Cinematic universe films take a TON of preparation and writing to make them even remotely believable. Look at how much effort one went through just to create the first Avengers movie. You needed several standalone films, along with a way to tie all of them together.
Same thing with the current James Gunn-authored DC Universe. This one spreads across movies, TV shows, and probably a few other media platforms. And at some point, it all blends together.
In television dramas, you have the Taylor Sheridan cinematic universe, where the characters from Yellowstone either spin off to their own TV shows, or combine from other shows into one cohesive storyline. Well, as cohesive as the standard Yellowstone episode can be …
With that in mind … let me introduce you to the King Features Cinematic Universe.
Work with me on this.
King Features was one of the top comic strip producers, and their trademarks included everything from Krazy Kat to Beetle Bailey, from Barney Google and Snuffy Smith to Popeye the Sailor, from the Phantom to Mandrake the Magician, from Flash Gordon to Hi and Lois. The morning newspaper would be filled with their daily adventures.
And there were some newspaper crossovers – for example, Lois Flagston (of Hi and Lois) is actually Beetle Bailey’s sister, and Beetle has appeared a few times in Hi and Lois cartoons when he was on leave from Camp Swampy.
So … let me introduce you to tis film. Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter.
Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter is a 1972 animated full-length motion picture that was part of ABC’s Saturday morning “Saturday Superstar Movie” omnibus series. And hoo boy is this a trip. Apparently an evil scientist with the help of his henchman Brutus (what, not Bluto?) kidnaps the characters from the Sunday comic strips, forcing other characters from the Sunday comic strips to rescue everybody.
I mean, this is a veritable who’s who of King Features’ copyright holdings, and there are some characters who probably haven’t seen the funny papers in ages. And boy is this surreal.
As for the voice work, Jack Mercer returns to play Popeye, while Corrine Orr (Trixie from Speed Racer) plays all the female characters, leaving Bob McFadden to voice all the male characters. And the animation itself is … well … tremendously limited. Some of the movements look like the characters were retraced from their Sunday strips, with barely a hint of movement to them.
So … yeah, this is a curiosity in and of itself. But if it worked in 1972 … why not try it again in 1976?
For that, we get the animated series Defenders of the Earth, featuring the adventures of Flash Gordon, the Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician (and his assistant Lothar), as they fight off an invasion from the evil Ming the Merciless.
No, seriously. They melanged these three characters into an animated television series.
This who had the classic 80’s blocky syndicated TV show animation, with no true explanation as to why these three totally unrelated characters are working together, unless there’s some plotline that connects to the 1972 movie for which I am unaware).
Then again, I suppose someone will find a way to tie a cinematic universe together with some copyright-enforced twine, so there’s that.
Gee, by that metric, I’m waiting to see that upcoming Charlie Brown and Snoopy / Calvin and Hobbes Cinematic Universe movie in the near future. Heck, throw in the characters from Mutts and I’m in the front row for sure. 😀
Chuck The Writer 
Chuck:
The Man Who Hated Laughter could’ve stood to be so much better if King Features didn’t outsource the animation to Fred Calvert and his staff. Like, el scrimpo. Brutus wouldn’t be Bluto on TV for another 6 years. Calvert was too cheap to hire more than 3 actors, when Jackson Beck (Bluto/Brutus from the 40’s to the 60’s) and Mae Questel were available (when Mae wasn’t selling paper towels).
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