The comic book industry is nothing is not commercial, so the first Marvel tie in's came early. The Marvel Super Heroes was a 1966 syndicated cartoon featuring five of their superheroes, three of which (The Hulk, Iron Man and Thor) had debuted in Kirby & Lee's annus mirabilis, 1962 (Captain America and Namor, the Submariner had been knocking about since the 1940s).
Produced quickly and cheaply by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, the 'animation' took copies of art from the original comics, then added stiffly moving mouths, darting eyes, waving limbs and the odd mobile silhouette. You couldn't get away with it now, but the cartoons are short and bright and noisy and fast moving and must have seemed quite exciting to children at the time. I still like them now, but then, as we have already established, there is something wrong with me.
In 'The Tomorrow Man', the God of Thunder faces Zarrko, a megalomaniac villain from the 23rd century. It does not end well for Zarrko, or for Thor's half-brother, Loki, who, as usual, is stirring the shit behind the scenes with a big wooden spoon.
