- 05/06/2025
There was going to be a Venom show?
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Now, although there are plenty of other cartoons that will likely win the spot for best superhero
00:04cartoon ever, you can't deny that the spectacular Spider-Man was pretty much perfect in a lot of
00:10regards. But tragically, it also ended early, ending in season two when Disney took control
00:15of Marvel Entertainment. This resulted in Sony giving up their broadcasting rights to the Spider-Man
00:19TV shows so that they could keep the rights to Spider-Man films instead. In short, the show was
00:24one of the first sacrificial lambs in regards to the continual beef between Sony and Disney over
00:29Spidey, which only makes it all the more impressive that it managed to do so much with only half of
00:34the time it expected to run. And of course, in between all of this, there's some mind-blowing
00:38facts for you, which I'm here to detail today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these
00:42are 10 Mind-Blowing Facts That You Didn't Know About The Spectacular Spider-Man Cartoon.
00:47Number 10. There's Unseen Footage
00:49Now, one of the weirdest things about the Spectacular Spider-Man series is that, unless we are somehow
00:54blessed by a creator who kept secret copies, we'll never see all of the footage that was produced for
00:58the show. This is because, when it was first being created, the plan was to have bonus material for
01:03each episode that you could only see by watching the DVD, which would release each story arc as a
01:08film. Unfortunately, this idea was canned after the first arc, meaning that any footage made for
01:12the next arcs went in the bin. It feels weird to wonder what moments we missed, as it was likely that
01:17it was just scenes meant to connect the various episodes into one coherent experience, but it's also
01:21maybe not a terrible thing that the series was released on DVD in episodic form, as otherwise you'd have to
01:27commit to watching a full film any time you fancy watching an episode. And while binging a show is
01:31practically a way of life now, being sort of made to feels entirely less fun.
01:36Number 9. Some of the show's creators actually cameo in it
01:39Comics have long been one of the easiest things to put yourself into as a creator. Doodle yourself
01:44in a background, show somebody who looks a lot like you getting crushed by a supervillain, or just
01:49outright place yourself in a story as part of the plot. All three are more common than you might expect
01:53in the world of comic creation. The crew behind Spectacular Spider-Man appear to have taken great
01:57inspiration from this, as they very sneakily appear in the series itself. The show manages to feature
02:02three of the supervising staff, all hidden where you'd least expect them. Greg Wiseman, the supervising
02:07writer, appears in the portion of the intro where a gathering of people are in front of an electronics
02:11store. The supervising director, Victor Cook, also appears in this part of the show, and one further
02:16time in the episode Gangland. Sean Galloway, the series' character designer, gets the short end of the
02:21stick, though, only briefly appearing as a DJ in blueprints. However, even this is pretty cool,
02:26all things considered, meaning the only real shame is that more of the production team didn't get to
02:30make their cameo. 8. There was going to be a Venom spin-off
02:34Spectacular Spider-Man being ended early was a great shame, largely because it wasn't from a lack
02:39of talent by the creators, or lack of interest from the fans, but rather because of complications that
02:43arose from Disney buying Marvel. But, as it turns out, this didn't just stifle the Spectacular
02:48Spider-Man series, as the team then revealed that Venom was going to appear quite often in the
02:53extra 39 episodes that were planned but never made. Had audiences reacted well to Venom, the plan was
02:59to then have him feature in a spin-off series of his own that would presumably focus around a version
03:04of Venom that was more like the anti-hero we see in comics today. This would have been downright
03:08fascinating to watch, and so it's even more of a shame that the show was canned before it could
03:12spawn this potentially stellar spin-off. It would have been a great way to establish the wider
03:16Spidey world, and to make sure nobody ever felt too overloaded with the show solely being based
03:21on Peter Parker. Tragically, it remains only a fun idea for now.
03:257. Sony asked the show to recreate film scenes
03:28Unlike some production nightmares, Sony apparently allowed the team behind this spectacular Spider-Man
03:33a long leash, letting them more or less have a free run on developing the cartoon. But there was
03:37one stipulation to this, however, and that was that scenes from the Spider-Man films be added into the
03:42cartoon, to make fans feel more familiar with the lore of the hero. This explains why Spidey's
03:47origin scene is very similar to that found in the Sam Raimi films, why there's a train scene that
03:52perfectly mirrors the iconic shots in the second film, and why many of the fights may also appear
03:56familiar to fans of the Raimi trilogy. Most of these are subtle enough that you might feel paranoid for
04:01suggesting they exist, but for once these conspiracies are in fact right on the money. It's an unusual
04:06request for Sony to have made, for sure, but it's also an undeniably wonderful one. It allows the
04:11cartoon and film universes, which are usually very separate, with the exception of Into the
04:15Spider-Verse, to join together and share all their best bits.
04:186. The Team Never Planned to Kill Gwen Stacy Off
04:22Gwen Stacy's death is one of the most shocking and most important events in Spider-Man's life.
04:27While it was Uncle Ben's death that taught Peter that with great power comes great responsibility,
04:31Gwen's demise showed him that even the great powers he'd obtained didn't mean that he could save
04:35everyone. But it's also a pretty dark scene, involving a pretty brutal neck snapping. And as such,
04:40fans speculated en masse as to how the show would kill Gwen off, as it seemed impossible that they'd
04:45use the comic event given how violent and gruesome it was. This disturbed the team, who would later
04:50reveal their darkest secret, and that was that they never intended for Gwen to die. Even though the
04:55series was cancelled early, there were no later plans to have her murdered, because it felt like
04:59this didn't match with the generally light tone of the cartoon. The team would express how strange
05:03they found the idea that fans felt that Gwen had to die, because the show had always intended to be
05:08child-friendly, which put the idea of such a traumatic death safely off the cards.
05:135. Some of the iTunes episode summaries were very wrong
05:17When Spectacular Spider-Man finally made its glorious debut to the world of iTunes,
05:21where you could pay your tech overlords to finally re-watch the show,
05:24it appeared on the pages of the store with some rather strange additions. The fact that you could
05:28buy the show episode by episode meant that naturally each had to come with its own short description,
05:32so if you wanted one particular episode, you could find it easier. However, these descriptions came
05:37with a few issues. Firstly, and most importantly, they mentioned the Human Torch, who never features
05:42in this series. Secondly, they replaced the name Tombstone with Kingpin repeatedly, presumably because
05:48Tombstone sort of plays the role of Kingpin in this series, likely since the latter is considered more
05:52of a Daredevil villain than a Spider-Man one. You have to wonder if these summaries were the original
05:56design plans for the various episodes, before changes like the Tombstone swap were implemented,
06:01or if somebody somewhere along the line just got very, very confused. We'll likely never know the
06:05true answer, but it is likely a bit of both. 4. The Stan Lee Cameo
06:10So having Stan Lee cameo in anything to do with Marvel is the hallmark that it's probably going
06:14to be great. This is why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is littered with appearances of the
06:18patron saint of selling comics, because he's basically a good luck charm for the industry.
06:22Spectacular Spider-Man clearly also wanted a bit of that luck, because the man himself also
06:27pops into the series for a cheeky hello. In the first episode of the show's second season,
06:31we're treated to a version of Stan Lee who works on the docks. He looks exactly like Lee,
06:35and is provided with plenty of funny quips and wonderfully strange dialogue to warrant calling
06:40this one of the best cameos in anything to date. Better yet, Doc Lee is accosted by Mysterio,
06:46and yet treats the supervillain with skeptic disbelief, which is made infinitely funnier by the knowledge
06:50that this is one of Marvel's forefathers being cast as the guy who thinks Mysterio's appearance
06:55is a prank. Also, the cameo provides us with Stan saying the phrase,
06:58are we being punked, which is just a soundbite for the ages.
07:013. It Combined Two Characters
07:04Being fans of Spider-Man may have felt slightly bad when the hilariously named Fancy Dan got his
07:10villain upgrade, getting some swanky new armor and calling himself Ricochet. After all,
07:14the character of Ricochet surely existed. Had comic fans forgotten a fairly cool Spider-Man foe?
07:19Well, the short answer is no, they hadn't, technically. The long answer is that Ricochet
07:23does exist in the comics, but as a totally different figure. The comic Ricochet was actually
07:28a persona that Peter Parker took on while Spider-Man was wanted for murder. The alias would go on to be
07:32the superhero title of Johnny Gallo, one of the most badass mutants to ever go basically under the
07:38radar. So the cartoon version is a pretty drastic change, but that said, it's still cool to see this
07:42mantle find its way into the spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, even if it's under a very different
07:47premise than the comics. Also, it gave a bit of legitimacy to Fancy Dan, who otherwise would
07:51have been remembered for having a particularly silly name, even for a supervillain.
07:552. It Has a Tribute to Spider-Man's First Appearance
07:59If there's one thing cartoons based on comics like to do, it's to reference the first appearance of
08:03the hero they're about, likely as a tribute to the comic medium. It's also there as something that
08:08comic fans can get hype about recognising, which is always a cool reason to feature something in
08:12the show. You've got to remember your roots, after all. Spectacular Spider-Man is, naturally,
08:16no exception to this rule, and features a testament to the hero's beginnings in a major way. During the
08:21show's opening credits, we see a scene where Spidey is shown posing on the front of the Daily Bugle,
08:26swinging through the air while holding a captured criminal. While you might presume that this is just
08:30put in because it looks cool, and indeed it does, this specific visual is an homage to Peter's
08:34first appearance in the comics as Spider-Man, in issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy. It's a small detail for
08:40sure, but one that's very much appreciated nonetheless. It's also especially well-placed,
08:44as this little nod to the web-slinger's paper and print origins appears just before every episode.
08:491. A Secret Romance
08:52When a man proposes to his partner in Season 2, Episode 10, also known by the title Gangland,
08:57most likely didn't react to it at all. After all, the spectacular Spider-Man series is pretty good for
09:02having some interesting set dressing, which at a glance is all that it appears to be. Only eagle-eyed fans
09:07will know the true story behind the pair though, because this is actually a couple that we've seen
09:11before, specifically in Reaction, the eighth episode of the previous season. At the beginning of the
09:16episode, we see Spidey webbed together two people while getting his daily fix of saving the day.
09:20From their expressions, it seems like this was actually a pretty good way to matchmake as they
09:24look notably unfazed about the fact that they're a few feet up in the air dangling from spider string.
09:29And since a mere season later it looks like they're getting married, you could say that this method
09:33of meeting worked out pretty well for this particular couple. Not all relationships can
09:37be blessed by a Spider-Man encounter, but this blink-and-you'll-miss-it background romance
09:41definitely was.
09:42And there we go my friends, those were 10 mind-blowing facts you didn't know about
09:45the spectacular Spider-Man cartoon. I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what
09:49you thought about it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules,
09:52you can go follow me over on Twitter at RetroJ with a zero, or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice,
09:56where I do all my streaming outside of work, and it'd be great to see you over there.
10:00But before I go, I just want to say one thing. Hope you're treating yourself well,
10:03with love and respect, my friend, because you deserve all the best things in life,
10:06alright? And don't let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise. You are a massive ledge,
10:11and I want you to go out there and thwip your way to greatness. As always,
10:14I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.
Recommended
8:53
|
Up next
11:36
10:29
0:51
1:31
9:58
12:20
11:57