Spider-Man has had many animated television series, but few have embraced his comic book roots as faithfully as The Spectacular Spider-Man, a cartoon that ran for only two seasons from 2008-2009 and ended on a cliffhanger. Now fans on Change.org are getting thousands of people to sign a petition to have Season 3 made.

Co-developed by Greg Weisman, who helped create Disney’s popular Gargoyles animated series, The Spectacular Spider-Man drew from decades of Spider-Man comic book stories as well as his Ultimate Spider-Man run and aspects of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man film franchise. The cartoon was the first animated series to follow a high school-age Peter Parker (earlier cartoons had always used a college-age Peter) as he learned important life lessons as a teenager and a superhero.

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Fans embraced the series and became emotionally invested in the lives of Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, so it was frustrating for many when Season 2 ended in a cliffhanger with Peter and Gwen’s romance unresolved and a disguised Norman Osborn/Green Goblin plotting some unknown scheme. Fans were even more disappointed when Weisman revealed on a Gargoyles fan website that he had plans to introduce the Hobgoblin and likely several other Spider-Man villains before the series’ cancellation made that impossible. A third season was actually planned, but problems between Disney and Sony after Disney bought Marvel during the show’s run caused legal issues to arise, The Spectacular Spider-Man to be canceled, and a new Disney series, Ultimate Spider-Man to replace the popular series on Disney XD.

The Spectacular Spider-Man Was Faithful to the Comics

One fascinating thing about the show was that all of the characters had roots in the comic books – even minor ones. Peter (voiced by Josh Keaton) went to school with his best friends Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy (Lacey Chabert), who harbored a secret crush on Peter. Peter himself initially pined for Sally Avril, a character briefly glimpsed in the first few panels of Amazing Fantasy #15 and later fleshed out in Untold Tales of Spider-Man. Mary Jane Watson also joined the group, but unlike other cartoons, she was not Peter’s main love interest and was actually portrayed as the party girl/actress Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. originally intended her to be.

Other characters included Peter’s Aunt May, who frequently visited Doctor Bromwell, her physician from the comics. Peter got a job working for J. Jonah Jameson at the Daily Bugle, and the show even referenced Peter’s odd relationship with Jameson’s secretary Betty Brant. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock was reimagined as Peter childhood friend similar to the way he was depicted in Ultimate Spider-Man before a falling out led him to become Venom.

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Spider-Man’s adventures neatly paralleled Peter’s high school drama as Harry’s father Norman Osborn secretly created genetically enhanced super villains under the orders of the mysterious crime lord “The Big Man,” another character from classic Spidey tales, to occupy Spider-Man while the Big Man conducted his operations. This put Spider-Man in conflict with updated versions of the Sandman, Rhino, Shocker, and many others. The fight scenes were particularly well choreographed and inspired by Jackie Chan-style martial arts sequences.

How The Spectacular Spider-Man Compares to Other Shows and Movies

The show was also progressive as it gave many of Peter’s supporting cast different ethnicities long before the MCU did the same with live action Spider-Man movies. Liz Allan, originally a Caucasian character, was reimagined as a Latina teen while Peter’s ex-girlfriend from the comics, Debra Whitman, became an African-American lab assistant. Likewise, Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds became Asian journalist “Ned Lee,” paralleling the way the character is currently being portrayed by Filipino-American actor Jacob Batalon in the MCU films.

As a production of Sony television, The Spectacular Spider-Man was also respectful to the Sam Raimi films and referenced them heavily during the episode “Intervention,” which retold Spider-Man’s origin as a Venom symbiote-induced dream sequence where Peter was bitten by a genetically altered spider similar to the one in the original Spider-Man film, becomes a wrestler to win some prize money, and lets a thief slip past him after the wrestling ring owner refuses to pay him. The episode even recreates the famous car scene between Peter and his Uncle Ben from the Raimi films, with one interesting behind-the-scenes twist – Ben is now voiced by Ed Asner, the same voice actor who played Peter’s abusive boss J. Jonah Jameson in the popular 1990s cartoon Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Yet while the show loved to reference characters and events from earlier Spider-Man stories, it wasn’t afraid to break new ground either. Many of the episodes offered new spins or additional information on familiar characters. The episode “First Steps” gives a hilarious reason for why Peter’s bully Flash Thompson was nicknamed “Flash” (apparently he liked running pants-less as a toddler). The episode “Opening Night” also adds a dark twist to the burglar who killed Ben Parker – in this version, he’s the father of Spider-Man’s love interest Felicia Hardy (a.k.a. the Black Cat). While this particular change might be considered a major change for such a faithful cartoon, considering the burglar was always something of an unknown entity in the comics, there was always some room to play with his character. Remarkably, the burglar is actually allowed a shot at redemption when he offers to help Spider-Man prevent a prison escape, offering some intriguing possibilities to their relationship moving forward. Unfortunately, before any of this could be explored, the series was cancelled.

Could The Spectacular Spider-Man Return?

According to Weisman, The Spectacular Spider-Man’s cancellation was due to a number of complicated factors. While the show was originally produced by Sony Pictures Television, Sony later returned their animation rights to Marvel to win some concessions on the live action Spider-Man films. Without the rights, Sony could no longer produce The Spectacular Spider-Man. Because Sony still owned the character designs and storyline of the show, however, Marvel couldn’t continue producing The Spectacular Spider-Man without paying Sony to license all of those properties back. As a result, Marvel (through their new owner Disney) created the brand-new Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. Set in a separate continuity, this series ran for four seasons before being replaced by Disney’s Marvel’s Spider-Man cartoon.

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That being said, it’s not unheard of for fan demand to bring back a popular animated series. Disney’s own popular animated series Kim Possible was renewed for an unprecedented fourth season after fan demand got the show to continue after its series finale film. Perhaps most famously, DC’s fan favorite animated series Young Justice also ran for two seasons before being cancelled in 2016. However, the show was resurrected for a third season in 2019 as Young Justice: Outsiders and has been reportedly renewed for a fourth season.

Moreover, as turbulent as Sony’s relationship with Disney and Marvel has been and continues to be, the very fact that Spider-Man has appeared in five MCU films after legal issues seemed to deem that an impossibility indicates that the companies can come to an agreement however temporary and tenuous that may be. Though The Spectacular Spider-Man isn’t as well known as the Spider-Man film franchise, the very fact that petitions still exist to bring the show back after over ten years indicates demand for the animated series is still high. Indeed, at last count the Change.org petition has already received over 4300 signatures of its hoped for 5000, indicating fans would still like some resolution for Peter Parker’s ongoing drama in his most faithful animated series.

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About The Author


Michael Jung
(700 Articles Published)

Michael Jung is a mild-mannered freelance writer-for-hire, actor, and professional storyteller with a keen interest in pop culture, education, nonprofit organizations, and unusual side hustles. His work has been featured in Screen Rant, ASU Now, Sell Books Fast, Study.com, and Free Arts among others. A graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in 20th Century American Literature, Michael has written novels, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, and how-to manuals.

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Michael’s background in storytelling draws him to find the most fascinating aspects of any topic and transform them into a narrative that informs and entertains the reader. Thanks to a life spent immersed in comic books and movies, Michael is always ready to infuse his articles with offbeat bits of trivia for an extra layer of fun. In his spare time, you can find him entertaining kids as Spider-Man or Darth Vader at birthday parties or scaring the heck out of them at haunted houses.

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