The '90s Gave Us These 5 Iconic Animated Comic Book Title Sequences
By Jay Burdett
June 24th, 2026
The '90s, man. The least cool decade of the late 20th century. Compared to the likes of the swingin’ sixties, or the legitimately perfect decade that was the '80s, the '90s had poor fashion choices, bad music, and bad films…and don’t talk to a comic fan about the '90s. Or at least that’s what I thought for many years up until the 2010s. That decade was so poor that I realised I had done a Thanos: "Perhaps I judged you too harshly."
Somehow, '90's fashion doesn’t seem as awful as it did at the time; in fact, it seems more in fashion now. The music was pretty good too; it was just that most of the bands from the decade before did a terrible job keeping up with the ever-changing landscape. The movies were better and more consistent than the modern day…and the comics, well…we’ll come back to that in a bit.
However, there was one quality of the '90s I have never questioned. I have never wavered on the simple objective fact that the '90s had the best animated kids TV intros of all time, and no decade before or since has come close. Whether it was because there was a rise in channels dedicating more time to kids TV or some networks dedicating entire channels to showing kids TV, networks dedicated disproportionate budgets to theme songs and title sequences to hook viewers instantly and to make their show stand out in the rapidly growing television landscape.
The title sequence was essentially a TV show’s movie trailer. Producers poured massive fractions of their budgets into them, often hiring dedicated music composers, professional singers, and top-tier animators or camera crews to craft a memorable first impression for the child at home. And boy did they do some great work. There were some shows I watched purely for the opening sequence and nothing more. Johnny Quest: The Real Adventures pretty much captures my entire point here.
However, there was one quality of the '90s I have never questioned. I have never wavered on the simple objective fact that the '90s had the best animated kids TV intros of all time, and no decade before or since has come close. Whether it was because there was a rise in channels dedicating more time to kids TV or some networks dedicating entire channels to showing kids TV, networks dedicated disproportionate budgets to theme songs and title sequences to hook viewers instantly and to make their show stand out in the rapidly growing television landscape.
The title sequence was essentially a TV show’s movie trailer. Producers poured massive fractions of their budgets into them, often hiring dedicated music composers, professional singers, and top-tier animators or camera crews to craft a memorable first impression for the child at home. And boy did they do some great work. There were some shows I watched purely for the opening sequence and nothing more. Johnny Quest: The Real Adventures pretty much captures my entire point here.
Remember what I said about comics and the '90s? Well, it’s no secret that comics have gone through stages of being taken seriously and then viewed as the lowest rung on the entertainment ladder again and again. By the time the '90s had rolled around, very few comic book TV shows looked good, or even that the network had put any effort into it. And to make matters worse, the comic bubble burst with sales dropping by 70%, independent publishers closing down, and Marvel declaring bankruptcy. But in this cloud, there was a light of respect being shone on comics that hadn’t been shown before.
It is due to this aforementioned attitude to cartoon introductions that we saw adaptations of classic comics begin to look better than they had ever before, and finally had a budget behind them. At least in the opening credits. So, here are my 5 most iconic animated comic book title sequences.
It is due to this aforementioned attitude to cartoon introductions that we saw adaptations of classic comics begin to look better than they had ever before, and finally had a budget behind them. At least in the opening credits. So, here are my 5 most iconic animated comic book title sequences.
X-Men (1992–1997)
This instrumental earworm was the perfect complement to the fantastically animated introduction that did a ridiculously good job of explaining every character to you in two-second increments. Beast is shown with glasses, reading a book, then leaping like the Hulk. Storm reaches into the air and changes the weather before flying off with lightning cracking around her. It’s perfect. And whilst the 2024 X-Men '97 redo of the theme is great, there is something about that original song and opening segment that does it better. Although, there are trap remixes out there that really push me into struggling to decide if I prefer them to the original. I think I refuse to admit that because the OG show ran for 5 years of my life from 1992.
Fun fact; Zoltán Krisko, manager of the estate of György Vukán, filed a lawsuit against Marvel in 2019 claiming the X-Men music sounds like Vukán’s theme song for the show Linda from 1984. I'll let you decide whether he had a point.
The Mask (1995–1997)
The scariest part of writing this whole thing is when I replayed this intro for the first time in easily 20 years, I suddenly started singing along with it word for word, pulling the lyrics out of a place I didn’t know still existed in me. It felt like that part in the live-action Jim Carrey movie where the cops start singing along to "Cuban Pete," with no idea how they knew the song!
The animated series was ever goofier than the movie that spawned it, though, and even further removed from the horror comedy vibe of the original comics. And whilst the comics are on my “to be read” list, I don’t think either film or this cartoon is a bad iteration of the idea. This introduction is slightly lazy and takes various scenes from the series and matches them up (be it sincerely or ironically) with the lyrics of the song. In fact, the song is sung by The Mask’s lead voice actor, Rob Paulsen. No big musical recording legend (like others on this list).
I think maybe the budget was funnelled into the show itself, rather than just the opening credits, to accommodate this idea, but I couldn't find anything to back up this theory. It did look great compared to some shows at the time, so I'm taking that as all the evidence I need.
I think maybe the budget was funnelled into the show itself, rather than just the opening credits, to accommodate this idea, but I couldn't find anything to back up this theory. It did look great compared to some shows at the time, so I'm taking that as all the evidence I need.
Spider-Man (1994–1998)
Out of all the shows in this list, this is the one that I remember the earliest. Starting in 1994 and running for 5 seasons, Spider-Man was a must in my after-school routine. And part of it was to watch this great intro.
There are so many explosions and a large array of cool-looking characters that this didn’t feel like just a Spider-Man TV Show but a step into the Marvel Universe, which meant something completely different in 1994 than it does now.
There are so many explosions and a large array of cool-looking characters that this didn’t feel like just a Spider-Man TV Show but a step into the Marvel Universe, which meant something completely different in 1994 than it does now.
That guitar work is still sick to this day. That could be because it was written by Aerosmith guitarist Colin Aerosmith (he’s actually called Joe Perry, but I know how short some people’s attention spans are and I’m trying to keep you on your toes). Along with the music, the visuals, and the barely comprehensible lyrics, this opening credits sequence closes with a scary Venom segment that was pure marketing genius. Venom was one of the coolest things in the '90s – to me, anyway.
Check out our edit of the Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer with the '90's theme music over on TikTok.
Batman (1992–1995)
Starting in 1992, it would take me years to pluck up the courage to watch further than the intro. Simply put, I found Batman too scary. By the time I was ready to watch it, the show had been through a complex series of revivals and rebrandings that are honestly too irritatingly complex and unnecessary to go into right now. Luckily, this title sequence was retained throughout almost the entire run, regardless of what the show was called or trying to be at the time. It was briefly replaced at one point, but then restored just a handful of episodes later.
The animation in this show is still a bar of excellence that I use to rate other shows to this day. The opening credits are no exception. Using shadows and the lack of colour to depict the characters and scenery, with accents of light showing the shapes alongside Shirley Walker's variation of Elfman's classic theme, is the perfect blend to drag you into this Dark Deco masterpiece...unless you're a coward, like I was.
Bucky O'Hare & The Toad Wars! (1991)
Bucky O’Hare has to go on this list for me. Having the shortest life of only 13 episodes in 1991, this TV show, adapted from a 1984 comic book, was my be-all and end-all. I would get the toys and look forward to watching an episode every Saturday on the BBC. I was probably Bucky O’Unaware that I was rewatching repeats that often, my love for this show would have surpassed that observation.
Whilst I haven’t seen so much as a whisper of the show since I was a boy (sorry, I went a bit Fisk there), the memories live on through this intro. I can’t recall specific story points or quotes from the show, but watching this just gives me a whole lot of dopamine, and in this day and age, you need to get that whenever you can. Even if you have to croak some toads to do it.
Whilst I haven’t seen so much as a whisper of the show since I was a boy (sorry, I went a bit Fisk there), the memories live on through this intro. I can’t recall specific story points or quotes from the show, but watching this just gives me a whole lot of dopamine, and in this day and age, you need to get that whenever you can. Even if you have to croak some toads to do it.
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