>>95276852It was based off of a super-successful super-deformed mini-figure line (Super Hero Squad).
Suoer Hero Squad was part of a line of pre-school toys based on super-deformed Star Wars characters, that took off in popularity with older toy collectors, partly due to the fact that the figures were well designed, had a wide variety of characters, and were reasonably priced compared to the Marvel Legends line.
SHS did so well that the Transformers got two versions (one Bay-Movie version, the other Gen1/Beast Wars), even Mattel got into the act with DC versions.
The line eventually failed though due to over-saturation of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wolverine, plus the fact that most of the more desirable figures were only available in box sets.
That said, the cartoon was a shit sandwich, partly because it was purposely made humorous, but also due to the early onset cancer where Marvel decided to make it Avengers centric and making the bad guys just Doom/Abomination/Modok and making MODOK/Abomination full on retarded.