Two legends from the Marvel comic book universe pooled their superpowers together to create a stronger, even more super block of animation on syndicated TV. The Fantastic Four team and Iron Man appeared as the two segments of The Marvel Action Hour in 1994. All superheroes involved were creation of Stan Lee and the man himself introduced and narrated most of the early episodes.

The Fantastic Four were once ordinary people but as is often the case in comic books, they were exposed to radiation and instead of dying horrible deaths, they all gained superpowers. Reed Richards, also called Mr. Fantastic for reasons that will become clear, was now able to stretch and mold his body into any shape, length and knot; a very flexible dude. Susan, Reed’s wife, discovered that she could become invisible and got the moniker—ironic or not—the Invisible Woman. Ben Grimm, test pilot and Reed’s best friend, got what some would consider the short end of the superpower stick as he was transformed into the Thing, a bright orange, rocky, lumpy, huge, vaguely man-shaped juggernaut. Young Johnny was the fourth in this motley group with the power of flight and, er, flaming; if you wanted to toast marshmallows while in orbit, the Human Torch was your guy.

Many Fantastic Four episodes were copied from the 1960s version of the superheroes cartoon but later the producers incorporated original writing and complex storylines in the show. The Fantastic Four’s old nemesis, Dr. Doom, frequently appeared to vex the quartet and scheme for world domination but he wasn’t the only villain. Galactus, shape-shifting Skrulls and Prince Namor, all made appearances in The Marvel Action Hour.

Iron Man was wealthy industrialist Tony Stark’s alter ego. Stark built a technologically advanced armored suit to counter a lethal heart defect but that wasn’t all the suit did; it could fly, repel fire and harbored all sorts of gadgets and gizmos. Iron Man had his own team in the animated series. He was joined by Hawkeye, a wiz with the bow and arrow; the Scarlet Witch, a sorceress (duh); War Machine, Stark’s friend Jim in another Iron Man suit; Century, a time traveler; and Julia, Stark’s girlfriend and occasion Spider-Woman. Ever on the cutting edge of technology, Stark used an intelligent computer named H.O.M.E.R. to coordinate his team’s actions.

The main villain plaguing Iron Man’s group was the Mandarin, a baddie with a penchant for powerful rings and a pet dragon named Fin Fang Foom. Other nasty characters squaring off against the good guys were Blizzard, Dark Aegis, the Beetle and A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics).

The Marvel Action Hour aired for two seasons, or 26 episodes. The second season marked a visible improvement in animation and story quality, giving the superheroes deeper layers of character and motivation. Both segments of this animation block have been made into live action feature films.