Adult animation has had a strong two years. Between back-to-back 100% Rotten Tomatoes seasons for Invincible, a new Netflix show from the creator of Castlevania that critics called some of the best work he's done, and the first entries in James Gunn's DC Universe landing on Max, 2025 and 2026 have been unusually good for the format.
The best adult animated series right now aren't cartoons. They're some of the most ambitious, well-written television on streaming, spread across five different services. The only barrier between most people and these shows is knowing which ones are actually worth starting.
This list covers 10 series from 2025 and 2026, ranked by quality, with viewer-fit notes on each pick, a platform breakdown, and a tone guide to help you find your entry point.
For everything else worth streaming this year, the best TV shows on Netflix in 2026 covers the full catalog. If you're drawn to East Asian animation, the best anime of 2026 is the place to go. And if you're deciding which streaming services are worth keeping, the best streaming services guide maps the current landscape.
The 10 Best Adult Animated Series in 2025 and 2026
1. Invincible (Seasons 3 & 4)
Genre: Superhero Action / Mature Drama Seasons: Season 3 (February 2025), Season 4 (March 2026) Where to Watch: Prime Video
Invincible has put together back-to-back perfect critical seasons. Season 3 released in February 2025 and earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 4 followed in March 2026 with the same score.
Based on Robert Kirkman's comic series, the show follows Mark Grayson, the son of the world's most powerful superhero, as he develops his own powers and faces the consequences of living in a world where power and accountability rarely line up. The show earns its reputation for violence because it uses it to make a specific point: what happens when the most powerful beings alive keep making catastrophic mistakes.
Season 3 moved the Viltrumite arc into full motion. Season 4 brought new cast members including Matthew Rhys as Dinosaurus and Lee Pace as Thragg, and expanded the conflict in ways fans of the comics have waited years to see. Steven Yeun voices Mark, J.K. Simmons voices Omni-Man, and Sandra Oh rounds out the main cast. The voice work across both seasons is some of the best in animation.
Who it's for: Action fans who want emotional stakes alongside the spectacle. People tired of sanitized superhero content. Anyone curious what the genre looks like when it refuses to soften its own implications.
2. Devil May Cry (Seasons 1 & 2)
Genre: Action / Dark Fantasy Seasons: Season 1 (April 2025), Season 2 (May 2026) Where to Watch: Netflix
Devil May Cry arrived on Netflix in April 2025 with a 96-98% Rotten Tomatoes score and immediately became one of the most talked-about animated premieres of the year. Season 2 followed in May 2026 with 100%.
Created by Adi Shankar, who also produced Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne, the show follows Dante, a demon hunter working out of a run-down shop, as he takes on increasingly dangerous clients and deals with the consequences of his own supernatural lineage. Johnny Yong Bosch voices Dante. The action sequences are built for speed and impact, and Shankar brings the same gothic sensibility to this show that made Castlevania work.
If you've already watched Castlevania and Nocturne, this is the obvious next step. If you haven't, you don't need them as prerequisites. Devil May Cry stands on its own, and both seasons are available right now.
Who it's for: Action fans who want dark fantasy alongside the fights. People who liked Castlevania and want more from the same creative team. Anyone who wants something fast-paced and doesn't mind shows that trust you to follow the lore without hand-holding.
3. Castlevania: Nocturne (Season 2)
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Gothic Horror Action Seasons: Season 2 (January 2025) Where to Watch:
Season 1 of Castlevania: Nocturne set up a vampire aristocracy aligned with the power structures of pre-revolutionary France. Season 2, released in January 2025 with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, is where the show delivers on that premise.
Richter Belmont, voiced by Edward Bluemel, leads the fight against vampires who have found a way to block out the sun and extend their control over France. The show layers its monster-fighting directly onto historical conflict, and the result is that the politics feel earned rather than decorative. The finale sequences are the best action the Castlevania franchise has produced.
Powerhouse Animation improved noticeably between seasons, and the speed and clarity of the fight choreography in Season 2 sets a new bar for what this series can do. If you watched Season 1, this is a direct continuation. If you haven't, Season 1 is eight episodes and a strong starting point.
Who it's for: Dark fantasy fans. People who want horror-inflected action with real historical grounding. Anyone who burned through Castlevania (2017-2021) and wants more from the same creative world.
4. Rick and Morty (Seasons 8 & 9)
Genre: Sci-Fi Dark Comedy / Absurdism Seasons: Season 8 (May 2025), Season 9 (2026, ongoing) Where to Watch: Max
Season 8, which aired in May 2025, was the first full season under the writing team that took over after co-creator Justin Roiland's departure. It earned a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score and was better than most people expected. Season 9, currently airing in 2026, has a 100% score.
Ian Cardoni voices Rick and Harry Belden voices Morty. The new voice cast took some adjustment, but the writing team found the right register: still nihilistic and structurally experimental, but with a warmer tone in the Morty-focused episodes that the middle seasons had lost. Season 9 is the strongest run since Season 4.
The first three seasons remain the gold standard for absurdist animated TV. But if you fell off during the quality dip between Seasons 5 and 7, this is a reasonable re-entry point.
Who it's for: Dark comedy fans, people who want an animated entry point into science fiction through comedy. Seasons 1-3 are the right starting point if you're new. Season 8 is the re-entry point if you've been away for a while.
5. X-Men '97 (Season 2)
Genre: Superhero Action / Ensemble Drama Seasons: Season 2 (July 1, 2026) Where to Watch: Disney+
Season 1 of X-Men '97 (March 2024) earned a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and won the Critics' Choice Award for Best Animated Series. Season 2 premieres on July 1, 2026, and picks up after the events of Season 1 with an Apocalypse storyline that scatters the X-Men across different points in time.
The show is a direct continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997), with several original cast members returning. Season 1 escalated from a fun continuation to one of the most impactful storytelling stretches in Marvel media in years. Jennifer Hale (Jean Grey) and Cal Dodd (Wolverine) are back for Season 2.
The creative team has described Season 2 as very dark, with significant character deaths. If Season 1 was about establishing the stakes, Season 2 is about paying them off.
Who it's for: Adults who watched the 1990s X-Men series. Anyone who wants prestige superhero animation and has already worked through Invincible. People who want something that treats its characters seriously without losing the energy of the original.
6. Hazbin Hotel (Season 2)
Genre: Dark Musical Comedy / Supernatural Seasons: Season 2 (October 2025) Where to Watch: Prime Video
Season 2 landed in October 2025 with an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score and confirmed that Hazbin Hotel is more than a novelty.
Charlie, the Princess of Hell, runs a rehabilitation hotel for demons trying to earn redemption before Heaven's annual purge of the overpopulated underworld. The show leans hard into musical numbers, and unlike most adult animated shows that attempt songs, the music here actually works. Season 2 gives more screen time to Stephanie Beatriz and Keith David, both of whom are excellent.
Creator Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano started Hazbin Hotel as an independent YouTube animation. The move to Prime Video for Season 1 turned it into one of the platform's biggest animated premieres. Season 2 is where the show figured out how to use that scale.
Who it's for: Viewers who want something with real energy and a sense of humor about dark subjects. Not a prestige drama. The closest comparison is a chaotic dark musical comedy that takes its characters more seriously than the premise suggests. Best for viewers who want weird and entertaining over serious.
7. Spider-Noir (Season 1)
Genre: Action / Crime / Dark Fantasy Seasons: Season 1 (May 27, 2026) Where to Watch: Prime Video
Spider-Noir premiered on May 27, 2026 with a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score. Nicolas Cage voices Ben Reilly, a private eye in 1930s New York who spent years trying to leave his life as the city's only superhero behind, until the mobsters and monsters came looking for him again.
The noir setting gives the show a completely different visual and tonal register from other superhero animation. It looks like a 1930s crime film that happens to have web-swinging in it. Cage is exactly the right choice for this version of the character, and the show's restraint with the superhero elements, using them sparingly enough that they still feel significant, keeps it from feeling like a gimmick.
If you've been watching the superhero side of adult animation, this is the most distinctive new entry in it right now.
Who it's for: Noir and crime drama fans who also want superhero elements. Viewers who want something that looks and feels different from the current superhero landscape. People who want to hear Nicolas Cage voice a 1930s animated detective.
8. Creature Commandos (Season 1)
Genre: Action / Dark Comedy / Superhero Seasons: Season 1 (December 2024 - January 2025) Where to Watch: Max
Creature Commandos ran from December 5, 2024 through January 9, 2025 on Max, and a lot of people found it after the fact. It finished with a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Written by James Gunn, it's the first animated series in the new DC Universe. The show follows a black ops team assembled from classic monster characters: Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Indira Varma as Circe, Alan Tudyk as Dr. Phosphorus, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, and Sean Gunn as Weasel. The show knows its premise is absurd and plays it that way, but it also builds the monster ensemble well enough that by the finale you're genuinely invested in all of them.
Season 2 is in production. If you haven't watched Season 1 yet, it's seven episodes and an easy watch.
Who it's for: DC fans who want to see how James Gunn is building the new Universe. People who want action-comedy with real character work underneath the jokes. Anyone who wants something short and self-contained from 2025.
9. The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy (Season 2)
Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy Seasons: Season 2 (May 2025) Where to Watch: Prime Video
Season 1 earned a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score when it premiered, and Season 2 continued what made it work: a sharp animated comedy about two alien doctors, Sleech and Darling, trying to practice medicine at the second-best hospital in the galaxy while the universe keeps producing stranger and stranger patients.
The premise sounds like pure absurdism, because it starts there. Anxiety-eating parasites, illegal time loops, deep-space medical crises that also have real emotional cores. The writing earns the weirdness because it's backed by a strong cast. Stephanie Hsu and Keke Palmer voice the leads, with supporting performances from Kieran Culkin, Maya Rudolph, and Natasha Lyonne.
If you want something that isn't dark or violent but still has real ambition behind the writing, this is the best option on this list.
Who it's for: Comedy fans who want something strange and creative. People who want Prime Video animation that isn't a superhero show. Viewers who want something lighter in tone but with genuine craft behind it.
10. Futurama (Hulu Revival)
Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy Seasons: Third Hulu revival season (2025) Where to Watch: Hulu
Futurama returned to Hulu in 2023 and has been running consistently since. The third Hulu revival season, which aired in 2025, is the strongest of the run.
The full original cast is intact. The creative team has enough distance from the show's original run to engage with its own legacy without being self-congratulatory, and the contemporary targets in 2025 (streaming culture, AI, parasocial dynamics) suit the show's sensibility well. The full original run (Seasons 1-7) is also on Hulu, making it the best single platform for long-form animated sci-fi comedy.
If you've never watched Futurama, start with Seasons 1-4 of the original. If you have, the Hulu revival picks up cleanly and doesn't require any investment in the Comedy Central era.
Who it's for: Sci-fi comedy fans. The original is one of the best adult animated series ever made, and the Hulu revival has been more consistent than most expected. Futurama is the most accessible show on this list if the other nine feel too dark or intense.
Best Adult Animated Series 2025-2026: Quick Picks
Best overall: Invincible (Prime Video): two 100% RT seasons in 2025 and 2026, the best superhero show on any platform right now.
Best new show: Devil May Cry (Netflix): 98% RT for Season 1 and 100% for Season 2, from the creator of Castlevania.
Best dark fantasy: Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 (Netflix): the best season in the Castlevania franchise.
Best comedy: Rick and Morty (Max): Season 9 has a 100% RT score and the show is in better shape than it has been in years.
Best new superhero show: Spider-Noir (Prime Video): Nicolas Cage as a 1930s noir private eye Spider-Man, 91% RT.
Most anticipated: X-Men '97 Season 2 (Disney+): follow-up to Season 1's 98% RT score, premiering July 2026.
Best dark musical comedy: Hazbin Hotel Season 2 (Prime Video): the Hell rehabilitation show that keeps being better than it should be.
Platform Breakdown
Not every streaming service has strong adult animation. Here's where the genre actually lives in 2025 and 2026:
Prime Video leads for 2025-2026. Invincible, Hazbin Hotel, Spider-Noir, and The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy are all exclusive to Prime. That's four of the ten shows on this list on one platform.
Netflix has the best dark fantasy catalog. Devil May Cry and Castlevania: Nocturne are both exclusive, and both are from the same creative team. If you want gothic action animation, Netflix is the place.
Max has Rick and Morty and Creature Commandos, plus the full Adult Swim back catalog. The deepest library for adult animation volume is still Max.
Disney+ has X-Men '97 exclusively. Season 2 premieres July 1, 2026. That's the only show on Disney+ worth noting in this genre right now, but it's a strong one.
Hulu is the destination for Futurama, both the original run and the revival. If you want comedy animation with longevity, Hulu has the best library.
Find Your Starting Point by Tone
Find Your Starting Point by Tone
Action with stakes: Invincible → Devil May Cry → Castlevania: Nocturne
Superhero action: Invincible → X-Men '97 → Spider-Noir → Creature Commandos
Dark comedy: Rick and Morty → Hazbin Hotel → Creature Commandos
Accessible comedy sci-fi: Futurama → The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy
Shortest commitment: Creature Commandos (7 episodes) or Devil May Cry S1 (8 episodes)
Currently airing: Rick and Morty S9 (2026, ongoing) or X-Men '97 S2 (July 1, 2026)
Highest-rated: Invincible — back-to-back 100% RT in 2025 and 2026
FAQ
Is adult animation the same as anime?
No. Anime is Japanese animation, a distinct production tradition with its own visual style and storytelling culture. Adult animation in the Western context is produced primarily in North America. There's overlap in format (both are animated, both can be mature), but the visual languages and narrative traditions are different. For anime specifically, the best anime of 2026 covers that in detail.
Why do some adult animated series look so different from others?
Production studio and budget. Invincible's clean comic-book style is unrelated to Castlevania: Nocturne's gothic hand-painted look, which is unrelated to Spider-Noir's 1930s noir aesthetic. Adult animation is not one visual style. If you don't like the look of one show, another on this list will look entirely different.
Which show is best for someone who has never watched adult animation before?
Invincible Season 3 or Creature Commandos. Invincible is the most acclaimed show in the genre right now and doesn't require any prior knowledge. Creature Commandos is 7 episodes, written by James Gunn, and easy to finish in a weekend. Both are on Prime Video.
What's the difference between adult animation and animation that adults watch?
Adult animation refers specifically to series targeted at adult audiences, typically TV-MA, with content not suited for children. Animation that adults watch includes Pixar films, Studio Ghibli, and family-friendly shows adults enjoy. Every show on this list is adult animation. None are appropriate for younger audiences.
What is the best streaming platform for adult animation right now?
For 2025-2026 specifically, Prime Video. It has four of the ten shows on this list. For back catalog depth, Max. For dark fantasy, Netflix. For a full breakdown of what each service offers, the best streaming services guide covers the current landscape.
Are any of these shows still airing or are they all complete?
Rick and Morty Season 9 is ongoing in 2026. X-Men '97 Season 2 premieres July 1, 2026. Invincible Season 4 finished in April 2026. Everything else on this list is complete and available to binge now.
Why isn't Blue Eye Samurai on this list?
Season 1 premiered in 2023, which falls outside the 2025-2026 window this list covers. Season 2 has not been released yet as of May 2026. It's an excellent show, but it doesn't qualify for this specific roundup.
Where should I go next after working through this list?
K-dramas are worth exploring if you want prestige storytelling in a live-action format with the same emotional investment. Start with the best K-dramas on Netflix 2026. For anime, the best anime of 2026 covers the strongest currently airing and recently released series. For live-action sci-fi TV, the best sci-fi TV shows guide covers the current landscape.
Platform availability and season counts are accurate as of May 2026. Streaming libraries change, so verify current availability on each platform before subscribing.
