Starting in 1992, X-Men: The Animated Series (X-Men: TAS) was Marvel's answer to DC's newest Batman cartoon, Batman: The Animated Series, the cartoon lasted a good five seasons and depicted one of the more popular versions of the X-Men team based on Jim Lee's early 90's run, they were Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Beast, Jubilee and Professor X. 
 
Supprisingly this was not Marvel's first attempt at an X-Men cartoon, in 1989, Marvel created a pilot for a new X-Men animation called "Pryde of the X-Men" though the pilot was not carried over to a series it was still broadcast several times between 1989 and 1992 when X-Men: TAS began. While the original airing of X-Men TAS was scheduled to appear in September of 1992, production delays set it back several weeks, though the first two episodes entitled "Night of the Sentinels" was aired early as a sneak peek, but it has been reported that there had been several errors in the animation that were corrected by the following year. 
 
During it's run, X-Men: TAS has continued the work of the comic book in depicting several famous storylines, including the Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past, but more than that, the cartoon represented social issues like discrimination, one of the main reasons that the X-Men were created for in the first place and something that as continued into the movies. While the main focus of this prejudice would be focused on the anti-mutant movements, there would also be other stories which would bring up things like religion, the holocaust and the AIDS scandal as well as several other social topics. 

Unlike Batman: TAS, the X-Men cartoon had a massive array of both hero and villain characters including additional members of the X-Men, X-Factor, Alpha Flight, XSE, Cable's Clan Chosen, the X-Terminators, the StarJammers, the Acolytes, the Morlocks, the Shi'ar, the Brotherhood, Project: Wideawake, the Hellfire Club, the Nasty Boys, the Savage Land Mutates, the Horsemen of Apocalypse, the Reavers, Weapon X, Mojo's Trackers and the Brood, as well as many other appearances by lone characters such as Apocalypse, Mr Sinister, Spider-Man IronMan, etc, etc. 
 
X-Men's original run was only supposed to last for four seasons, but FOX (who were airing the cartoon) wanted more episodes, even though the animators (AKOM) were unavailable at the time, this is why the remaining ten episodes (season five) have a distinctly different animation style. 
 
All of the original run (seasons 1-4) are available to watch for free at Marvel.Com along with another three episodes from season 5 (as of 19/08/2010) with a new episode being added every Tuesday, the episodes below should be episodes one and two (Night of the Sentinels)    

 
   Beginning with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, the DC Animated Universe was a revolution in the way that animation and storytelling was done, the DCAU would later expand to include Superman and in time the entire Justice League, covering nearly every character in DC comics. The original Batman series ran for three years and consisted of eighty-five episodes lasting twenty minutes. 
 
Unlike the previous cartoons, Batman: TAS had actual guns, actual violence and actual blood, which gave a darker feel which had never really been seen before, the characters were made more real and that had a very big impact on the stories, which for the most part were written by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, who also re-designed and even re-defined most of the characters for the new generation. Where other cartoons would patronise the audience with unnecessary dialogue, this cartoon didn't, the characters were allowed to be expressive and have back stories, suddenly characters like Mr Freeze went from a mad scientist to a tragic figure, the Joker became both hysterical and homicidal and the creation and development of Harley Quinn has made her so popular that DC actually put her into the comics. Even characters that weren't that well known were given new life, characters like the Clock King and the Mad Hatter.
 
Another innovation was that the voice actors actually got to record their lines together, something which made conversations more fluidic and realistic. Even the voice actors themselves were practically perfect for their roles, the show has even had cameos from well known actors like Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamil, Frank Welker, Ron Pearlman, Helen Slater, Ed Begley Jr, Kate Mulgrew, John Glover, Peter Scolari, Michael York, Tim Curry, Rene Auberjonois, John De Lancie and previous Batman actor Adam West.
 
Batman: The Animated series has won two Emmys in 1993: "Robin's Reckoning" for Most Outstanding Half Hour or Less Program  and "Heart of Ice"  for Most Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program, it has been described as the second best cartoon ever, losing only to the Simpsons and has gone on to set the benchmark for all superhero cartoons, even introducing some of them, without Batman: The Animated Series, there would be no DC Animated Universe and the people inspired by it would probably have ended up liking Twilight. 
 
Unfortunately someone at Warner Brothers found out that every episode of Batman: The Animated Series could be found on YouTube and decided to make a DMCA claim on everyone... so here is a clip of the greatest moment in cartoon history:
 
  

 
Of all the characters in the Marvel, DC and other comic universes, who has the worst costume, uniform or generan atire and why. 
  
Here are some that I really don't like: 
 

 
(Disclamer: This is a fairly obvious thread, but I coudn't find anything when I searched the forum pages)
Of all the characters in the Marvel, DC and other comic universes, who has the best costume, uniform or generan atire and why. 
 
Just to get things started, here are some of mine: