‘Youngblood’ vs. ‘WildC.A.T.s’ vs. ‘UltraForce': Which Had The Most X-Treme Intro?

During the boom years of the early '90s, printed comics weren't the only medium that saw a sudden influx of new, extreme super-heroes. The influence of the popular Fox cartoon based on the X-Men was obvious in a second wave of knockoffs similar super-hero cartoons, from the fact that they were based on comics to their blatant attempts to capture the magic of that goofy, synth-heavy X-Men intro where dudes stood around blasting their powers at their own logos. Clearly, none of the actual shows matched the success of X-Men, but those intros are what we've been thinking about today here at ComicsAlliance. So we put it to you, dear readers: Youngblood, WildC.A.T.s, or UltraForce: Who Had the Most X-Treme Intro?

For our first contender, one that never got off the ground: Youngblood:

Based on the comic created by Rob "The Rob Liefeld" Liefeld, the Youngblood cartoon never actually made it to television, and was only ever seen on a VHS tape produced by the magazine Hero Illustrated in which the Rob introduced his creation in a piece hyping it up. Thankfully, the all-consuming power of the Internet has preserved it for us, and we can take a look at what might've been, if only the world had been extreme enough to be ready for it.

PROS:

However unintentional it might be, Chapel laughing as he points his ridiculous laser gun at the kids watching the show is hilarious.

It is a faithful recreation of Rob Liefeld's designs.

CONS:

Poor planning. Did nobody count the members of the team and the letters in "Youngblood" before they decided to alternate them? Apparently not, because now we have Badrock leading into "OO," as in "Oo, Badrock, where did you get that headband girl?"

It is a faithful recreation of Rob Liefeld's designs.

Next up, the slightly more successful UltraForce:

Not only did the heroes of Malibu's Ultraverse manage to get thirteen entire episodes of a cartoon, they even had an accompanying toy line from Galoob, which is a very fun word to say. Go ahead, try it out. I'll wait. Unfortunately, even with episode titles like "Lord Pumpkin's Pie" and "Night and the Nightman" -- not to be confused with The Nightman Cometh -- it just didn't take off.

PROS:

Despite being a pretty shameless riff on the X-Men intro, the Ultraforce cartoon does a nice job of having the characters actually interact with their logos rather than just standing around with them. Hardcase throwing a giant version of his name at dudes makes me wish that was his actual power.

There appears to be a dinosaur with machine gun arms in this video, thus automatically making it one of the best things ever.

CONS:

So you're really going to just go ahead and open your cartoon with a child exploding into green fudge? Okay, sure, let's do it.

I just don't believe the guy shouting "ULTRAFOOOORRRRCE!!!" is really all that excited.

And finally, in this corner, the animated version of Jim Lee's WildC.A.T.s:

I always remember this one as being really successful than it actually was, probably because it's the one that I liked when I was 12. The truth is, though, even one of the most gloriously dumb names of all time -- They're wild and covert! At the same time! -- couldn't keep this one going. It lasted for 13 episodes, just like UltraForce.

PROS:

This one looks like it has much sharper animation -- although that might just be because it was ripped from a DVD rather than a second-generation VHS tape -- that does a much better job of showing the characters in action without just having them shoot power blasts at their own names.

That rap break 20 seconds in might be the best thing ever.

CONS:

Congratulations! You will never not have this song lingering in your head, just waiting for you to try to go to sleep!

That rap break 20 seconds in is definitely the worst thing ever.

So we leave it to you, ComicsAlliance Nation: Of these three intros, which one captures the spirit of the '90s by being the most X-TREME?!