Spider-man '98

[Kevinroc]

No one saying Sandman? c'mon, now

Also Human torch team up against Beetle, Norman back as Demogoblin, and Maximum Carnage w X-Men guest stars

Sandman is a must since he wasn't allowed in the old show. (Electro barely got in but there were some massive changes to him.)

Norman should return as the big bad in the finale.

[Spider-Tiger]

I think John Semper Jr. was going to make it so that Peter and the real Mary Jane wouldn't be married. Ever. At the time, he subscribed to a similar thought process as Marvel Editorial and only did The Wedding involving the clone so he could get it out of the way. If he returns to the series as showrunner, I fear we may see a revival of that particular story outcome. However, if he isn't brought back on board, then I would definitely like to see KLH, the Clone Saga and JMS adapted.

Yeah. Semper seems interested in coming back, but X-men got a completely new showrunner (albeit they recently fired him.) I'm hoping if he comes back at all, it's in a consultant role at best. I don't particularly care for any of his ideas for a season 6 (MJ being trapped in Victorian London and Peter fighting Jack the Ripper Carnage) and IMO it doesn't really mesh with the approach they've taken with the X-men series.

There's really no way to get around the marriage in the show unless they drag out finding MJ indefinitely. The couple was legally married regardless of whether it was actually a clone or not. And given the target demographic for the 90s revivals is older, and the new popularity of Ultimate Spider-man, I'm hoping they would feel differently about it.

[CaptainUniverse]

Yeah. Semper seems interested in coming back, but X-men got a completely new showrunner (albeit they recently fired him.) I'm hoping if he comes back at all, it's in a consultant role at best. I don't particularly care for any of his ideas for a season 6 (MJ being trapped in Victorian London and Peter fighting Jack the Ripper Carnage) and IMO it doesn't really mesh with the approach they've taken with the X-men series.

There's really no way to get around the marriage in the show unless they drag out finding MJ indefinitely. The couple was legally married regardless of whether it was actually a clone or not. And given the target demographic for the 90s revivals is older, and the new popularity of Ultimate Spider-man, I'm hoping they would feel differently about it.

Same here. Oh, I guess I forgot to say that I'd like to see the Cosmic Spider-Man arc but...I don't think Marvel has the TV/Movie rights to Captain Universe, Hasbro does.

[Kevinroc]

Same here. Oh, I guess I forgot to say that I'd like to see the Cosmic Spider-Man arc but...I don't think Marvel has the TV/Movie rights to Captain Universe, Hasbro does.

Marvel did some retconning to the Captain Universe/Uni-Power/Enigma Force over the years. I do believe it belongs to them.

[Android 17]

It would be cool if the show also continues having guest heroes/villains. An episode with Spidey fighting Juggernaut or Magneto would be great.

[CaptainUniverse]

Marvel did some retconning to the Captain Universe/Uni-Power/Enigma Force over the years. I do believe it belongs to them.

There is hope after all! Cosmic Spider-Man '98, here we come! That means we can get the epic battles with Magneto, Grey Hulk, The Tri-Sentinel and...um...Terminus! With Quasar as a guest star!!

[Spider-Tiger]

Also on the wishlist: an Aunt Anna who is written as something other than a one-note shrew.

[Kevinroc]

Also on the wishlist: an Aunt Anna who is written as something other than a one-note shrew.

It's funny that Anna was so terrible in that show. It made you wonder why she agreed to set her niece up with May's nephew (or why May is even her friend at all).

[Android 17]

Would you guys dig an episode where MJ and Black Cat team up like they recently did in their comic? That would be pretty sweet.

[Spider-Tiger]

It's funny that Anna was so terrible in that show. It made you wonder why she agreed to set her niece up with May's nephew (or why May is even her friend at all).

Probably the weirdest and most unnecessary creative choice in that series. And there were a lot.

Would you guys dig an episode where MJ and Black Cat team up like they recently did in their comic?
That would be pretty sweet.

Absolutely! (Just without the Jackpot stuff please)

[CaptainUniverse]

Absolutely! (Just without the Jackpot stuff please)

Cosigned. They could adapt the Beyond one-shot into a nice, self-contained episode or as part of a larger arc.

[Alan2099]

If they did an episode where Mary Jane got into action, I'd really like it to draw from that story where MJ was possessed and transformed into Red Sonja. They might have to give her a different name though.

I'd also really love to see episodes with Judas Traveler, Slapstick, and The Swarm. And of course Sandman.

The Sandman appearance could even lead up to an actual Sinister Six episode or two.

[Android 17]

Absolutely! (Just without the Jackpot stuff please)

Agreed. Let’s let her do her soap opera run on Secret Hospital while we’re at it lol.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Yeah. Semper seems interested in coming back, but X-men got a completely new showrunner (albeit they recently fired him.) I'm hoping if he comes back at all, it's in a consultant role at best. I don't particularly care for any of his ideas for a season 6 (MJ being trapped in Victorian London and Peter fighting Jack the Ripper Carnage) and IMO it doesn't really mesh with the approach they've taken with the X-men series.

There's really no way to get around the marriage in the show unless they drag out finding MJ indefinitely. The couple was legally married regardless of whether it was actually a clone or not. And given the target demographic for the 90s revivals is older, and the new popularity of Ultimate Spider-man, I'm hoping they would feel differently about it.

It's a bit of a double-edged sword, IMO.

Semper coming back could be the biggest problem. Like you said, his ideas and attitudes would kill off a lot of hype for a Spider-Man '98 right off the bat (at least with fans). His writing would have to be better too. X-Men '97 set a standard that would be hard for the 90s writers of Spider-Man to match.

So yeah, ideally you'd get a new team. But also, a new team would be subject to all the weird creative decisions in that show. Ergo, Aunt Anna would still hate Peter more than Hitler. Kraven would still be a good guy. Black Cat would still be a super soldier. Etc. (X-Men '97 doesn't have that problem because even though it's not a 1:1 adaptation of the comics, pretty much all the characters resemble their 90s comic counterparts. The only creative restrictions the new writers have there is what mutants they can/can't use).

So if you get a new creative team in the first place, IMO you might as well let them do a new show altogether. Like, at that point, it would seem a bit pointless to tell the marriage stories in Semper's continuity of all places, unless it's done solely to cash in on 90s nostalgia and synergy with X-Men '97.

Still, if I had to brainstorm ideas...

Like everyone else said, they should prioritize the marriage years. Get Peter back with the real MJ in episode 1. Maybe even do a short timeskip and just start with them together. You know, kinda like how X-Men '97 already starts with Bishop in present day.

I'd love to see Kraven's Last Hunt. Unfortunately, it would be really hard to pull off here. Again, good guy Kraven. I don't want to say it's impossible, but it wouldn't be a cakewalk for the writers. Yet another reason why you'd need top writers for the show.

No one wants to hear this, but a good version of the Clone Saga would work (sorry lol). We know Miles Warren had a donor in the original show, we just never found out who it was (obviously Norman). So you can do the Clone Saga in TAS Peter's own continuity this time. Heck, you can even tie it to the Season 5 finale. Peter can get gaslighted that he is a clone, and his character arc can be about how he refuses to become like Spider-Carnage.

Building off the Clone Saga, you can use that as an opportunity to reintroduce Norman/Green Goblin as the sane evil mastermind of the comics, and have him compete with Spectacular's Norman/Green Goblin for best depiction of the character. Following that, you can do all the Goblin stories of the late 90s/early 2000s (Revenge of the Green Goblin, Death in the Family, etc.).

Speaking of the 2000s, you can totally do the JMS run. TAS Peter was 19 in 1994 when the show starts, so if we do the math he'd be 26 in 2001 when JMS' run starts. That's a perfect age to become a school teacher. Heck, the whole JMS run might even be up Semper's alley (assuming he actually comes back). There's lots of mystic stuff in JMS' run he might be fond of. I can totally see him having fun with Morlun and Shathra and the totem plot. Like, in a weird and ironic way, it's kinda up his alley, lol.

Only other thing I can think of is maybe some horror stuff. One of the my favorite things about Spider-Man TAS has always been the atmosphere. In spite of all the censorship, they managed to make quite a few "scary" episodes. (Night of the Lizard, The Alien Costume Saga, the Man-Spider and Morbius episodes, etc.). Since it seems to be what they excel at, they should do more of that. They should definitely bring back Venom. Venom's always been the big breakout from that show - having gone on to influence how we do Venom in comics and the adaptations (won't bring up examples 'cause you know what they are). Heck, I love Spectacular, but even their Eddie Brock/Venom wasn't as creepy IMO. So definitely more Venom!

Also, more Spider-Verse stuff wouldn't be a bad idea now that it's a brand. Especially since Spider-Verse started with TAS. Since it's the late 90s, you can bring in Spider-Girl for a few crossovers. And you can do Baby May in the show's main universe.

That's all I got for now.

[Spider-Tiger]

It's a bit of a double-edged sword, IMO.

Semper coming back could be the biggest problem. Like you said, his ideas and attitudes would kill off a lot of hype for a Spider-Man '98 right off the bat (at least with fans). His writing would have to be better too. X-Men '97 set a standard that would be hard for the 90s writers of Spider-Man to match.

So yeah, ideally you'd get a new team. But also, a new team would be subject to all the weird creative decisions in that show. Ergo, Aunt Anna would still hate Peter more than Hitler. Kraven would still be a good guy. Black Cat would still be a super soldier. Etc. (X-Men '97 doesn't have that problem because even though it's not a 1:1 adaptation of the comics, pretty much all the characters resemble their 90s comic counterparts. The only creative restrictions the new writers have there is what mutants they can/can't use).

So if you get a new creative team in the first place, IMO you might as well let them do a new show altogether. Like, at that point, it would seem a bit pointless to tell the marriage stories in Semper's continuity of all places, unless it's done solely to cash in on 90s nostalgia and synergy with X-Men '97.

Still, if I had to brainstorm ideas...

That's probably the only reason they'd greenlight this show tbh. Especially so as to synergize it with their current x-men series since the 90s continuity already took place in that timeline. A lot of the material from the late 80s to early 2000s would work surprisingly well within the continuity and character dynamics established in the original series.

If I were to write Anna for this series at all, I'd just do so with a little more nuance. Like Peter's absences remind Anna of MJ's absentee father and she doesn't want to see MJ (or May) get hurt like MJ's mother. (In Parallel Lives, MJ herself likened Peter to her father.) And then create a story that acts as an impetus for Anna to soften her opinion and change. But Anna doesn't even get that much "screentime" in the source material.

I have to re-watch the Kraven episodes to be honest. This version of Black Cat is probably one of the more popular depictions of the character in other media and the super soldier stuff is right up the Marvel Studios crossover alley. I wouldn't necessarily consider those major creative limitations though since neither Black Cat nor Kraven are characters I would expect to appear regularly as part of the principal cast.

But yeah they would need a writing team to keep the series at least tonally on par with X-Men 97. And I'm not sure the original team would be capable of that. I like a lot of your ideas.