What would you like to see out of a new Spider-Man animated series?

[Hybrid]

I feel like the time is right for a new Spider-Man animated series, and a good one, for several reasons:

1. They have the perfect platform for it: Disney+. Thus, no middleman and they can just make the best stories they can make.
2. Kevin Feige is the new creative lead of Marvel, thus increasing our chances of good animation.
3. Jeph Loeb is likely no longer at Marvel, thus increasing our chances of good animation even more.

Jeph Loeb was the one who was responsible for all Marvel animation, and under him the crap they put out was the kind that only a five year old could enjoy. He openly thinks cartoons are dumb, despite being in the position to make them, and lo and behold all the crap we got. But now there's a very real chance to get a good Spider-Man animated series again. It's unlikely to be Spectacular Spider-Man though, both due to time passed and it still being owned by Sony, but we can still get something great.

Here's how I'd do it:

1. I'd set Spider-Man as part of a shared world, similar to Spider-Man: The Animated Series in this regard, but the focus is still primarily on his corner. We do get the occasional crossover, but never at the cost of his own mythos.
2. The lore would be "remixed" in a way similar to other series. Spidey and his setting is modernized with Spidey and his cast being Gen Z from the start, similar to how Spider-Man PS4 did it. I would give some villains new backstories and appearances, like how Mr. Negative got his powers from Osborn in PS4, to better tie the lore together.
3. Overall, it distills many elements of different verses, such as the 616 comics (Lee-Ditko, '80s, present), Ultimate, the Raimi Trilogy, the MCU, PS4, and other animated series, to make for a unique take.
4. Going with the shared world idea, I would spin-off other series from this, such as X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, with crossover potential across the board.
5. Each season has a different story but is tied together by common plot threads. The first models itself after Lee-Ditko being about Spidey's origins to becoming his own man, the second is about a more experienced Spider-Man with more appearances from other Marvel properties in the mix like in the '80s, the third is the Symbiote arc, the fourth is about Spidey's adventures in the wide universe, and the fifth is a back to basics return to form.

Anyways, what ideas do you have? Discuss.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

What I want most:
-- Adult Married Spider-Man. Pilot starts with Peter and Mary Jane's wedding. It's done and staged like the Wedding Annual. Kraven the Hunter is the arc villain for Season 1 and it's basically a season long adaptation of KLH. Season 2 will adapt the Hobgoblin mystery with special focus on Kingsley as MJ's fashion designer friend and so on, to sell the betrayal. Season 3 will be Norman Osborn coming back from the dead but done without the Clone Saga, so it will adapt bits of Paul Jenkins' stories, Mark Millar's Marvel Knights Spider-Man, as well as Identity Crisis. Season 4 will by JMS' Spider-man and introduce the Spider-Totem and adapt Civil War/Back in Black/To Have and to Hold. And the final episodes will basically be future-set episodes about Mayday and Annie and Benjy.

[This whole part of Spider-Man history has never really been adapted for animation and won't be retreading stuff and it can in fact serve as a sequel-in-spirit to both the Fox Cartoon and Spectacular Cartoon].

-- Spider-Man Life Story, a Netflix series that adapts Zdarsky's entire story with decade-per-season done as an animated series. I am also okay with a miniseries say 12 one-hour episodes, with each decade covered in two episodes so you can get a density in packing and getting as much detail out of each period into as economical a space as possible. This also allows Netflix to do a deeper-dive into each era than Zdarsky could since he had to pack it in 40 pages of comics, whereas they could have 2 hours per decade, which is a whole movie. So this could be a series of movies.

[This series should preferably be done by the ITSV people since each decade will be done in the style of that time and be a homage to comics' and storylines from that time, you can see Peter aging and progressing in animation which Netflix shows like Bojack Horseman have done].

What I reasonably would like:
-- A Spider-Man Series showing Peter in college, living alone. It needs to adapt the Bronze Age era, so Peter's out of college just broken with MJ and gets in a relationship with Felicia. The first season deals with The owl/octopus war, and then MJ returns to Peter's life and she drops the bombshell that she knows he's Spider-man. You have an established lore about Gwen being dead, about Goblin being dead and so on...so you have a lot of Chekhov's guns to build mysteries around and so on. You can do the Peter/Felicia/MJ love-triangle. You can do flashback episodes that adapt Spider-Man Blue and The Night Gwen Stacy Died. And the finale is of course Peter and MJ getting married. This could go for three seasons at least.

Anyways, what ideas do you have? Discuss.

I generally think a new Spider-Man series should avoid doing some stuff:
-- As few appearances from Marvel heroes as possible.
-- Avoid high school.
-- Generally try and avoid repeating stuff other shows before had done. I mean revisiting the Lee-Ditko era was new and interesting when Weisman did it in Spectacular. It's not so now. I feel a new cartoon should adapt stories and runs that hadn't been adapted before or have otherwise not been done well to start with.

[exile001]

NOT A KID.

That's honestly all I want now, something fresh and not just set at high school age for the 90,000,000,000th time.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

NOT A KID.

That's honestly all I want now, something fresh and not just set at high school age for the 90,000,000,000th time.

You know until Greg Weisman's The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon in 2008...there wasn't a single Spider-Man cartoon that showed Peter in high school. Every cartoon before whether it's the 1967 one with the theme song, Amazing Friends, Fox Spider-Man, MTV Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited...they were all set in college and had an adult Spider-Man. Into the Spider-Verse has three versions of Peter (Blonde, Peter B., Noir) and all are older dudes and non-teenagers.

That just goes to show how this idea of Peter as this perpetual high school kid is something that was never a main defining thing in Spider-Man's history and is only something cooked up fairly recently. When Weisman made Spectacular he said that he wanted Peter to grow and age and he expected Peter to go to college in Season 3 and then age everyone alongside. That ended when the show got cancelled. But Weisman's approach was truest to the Lee-Ditko where Peter was a high school kid who was growing and aging and not a perpetual ageless kid.

Then the series got cancelled and it went over to Disney and under Stephen Wacker and Quesada who produced the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and then the current nosh on TV, we have had ten years of Spider-Man as some brainless teenage doll who is dumber than anyone in his demographic.

[PCN24454]

1. If they’re going to do a modern Spider-Man, don’t have it be about Peter. He’s a crutch by this point.

2. I honestly don’t care if he’s married or part of the Greater Marvel Universe. Just make it NOT A FANFICTION!

3. Know what you want to do with the series. If you want to make it episodic, make it episodic. If you want story arcs, make story arcs. Commit to one idea!!!!

[Hugo Strange]

Something good for a change.

[exile001]

You know until Greg Weisman's The Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon in 2008...there wasn't a single Spider-Man cartoon that showed Peter in high school. Every cartoon before whether it's the 1967 one with the theme song, Amazing Friends, Fox Spider-Man, MTV Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited...they were all set in college and had an adult Spider-Man. Into the Spider-Verse has three versions of Peter (Blonde, Peter B., Noir) and all are older dudes and non-teenagers.

That just goes to show how this idea of Peter as this perpetual high school kid is something that was never a main defining thing in Spider-Man's history and is only something cooked up fairly recently. When Weisman made Spectacular he said that he wanted Peter to grow and age and he expected Peter to go to college in Season 3 and then age everyone alongside. That ended when the show got cancelled. But Weisman's approach was truest to the Lee-Ditko where Peter was a high school kid who was growing and aging and not a perpetual ageless kid.

Then the series got cancelled and it went over to Disney and under Stephen Wacker and Quesada who produced the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and then the current nosh on TV, we have had ten years of Spider-Man as some brainless teenage doll who is dumber than anyone in his demographic.

Yeah, and I think it is massively detrimental despite Spectacular actually being pretty good. I feel the movies have taken a similar arc.

However, I do appreciate that I'm speaking as a Spider-man comic book fan, and am largely against the repeated teenage adaptations as this isn't the Spider-man the audience can see in the comics and I want these shows bringing in new readers as the 90's show did for me.

But these shows aren't being made for me, and they aren't being made to generate comic book sales. They are being made for a younger audience who have just seen a Spider-man movie or two, have a casual interest and will hopefully pick up the toys, games, Burger King meals and other assorted tie-ins.

For my part, I may never watch a Spider-man cartoon again (unless it gets very high praise), and even then I'm only really good for a Blu-Ray purchase or a repeated watch on Netflix (which it won't be on anyway, as everyone and their dog will have their own streaming service by 2025). It's a shame, but it is something I can live without.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

Something good for a change.

Ha ha hah. This is funny and true.


Peter Parker as a teacher in his old high school, married to MJ, and is smart enough to not go absent from work more than once a month.

[Hugo Strange]

Spider-Man by himself, fighting classic villains and dealing with school, job and family drama. Just Spider-Man. No Miles, no Ghost-Spider, no guess hero every episode, just Spider-Man.

[PCN24454]

Spider-Man by himself, fighting classic villains and dealing with school, job and family drama. Just Spider-Man. No Miles, no Ghost-Spider, no guess hero every episode, just Spider-Man.

We already have that. We might as well have Peter retire and replace him with one of the eight million other Spiders who could fill the role.

[Modamy]

Ha ha hah. This is funny and true.


Peter Parker as a teacher in his old high school, married to MJ, and is smart enough to not go absent from work more than once a month.

I don't just want this for a show. I want this in the comics.

[Hugo Strange]

We already have that.

If it's not broke, don't fix it.

I don't just want this for a show. I want this in the comics.

I want this as a status quo.

[Frontier]

My wishlist:

- Spider-Man wins his own fights and doesn't need help from or get saved by his supporting cast on a frequent basis.

- Strong and well-developed supporting cast.

- The civilian aspect is as integral and focused on as the Superhero aspect.

- No other Spider-Heroes other then Spider-Man. At best they should be treated as guest stars or storyline-specific (Clone Saga), but they shouldn't be part of the main cast.

- Limit to a few team-ups per season. They should be a rare, but special, occurance but not a regular feature.

- It is not a team show.

- Memorable and dynamic character designs that stay true to the characters.

- Good animation and well-choreographed fight sequences.

- Villains are treated as serious but engaging villains.

- Serialized and multi-part storyarcs that are well-paced.

- Draws from the entire Spider-Man canon, not just modern stuff.

[Scott Taylor]

Clone Saga. I want them to 1990s it up with married Peter, Ben, Kaine, Norman and the whole shebang.

[Digifiend]

Peter shouldn't be a high school student. If a school does feature, then either Peter should be a teacher, or Miles and/or Gwen would be the student.

If other heroes guest star, then they should have their relative ages to Peter. Not the current situation where Kamala Khan of all people is more seasoned than Peter is (even if Peter was in college that would be good enough to fix that).