(AfroGamers.com) Spider-Man is one of if not the most popular Marvel character of all time. Mind you, I said of all time and not like 2018.
Now, you could say Iron Man but even though he had devoted fans, things didn’t really start to pop for Tony until the movies came out. It’s a shame really because his character was always solid-to-great in the comics–even if he caused most of his troubles.
So we’re talking about Spidey’s cartoons and since we were just talking about Iron Man, his cartoons were usually bad and the 1966 one was often unintentionally funny. I would say “That’s for another article,” but I wouldn’t make it through watching or typing about it. However, what we do have is the five best Spider-Man cartoons.
5. Spider-Man 1967
How about this lasted longer than Iron Man? Of course, now the Iron Man franchise is part of a company dedicated to its success film to film. Guess who’s the winner there in the long run? Anyway, Spider-Man 1967 ran three years and was very similar to superhero and action-adventure cartoons of the time. Villains were up to cartoon evil like robbing a bank or building something for the sole purpose of–I don’t know–destroying the Statue of Liberty. The 1960s was a horrible time to be a villain’s henchman, they would get you wrecked by a hero several times more powerful than you on some nonsense.
Two things great came out of this cartoon: memes and that theme song.
4. Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Of the older Spider-Man cartoons, this is the one most will remember. It aired in 1994 and ended in 1998. It reigned as the longest running Spidey-series until Ultimate Spider-Man came along eight years later. Spider-Man 1994 was similar to X-Men: The Animated Series in that it followed the comics’ storylines closely and was drama first, action second. Unlike X-Men, at times Spider-Man 1994 could seem sluggish when a signature villain was slow to appear.
This series spawned a comic and two main video games: Separation Anxiety and Maximum Carnage (the red SNES cartridge).
Overall, the series decent but suffered from ending on a cliffhanger and featuring a non-canon animated movie as part of one season. It also suffered from not having a proxy for younger viewers. Every superhero cartoon had that teenage character to ease you into that superhero madness. In this Peter Parker was a working, struggling college student. I was nine and didn’t want to be like adult Peter.
3. The Spectacular Spider-Man
This was a fun Spider-Man series. It only lasted two seasons but it did a bit with the few episodes it had. Unfortunately, those few episodes means it would be overlooked by its successor Ultimate Spider-Man. The main reason Spectacular Spider-Man rocked was because it drew from the Ultimate universe, a series of comics I enjoyed. So imagine my surprise when number two aired.
2. Ultimate Spider-Man
Based on the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, this series followed what was done by Spectacular Spider-Man in giving us high school Peter Parker and showing how he dealt with being a hero and a teenager. Honestly, it’s the Spider-Man cartoon I wanted all along and it only took eighteen years to get it.
1. MTV Spider-Man
No, it wasn’t called “MTV Spider-Man” it was Spider-Man: The New Animated Series but that’s a mouthful and not very MTV. This series featured Neil Patrick Harris voicing Spidey and Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin. It picked up after 2002’s Spider-Man film and was done in CGI. Of the Sony-produced Spidey-series this was the better of the two and the one I enjoyed overall.
As is the fate with Sony’s Spider-Man cartoons, it ended far too early and was gone after one season. What a shame.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.