Avengers: Infinity War has been out for about a week and already it has become one of the biggest movies of all time, and it’s no surprise. Ten years of movies and planning and careful execution has paid off in a big way and has given us an epic team up for the ages, but let’s not act like this is the first team up we’ve witnessed. Over the years, there have been tons of team up, crossovers, and surprise appearances that’s paved the way for the biggest crossover we’ve seen in film. In honor of this decade long payoff, let’s jump in our DeLorean and take a look back at some of the best team ups in television and movies.
The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones
Before there was Iron Man and Captain America, there was Fred Flintstone and George Jetson. Two staples of early cartoon sitcom families, The Flintstones and The Jetsons met in their 1987 movie, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. Elroy builds a time machine, (like you do in the future) and a mishap sends the family back in time to the cave man era where George makes quick friends with Fred and Barney until another mishap sends the Flintstones and the Rubbles to the futures where they basically start the hipster movement of thinking old stuff is cool. It wasn’t the greatest movie, but it was still pretty fun. And as far as Hanna-Barbera, it wasn’t even the best crossover we got.
Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics
You thought Infinity War was stuffed with heroes and villains? You haven’t seen the Laff-A-Lympics. This 1977 cartoon had pretty much every character in the Hanna-Barbera Universe coming together to compete for glory in their own Olympic games that traversed the globe and ended on the moon. THE MOON YA’LL! Sure, Thor teaming up with Rocket Raccoon is fun, but they got nothing on Scooby Doo and Hong Kong Phooey teaming up to take on Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound for the gold medal.
Power Rangers in Space X Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation “Shell Shocked”
What does a show about teenagers with attitude fighter evil through space need? More teenagers with attitude, but they’re turtles. In 1998, the sixth season of Power Rangers crossed over with the seldom talked about, with good reason, Ninja Turtles live action show. The turtles, including Venus de Milo, get brainwashed by the Power Ranger villain Astronema. The Turtles attack the Rangers, break free of their brainwashing, and fight side by side with the Rangers. Ok, real talk, this isn’t the best crossover. The Ninja Turtles show was pretty awful and even meeting the Power Rangers couldn’t really help that. But as a kid, seeing the Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles team up blew our minds. It was the epitome of the radical, tubular 90’s attitude. This was definitely the Guardians of the Galaxy of afternoon shows.
Cartoon Network’s Crazy Bumpers
Cartoon Network had, and still has, some of the most prolific carton properties to grace the airwaves from Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls, and so much more. Sometimes it was during a movie airing on the network, sometimes it was just in between commercials, but these 30 second promos were some of the craziest mash ups I’ve ever seen. You haven’t lived until you see Samurai Jack and Johnny Bravo awkwardly make small talk at a Laundromat. No, it’s not a show or a movie, but it’s creativity and variety of character crossover deserves a spot on the list. Most of these you can find on YouTube, and I definitely encourage you to go watch them.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Disney and Warner Brothers came together to give us one of the best crossovers to date. A blend between live action and cartoon, Who Framed Roger Rabbit presents a world where cartoons blend seamlessly with everyday real life. Roger Rabbit is framed for murder, and it’s up to real human detective Eddie Valiant to solve this case. You thought Captain America fighting Iron Man was epic? Wait until you see Donald and Daffy Duck have a piano duel while trying to blow each other up. This film is filled with cartoons you’d never expect to see together and interacting like it’s any old thing. Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, the two biggest staples of Warner Brothers and Disney animation, are just straight chillin’ while skydiving. It speaks for itself.
Honorable mentions:
Ducktales (2017): While no crossovers have happened yet, it has already been confirmed that Darkwing Duck will appear on the show. And with name dropping locations like Cape Suzette (TaleSpin) and Spoonerville (Goof Troop), could we be possibly getting a MCU style Disney Afternoon Reboot Universe (DARU)? God, I hope so. Ducktales has been a fantastic reboot, and if the rest of the shows get this quality of a reboot then I am SO down for DARU.
Steve Urkel: While the show Family Matters didn’t really get a crossover, Steve Urkel himself did travel to a few other TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) shows. He showed up on Full House for an episode and even appeared on Step by Step. Urkel was so huge back in the day he didn’t even need his original show to crossover with him.
Cousin Skeeter X Kenan & Kel: Nickelodeon took its two blackest shows at the time and combined them for some extra unapologetic blackness. Kenan and Kel showed up on an extra long episode of Cousin Skeeter to save a dude ranch. Okay, so maybe ranch doesn’t scream blackness, but it was still a funny episode.
There you have it folks. Avengers may vary well turn into the biggest thing ever, but that’s no excuse to forget your roots. These team ups, crossovers, and epic battles gave us those dream character interactions that we absolutely loved. Did you like the list? Did I miss any that should have been mentioned? Let us know what your favorite crossover was.
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