Worst Spider-Man Animated Series

[mysterio1989]

I'm going to be that guy but recently I've started disowning my nostalgia for the 90's cartoon Spider-Man. Yes it had great voice acting (most of the time anyway) and some stellar stories and great team ups but overall I found the show was more interested in the visuals department than it did animation thus resulting in its recycled animation a sin I will never forgive in any form of animation regardless of the era. Spider-Man had next to no agility, his spider sense was atrocious and I found the character design for Spider-Man to bulky and his fights lackluster in relying more on his webbing majority of the battles. I won't critic the weapons given the censors at the time. In short the show hasn't aged well.

To me a good animated Spider-Man would be a show that displays in powers to its fullest showing off his incredible agility and reflex not riding a motorcycle to catch a non powered Batroc.

[Tuck]

That and coming after Spectacular Spider-Man was unfortunate timing. Still, I can't selfishly fault the show for that.

The thing is that Spectacular did go away so Ultimate could be made. Spectacular wasn't canceled by CW(was it?), Sony sold the TV rights back to Marvel. Then Disney wanted to make their own cartoon.

That said, I don't hate Ultimate Spider-Man, it's just clearly for children, and only children. It's not really a proper general audiences show with generational appeal, which feels unnecessary. But, oh well.

[TheLemsterPju]

The thing is that Spectacular did go away so Ultimate could be made. Spectacular wasn't canceled by CW(was it?), Sony sold the TV rights back to Marvel. Then Disney wanted to make their own cartoon.

I'm aware of that. Still can't fault Ultimate for it. As soon as Marvel/Disney got the TV rights back, there was no way they were going to pay Sony a sizable fee for something they had zero control over.

At least it's nowhere near as crazy as the whole FOX situation.

[Red Z]

Ultimate Spider-Man. It's supposed to be funny, but it's just grating.

The way I see it is that there was bound to be a new interpretation of the character at some point. I compare how Ultimate Spider-Man is to Spider-Man as the 80s and current TMNT shows are to the Mirage comics. Only with TMNT the drastic change in tone between incarnations came so early and were more mainstream that it became more cemented in most people's minds than the original comics. Spider-Man has had pretty much the same personality for a little over 50 years in all media....until the Ultimate cartoon when it began to pander to the "new" younger audience.

That's one thing I've always liked about Spidey. Batman fans love to preach about how there are many interpretations of the character and they're all equally valid, but that's a bad thing to me, as it only results in the character ultimately coming across as lacking a defined identity.

[Gemini Saga]

Come on, who did vote in the 67' series? It was fun, respected the character, was a Sam Raimi base for his Spidey's movies and result in some of the best memes of all time.

[Dr. Skeleton]

I picked the 1994 Spidey series. I thought the characters were handled poorly, Peter acted pretty douche in the series, the animation was shotty and at times recycled. Not a fan of Black Cat and hated that she was a series regular pretty much replacing Betty Brant for some reason. I also hated that the Fox censors had this show on a tight leash in which they couldn't use words like "death", "kill" and even "sinister" despite that the X-Men cartoon was allowed to use that word regarding Mr. Sinister which I thought was stupid. Therefore the Sinister Six was called the Insidious Six in the show.

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

In terms of writing, it's USM, easily.

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

I'm aware of that. Still can't fault Ultimate for it. As soon as Marvel/Disney got the TV rights back, there was no way they were going to pay Sony a sizable fee for something they had zero control over.

At least it's nowhere near as crazy as the whole FOX situation.

USM's failure really has nothing to do with SSM.

[a0040pc]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the 1981 Spider-Man series. From watching that you would think that Doctor Doom is Spider-Man's main foe and I can see why Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was more popular.

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

This is probably how I would rate the shows from best to worst:

1) Spectacular Spider-Man
2) Spider-Man (1994)
3) Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
4) Spider-Man (1981)
5) Spider-Man (1967)
6) Spider-Man Unlimited
7) Spider-Man (2003)
8) Ultimate Spider-Man

[a0040pc]

For me it is

1) Spider-Man (1994)
2) Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends
3) Ultimate Spider-Man
4) Spectacular Spider-Man
5) Spider-Man (1967)
6) Spider-Man (1981)
7) Spider-Man Unlimited
8) Spider-Man (2003)

[Gemini Saga]

I hope noboby thinks something is bad just because it is old. This is the dumbest way to judge something.

[Moriarty]

Ultimate by far. its the worst ADHD cartoon i've ever seen.

[AdamFTF]

The way I see it is that there was bound to be a new interpretation of the character at some point. I compare how Ultimate Spider-Man is to Spider-Man as the 80s and current TMNT shows are to the Mirage comics. Only with TMNT the drastic change in tone between incarnations came so early and were more mainstream that it became more cemented in most people's minds than the original comics. Spider-Man has had pretty much the same personality for a little over 50 years in all media....until the Ultimate cartoon when it began to pander to the "new" younger audience.

I would say that since he's been the same guy for half a century with very little change, most fans would take that as his 'definite' characterization. But I still can't get mad at Ultimate for taking a chance and wanting to be different. Personally, I think that's were a lot of the hatred for it comes from. It's so unfamiliar that it created whiplash immediately when the first episode aired, and the impression is still kept in many fan's minds.

So no. I can't say "It's not Spider-Man", because something like Ultimate was bound to happen eventually. Just like with TMNT, only much much later.

That and coming after Spectacular Spider-Man was unfortunate timing. Still, I can't selfishly fault the show for that.

I'm glad you said that bolded part, because if you didn't I would have.

The problem with Spider-Man cartoons is that if they follow the comic book concept, they're all going to be pretty much the same. The only difference is whether Peter Parker is in high school or in college. However, every once in a while a cartoon comes along that goes a bit off the rails and the comic fans are usually the hardest on them. And yet, I just can't help but respect those shows for trying. They may not be perfect. Heck, sometimes they're not even good, but at least they dare to be different. These shows also have a tendency of introducing a whole load of stuff from other parts of the Marvel Universe. Spider-Man Unlimited gets a lot of crap because it took Spider-Man out of his usual life in New York. However, it also introduced or riffed on all these fantastic MU concepts like Spider-Man 2099, Counter-Earth, The Knights of Wundagore and Machine Man X-51. Ultimate Spider-Man gets crap for being more aimed at kids, but it gave Spider-Man a team with all sorts of good Marvel characters in it. Also, though it didn't work out that great, I give them props for trying to get into Spidey's head in a way other than him monologuing his problems as he swings around the city. The only really different show that seems get a free pass is Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.

[Ursalink]

Seriously, people, I don't understand your problem with "Ultimate Spider-Man". If there was a disappointing Spider-Man's series, it was the version of 2003.