Marvel's Spider-Man, or simply Spider-Man, is an American animated television series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is a replacement for the previous series, Ultimate Spider-Man, and premiered on August 19, 2017 on Disney XD.
The series was renewed for a second season in early 2018 which premiered on June 18, 2018. The show was retitled Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom for its third season, which was announced on May 30, 2019 and premiered on April 19, 2020.
Synopsis
A gifted teenager named Peter Parker is given spider-like powers when he is bitten by a radioactive spider during a school field trip to Oscorp. After the death of his Uncle Ben at the hands of a burglar, Parker comes to his own terms of becoming a masked superhero named Spider-Man, learning to balance his crime-fighting career with his new enrollment at Horizon High, a school for students with genius-level intellect.
Characters
Main Characters
- Spider-Man / Peter Parker (voiced by Robbie Daymond) - A teenager who was bitten by a genetically-modified spider during a field trip to Oscorp.
- Gwen Stacy (voiced by Laura Bailey) - A student at Horizon High. In this show, Gwen is the niece of Raymond Warren. She briefly takes on the alias of Spider-Gwen when the majority of New York was exposed to Jackal's chemicals but is later cured in the climax of the Spider-Island incident.
- Miles Morales (voiced by Nadji Jeter) - A student of Horizon High who was bitten by the Electrolis Arachnatis spider created by Raymond Warren. Spider-Man became a mentor to Miles. In "Kraven's Amazing Hunt", he discovers Peter Parker is Spider-Man and promises not to tell anyone at school.
- Aunt May Parker (voiced by Nancy Linari) - The aunt of Peter Parker.
- Spider-Girl / Anya Corazon (voiced by Melanie Minichino) - A student at Horizon High and Gwen's best friend. In Season 2, she takes on the alias of Spider-Girl, demonstrating Spider Powers of her own (just like during the Spider-Island incident). So far, Gwen Stacy and Miles Morales know that Anya Corazon is Spider-Girl, but Peter Parker has yet to learn of this.
- Hobgoblin / Harry Osborn (voiced by Max Mittelman) - The son of Norman Osborn and the best friend of Peter Parker. He later discovers Peter Parker is Spider-Man and receives the Hobgoblin armor from his father following the "Spider-Island" incident.
- Max Modell (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) - The headmaster of Horizon High.
- J. Jonah Jameson (voiced by Bob Joles) - The head of Daily Bugle Communications who criticizes Spider-Man.
Villains
- Doctor Octopus / Otto Octavius / Superior Spider-Man (voiсed by Scott Menville) - In this show, Otto Octavius is a scientific prodigy who graduated from school early and became a teacher at Horizon High. An accident by Crimson Dynamo caused Otto's harness with tentacle-like appendages to be fused to his body. He later starts a career as a criminal, renaming himself "Doctor Octopus". In Season 2, Otto's quarrel with Spider-Man had resulted in Otto comatose, but his mind ended up in robotic technology called "The Living Brain". Otto's mind is now currently in Spider-Man's body, whereas Peter Parker is trapped inside the robotic body of the Living Brain. Later on, they switch back and Otto becomes reformed due to his time as Spider-Man and their shared memories. he later sacrifices himself to save Spider-Man.
- Norman Osborn (voiced by Josh Keaton) - Harry's father and the CEO of Oscorp. In the 2-part Season 1 Finale, Norman also takes the alias of the Hobgoblin upon wearing a copy of the Hobgoblin armor.
- Jackal / Raymond Warren (voiсed by John DiMaggio) - In this show, Raymond Warren is the uncle of Gwen Stacy who can turn into an animalistic, green-furred criminal called "The Jackal" trying to steal technology for unknown purposes. In his earlier life, Raymond was a former staff member at Empire State University who was dismissed for his genetic experiments. He was later revealed to have created the spiders that gave Peter and Miles their abilities and he fully intends to use them to create an entire army at his command. He is also an expert of cloning, as he once used a clone of himself as a decoy to fool Spider-Man and the authorities into believing they caught him.
- Eddie Brock / Venom (voiced by Ben Pronsky) - A worker of the Daily Bugle that gets jealous of Peter's progress. This leads him into bonding with the V-252 sample and becoming Venom. In the episode Superior, the V-252 symbiote leaves Brock in an attempt to rebound with Spider-Man. This would lead to the symbiote becoming the main antagonist of season 3.
Gallery
Trivia
- Friendship, family, trust, and growth appear to be the main themes and morals of the series.
- Despite being marketed as a successor/reboot to the previous series Ultimate Spider-Man, the show bears no resemblance to the former.
- The only concepts borrowed from Ultimate Spider-Man are the Web-Warriors name, Peter's gadgets like web-wings, Miles being referred to as Kid Arachnid on merchandising, and most of the production staff carrying over from Ultimate Spider-Man.
- Fans have noted that the character designs on the show are similar to Dreamwork's Voltron: Legendary Defender. This is because Shaun O'Neil, a character designer for Marvel's Spider-Man, also worked on Voltron prior to the series.
- Many elements in this series are borrowed from writer Dan Slott's time on The Amazing Spider-Man comics. The second season would go on to adapt the infamous Superior Spider-Man storyline.
- The third season borrows elements from various comic books featuring Venom.
- It's possible that Spider-Girl was a late addition to the shows main cast, for the artwork leaked before the show's premiere only featured Spider-Man, Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen (and Venom).[1]
- Stephen Wacker has said that despite Miles, Spider-Gwen, and Spider-Girl being the focus in merchandise alongside Spider-Man, that the show is a solo series with occasional team-ups.[2]
- This has been indirectly proven given that Gwen and Anya have been featured less as Ghost-Spider and Spider-Girl in many episodes since both regained their powers in season 2.
- Ever since the series premiered, Horizon High has been the subject of criticism with long-time Spider-Man fans claiming that Peter going to a school where everyone is a genius has ruined the original themes of the Spider-Man brand such as Peter's everyman quality, that the supporting cast lacks distinct personalities and backgrounds, and because it feels like the entire show revolves around the school.
- Most fans who have been known to say this fail to realize that while the show is for anyone who is a fan of Spider-Man, that it's primary audience are those who have never heard of Spider-Man before and will be introduced to the character for the first time.
- Also, many fans have actually claimed to have only watched the first two episodes of each season or the origin shorts which isn't enough to judge the quality of an entire series/season.
- Despite characters from the Fantastic Four and the X-Men being absent from the series, Dan Ducan, supervising director, personally believes that they still exist in the show's universe.[3]
- Kevin Manthei, the composer for Marvel's Spider-Man, confirmed that the Fantastic Four were not going to make an appearance after a fan shared Patrick Brown's artwork of the characters on twitter.[4]
- The most likely explanation for the lack of characters and references from the Fantastic Four and X-Men is because Disney and Marvel lacked the rights to use the characters in film and television at the time and failed to negotiate a deal with 21st Century Fox. In 2019, Disney purchased 21st Century Fox and Marvel regained full rights to use the Fantastic Four and X-Men in film and television, but season 2 of Marvel's Spider-Man was airing the remaining episodes after it's hiatus and season 3 was already in production.
References
- ↑ Disney XD’s Upcoming Spider-Man Animated Series Will Include Miles Morales And Spider-Gwen - An article from the website We Got This Covered.
- ↑ Stephen Wacker's response to a question from his defunct tumblr blog.
- ↑ Dan Duncan about Fantastic Four and X-Men's existence in Marvel's Spider-Man universe.
- ↑ Kevin Manthei's response to a fan saying that the Fantastic Four may appear in Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom.