Trivia for
"Spider-Man" (1994) More at IMDbPro »

• The title of episode 5.12 "Spider Wars Chapter 1: I Really, Really Hate Clones" is a reference to the infamous "Spider-Clone Saga" storyline, which ran through each and every Spiderman comic from the summer of 1994 through the fall of 1996.
  
  
• Fox aired episode 1.01 "Night of the Lizard", months before the other Season 1 episodes as a special sneak preview.
  
  
• DEBUT: Eddie Brock becomes Venom (episode 1.09 "The Costume Part 2")
  
  
• Episode 1.13 "Day of the Chameleon", was aired in primetime on Fox, along with the third season finale of X-Men.
  
  
• DEBUT: Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe "Robbie" Robertson, Doctor Curt Connors/the Lizard, Eddie Brock, Debra Whitman (episode 1.01 "Night of the Lizard")
  
  
• DEBUT: Dr. Octopus/Otto Octavius and Anastasia Hardy (episode 1.04 "Doctor Octopus Armed and Dangerous")
  
  
• DEBUT: Alistair Smythe, Kingpin, Spencer Smythe, Norman Osborn, Harry Osborn, Felicia Hardy and Flash Thompson (episode 1.02 "The Spider Slayer")
  
  
• DEBUT: Scorpion/Mac Gargan (episode 1.06 "The Sting of the Scorpion")
  
  
• DEBUT: Detective Terri Lee, Mysterio/Quentin Beck and Uncle Ben Parker (episode 1.05 "The Menace of Mysterio")
  
  
• DEBUT: Kraven the Hunter and Dr. Mariah Crawford (episode 1.07 "Kraven the Hunter")
  
  
• Spiderman's associates Detective Terri Lee and Dr. Mariah Crawford were created specifically for this series.
  
  
• DEBUT: Rhino and John Jameson (episode 1.08 "The Alien Costume Part 1")
  
  
• DEBUT: Shocker (episode 1.09 "The Costume Part 2")
  
  
• DEBUT: Lizard/Curt Connors, Margaret Connors, Eddie Brock, Billy Connors and Debra Whitman (episode 1.01 "Night of the Lizard")
  
  
• In the comics, the Insidious Six are called the Sinister Six. The Fox Kids network had the name changed to "Insidious Six" because they thought the name "Sinister Six" sounded too menacing for a cartoon series for children.
  
  
• Of the six members of the Insidious Six, only two of the members of the Sinister Six (the team from the Spider-Man comics that the Insidious Six are based on) make it into the team's roster: Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. Shocker, Chameleon, Scorpion and the Rhino substitute for the Sinister Six's absent members - Sandman (who doesn't appear in the series at all), Electro (named Max Dillon in the comics, but shows up in Season Five as Rhienholt Kragov, the step-brother of the Chameleon and the Red Skull's son for the series), the Vulture (who joins the Six to take Mysterio's place in season five) and Kraven the Hunter (the step-brother of the Chameleon in the comics).
  
  
• Electro was supposed to appear in the series before his eventual debut in Season Five's "Six Forgotten Warriors" story arc. Electro was held back from appearing, however, because James Cameron tried for years to write and direct a theatrical "Spider-Man" movie with Electro as the main villain, but the legal rights to the movie went into limbo for over a decade. However, writer John Semper was able to include him into the series, but not as Max Dillon and he was not an American. Instead, a new character was created for the show. On the animated series, Electro was really Rheinholt Kragov, the Russian Chief of Police who was actually the Red Skull's son and the step-brother of the Chameleon, none of which was actually in the comics. Rheinholt's real name was never revealed on the show, since he admitted Kragov was only his assumed name, and the Red Skull later uses the Doomsday device to turn his own son into the ultimate weapon, Electro.
  
  
• William Baker, a.k.a. the Sandman, was supposed to appear in several episodes of the cartoon series, but was held back from appearing because James Cameron tried for years to write and direct a theatrical "Spider-Man" movie with Sandman and Electro as the villains. However, the legal rights to the movie went into limbo for over a decade and the character is the only major classic Spider-Man villain to have never appeared on the series.
  
  
• The entire X-Men team were supposed to be included in "Secret Wars", but they were ultimately cut because, according to writer John Semper, it would have been too expensive to get the cast to fly from Canada to Los Angeles to record their dialog for the show. However, Storm was the only one able to appear because Iona Morris was the only X-Men cast member based in California.
  
  
• John Semper admitted in an on-line interview that a storyline with Dormammu and Mysterio was originally planned. However, plans for this were scrapped when the voice of Mysterio, Gregg Berger, had left the series.
  
  
• According to an on-line interview with John Semper, the reason that the Hobgoblin was added to the show in Season One before the Green Goblin was that plans for the character were being done before he arrived by writers and crew members that were no longer involved. By that time, the Hobgoblin had been made into an action figure for the animated series that was going to be released, so Semper admitted they had to let him stay on the series.
  
  
• The cast of the Fox Kids cartoon X-Men cross over as their respected roles (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda")
  
  
• The character Lewald is named after the story editor on the X-Men cartoon (Eric Lewald) (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda").
  
  
• The X-Men voice actors had to be flown to L.A. from Canada, making this and the next episode very expensive to make (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda").
  
  
• At the end of episode 3.01 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 1: Doctor Strange", Doctor Strange tells Wong that he senses someone whose powers dwarf even his. We see that they are being watched by Madame Web, voiced by 'Stan Lee''s wife, Joan Lee.
  
  
• Episode 3.02 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 2: Make a Wish along with episode 3.03 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 3: Attack of the Octobot," episode 3.04 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 4: Enter the Green Goblin," and episode 3.05 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 5: The Rocket Racer," were released on video and DVD called "The Ultimate Villain Showdown" during the run of the Spider-Man movie.
  
  
• Spider-man only throws a punch three times in this series, once at the Scorpion in the Season 2 finale ("The Final Nightmare"), than again at the Spot in Season 3 ("The Spot") and once again at the Green Goblin ("Turning Point"). Other than those episodes, Spider-Man never punches his enemies, nor does anyone fire a single gun that doesn't fire a beam or projectile instead of bullets.
  
  
• During the middle of the 5th season of Spider-Man, Fox Kids was thinking about keeping the series on a little longer but then Marvel and Fox Kids decided to ended after 5 seasons and show a 2-hour series finale. The reason why Fox Kids and Marvel canceled the show had nothing to do with ratings. The reason was the fact that Saban Entertainment wanted to Marvel's animation for their cartoon series. So after Spider-Man was canceled, Marvel and Saban made another cartoon that continued where Spider-Man left off, the series was called Spider-Man: Unlimited.
  
  
• By the time the Spider-man series came on, there was a lot of censorship at Fox and they were very nervous about violence. Fox had very strict rules about violence and language in the show, including: "When Spider-Man lands on the rooftop, be sure that he doesn't harm any pigeons."
  
  
• Dr. Robert Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk was actually supposed to make several guest appearances on the show, most notably the 3-part "Secret Wars" storyline in season five. However, the Hulk was unable to appear on the series because of his own cartoon series on UPN and so the Lizard was written in his place in "Secret Wars" to make it more "Spider-Man centric" than the "Secret Wars" comic mini-series.
  
  
• A mini-series was actually supposed to take place after the series finale, in which Spider-Man journeys with Madame Web backwards through time to find the missing Mary Jane Watson. He would have ultimately found her in Victorian England with amnesia and she would have been hunted by Carnage, who was also trapped in that time period and was impersonating Jack the Ripper. Once Spider-Man had stopped Carnage and had left with Madame Web and Mary Jane back to the present, Mary Jane would have regained her memory and ultimately admitted to Spider-Man that she had always known he was Peter Parker, which had been hinted at throughout several episodes of the animated series.
  
  
• Eddie Albert's final series and last acting project.
  
  
• After his initial appearance, Kraven the Hunter is portrayed as an ally to Spiderman. In the comics, Kraven was one of Spiderman's toughest enemies.
  
  
• Because of the decision not to use Gwen Stacy, many of the stories were changed to the events happening to Felicia Hardy or Mary Jane Watson.
  
  
• When Peter gets the Venom suit, and he's trying out the "outfit switching" ability, he has it turn him into "that guy from Aerosmith." This is a reference to Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, who performs the series theme music.
  
  
• In this series, nearly all references to radioactivity were removed and replaced with a science called neogenics, including the spider that bites Peter to give him his powers. Ironically, though, Joe Perry's theme music uses the lyric "radioactive Spider-Man."
  
  
• Betty Brant was supposed to appear on the "Spider-Man" animated series. Instead of being J. Jonah Jameson's secretary, Betty was supposed to be the assistant of Joe "Robbie" Robertson and fond of Peter Parker. While a model sheet of the character was drawn for the show, the writers did not get the chance to use Betty because they had ran out of new episodes.
  
  
• Ghost Rider was scheduled to appear on "Spider-Man" and the two heroes would have joined forces to stop Dormammu and Mysterio. However, Marvel was trying to get a "Ghost Rider" animated series done on the UPN network at the time and the Fox Kids network did not want to give exposure to a character who would have appeared on a rival network. According to story editor John Semper, the Ghost Rider episode for "Spider-Man" was actually written but never used, and the "Ghost Rider" series for UPN ultimately was rejected. Ghost Rider did, however, appear as a guest star on the UPN animated series "The Incredible Hulk".
  
  
• John Semper, the story editor/producer for "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", mentioned that a rejected chapter for the "Secret Wars" story line was going to include the entire X-Men team, would have featured Mr. Sinister as the villain, and that Spider-Man would have actually bonded with a new black symbiote costume after his classic red-and-blue costume was torn to shreds. The episode was written, according to Semper, but never used because it would have cost too much to get the entire cast of voice actors from the "X-Men" series to appear again on "Spider-Man".
  
  
• John Semper, the story editor/producer for "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", revealed in an online interview that Richard Fisk was going to return if the show had been picked up for a sixth season. Semper said that Richard Fisk was going to become the crime lord known as the Rose, like he did in the Spider-Man comic books, and was going to try to frame Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds.
  
  
• While Doctor Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk never appears on the show in person, the Hulk is seen on a poster in the office of Stan Lee in the series finale of this show, "Farewell, Spider-Man".
  
  
• DEBUT: Mary Jane Watson (episode 1.03 "The Return of the Spider-Slayers").
  
  
• Peter Parker/Spider-Man was actually supposed to marry Mary Jane Watson in the series finale, but story editor John Semper rejected the idea and instead had Peter marry Mary Jane in "The Wedding" episode in season five. Semper was against the two being married for real because he felt Peter Parker should "never get the girl" on the animated series.
  
  
• The villain Puma was supposed to appear on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Story editor John Semper mentioned in an online interview the character was not used because they had simply ran out of new episodes to produce for "Spider-Man".
  
  
• David Warner was the original voice for the Red Skull in the season four episode, "The Cat". He was replaced by Earl Boen when the Red Skull would return for multiple episodes in season five.
  
  
• Martin Landau was the original voice for Mac Gargan, a.k.a. the villain Scorpion. However, after he recorded dialog for the three episodes featuring the Scorpion in the show's second season, Landau had won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Ed Wood" and was not able to do voice-over acting work anymore. He was replaced by Richard Moll, who provided the voice for the Scorpion in seasons four and five.
  
  
• Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that the villain the Beetle was supposed to appear on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Semper said he had meant to include the Beetle in an episode of the animated series, but he simply never got around to using the character.
  
  
• Eric Braeden was originally supposed to be the voice actor for the character Herbert Landon. However, Braeden was uncomfortable with voice acting and story editor John Semper said Braeden gave "a very wooden performance" as Landon. David Warner ultimately took the role as Landon.
  
  
• Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that the Fox Kids network did not allow Spider-Man to punch anyone because other countries, such as Canada, were banning Fox Kids shows that featured fantasy violence like "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" (1993) and _"Batman (1992)"_. This is why no one is ever punched in the gut or punched on the face on this series. Semper admitted he got lots of fan mail from confused viewers wondering why Spider-Man never threw a punch at his enemies.
  
  
• Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that three of the Fantastic Four characters were given new voice actors for the "Secret Wars" three-part story line because he did not like the "Fantastic Four" (1994) animated series that ran on the Fox Kids network. The only cast member to reprise his role from "The Fantastic Four" on "Spider-Man" was Quinton Flynn, who returned as the voice actor of Johnny Storm/the Human Torch.
  
  
• Linda Gary was the original voice of Aunt May Parker for the first three seasons. Gary would provide the voice for Aunt May for the last time in season four's fourth chapter of the "Partners in Danger" saga, "The Return of Kraven". Julie Bennett took over the role of Aunt May starting with season four's eighth chapter, "The Return of the Green Goblin", when Linda Gary died of brain cancer.
  
  
• Neil Ross, who provided the voice for Norman Osborn/the first Green Goblin, is the only voice actor to date to voice the same character on two different Spider-Man cartoon series. Ross had previously done the voice of Norman Osborn, but not the Green Goblin, on "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" (1981).
  
  
• The crime lord the Owl appears in the first chapter of season two's "Neogenic Nightmare" saga, "The Insidious Six". He is seated with other crime lords, including Hammerhead and Silvermane, during a meeting with the Kingpin. Though the Owl never speaks in the episode, this is the first and, to date, only time the Owl has ever appeared on a Spider-Man animated series.
  
  
• Kathy Garver, the voice of Firestar on "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" (1981), will appear on several episodes of "Spider-Man". She does the voice for the lizard woman Gila in season four's "The Lizard King" episode and the voice of Madeline Joyce/Miss America in the five-part "Six Forgotten Warriors" storyarc.
  
  
• John Semper said in an online interview that a proposed sixth season for "Spider-Man" would have had Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, return from limbo and take over the role of the Green Goblin from his son Harry. However, Fox Kids did not order another season and instead created "Spider-Man Unlimited" (1999).
  
  
• This series was originally going to have Norman Osborn become the Hobgoblin because, due to a decision made by crew members who ultimately left the "Spider-Man" show, the Hobgoblin was going to make his debut before the Green Goblin. However, Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee, rejected the idea of Norman becoming the Hobgoblin and Norman would instead create the Goblin equipment for the Hobgoblin.
  
  
• A sixth season was planned for "Spider-Man" which would have had Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane Watson from limbo with the help of Madame Web. Story editor John Semper said in an online interview that it purposefully left unresolved to see Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane because the crew thought they were going to get another season or two of "Spider-Man". However, Margaret Loesch, who was the president of Fox Kids network at that time, hated one of the show's executive producers, Avi Arad, and she wanted to put Arad out of business. When the sixty-five episode contract for "Spider-Man" was up, Loesch decided to cancel the show and had permanently shut down Marvel Films Animation, the company that provided the animation for Spider-Man. Instead, the Fox Kids network decided to go with a new, unofficial sequel series "Spider-Man Unlimited" (1999) to garner ratings that were as big, if not bigger, than "Spider-Man". The plan backfired, as fans disliked the new series because it deviated too much from the comics by sticking Spider-Man on a Counter-Earth. The ratings were also much lower than the network had expected, because "Pokemon" aired against "Spider-Man Unlimited" and clobbered it in the ratings. "Spider-Man Unlimited" was quickly pulled from the Fox Kids network after airing only its first three episodes of the thirteen they had made.
  
  

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