A look at streaming services' profile avatars (2023 edition)
Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ offer individual profiles; said profiles usually include the ability to add profile avatars. They usually feature characters from whatever franchises are popular on that service.
I last looked at profile icons in 2021, which is basically “forever ago” in the “streaming wars.” Thus, here’s an updated look at the current profile avatars (as of July 2023) for the major streaming services. Note Hulu and Apple TV+ don’t offer avatars, so I’ll skip those services.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon avatars. (Amazon / screenshot by author)
Most of Prime Video’s avatars are based on their live action TV shows and films, including:
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
“The Wheel of Time”
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
“Coming 2 America”
“The Boys”
“Good Omens”
Along with some generic cartoon avatars, the only Prime Video animated options consist of “Invincible” and “The Legend of Vox Machina.” It’d be nice to see some of their other animation cartoons receive profile icons.
Disney+
Disney+ avatars. (Disney/screenshot by author)
Disney+ offers a wide range of avatars, covering their library. They also add new avatars when prominent new TV shows or movies added.
The avatars are separated into the following categories:
Featured (featured avatars from across the categories)
Disney
Pixar
Marvel
Star Wars
National Geographic
Kids
Ice Age
Mickey and Friends
Villains
Disney Classics
Disney Princess
Disney Channel
The Simpsons
The Muppets
X-Men
Some of the avatars show up in multiple categories. For example, Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” appears under the Villains and Disney Classics categories.
In a positive sign for diversity (and sure to raise the ire of certain Florida politicians), several profile icons are LGBTQ-friendly, such as Ethan Clade (an out gay Black character from “Strange World”) and Nash Durango (a character from “Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures,” who has two Moms). There’s also Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, comics’ most famous Muslim superhero.
The Simpsons category has the family itself. However, the only other characters are Ralph Wiggum, Krusty, and Dr. Hibbert. I wonder why those three and not, say, Flanders, Milhouse, or Mr. Burns?
The X-Men category are all the main characters as they appear in the 90s animated series.
While Disney+ recently debuted “Muppets Mayhem,” the only Electric Mayhem members with avatars are Animal and Janice; no Dr. Teeth?
The Marvel category includes both the MCU films and the recent live-action TV shows; She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and the aforementioned Ms. Marvel are present. Oddly, there aren’t any avatars for “Spidey and His Amazing Friends,” despite being one of the most-watched shows on Disney+. However, the conventional adult Spider-Man has an avatar.
The Kids category includes the main cast of “Bluey.” one of Disney+’s most popular TV shows (despite being a third-party-made Australian import).
The Mickey and Friends category is a mix of different franchise versions. Mickey has his retro style from the recent animated shorts; Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto are the “default” modern styles seen on merchandise; Chip and Dale are their “Rescue Rangers” versions; Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Uncle Scrooge, and Launchpad are from the 2017 “DuckTales” reboot; and finally, the remaining option is… José Carioca (also a “default” version), who seems obscure these days. Though Disney+ does have “Legend of the Three Caballeros,” a 2018 series that features José.
My profile avatar is currently Mike Wazowski from “Monsters, Inc.”
Max
Some of Max's avatars. (Max)
The change from HBO Max to just plain Max has also brought some new avatar choices. The good news: some of these are additions that were previously glaringly missing. The bad news: many of the additions are tied to the Discovery reality shows that the service has added. Additionally, from what I’ve learned, the new Max app dropped the ability to upload a custom avatar.
I don’t have Max, so I can’t do a screenshot of all the current avatars. However, The Streamable has a full list of all the available avatars, going along with the Max press release showing some of the new options.
Thus, pulling from all of the above, here’s the cartoon-related options now available:
Adult Swim:
“Aqua Teen Hunger Force”
“The Boondocks”
“The Brak Show”
“Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law”
“Primal”
“Rick and Morty”
“Robot Chicken”
“Samurai Jack”
“Space Ghost: Coast to Coast”
“Squidbillies”
Cartoon Network:
“Adventure Time”
“The Amazing World of Gumball”
“The Powerpuff Girls” (original series)
“Steven Universe”
“Teen Titans Go!”
“We Bare Bears”
Hanna-Barbera:
“The Flintstones”
“The Jetsons”
“Scooby-Doo”
“Tom and Jerry”
Looney Tunes
Max Originals:
“Velma”
Studio Ghibli:
“Earwig and the Witch”
“Howl’s Moving Castle”
“Kiki’s Delivery Service”
“My Neighbor Totoro”
“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”
“Ponyo”
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”
“Princess Mononoke”
“Spirited Away”
“Tales from Earthsea”
“The Cat Returns”
DC Comics:
“Batman: The Animated Series”
“Justice League Unlimited”
A pretty strong list of choices, which cover much of Warner Bros.’ animation library pretty well.
The obligatory nitpicks:
Static (“Static Shock”) was an avatar on HBO Max, but seems to have been removed with the Max switchover?
Similarly, the 2000s “Teen Titans” were options on HBO Max, but have been replaced by their “Go” versions with the Max switchover.
Adding the Flintstones and Jetsons was a good idea, even if half of their casts are missing. For the former, none of the Rubbles (or Mr. Slate for the extended cast) are present; for the latter, Jane, Elroy, and Astro (plus Mr. Spacely and Henry Orbit for the extended cast) aren’t available.
It seems odd that the “Batman: The Animated Series” category doesn’t have Batman himself in it, but his worst enemy, the Joker, is both here and in the “Justice League Unlimited” categories. (Granted, this is the same conglomerate where Scooby-Doo isn’t in a “Scooby-Doo” spin-off.)
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are only represented by their “Batman: The Animated Series” versions; there’s no listing for the “Harley Quinn” series.
Ironic that Taz is still offered as an avatar. Thanks to Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent cost-cutting purges, none of his original Golden Age shorts are available on Max, though Taz still appears in “Looney Tunes Cartoons” and a few other modern incarnations.
Characters I’d suggest adding in future updates:
Yogi Bear (either the original version or the “Jellystone” version)
Static
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen (from “Superman: TAS” or “My Adventures with Superman”)
Courage from “Courage the Cowardly Dog”
“Craig of the Creek” (glaringly absent, given it’s one of Cartoon Network’s prominent current shows, with a spin-off on the way)
Netflix
Netflix's avatars. (Netflix / screenshot by author)
Netflix offers a broad number of avatars. Along with some generic ones as defaults, Netflix usually has avatars for their most popular material, as well as prominent new programs.
Since I currently don’t have Netflix, I don’t have a current list of their available avatars. However, prominent avatars in the past have included:
“Squid Game”
“Captain Underpants”
“Big Mouth”
“Boss Baby: Back in Business”
“Disenchantment”
“Queer Eye”
“Fuller House”
“Stranger Things”
“Carmen Sandiego”
“One Day at a Time”
“Bojack Horseman”
“Bridgerton”
“She-Ra”
“The Dark Crystal”
Paramount+
Paramount+ avatars. (Paramount+/screenshot by author)
A few years ago, Paramount+ offered a pretty limited number of avatars, all of them cartoons. While I like animation, not everyone does, and it seemed odd to not offer icons for its big live-action franchises.
Since then, Paramount+ seems to have fixed this, as it now offers a broader range of icons. Below are the avatar choices:
Live-action:
“iCarly” (revival version)
“Star Trek":
"Strange New Worlds”
“Picard”
“Discovery”
“Why Women Kill”
“Evil”
“Mayor of Kingstown”
“1883”
“Ghosts”
“Halo”
“RENO 911!”
“Crank Yankers”
Animation:
“SpongeBob SquarePants”
“Star Trek: Lower Decks”
“PAW Patrol”
“Big Nate”
Nickelodeon: “Rugrats” (original version), “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “The Legend of Korra”
Nick Jr.: “PAW Patrol,” “Peppa Pig,” “Blaze and the Monster Machines,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Blue’s Clues”
Emotions (generic/default avatars)
The choices are an improvement over what came before; Paramount at least remembered “Star Trek” is one of their main franchises. However, some of it still seems a bit sparse:
None of the classic “Trek” shows are specifically represented, excluding revival sequels like “Picard.”
MTV cartoons “Beavis and Butt-Head” and “Daria” aren’t included.
Similarly, “South Park” is also absent. While the show is on Max, it’s set to return to Paramount+ in 2025. Paramount+ also has a few “South Park” specials.
The “Rugrats” reboot isn’t included.
There’s none of the various incarnations of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
There’s also no major Paramount film franchises, such as “Mission: Impossible.”
A number of classic Nickelodeon cartoons are absent, including “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “Hey Arnold,” “The Angry Beavers,” “Ren and Stimpy,” and “The Fairly OddParents.” The same goes for Nick’s live-action sitcoms, “iCarly”’s revival aside.
Various BET or Black sitcoms are absent: “The Game,” “Girlfriends,” “Sister, Sister,” etc.
No classic CBS/Paramount-owned shows: “I Love Lucy,” “The Love Boat,” a number of CBS procedurals like “NCIS” and “CSI,” and more are all absent. Not even the famous CBS “eye” logo?
No real representation for Showtime (“The L Word?” “Dexter?”), which is folded into Paramount+.
Hopefully the future sees Paramount decide to add some of the above material as icons. While Paramount+ is often seen as “SpongeBob, ‘Star Trek,’ CBS cop shows, and ‘Yellowstone’ spin-offs,” it’d be a nice way to show the service has more than just those.
I went with Sandy Cheeks from “SpongeBob” as my Paramount+ avatar.
Peacock
Peacock avatars. (Peacock / screenshot by author)
Peacock carries a small but OK number of avatars. Some of the avatars include:
Live-action:
“Bel-Air”
“The Office”
“Rutherford Falls”
“Saved by the Bell” (the reboot)
“Psych”
“Punky Brewster” (the reboot)
WWE wrestling
“Parks and Recreation”
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
“30 Rock”
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
“Real Housewives”
“Poker Face”
“Days of Our Lives”
“Jurassic Park”
“Chucky”
“Halloween Kills”
“Fast & Furious”
“E.T.”
Animation:
“Boss Baby: Family Business”
“Curious George”
“Trolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Despicable Me”
The default avatars (a blue peacock and a green peacock)
I’m amused that one can have a profile avatar of rapper Ice-T, who plays a main character on “Law & Order: SVU.” That said, my avatar’s Toothless from “How to Train Your Dragon.”
I’m not so amused, however, by one glaring flaw of Peacock: the kids’ profile option doesn’t filter out avatars for material that isn’t kid-friendly. Thus, one could have, say, the aforementioned Ice-T or Jason from “Halloween Kills” as a kids’ profile icon.
Conclusion
What do you use as avatars on your streaming service profiles? Are there any characters you’d like to see offered as icons on the above services?
"HBO Now Apple TV" by Harrison Weber is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr / cropped from original)