Marvel Enterprises has cut a deal with France’s Antefilms Prods. to produce an animated TV series based on Marvel’s enduring Fantastic Four comic-book characters. Marvel said it would produce 26 half-hour episodes targeted for premiere in the United States and other territories in late 2006. Plans for the Fantastic Four animated series come on the heels of Marvel’s recent alliance with Lions Gate Entertainment for a series of animated direct-to-DVD titles based on the thousands of characters in Marvel’s storied comic-book library.