Spider-Man: The Animated Series, also known as Spider-Man, is an American superhero animated television series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The series aired on the Fox Kids Network from November 19, 1994, to January 31, 1998, and later aired in reruns on Toon Disney's Jetix block and on Disney XD. The series was produced by Marvel Films, and animated by TMS-Kyokuichi.
The series finale was the first to introduce the "Spider-Verse" storyline, also known as the "Spider-Man Multiverse", which later inspired similar narratives in various Spider-Man comics, cartoons, and films in the early 21st century. People magazine described the show as one of the best animated comic book adaptations of all time. The show was presented in Dolby Surround for Fox Kids.
Contents
Synopsis
The series follows Peter Parker, a college student at Empire State University who struggles to balance his responsibilities as the costumed hero Spider-Man with the problems of his personal life. In addition to fighting crime, Peter must navigate his romantic affections for love interests Felicia Hardy and Mary Jane Watson; maintain his friendship with Harry Osborn; focus on his academic performance as Dr. Curt Connors' student; and help to support his Aunt May after the death of his Uncle Ben by working as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. The Bugle is owned by loudmouth publisher J. Jonah Jameson, who often uses Peter's pictures of his alter-ego to discredit and carry out a smear campaign against Spider-Man. Peter's peers at ESU include football star Flash Thompson, popular barista Liz Allan, scientific genius Debra Whitman, and research rival Michael Morbius.
As Spider-Man, Peter faces various supervillains who threaten New York City, including criminal masterminds such as the Kingpin and the Hobgoblin, scientific mishaps like Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin, and the extraterrestrial symbiotes Venom and Carnage. Spider-Man is occasionally aided in his fight against crime by other superheroes, including the X-Men, the Punisher, Blade, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Fantastic Four.
Adaptations
A large number of storylines and events from the comics are loosely adapted in the series, such as:
The first episode, "Night of the Lizard", is loosely based on the comic story "Face-to-Face with... the Lizard!" from The Amazing Spider-Man #6 (November 1963).
The episode "The Spider Slayer" is loosely based on the comic story "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson!" from The Amazing Spider-Man #25 (June 1965), with the subplot of Flash Thompson dressing up as Spider-Man to scare Peter Parker being taken from "Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!" from The Amazing Spider-Man #5 (October 1963).
The episode "Return of the Spider Slayer" borrows elements from the comic books including the way Alistair Smythe treated Spider-Man and Jameson in a very similar way to how his father Spencer Smythe treated them in the comic story "24 Hours till Doomsday!" in The Amazing Spider-Man #192 (May 1979), the three spider slayers are from "Invasion of the Spider Slayers Part 5: Arachnophobia Too!" from The Amazing Spider-Man #372 (January 1993) and Mary Jane uses her famous line from her first comic appearance: "Face it, Tiger. You just hit the jackpot", in the comic story "The Birth of a Super-Hero!" from The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966).
The episode "Doctor Octopus: Armed and Dangerous" is loosely based on the comic story "Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus" from The Amazing Spider-Man #3 (July 1963).
The episode "The Menace of Mysterio" is loosely based on the comic story "The Menace of... Mysterio!" from The Amazing Spider-Man #13 (June 1964).
The episode "The Sting of the Scorpion" is based on the comic story "Spidey Strikes Back!" / "The Coming of the Scorpion! OR: Spidey Battles Scorpey!" in The Amazing Spider-Man #19-20 (December 1964–January 1965).
The episode "Kraven the Hunter" is loosely adapted from the comic story of the same name from The Amazing Spider-Man #15 (August 1964).
Cast and characters
Main voice cast
Christopher Daniel Barnes – Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Edward Asner – J. Jonah Jameson
Jennifer Hale – Felicia Hardy / Black Cat
Saratoga Ballantine – Mary Jane Watson
Linda Gary (seasons 1–3) & Julie Bennett (seasons 4–5) – May Parker
Rodney Saulsberry – Joseph "Robbie" Robertson
Joseph Campanella – Dr. Curt Connors / Lizard
Gary Imhoff – Harry Osborn / Green Goblin
Neil Ross – Norman Osborn / Green Goblin
Roscoe Lee Browne – Wilson Fisk / Kingpin
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. – Dr. Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus
Hank Azaria – Eddie Brock / Venom
Mark Hamill – Jason Philips / Hobgoblin
Production
While Fox Kids' X-Men animated series was being produced by Saban, Spider-Man was produced by the newly formed Marvel Films Animation; it was the only series that in-house studio produced, but was animated by TMS-Kyokuchi Corporation. The series ran for 65 episodes and was the longest-running Spider Man animated series by episode count until Ultimate Spider-Man surpassed its record with 104 episodes.
For years, it was believed that the show had been heavily censored. In some episodes, realistic guns were depicted, but only in flashbacks, such as the showing of guns being fired during a flashback about the Punisher's origins where his wife and children were killed in the crossfire during a crime. Rules for the production of the show included no punching, throwing through glass, putting children in jeopardy or vampires as well as no usage of the word sinister. In November 2014 podcasts, Semper clarified that the show was not censored more than any other show at the time and that every time this has been brought up to him, he feels it has been blown out of proportion. Semper also admitted that the decision for Spider-Man not to use his fists was his own idea, because although the censors probably would have allowed it, Semper believed that Spider-Man should use more tactical methods and didn't want to teach children, the main target audience of the show, to solve problems through simple violence. Semper said that Marvel had no creative control on the TV series as the company was going through a tough time and was close to bankruptcy. In addition, Semper stated that Stan Lee had influence on the show in the first thirteen episodes.
Writing staff
Producer John Semper was the primary credited writer on the show, receiving some sort of writing credit (usually a story, co-story or co-writing credit) on 60 of the 65 produced episodes. He wrote 8 episodes solo; many of his story credits were actually adaptations of previously published comic book stories. Mark Hoffmeier was a frequent contributor, receiving credits on 16 episodes, while Stan Berkowitz was credited on 9. Many of the other series writers had previously worked on Batman: The Animated Series, including Brynne Stephens, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Marty Isenberg and Robert N. Skir, Len Wein, and Sean Catherine Derek.
Semper watched previous Spider-Man adaptations for inspiration, but he was not impressed by most of them. The only previous adaptation that impressed him was the live-action Japanese Spider-Man (1978), which he thought was a "great" show and "goofy fun". Japanese Spider-Man's giant mecha robot influenced the final multi-part parallel universe arc where Spider-Man's wealthy alter-ego has a robot.
Animation
To reproduce New York City's appearance, background illustrators undertook a large amount of visual research by using photo archives from above New York, particularly rooftops. Maps were consulted for references and buildings were faithfully reproduced. The animation cels depicting Manhattan's Pan Am Building (recently renamed the MetLife Building) were scrapped after being complete because the California-based art staff learned the Midtown landmark had been given a new sign more than a year earlier. The animation staff were directed to populate the city with cars and crowds on the street level. Semper believed that was one of the limitations of earlier Spider-Man animated projects. Originally, Marvel Films planned to make the backgrounds completely CGI while Spider-Man swung around New York, yet due to budget constraints were forced to use traditional cel based animation while occasionally using CGI backgrounds by video game developer Kronos Digital Entertainment. Reuse of animation became more common as the series progressed, which also included reuse of animation involving a character speaking (these scenes were sometimes slowed down in order to better match the actor's voice to the animation).
Music
Marvel outsourced the show's music to Saban Entertainment, who were also responsible for the music in the concurrent X-Men cartoon airing on Fox Kids. Shuki Levy, Haim Saban and Udi Harpaz are credited as composers of the orchestral background score. In the closing credits, Haim Saban was credited under the alias "Kussa Mahchi", which he also used in the credits of other shows such as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, X-Men and the English dub of Dragon Ball Z. The background music was conducted with a live orchestra in Israel.
The theme for the series was written and performed by Joe Perry of the hard rock band Aerosmith (although it is sometimes credited to Levy and Saban). The theme song only came about after producer Avi Arad met Perry on a plane flight from New York to Los Angeles, with Perry telling Arad that he'd love to do the theme for a Spider-Man show. The theme was created midway through the production of the first season. A reason the show's producers were open to using an aggressive opening song like the one Perry came up with was since Saban had experienced success by using Ron Wasserman's rock/metal theme as the opening for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in 1993, with the company having previously been hesitant to use music such as this for children's programming. Aerosmith were later referenced in a 1995 episode of the series titled "The Alien Costume, Part One", in which Peter briefly turns into a member of Aerosmith.
Rights
In January 1997, News Corporation's 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to the show and all of Marvel's other animation assets, via News Corporation's acquisition of Marvel's production partner New World International. News Corporation already had acquired a stake in New World International in July 1995, with the January 1997 transaction being a full buyout. That year, News Corporation and 20th Century Fox spun off Marvel's animation assets into their children's division Fox Family Worldwide. In September 1996, Saban Entertainment also merged with Fox's children division, with this deal giving the combined Fox Family Worldwide and Saban distribution rights over the Marvel animation catalog. During the late 1990s, the show was released onto VHS by Fox and Saban as a result of their ownership, and Saban's involvement with the production also increased during the fourth and fifth seasons. Their control over the show ended in October 2001, when Saban Entertainment and Fox Family Worldwide were sold to Disney, who themselves subsequently took over Marvel in 2009. The Fox Family Worldwide/Saban sale also included cable network the Fox Family Channel, which was renamed to ABC Family, and which started airing reruns of the series in the following years.
In 1998, Marvel sold the film rights for the Spider-Man IP to Sony. This deal gives Sony exclusive film and live action television rights to over 900 Spider-Man characters, including several characters created specifically for the 1994 Spider-Man animated series, and other pre-1999 Spider-Man cartoons.
Merchandising
Comics
Similarly to X-Men: The Animated Series, the series inspired a number of comic books. The first one was Spider-Man Adventures, published for 15 issues between December 1994 and February 1996, which loosely adapted the plot from the series' episodes. It was followed by Adventures of Spider-Man, a 12-issue series with original stories, published from April 1996 to March 1997.
Additionally, Marvel published a second series inspired by the animated series titled Spider-Man Magazine, that went on for 19 issues from March 1994 to March 1997. Two special issues were also published in 1995.
A tie-in series titled Marvel Adventures went on for 18 issues from April 1997 to September 1998.
Bibliography
Spider-Man Adventures (December 1994 to February 1996): the first 13 issues each adapted one episode from the first season, and the last two issues were original stories. Spider-Man Adventures #1–4 was later reprinted in Kellogg's Froot Loops Mini-Comics #1–4.
The Adventures of Spider-Man (April 1996 to March 1997): featuring new stories based on the series. Adventures of Spider-Man was later reprinted in Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine) #11–21 from August 1996 to May 1997.
Marvel Adventures (April 1997 to September 1998): anthology featuring various animated versions of Marvel characters—Spider-Man only appeared sporadically.
Video games
A number of video games based on the series were also produced:
Spider-Man Cartoon Maker for the PC (1995)
Spider-Man (1995) for the Super NES and Genesis
Electronic versions of classic Spider-Man comics were released by Marvel that included narration by Christopher Daniel Barnes and featured animation and theme music from this series. Spider-Man novels inspired by selected episodes were also released. A wide variety of themed merchandise (lunch boxes, cereals, clothing, etc.) was produced. McDonald's produced a themed line of Happy Meal toys for the show.
Release availability
After the success of the Spider-Man films, the series began to air in reruns through its new owners, The Walt Disney Company. This show had been shown streaming entirety on Disney+ service since November 12, 2019.
Home media
Region 1
A single VHS volume containing the "Hobgoblin" two-part episode was released on July 2, 1997 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
From November 1996 until October 1999, Telegenic Entertainment released ten VHS volumes of the series in Canada. They were compilations that featured episodes edited into 70–80, 90-100 minute movies based on the particular story arc. The releases were "The Venom Saga", "Revenge of the Goblins", "Spider-Slayer", "Insidious Six", "Mutant Agenda", "Tablet of Time", "Neogenic Nightmare", "Forgotten Warriors", "The Sins of the Fathers" and "Secret Wars". The tapes also contained bonus episodes of other Marvel cartoons.
From April 2002 until June 2005, Buena Vista Home Entertainment released several VHS and DVD compilations of the series. The first BVHE release - "The Ultimate Villain Showdown" contained episodes 2-5 of the "Sins of the Father" arc (Season 3) and special features such as a bonus episode from the 1967 series. "The Return of the Green Goblin" contains episodes 12-14 of the "Sins of the Father" arc and the first episode of the "Partners in Danger" arc (Season 4) with special features including the eighth episode of the arc, while the DVD also included a bonus episode from the 1967 series. "Daredevil vs. Spider-Man" contains episodes 6-9 of the "Sins of the Father" arc
with special features including a 1967 series episode featuring Kingpin while the DVD has a bonus episode from the second season of Fantastic Four that guest stars Daredevil. "Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock" contained a Season One episode and episodes 2, 3 and 5 of the "Partners in Danger" arc, with a 1967 series episode as an extra. The fifth BVHE release - "Spider-Man: The Venom Saga", contains the three-part "The Alien Costume" saga from Season 1 and Episodes 10-11 of "The Sins of the Fathers".
A compilation release containing "The Ultimate Villain Showdown", "The Return of the Green Goblin" and "Daredevil vs. Spider-Man" was also released.
Region 2
Buena Vista Home Entertainment released the compilations on VHS and DVD in the United Kingdom and select other territories. While the main content was the same, they contained different bonus features from the North American release.
In April 2008, Liberation Entertainment secured the home media rights to select Marvel shows from Jetix Europe in select European territories, including Spider-Man. The company however shuttered their UK division at the end of October 2008, leaving releases of the show in limbo.
Clear Vision later took over rights in the UK, Sweden, and Germany and released the complete series in season sets. Season 1 on June 22, 2009, Season 2 on August 3, 2009, Season 3 on August 17, 2009, Season 4 on September 14, 2009 and Season 5 on October 19, 2009. The company followed this off with a complete series boxset released on November 11, 2011.
Other releases
A Canadian DVD containing three episodes from the "Mutant Agenda" episodes. This is a reissue of the 1997 Marvel-New World/Telegenic VHS release (and it was mastered from one of those VHS releases); as a "Bonus" two episodes from the 1990s Iron Man TV series are included, just like on the VHS release. There are no audio/subtitle selections.
Canadians also received another DVD release of the first season two-parter "The Hobgoblin". This was a re-release of the 1997 VHS release from Fox Video; the video quality of the episodes on the DVD is that of a VHS transfer. There are no bonus features or audio/subtitle selections on this DVD either.
A VCD release by Magnavision Home Video.
A boxed set of all the DVDs was released in Poland, simply entitled "Spider-Man: 5 DVD Set". The front of the box features the same graphics as "The Ultimate Villain Showdown". DVDs including random assortments of episodes were also distributed with various magazines, ranging from entire story arcs to two or three episodes per DVD.
Several two-episode DVDs were released by Marvel in 2002 prior to the acquisition by Disney.
3 DVDs with 2 episodes each were released regionally for Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia with Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian dubs on them in 2005.
The entire first season was available on Xbox Live and iTunes through Disney XD.
All five seasons are currently available for digital purchase on Vudu and Amazon under the title 'Marvel Comics Spider-Man'.
The entire series was available on Disney+ but was subsequently removed. Later on May 2 it made its return to the service.
There were also unlicensed DVDs that had The Adventure Continues on them that contained two episodes from most of the movies that were released by Marvel Films/New World Entertainment. For example, one was Spider-Man - Blade the Vampire Hunter which contained two episodes which were "Blade, the Vampire Hunter" and "The Immortal Vampire", a two-part story episode from the second season, making it like a movie based on the toy line, Spider-Man: Vampire Wars.
Legacy
Spider-Verse
The last two episodes of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, about multiple Spider-Man characters crossing dimensions to different universes, was the first Spider-Man story involving parallel universes. This inspired the Spider-Verse, which later appeared in various Spider-Man comics, cartoons and films in the early 21st century, the most notable of which being the animated Spider-Verse feature films produced by Sony Pictures Animation.
Spiritual successor and possible revival
On November 1, 2014, at the Comikaze Expo, where the show's 20th anniversary was celebrated, John Semper Jr. revealed that much of the cast and crew of Spider-Man, himself included, had agreed to reunite for a new crowdfunded series entitled "War of the Rocket Men". In addition, in late 2014, Semper Jr. started a website (cartoonspiderman.com) that features behind-the-scenes content, podcasts about the show, a link to the Facebook page that Semper regularly posts on and more. In April 2016, Semper's YouTube account posted a video in which he revealed that he had written a short story following up on the series, detailing Peter finding Mary Jane with Madame Web's help in a Victorian-age setting, referring to the story as "an autobiographical fan-fiction" in which he reminisced on what it was like writing the last episodes of the series, as well as detailing how Peter and Mary Jane would have been reunited, adding one could think of it as "the lost episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Semper explained that he would be releasing this as a perk on a crowd-funding campaign for "War of the Rocket Men". The video also featured the returning voices of Christopher Daniel Barnes and Sara Ballantine as Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson respectively in an audio promo prologue entitled "Peter Finds Mary Jane".
After X-Men '97 was announced as a revival of the X-Men TV series by Marvel Studios for the streaming service Disney+, it marked a possibility that Spider-Man could be revived for Disney+ as well. In July 2022, Semper addressed this, stating that he would happily do it if he had the same creative freedom he had on the series:
I think, right now, they're doing an updated Spider-Man. They've done a number of [television] shows since mine and they're doing [Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man] right now, I don't think that the politics of the situation will allow for [Spider-Man: The Animated Series] to be revived. If they did revive it, I don't know if I'd get to be involved. I was in a very good position because I was really able to have a lot of creative control over that show after [season one]. I don't know if I'd ever have that situation again, so it would really make it a different kind of thing. I don't know if I'd get that on a Spider-Man revival given it's now a property that's owned by [Disney and Sony] and there's a lot of politics involved, but hey, if someone wants to call me and say, 'Hey, we're gonna do more episodes and we're going to leave you alone', I'd be there in a heartbeat.—John Semper, showrunner of The Animated Series