a paycheck from the avengers (while being on two teams) over in the avengers books). but with bendis putting in his input, who knows.

  6. JK Simmons was so great as JJJ. I know it’s off topic but they’re gonna have a harder time topping HIM in the new Spidey movie than they are topping Tobey Maguire.

  7. Have they said who the other superheroes in the Ult Spidey cartoon will be? I’m guessing Firestar will be one of ’em.

  8. “and the Marvel characters. Marvel animation has been running non-stop on the cable channel ever since,”

    If only. Avengers was buried on Sunday morning without any type of “block” support when it had new episodes and they show the rest of the Marvel stuff after midnight. http://www.locatetv.com/listings/disney-xd Go ahead and find ya some Marvel in that schedule. I think the next time an episode of Avengers airs is at 2 AM.

    That said, I am encouraged to hear about the Marvel Universe block. They need to do something because DC has been handing them their ass over on Cartoon Network and the whole “DC Nation” thing looks like it is going to be pretty great. The Ult Spidey cartoon looks good. The last Spidey cartoon was really underrated. (Specatular) I think you can watch the whole thing on Netflix right now. And yeah, Wolverine and the X-Men was really good too. Also on Netflix.

  9. Zach, it was hard to make out in the “video shot from a screen” but at 0:49 when Dr. Doom is on the roof the heroes looked like a female White Tiger,and Iron Fist and maybe Luke Cage.

  10. @ABC

    You don’t know much about animation, do you? Most animated series have multiple writers, in fact animated shows have teams of writers.

    So no, there aren’t too many cooks, they have the number of cooks needed for the job.

    Get your facts straight.

  11. @Zach No, it seems it’s Iron Fist, Luke Cage and White Tiger(The current White Tiger that’s in Avengers Academy to be exact).

    @Shannon: Actually, XD does air several old Marvel shows on the Weekends.

    @rich: That would never work, especially since kids are meant to relate with Spidey. Spidey and Batman are completely different characters anyway.

  12. @cortez- ok then, it’s the right amount for a team of aniamation writers.who gets the final say in what is eventually presented to the public? is there a team vote on plot points, does every writer get equal say in what goes on in any given story, do the writers only get to write a certain part of the story that’s assigned to them,or can they contribute to any part of the story, or do they all get together and brianstorm a story? is there a team leader that gets the final say on what is or what is not going to be part of the story or do all the writers get an equal vote on the final story. can a writer’s plot point be voted down if the rest of the teams thinks his idea stinks, what if the team has a even amount of writers and an equal amount (say four pro and four con) of writers disagree on a plot point or story line, how is the dispute resolved or is the resolving of the dispute the job of the team leader? after a story is finished are there editors that check the work or does animation skip that process? so many questions,and since i don’t know jack-crap about aniamation, i need to know, i need to know now, dear god in heaven i need to know!!!! :) lighten up, you could have made you points (which i would have happily accepted) without the snide remarks. have a nice day!