5 Reasons to Love Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Will Webb

11 years ago

For those of you raised in the late 80s and early 90, I hope your parents didn’t own a TV, because that’s the only excuse for not already loving Spider-Man The Animated Series. But, if you still need some convincing, here are 5 reasons why you should already love the show!

5. All your favourite storylines!

The alien suit! Green Goblin! Secret Wars! The Clone Saga! (just kidding). In a long run, they managed to cover an incredible variety of the comic’s plots, and due to the form, they even managed to do so in a streamlined way. In particular, the alien suit three-parter slims down that complex plot so well that it’s now used as inspiration for re-tellings of the saga in the books and other media. Not bad going for a kid’s cartoon!

4. All the villains!

The series was originally intended to tie into James Cameron‘s Spider-Man movie (you know…the one that Sam Raimi eventually did). Because of that, they had to hold off using the Green Goblin, which meant that they chose to focus on other Spidey villains instead. Hobgoblin is much more important, Mysterio gets a nod for once, and Hydroman even shows up when they couldn’t get the rights to Sandman. Morbius is also there… A little too much. Honestly I think he’s in every episode, or at least that’s what it feels like.

3. Awesome Voice Acting

Christopher Daniel Barnes is so good that he overshadows any other Spidey voice actor, and quite possibly every other superhero voice actor (with the exception of Kevin Conroy, aka Batman). He nails Peter as a nice, quiet guy, as equally as he nails Spider-Man as a snarky, quick witted hero. No-one’s managed to juggle the two aspects of the role quite like it, either before or after. As testament to how good he is, I still hear his voice in my head when I read Spidey lines in the comics.

2. Spidey teams up!

All your favourite heroes get a chance with our friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler! Cap (of the America variety) gets a prolonged look-in during Spidey’s wranglings with the Red Skull, Doctor Strange makes an important appearance, and the Punisher, unbelievably, has repeat appearances. The Punisher. In a PG series where Spidey can’t even throw punches. Let that sink in.

1. Best Theme Song Ever

It has the coolest of any 90s cartoon theme. Okay maybe it ties with X-Men. This might sound like a jokey point that I’ve chosen to fill out the list, but honestly it’s the coolest thing you’ll hear today. Watch the video, try it and tell me I’m wrong. If you listened to this every morning, as you’re chewing your toast and drinking your orange juice, you would spontaneously develop superpowers and use them to fight crime. It is worth watching the show purely for the theme song, and that’s pretty amazing if you ask me. Or spectacular. Or ultimate… you get my drift.

Do you love Spider-Man The Animated Series? Or are you an Ultimate Spider-Man fan (LOL)?
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