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Top 5 Spider-Man Voice Actors

Spider-Man. Spider-Man. Does whatever a- NO! ABANDON JOKE! I’ve not sunk that low… yet. *Ahem*

But seriously, we all love Spider-Man. Except when he’s acting all emo and dancing. Or when he switches minds with Doctor Octopus. Or when he stars in an obnoxious cartoons series where Phil Coulson is his high school principal. But those very specific examples aside, we all love Spider-Man. But don’t you think that sometimes the people who play him don’t get enough attention. Oh, I’m not talking about Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield. No, I’m talking about voice actors! A lot of people have been the voice of our favourite web-slinger and we’re here today to count off our top five favourites!

DISCLAIMER! This list is my own personal opinion. And seeing as how I am always right, you should make it you’re opinion too! What’s that? You disagree? There are other choices you think are better? Why don’t you tell me about it as I put this sack over your head and drop you off a bridge?

 

5. Dan Gilvezan

First up is Dan Gilvezan. And when did he voice Spider-Man? In the 1981 animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. This was one of the stranger Spider-Man adaptions. For those of you who don’t know, Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar (who, much like Harley Quinn in Batman: The Animated Series, was created specifically for the series and was later incorporated into official Marvel comics canon) are all students at ESU who team up to fight evil together. Sounds like an okay premise, right? Did I mention they live together with Aunt May and her dog, Ms Lion? And call themselves the “Spider-Friends”? Yeah… as you might have guessed, this was an attempt to recreate DC’s series, Super Friends. *Shudder*

But how was Dan in the series? Actually, pretty damn good! Most previous voice actors playing Spider-Man never sounded quite right to me. Maybe it was because they all sounded too old to be Spider-Man, who usually ranges from 15 years old to mid 20’s. Dan sounded like Spider-Man should have, a young guy, who attends college. But despite that, he still has a power behind his voice. You can tell right away that he’s a superhero. That said, this was only when he was in costume. As Peter Parker, for some reason, he seemed too old. It’s rather strange. Hence, why he’s so low down on this list.

But was this the only time he would voice Spider-Man? No, sir! Years later, he would lend his voice to Spider-Man 2099 in the video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. And… he… was… AWESOME! His voice, while not totally suited to Peter Parker, is ideal for Miguel O’Hara. He is just the right combination of gritty and witty. If they ever come up with a Spider-Man 2099 series (and they’d BETTER!) then Dan should be first choice to be him.

 

4. Josh Keaton

From possibly too old and gritty to young and full of energy! Josh Keaton has been a frequent flier in the Spider-Man voice over club over the years. Not only has he been the wall crawler six times in television and video games but he’s also been the voice of Harry Osborn more than a few times as well. And he is, I think, the epitome of a more youthful Peter Parker. He has been able to capture the early years of Spider-Man perfectly. Having said that, this voice work can extend to older characters. He’s played both ages of the character and held his own on all counts.

Hell, in 2011 he was the voice of Spidey three times! All of which were video games, namely Marvel vs Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (yes, I count them as two different games!) and Spider-Man: Edge of Time. An the year before, he was the voice of Ultimate Spider-Man in the aforementioned Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. And do you want to know something? All of the Spider… men in these games sounded different. But in a good way. Edge of Time has a older Spider-Man slant, Shattered Dimensions Spider-Man was definitely a teenager. Oddly enough, this is an actor who has managed to have a kind of range with one single character! All of these characters voices feel like Spider-Man’s voice, just at different points in his life.

And then there was the television series Spectacular Spider-Man. What can I say about that series? Well…. it was perfect. The characters were perfect. The stories were perfect. The voice actors were perfect. It was PERFECT! And then they had to go and cancel it with that abomination of a series with bloody Drake Bell and NAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!!!!

Let’s move on, shall we?

About the author

Scott Meridew