Everybody’s got Spider-Man on the brain right now with Spider-Man: No Way Home proving to be the biggest box office hit since the pandemic hit. So I figured this would be a great time to dive into the Multiverse of Spidey in his various animated incarnations. Full disclosure: I intended to do a full in-depth series focusing on each cartoon, but due to work and the holidays I haven’t had the time. I will dive into these shows in-depth at a later time, but for now, this is just an overview.
Marvel Comics’ web-slinger, a.k.a. Peter Parker, was created by the legendary Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and made his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962. This was the last issue of that comic book series and Spider-Man was introduced in that issue because the publisher didn’t think the character would go over well. HA! Needless to say, Spider-Man went on to become Marvel’s flagship hero.
The character crawled into mass cultural awareness in the cartoon Spider-Man which debuted on ABC Saturday mornings in 1967. This series was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, which had previously delivered the extremely limited animated Marvel Super Heroes cartoon for syndication. Grantray-Lawrence had previously only created animation for commercials and other shorter projects. It turns out that the studio was not equipped to handle episodic shows and following the production of Spider-Man Season 1, it was taken over by distributor Krantz Films.
There is NO WAY you are unaware of this wonky ’60s version of Spider-Man. For starters, it has been meme’d to death, most famously with the two Spider-Men pointing at each other seen at the top of this page. This was so ubiquitous that it was parodied in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, with many hoping to see it recreated in No Way Home, but that’s a bit too precious, don’t you think?
But even more so, this series brought us the legendary theme song, “Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can…” with lyrics by Academy Award winner Paul Francis Webster and music by Bob Harris. Not only has the song been referenced in earlier films, like the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man, but an instrumental version is the actual theme song used in the current cycle of Spider-Man flicks, heard whenever the famous Marvel scroll appears at the opening of each.
One of the biggest cost-cutting measures taken by the Grantray-Lawrence was eliminating a lot of the webbing from Spidey’s costume to make it easier to animate. Further cost-cutting measures occurred in later seasons, as most of Web-Head’s famous comic book rogues were dropped so that Krantz Films could recycle footage from its existing shows like Rocket Robin Hood. Infamously, the episode “Revolt in the Fifth Dimension” which featured a lot of this recycled footage, was pulled from repeat airings because it was deemed too trippy and psychedelic for its target kid audience.
The voice actors on this show provided multiple voices, with Paul Soles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Paul Kligman as J. Jonah Jameson, and Peg Dixon as Betty Brant and May Parker, among others. Bernard Cowan served as the narrator.
Ultimately, there were 52 episodes of this version of Spider-Man. This series was syndicated sporadically over the years, so there was some recognition among viewers that might not have seen it when it aired originally. Scattered episodes were also released on VHS in the ensuing decades. The entire series was released on DVD, but that boxed set was expensive when it was first released and is now long out of print, so it goes for hundreds of dollars. The rights to this series appear to be complicated as it isn’t available to stream anywhere.
Spider-Man was animated again and was once more voiced by Paul Soles, about a decade later on the 1979 series Spider-Woman, which focused on Marvel’s relatively new character, Jessica Drew.
That cartoon aired on ABC for only one season, lasting for 16 episodes. Spider-Man guest-starred in at least two episodes.
Spider-Man’s presence was meant to bolster interest since Spider-Woman was such a new character that many weren’t familiar with. (Plus, the version of Spider-Woman on the cartoon bore little resemblance to the character in the comics.) The only odd thing about Spider-Man’s appearance on Spider-Woman is that his eyes were colored yellow. He never appeared as Peter Parker. Spider-Woman is available in its entirety on Disney+.
Spidey returned to a headlining role in two cartoons in 1981– the syndicated Spider-Man and NBC’s Saturday morning hit Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.
Both shows were produced by Marvel Productions, who had created Spider-Woman, with animation by the Japanese studio Toei and used the same designs for recurring characters Peter Parker, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, and the various villains and guest-stars.
The design for Peter Parker– yellow turtleneck, jeans, and denim jacket– was adopted by Tom Holland when promoting Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The 1981 Spider-Man and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends were produced at the same time and oddly the scripts for a few episodes were used for both with some tweaks. The Spider-Man episode “Revenge of the Green Goblin” and the Amazing Friends episode “Triumph of the Green Goblin” (that series’ pilot) are virtually identical. The same is true for Spider-Man‘s “The Web of Nephilia” and Amazing Friends‘ “Attack of the Arachnoid.”
The syndicated Spider-Man only lasted for one season, consisting of 26 episodes. But bizarrely, Amazing Friends lasted for three seasons, although that only added up to 24 episodes. But then again, Amazing Friends only aired once a week, whereas Spider-Man aired Monday-Friday.
Despite being created at the same time, it seems that a lot of the production of these two shows was separate. On Spider-Man, Ted Schwartz voiced Peter Parker/Spider-Man, with Morgan Lofting as Aunt May, William Woodson as J. Jonah Jameson, and Mona Marshall as Betty Brant, Peter’s love interest.
On Amazing Friends, Dan Gilvezan voiced Spider-Man/Peter Parker, with June Foray as Aunt May. The one overlapping actor was William Woodson who also voiced J.Jonah Jameson (as well as Namor and Doctor Strange). Jameson was not as major a character on Amazing Friends as he was on Spider-Man, though, making only a few scattered appearances.
The big difference between these two programs is that on Amazing Friends, Spidey was partnered with two additional superheroes, the former X-Men Bobby Drake/Iceman (Frank Welker) and Anjelica Jones/Firestar (Kathy Garver). As has been widely reported, originally producers wanted to use the Human Torch, but the rights to that character were tied up with a TV movie that never got made, which led to the invention of Firestar who was not an existing Marvel Comics character.
In earlier episodes, the three heroes were in something of a love triangle… or rectangle, when you factored in bully Flash Thompson (also Welker). But over the course of the series, the main characters also had other love interests.
Both shows featured a rogues gallery of Marvel villains including Dr. Doom, Magneto, Kraven the Hunter, Doctor Octopus, Kingpin, The Shocker, The Chameleon, Green Goblin, Mysterio, and The Sandman. Dr. Doom was a recurring foe on Spider-Man, with an ongoing plotline that involved a revolution in his country of Latveria.  Spider-Man also involved the underworld of Marvel including Silvermane, Hammerhead, and Caesar Cicero, as well as the Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime, and The Enforcers, as well as Black Cat and The Lizard.  On Amazing Friends, The Spider-Friends also faced off against Loki, Electro, and Mordred. An episode featuring The Red Skull is “lost.” It was removed from reruns and isn’t on Disney+ because of its depiction of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.
Both shows also incorporated appearances by other Marvel heroes. Captain America and Nomor the Sub-Mariner appeared on both. Namor’s cousin, Namorita, also appeared on Spider-Man, as did Ka-Zar and his sabretooth tiger Zabu, and Medusa, who is revealed to have a romantic past with Spider-Man, and the Inhumans.  Amazing Friends featured guest appearances by Sunfire, Doctor Strange, Shanna the She-Devil (although the “She-Devil” label is dropped perhaps because it was a kid’s cartoon), the Hulk, the Black Knight, Thor, and cameos by Iron Man and Daredevil. The Hulk was given his own spin-off series in 1982.  The X-Men made multiple appearances with the intention of giving them their own series, but that didn’t immediately materialize.
The solo Spider-Man cartoon was pretty obscure and didn’t air everywhere. Some episodes were released on VHS in the ’80s and ’90s. It’s also a SNOOZE.
Amazing Friends is far more enjoyable because Spidey had two friends to play off of. It also helps that with three protagonists, a villain or two, and guest stars, it moves a lot quicker.
Both shows are available on Disney+.
Spider-Man would go on to one of his longest-running and most influential series roughly a decade after Amazing Friends ended. Following the success of the X-Men animated series, FOX Kids began airing a new Spider-Man series on Saturday mornings beginning in 1994. This series was produced by Marvel Entertainment Group, Marvel Films Animation, and Tokyo Movie Shinsha.
Christopher Daniel Barnes, who might also be known for playing Greg Brady in the two theatrical Brady Bunch movies, voiced Peter/Spider-Man on this version. When it originally aired, the show was simply called Spider-Man but over the years, people have started calling it Spider-Man: The Animated Series, emulating the title of Batman: The Animated Series, perhaps to differentiate it from other Spider-Man media projects.
This series lasted for five seasons and 65 episodes and featured ongoing storylines that stretched out for entire seasons. It also borrowed more heavily and faithfully from the comics than previous adaptations, although there were tweaks. For instance, Hobgoblin is a major villain that exists without a Green Goblin to precede him. The Sinister Six were also renamed the Insidious Six for reasons unknown.
This series was wildly popular and probably helped the first live-action Spider-Man get made. It was a sophisticated cartoon for its time, but some elements haven’t aged that well. The animation was a mixture of traditional 2D cell animation and computer graphics (usually for buildings or vehicles) which look awful now. (In all fairness, some cartoons are still using this hybrid animation style and it still looks like garbage.)
The techno/rock theme song is definitely a product of its time, but… it’s still kind of a banger.
Helping the animated series in terms of popularity was the extensive Toy Biz action figure line that accompanied it. There had to have been HUNDREDS of Spider-Man toys made while this series was on the air!
I’m not going to list all of the villains and guest-stars this time, because the series just lasted for so long. This show did mark the animated debuts of Venom and Carnage among others. And there was a two-part crossover with the X-Men, and another “event” storyline, “Secret Wars,” which incorporated the Fantastic Four, Captain America, and Iron Man, as well as Storm from the X-Men.
In fact, it was the popularity of the Spider-Man cartoon, along with X-Men, that led to the production of additional Marvel animated series– the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and The Silver Surfer.
While the ’60s Spider-Man cartoon has a certain camp value, and Amazing Friends was a huge hit at the time, the ’90s Spider-Man Saturday morning series is one of the most beloved and influential iterations of the Wall-Crawler ever. It is available in its entirety on Disney+.
That said, there have been plenty of Spider-Man cartoons since this one, but none have made the same impact, so I am just going to touch on them.
The last new episode of the ’90s Spider-Man aired in 1998. In 1999, Fox followed it with Spider-Man Unlimited, which borrowed heavily from Warner Bros.’ recent hit Batman Beyond. This series gave Peter a nanotech suit which was basically the Spider-Man 2099 costume and sent him off to a “Counter-Earth” parallel world. It was loathed by fans and was taken off the air by FOX Kids after a few episodes, to make room for additional airings of Pokémon and Digimon. (Oh man, the ’90s.) FOX would eventually air the rest of the 13 episodes of the first season, but the Spider-Man Unlimited didn’t last beyond that.
If you’re curious, this series is also on Disney+.
After the success of the Raimi films, Spidey returned in a computer-animated show, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series which was modeled after the films’ continuity in 2003. In an… interesting movie, this program aired on MTV of all places!
It was this decision that probably sank this version. While MTV had animated hits in the past, it was more the irreverent likes of Beavis & Butthead and Daria and the edgy Æon Flux.  Spider-Man: The New Animated Series should have probably aired on a network on Saturday mornings.
That, plus the computer animation was an eyesore. This show looks AWFUL!
This series was released on DVD but is not available to stream at this time.
It had a pretty awesome voice cast, however, with Neil Patrick Harris as Peter/Spidey, pop singer Lisa Loeb as Mary Jane Watson, and Ian Ziering as Harry Osborn.
Even before Disney bought Marvel, the two companies began a partnership and the rest of Spidey’s animated exploits aired via one of Disney’s outlets.  The Spectacular Spider-Man aired for two seasons on The CW and Disney XD.
That was followed by Ultimate Spider-Man which lasted for four seasons on Disney XD. This series had Peter teamed with four other heroes, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Nova, and White Tiger. This series lasted for 104 episodes, which is a lot more than the ’90s series, but… I don’t know that it made the same cultural impact. But maybe in ten years, I’ll be singing a different tune.
The same thing might be said for the next series, once again, simply entitled Spider-Man, a new cartoon that debuted in 2017. This series featured supporting roles for Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen. That program aired for three seasons and 58 episodes, once again, aired on Disney XD.
In August of this year, Disney Junior rolled out a new show with the name Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, but this time those friends are Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen. This was accompanied by a pre-school-aimed toy line. 14 episodes have been produced so far.
Finally, Disney+ recently announced an animated series called Spider-Man: Freshman Year which will stream on Disney+ and will be based on the current Tom Holland version of the character, presumably as he graduates from high school to college.
What is your favorite animated version of Spider-Man?
