Disney+’s 5-Part Superhero Series Is One of the Best on Any Platform

Disney+ has become the home of many a superhero series, most of them based on Marvel heroes. It’s not surprising, since the House of Mouse purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009 and has reaped the rewards ever since. But while fans might gravitate toward shows like Loki and WandaVision, the Disney+ library also contains animated and live-action Marvel shows. One of these shows, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, remains one of the most iconic Marvel adaptations of all time, due to how it brings the web-slinger’s mythos to life and how its influence continues to be felt to this day.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series once again follows Peter Parker (Christopher Daniel Barnes) as he juggles a college career, taking photographs for the Daily Bugle, and fighting crime as Spider-Man. What makes it stand out is how closely it replicates the format of the comics it’s based on, as each season features an overarching storyline. Nearly every character in Spider-Man’s orbit also shows up in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, whether it’s Spidey’s archnemesis, the Green Goblin (Neil Ross), or the love of his life, Mary Jane Watson (Saratoga Ballantine). Such a rich tapestry of characters was rare in a comic book adaptation, but it’s one of many elements that helped Spider-Man: The Animated Series stand out from the rest of the pack.

‘Spider-Man: The Animated Series’ Kicked Off A Wave of Marvel Animated Projects

Spider-Man: The Animated Series was unique as the first animated series produced by Marvel Films Animation. It was also part of a massive push by Marvel into animation, as Iron Man and Fantastic Four would launch in the same year. Soon, other Marvel heroes would appear in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, as Spider-Man sought Doctor Strange’s help rescuing Mary Jane from a cult that worshiped the dread Dormammu and joined forces with Iron Man to battle the bloodthirsty Carnage. During a retrospective of the series, executive producer John Semper Jr. cited Marvel’s financial issues at the time as the reason he was able to utilize so many heroes.

“They were on the verge of bankruptcy, so Marvel publications exerted no control over my show whatsoever…I had the entire pantheon of Marvel characters available to me, none of them had been parceled out yet to all these movie studios. So I could say, ‘I want to do Doctor Strange.’ ‘Great. Do Doctor Strange.’ ‘I want to do X-Men.’ ‘Great, do X-Men.'”

Semper would push this idea to its limits in later seasons, particularly in Season 2’s “The Mutant Agenda” and Season 5’s “Secret Wars”. The former storyline brought Spidey into contact with the world of X-Men: The Animated Series, uniting two of Marvel’s biggest shows at the time. The latter took its cues from the iconic Secret Wars comic and featured Spidey working with other heroes, including Iron Man and the Fantastic Four, to save all reality. Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe brought Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame to the big screen, Spider-Man: The Animated Series was uniting some of Marvel’s biggest heroes.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series‘s biggest claim to fame is introducing the concept of the ‘Spider-Verse’ during its two-part finale, “Spider-Wars.” While attempting to stop one of his alternate selves from destroying all existence, Spidey comes face to face with different versions of himself. It’s a concept that would fuel the Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions video game, alongside the Spider-Verse comics and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. X-Men ’97 also tied a dangling thread from the end of Spider-Man: The Animated Series by revealing that Peter had reunited with Mary Jane after she was catapulted into an alternate dimension, with the Spider-Man ’94 comic by J.M. DeMatteis and Jim Towe expanding on their reunion.

That isn’t the only piece of media that Spider-Man: The Animated Series has influenced, as it could provide a clue to what’s happening in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The first Brand New Day trailer features Tom Holland‘s Peter Parker undergoing a mysterious metamorphosis, which was tackled in the “Neogenic Nightmare” storyline during Spider-Man: The Animated Series. That story took a very dark turn as Spider-Man slowly mutated into a massive man-spider; if Brand New Day goes in the same direction, it’ll only be more proof that Spider-Man: The Animated Series remains iconic after all these years.