Will Marvel ever make "Dark and Gritty" Animated movies again like they did with Lionsgate Films?

1. Ultimate Avengers 1 and 2 (2006).

2. Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme (2007).

3. Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow (2008).

4. Hulk vs Wolverine and Thor (2009).

5. Planet Hulk (2010).

6. Thor: Tales of Asgard (2011).

These are all my personal favorite Marvel animated movies to have ever been produced by Lionsgate Films. And I was so sad as a kid when they discontinued their run in favor of more kid-friendly Marvel superhero content by Disney. I love both Marvel and DC superheroes, but I want Marvel to be allowed to make dark and gritty animated content just like DC does! I also want their content to be unrelated and look nothing like the live-action MCU stuff!

What do you all think?

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Commentaires

Lanky_Address72442025-11-21 18:58

i want a logan type animated movie from marvel

Hot-Salamander-87862025-11-21 19:17

If you're referring to an animated movie version of the original *"Old Man Logan"* comic,

![gif](giphy|ljaDzjv8cpIpa)

DefNotAShark2025-11-21 19:03

Marvel Zombies was dark and grittyish, and X-men 97 was more mature than a typical kids cartoon. I don’t think they’re going to make anything like what you’re talking about but they are branching out a little.

Hot-Salamander-87862025-11-21 19:06

There's also *Marvel's Hit-Monkey* on Hulu! That series is freaking awesome! 😍❤️‍🔥

NotAStatistic22025-11-21 19:28

Marvel Zombies was as dark and gritty as Darkwing Duck.

LADYBIRD_HILL2025-11-21 19:38

I remember when darkwing duck ripped the heads off of like 10 zombies at the same time. Or that time he fought the upper half of a corpse.

PoolPartyWithoutTheL2025-11-21 19:04

I think Zombies is a nice step into that direction. It showed some pretty gruesome and bloody kills, with a very hopeless theme throughout.

It's maybe not fully in the "dark and gritty" camp, but it's more than they have done since forming the MCU. That and their first R rated movie coming out last year(DP&W), as well as show this year (Daredevil).

If these projects do well, I think they will continue to test the market for projects like that.

tangential_quip2025-11-21 19:06

None of the movies you named are particularly dark, especially not compared to what DC did with their animated content.

There are some characters it would work with. Wolverine, Punisher, and Blade being some of the most obvious ones. But I have no desire to see Marvel do the the Avengers what DC did to the Justice League in Apokolips War.

BackgroundWindchimes2025-11-21 19:17

Yea, I remember watching these movies and seeing any real violence and language removed to be as family-friendly as possible.

DC has/had some great animated shorts but what became a problem was they’d take a storyline that required a bunch of backstory and remove all backstory in a “and then supergirl arrived”. It worked with mini series like new frontier and flash point but a lot of them were just Batman #385-392.

BackgroundWindchimes2025-11-21 19:13

I mean…none of what you listed were “dark and gritty”. The 90s X-men cartoon was more dark and gritty.

Sparrowsabre72025-11-21 22:27

Wolverine vs Hulk is the only one that comes close since it has blood and dismemberment in it.

AnonymousFriend802025-11-21 23:05

So y'all mean brutal and violent?

Sparrowsabre72025-11-22 00:42

Not necessarily, Dark and gritty doesn't always mean brutal and violent but the two do often go hand in hand.

But to the comment at hand, of the direct to video features mentioned by op, none of them qualify as Dark and gritty with the possible exception of Wolverine vs Hulk. The MCU as a whole is largely darker and grittier than the previous animated output.

Western-Chart-67192025-11-21 19:26

I miss those movies too. They had their own gritty style, but I don’t see Marvel going back to that anytime soon since Disney keeps the animated stuff lighter or tied to the MCU.

AnonymousFriend802025-11-21 23:06

Disney doesn't keep it that way. Disney has some of the darkest thinks out there. Or do you not notice because it's not all up in your face about it?

CharacterOld86912025-11-21 19:27

Mojoverse could make a great dark animated film or series, it’s removed enough to be its own thing.

Grayx_28872025-11-21 19:42

![gif](giphy|oQQKIn1BhwUMnbPKyv|downsized)

Jet-Let46062025-11-21 22:06

None of those were dark and gritty. They were strictly PG 13.

Hot-Salamander-87862025-11-21 22:09

So the bright red blood violence shown in these movies I listed are okay for children to watch? Are you sure?? 🤔

Jet-Let46062025-11-21 22:37

You can show blood on PG 13.

Only gets censored depending on context, intensity and frequency.

MX24192025-11-21 22:33

Doubt it unfortunately. I'm a huge fan of those movies and rewatch them on occasion. Marvel animation after EMH and during Ultimate Spiderman wanted to be tied to the MCU. They won't be going back to this style since the MCU is so successful (even as of late). I showed and told people about these movies and they enjoyed it more than what animation has been put out lately outside of X97. I want to see a more connected universe with these movies instead of what has been displayed now. Everybody can have a preference. If people like Zombies, What If, and the new Spiderman show cool no problem. I say the original stuff is better especially the dialogue since it isn't MCUfied. DC animation has suffered to as of late as well. Creature Commandos was ok but could be better. The Tomorrowverse I liked but the latter suffered in script and animation execution. I will give X97 season 2 a chance but cautious due to What If writers are taking over. Hopefully the animation department will be better but I don't have much confidence.

Keanu_Norris2025-11-22 16:17

the phrase "dark and gritty" needs to be banned from superhero discussions for a while

FrnchsLwyr2025-11-25 03:14

Marvel realized DCAU was killing them and stopped... And then DC killed the DCAU which is still just... stupid. Marvel Animation is is own thing, but i do miss those old animated movies (and WHY ARE THEY NOT AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING!?!)