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"You look at some of this old animation and go, well, that's a little bit odd looking. Why is Spider-Man on Doctor Doom's shoulders? Why does he seem to be hugging Green Goblin? And that's where you could just come up with ideas and have fun with it."
Cort Lane, Vice President of Marvel Animation Development & Production

Marvel Mash-Up is a series of interstitials on Disney XD's Marvel Universe block, which redubs clips from old Marvel Comics-inspired cartoons with hilarious results. The first video aired April Fools' Day 2012, after the premiere of Ultimate Spider-Man.

Several Mash-Ups have resurfaced on the Marvel HQ YouTube channel.

Shows parodied include:


Tropes featured include:

  • The Abridged Series: In practice, but not name.
  • Adaptation Name Change: The Iron Man segments refer to the AI HOMER as JARVIS, following the lead of Iron Man's movies.
  • Adaptational Nationality: Dum-Dum Dugan has a Southern US accent; in the Iron Man series and everywhere else, he's Irish and/or Irish-American.
  • And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Some of the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends shorts guest-starring X-Men characters have PSAs in them.
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: A clip of Spider-Man, Firestar, and Iceman cheering has gotten two re-dubs, each ending with one of the characters saying something that lessens the joy.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The Skrulls invade Earth so they can destroy the Fantastic Four, Take Over the World, and...buy some milk for their casserole.
  • Artistic License – Physics: Lampshaded:
    Green Goblin: Now that I have you tied up with...lights, or whatever...
    Spider-Man: (to Magneto) Wait, how are you lifting me? I'm not made of metal!
  • Ascended Meme: Spidey expresses disappointment at the fact that wrapping himself in webbing doesn't turn him into "a beautiful butterfly", contrary to the caption of this picture.
  • Badass Boast: Thor has one that lasts so long, he loses track of Loki while saying it.
  • Bald of Evil: Tony Stark releases a commercial for a hair rejuvenation product stating that bald people are more likely to commit crimes than people with hair.
    Did you know that bald people are 300 times more likely to commit burglaries and blow up empty warehouses than people with hair? Here at Stark Center for Advanced Rejuvenation Sciences, let us help you keep your hair, and in turn, help keep you out of prison.
  • Basement-Dweller: Firebrand and Moleman.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: When Firestar and Iceman argue over whether they should eat hamburgers or burritos, Spidey suggests that they get a "hamburger burrito pizza."
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Characters and the narrator often comment on the animation.
  • Butt-Monkey: Iceman.
  • Comedic Underwear Exposure: Spidey exclaims the famous "I see London!" gag when grabbing onto Doctor Doom's legs in a way that exposes Doom's "metal underpants".
  • Comical Overreacting: Queen Sebel threatens to destroy the world if she doesn't find out who got gum on her favorite diamond. Lampshaded by Miel.
  • Conspicuously Light Patch: Spidey and Iceman escape a dungeon by finding a different-colored panel in the wall, and pushing it to reveal an exit.
  • Cool Car: Reed Richards managed to turn a bathtub into the airborne Fantast-Car, which also runs on bubble bath instead of gasoline.
  • Creepy Cemetery: Though Captain America quickly reassures Iceman that they have nothing to fear in the graveyard as "all of these people are dead."
  • Disproportionate Retribution: When Ben and HERBIE start arguing during dinner, Reed threatens to send the two of them to get tortured by Doctor Doom himself.
    • Implied when Tony Stark's car explodes as he tries to get into it and he responds "Man, I've gotta start paying my parking tickets!"
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: She-Hulk can't stand the likelihood of Hulk and the announcer refusing to treat her like a co-star.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Thor and Hulk tell '60s Iron Man that the Mark II armor makes him look fat.
  • '80s Hair: Both Tony and Howard Stark sport and constantly show off their impressive mullets.
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: After Banner shows Rick all the snot Banner wiped on his own sleeve.
  • Faux Horrific: Jennifer freaks after HYDRA reveals a plot to revive disco.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: Loki stealing a hotel's carpet causes panic among those watching.
  • Fictional Holiday: Flying Car Parts Day.
  • Forgot About His Powers: In an Iron Man short, Tony forgets his suit can fly, and needs to be reminded about it by Rhodey...who then tells Tony to get in a jet, so they can fly somewhere!
  • Gag Dub
  • Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: General Ross loves to do this.
    I can point at you, and you, and you because I'm in charge!
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Bruce Banner.
  • Headphones Equal Isolation: Hulk and She-Hulk drop in and cause everybody to panic and run away, then some guy wearing headphones dances right across their path without noticing a thing.
  • Hidden in Plain Sight: Rick hides from General Ross by standing behind him.
  • Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Dr. Octopus
  • Ho Yay: Invoked when Spidey "hugs" Green Goblin.
    • And when Hulk dances with Quasimodo.
  • Human Sacrifice: The Plane God demands one of General Ross' paratroopers.
  • Idea Bulb: Giant-Man and The Wasp have some attached to their heads.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes:
    • Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends has webs either forming or sliding, like in the original show.
    • The Incredible Hulk features Hulk turning his head towards the camera.
    • The Fantastic Four uses a Team Hand-Stack.
    • Iron Man uses either Tony on a machine shifting though different armors, or Iron Man flying towards the camera.
    • The Mighty Thor has Thor looking shocked against a spiral.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The host of Cooking With Giants stuffs a shrunken Bruce Banner into one of her tacos.
  • It Tastes Like Feet: Mysterio has uncontrollable flatulence every time Spiderman's web hits him.
    Mysterio: No no no, it's your webs, now, stop it! This place smells like a baboon who ate cheese and broccoli and then washed it down with rotten milk and clam juice!
    Spiderman: How do you even know what that smells like?
    Mysterio: I just do, okay?
  • Jerkass: HERBIE.
  • Large Ham: Did someone say Doctor STRAAAAAANNNNNGE!!!?!?
  • Lazy Artist: The Fantastic Four and The Marvel Super Heroes get accused of having this.
    Person 1: (paraphrased) Hey, do you think we could get the animators to add more color to this room? I mean, if it wasn't for this line right here, I wouldn't even know where your desk is.
    Person 2: (paraphrased) Hey, my cousin is one of the animators! He could erase us all!
  • Less Embarrassing Term: Spidey calls Green Goblin's bag a purse, but Goblin insists, "It's a European man-bag!"
  • Little People Are Surreal: Green Goblin has a little Norman Osborn living in his eyeball.
  • Madness Mantra: THEY SAVE LIVES! THEY SAVE LIVES!"
  • Make a Wish: Sue wishes on a shooting star for peace on Earth, then asks Reed to make a wish. He wishes for more ice cream, prompting Sue to make him make a better wish. Reed then tells Sue he wishes she'd buy more ice cream.
  • Medium Awareness
  • Mood Whiplash: Can happen due to the fact videos originally aired right after the relatively mature The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, via a Credits Pushback.
    • Fortunately, the dedication to Boyd Kirkland at the end of episode 32 didn't get immediately followed by one of these videos. A tutorial about drawing Venom played in between to minimize mood whiplash.
  • Motor Mouth: Invisible Woman.
  • Mundane Utility: Captain America asks Thor to spin his hammer, not because danger is approaching, but because Cap needs a breeze from the heat.
  • Mystery Box: Magneto makes Spidey choose between a Hawaiian cruise, or the prize behind the curtain. Spidey picks the latter, and gets trapped in an hourglass.
  • Naked People Are Funny: Bruce Banner calls out Iceman on not wearing a shirt or pants, so Iceman strains to justify this by claiming "science" proves that if he wore clothes, they would "freeze to death."
    • "Hulk don't like tan lines."
  • Nausea Fuel: In-universe, the bologna and sardine sandwiches that Sue makes even cause HERBIE to barf.
  • Not Quite Flight: Hulk can't fly, but he can jump great distances. Exactly how great conveniently varies depending on how far he needs to go.
  • Oh, Crap!: Green Goblin insists to Spidey that he's not afraid to fly into the powerlines, but this quickly proves false.
  • Once a Season: Spider-Man hugs the Green Goblin.
  • Overly Long Gag: Several. One that got lampshaded happened when Banner met the man who gives "the longest handshake in all the Amazon."
  • Parody Commercial:
    • Doctor Doom's Evil Balloon Warehouse
    • The Lizard Technical Institute
  • Poke the Poodle: Many villains commit ridiculously petty acts.
    "Having checked out the world's supply of library books with no intention of returning them on time, Loki's wretched evilness knows no bounds!"
  • Pungeon Master: Several characters, but especially Peter Parker and Ben Grimm.
  • Read the Fine Print: Apparently Firehand didn't do this, as he wasn't aware that he'd signed a contract to be Tony Stark's piñata, and that he'd go to jail for breaking it.
  • Redundant Parody: The series tends to support John Byrne's dictum when trying to write a parody of the Fantastic Four: "I'm sorry, it's impossible to write parody Thing dialogue that doesn't sound like the real thing."
    • An early episode had a joke about Spidey being the only Spider-Friend without a flashy Transformation Sequence. The original show joked about this a few times.
    • Loki turning cars into ice cream and bikes into peppermint is one of his actual Silver Age schemes.
    • Magneto gets stuck in traffic before some other motorists remind him his Magneto-Mobile can fly over the other vehicles, something he reminded himself of in the original cartoon.
  • Running Gag: Captain America's segments contain several short scenes that consist only of him performing stunts while saying something patriotic.
  • Tempting Fate: While Norman Osborn mixes chemicals, he says, "Just mixing up some chemicals, nothing can possibly go wrong" in a sing-song voice. An explosion subsequently occurs during his experiment, ruining his "entirely average face".
    • Rick and Hulk discussing the beginning of one episode.
      Rick: Hulk, please, do you think we could pick up the pace? The show is about to start!
      Hulk: Nah, they never start the show without u-
      Announcer: The Incredible Hulk!
      Hulk: I wasn't ready! It's Rick's fault!
  • Talking Is a Free Action: Thor spends so much time on his introductory speech that Loki has escaped by the end of it.
  • Toilet Humor: The "farts are funny" kind shows up from time to time. Best example is Jennifer Walters repeatedly farting while driving Bruce Banner... And then closing and locking all the windows.
    • War Machine once suffered from a "suit fart" thanks to gas station nachos. When Rhodey questions why Tony isn't suffering too, Tony claim's it's because Iron Man has a cast-iron stomach — before his body gurgles. "Spoke too soon."
  • Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Spider-Man and Firestar convince a robotic monster to eat Doctor Strange. As soon as it does so…
    Robot: *groans* Heartburn! *belches loudly*
    Doctor Strange: Strange heartburn!
  • Unmanly Secret: Doctor Doom plays with dolls of the Fantastic Four. He accidentally lets this slip to Reed when ranting about getting another cloak for his birthday, and also admits that he loves ponies.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: As Captain America and Bucky Barnes are watching a distant city engulfed in flames.
    Well, I guess we know the answer to whether or not you left the iron on, Bucky.
  • What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Doctor Strange can make circles come out of his head. He admits that they're never really useful, but they sure look strange!
  • Who Writes This Crap?!: Sometimes the narrator admits that he doesn't think the shows make sense.

 
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Marvel Mash Up

The narrator mocks a pretty bad animation error in a Marvel Mash Up redub of an old Fantastic Four cartoon

How well does it match the trope?

4.9 (41 votes)

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Main / SpecialEffectFailure

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