The Real Reason These Animated Superhero Shows Were Canceled

Superheroes might rule the cinema, but they've long dominated the small screen, as well. The history of superhero cartoons contains, in fact, some of the genre's best work in any medium. Batman: The Animated Series was a sumptuous exploration of the Dark Knight's world, widely considered to be one of the greatest cartoons ever made. And 1967's Spider-Man gave the character an unforgettable theme song (and an avalanche of memes). The Tick delighted fans of all ages, and the show anticipated absurdist superhero successes like Deadpool by decades. You don't have to be a kid to enjoy these shows. You just have to have taste.

But nothing lasts forever. Some superhero cartoons have multiple seasons to tell their story, while others end abruptly, often on cliffhangers, left eternally unresolved. To make matters worse, explanations aren't always offered, leaving fans to speculate, crowdfund, and protest. But fortunately, for a handful of your favorite shows, we do indeed have some answers as to why they went away. Here are the real reasons these animated superhero shows were canceled, although in many cases, knowing why won't make their absence any easier.

Teen Titans slick style, unforgettable theme song, and clever twists on superheroic tropes dazzled fans right off the bat. Created to appeal to younger viewers, it was goofy (though nowhere near the levels of its successor, Teen Titans Go!), approachable to comics newbies, and with its anime-inspired aesthetic, it was unlike any other superhero cartoon then on the air. Though the series' final episode aired in January 2006, fan campaigns to resurrect Teen Titans continue to thrive online. Their passion is real ... yet so is the series' demise.

What stopped Robin and his merry band of adolescent avengers? A variety of explanations have been offered over the years. Wil Wheaton, voice of Aqualad, asserts that Warner Brothers executives were unimpressed by the sixth season's pitch. Story editor Rob Hoegee, however, has gone on record as saying that it was a decision made by Cartoon Network instead of Warner Brothers, and that the crew knew that the fifth season would be the show's last. And producer and writer David Slack has suggested two additional reasons as to why the show ended. First, it might've been because ratings dropped after Teen Titans' dark fourth season, and/or it might've been thanks to a dispute over toy licensing. As Bandai had the show's toy deal and Cartoon Network switched entirely to working with Mattel in 2006, that theory, at least, has some degree of evidence behind it. No one reason for the Titans' demise may ever emerge, yet their end remains resolutely in place, much to the frustration of long-time fans.

Released in 2013, Beware the Batman is unique within the Caped Crusader's animated history. Rendered in sleek CGI, Beware's Batman fights alongside a significantly more spry Alfred and Katana — here imagined to be Alfred's goddaughter — against lesser-known Bat-baddies like Anarky, Professor Pyg, Magpie, and Phosphorus Rex. A shake-up to be sure, but one built on a solid foundation. As series producers Glen Murakami and Mitch Watson explained, Beware the Batman was meant to be a return to the character's roots as a detective. It had potential, talent, and vision, and yet it was pulled from Cartoon Network's schedule a mere three months after its premiere.

An official explanation wasn't offered, and the series was moved to Adult Swim's Toonami block. There it stayed, until the only thing resembling an announcement was made by Toonami's official Tumblr blog: "Bad news: We JUST (like, hours ago) found out from our legal department that Beware the Batman ... [is] being 'written off,' financially, as of now." Toonami aired the final seven episodes of the series on September 28, 2013, and that was that. Other than that brief mention of financial failure, no further explanation has arrived, reruns are rare, and Batman fans must get their animated fix via Justice League Action and DC's (admittedly impressive) slate of direct-to-video films. Beware the Batman is well on its way to becoming much like its titular hero: a half-remembered phantom, shrouded in mystery, hearsay, and rumor.

Remember the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon? No, not 1994's Spider-Man: The Animated Series — we're talking about Spider-Man Unlimited. Not ringing a bell? That makes sense. Consisting of just 13 episodes, it was canceled before it managed to air even half of its modest run. It wasn't miserable to look at, nor were its ratings poor. What slew this spider?

A few different things, as it turns out. To begin with, the premise was strange. This cartoon follows a Peter Parker stranded on "Counter-Earth," where he fights alongside J. Jonah Jameson's son against the forces of the High Evolutionary. Marvel wasn't pleased with this complex plotting, but in fairness, the cartoon was looking far afield of traditional Spider-Man stories because it had to. Spider-Man Unlimited was made by Saban Entertainment, who had, in the wake of Sony and Marvel's deal to produce Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film, been cut off from using Spider-Man's familiar iconography and story beats. The final blow, however, came from an entirely different direction. Fox Kids, then "dealing with the realities of Pokemon as a competitor," didn't have faith in Spider-Man Unlimited's ability to take on Pikachu. Thus ended what just might be the weirdest Spider-Man cartoon of them all, slain by Ash Ketchum, movie rights, and overworked plotting.

A sleek take on the X-canon, Wolverine and the X-Men is chock-full of the action, angst, and adventure that fans of Marvel's mutants love. And it took full advantage of the decades of storytelling it had at its disposal. Characters like Dr. Kavita Rao, the Stepford Cuckoos, and Marrow made their television debuts as part of the show, while runs like Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men served as the basis for the plot.

Though a second season was in production (to the point that images from it were presented at 2009's San Diego Comic-Con), it was abruptly scrapped, leaving fans in the lurch. Corporate shifts had taken place over the course of the series' run, chief among them Disney's purchase of Marvel. Fox then held the movie rights to the X-Men, and as fans would come to know, Marvel was building towards cinematic dominance. Teams and characters that couldn't contribute to that effort were automatically of lower priority, and thus ended Wolverine's time as the cartoon captain of the X-Men. The saddest part? Head writer Greg Johnson has since revealed that Deadpool was going to be introduced in the cartoon's second season.

The Earth's Mightiest Heroes might've premiered in 2010, but its heart was classic Marvel. Though characters like Captain America, Black Panther, and Ms. Marvel would eventually join the team, its debut line-up is the same as the one from 1963's The Avengers #1: Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor, and the Wasp. That doesn't mean it confines itself to one era of Marvel storytelling, though. Earth's Mightiest Heroes became a beloved series precisely because it adapted everything from 2000s comics arcs like "Secret Invasion" to 1983's beloved "The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill." New characters existed seamlessly beside old ones, while vintage plots were elegantly recalibrated for younger viewers. It was, in short, a whole heck of a lot of fun.

So when it wasn't renewed for a third season, fans were upset. Earth's Mightiest Heroes was scrapped to clear the way for a new cartoon, Avengers Assemble, a change Jeph Loeb, head of Marvel Television, compared to a change of writer on a comic series. Avengers Assemble is technically about the same characters, but it's also a different cartoon entirely, far more in line with the MCU. Though it's fun on its own merits, it's not Earth's Mightiest Heroes — a fact its fans have had to get used to.