WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN...
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There are many, many characters that we were supposed to see on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Most didn't show up, but some did in some way on the series. Here's the list of characters we were supposed to see, and I really, REALLY wish we had...
BETTY BRANT
WHO SHE IS: J. Jonah Jameson's original secretary for the Daily Bugle, who was also Peter's first love interest in the comic books.
WHY SHE DIDN'T APPEAR: Well, I'm not exactly sure. I did find out that there was a drawing for what Betty Brant was supposed to look like, and she was described as the assistant to Joe "Robbie" Robertson. Also, Betty was supposed to be older than Peter, in her 20s, and was apparently fond of and nice to Peter. On the animated series, since Betty wasn't included, Jameson's secretary is, and always has been, Glory Grant. While I think it's nice we got another African-American supporting character from Spider-Man's comics on the show, with no disrespect intended, Glory is not as cool of a character as Betty. Not only does Betty have a lot more history with Peter Parker than Glory ever did, she also had various encounters with Spider-Man's villains, from Doctor Octopus to the Hobgoblin. In fact, Betty's own husband Ned Leeds, who did appear on the cartoon, was set up by the original Hobgoblin to make it look like Ned was really the man behind the Hobgoblin mask. Betty had so many potential storylines that could have been used on the show, but she was never introduced. How unfortunate. Even so, the closest thing we came to seeing Betty Brant on this show was an unnamed Daily Bugle reporter in season three. She is seen in several episodes including "The Sins of the Fathers, Chapter II: Make a Wish" and "Chapter X: Venom Returns". The only episode I remember her speaking in was in "Chapter VIII: The Ultimate Slayer", when she tells Peter he has a phone call. You be the judge on whether ot not this could've possibly been a cameo by Betty Brant:
THE BEETLE
WHO HE IS: A former master mechanic who decided to use his armor-plated battle suit as a supervillain, Abner Jenkins pestered Spider-Man for years either solo or a member of the Sinister Syndicate as the Beetle. In the comics, Jenkins reformed and became Mach-IV, a member of the supervillain-turned-superhero team known as the Thunderbolts.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: According to an interview with John Semper, the answer was simple - they simply ran out of episodes. He was supposed to appear in one of the show's five seasons, but which season is not known for sure and if there ever was an episode written, it was obviously never used. Beetle's appearance could have set up potential guest-heroes in the future, since he was enemies with the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and the Avengers. As a member of the Sinister Syndicate, this means we could've seen the introduction of his fellow teammates that were not seen on this "Spider-Man" cartoon show, Boomerang and Speed Demon. But none of these villains ever made an appearance, and it's too bad we never got to see any of them on the show. Granted, Beetle is nowhere near as cool - or well known - as, say, the Green Goblin or Doc Ock. But if Rocket Racer and the Spot could make the cut, the Beetle sure as heck could've popped up at least once. To be fair, it's not like the Beetle was entirely left out. The Beetle did manage to appear in the "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" video game for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo video game consoles. While the Beetle made an appearance in the game, some of the actual villains who did appear on the Spider-Man TV show - such as the Hobgoblin - did not appear. Still, it would've been nice to see what Mr. Semper and company had in mind for the Beetle on the show.
ELECTRO
WHO HE IS: Electrical lineman Max Dillon was struck by lightning while he was working on power lines. Rather than end up an extra crispy corpse, his body was able to store electricity in his body and he could fire electric blasts from his fingertips. Calling himself Electro, Dillon turned to a life of crime and became one of Spider-Man's first, and one of his most popular, villains. He was also a founding member of the Sinister Six, a team of Spider-Man's most dangerous enemies assembled for the sole purpose of killing our web-headed hero.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: Well, he did...but not really. As you can see in the photo above, we did have a guy named Electro on this show. But he was actually a made-up character just for this series - Rheinholt Kragov, the Russian Chief of Police who was actually the son of the Red Skull. Ugh. While the Kragov Electro was able to use his powers more intelligently than Dillon did most of the time in the comics, he wasn't as memorable or as cool as Dillon. But to be fair, story editor/co-writer John Semper was not allowed to use Electro on the show for the first four seasons because Electro and Sandman were supposed to be the villains in James Cameron's planned "Spider-Man" movie. Unfortunately, the film rights to Spider-Man wound up in limbo for years and Semper was finally able to use Electro on the show for the last season, but as Kragov. Ironically, Cameron's script for Spider-Man had an original character, a billionaire named Carlton Strand, who became Electro rather than using Max Dillon. It's just a shame we never got to see Max Dillon as Electro, especially as a member of the Sinister Six. Curiously, there was an "Electro Spark" toy line that was made for the Spider-Man animated series in 1997, but the back of the box listed a different storyline for Electro than what he got on the show. Instead of fighting Spider-Man and the Six Forgotten Warriors, Electro only fought Spider-Man and the Six's leader Captain America...and sadly, the story on the box ended up sounding better than what we got on the show.
SANDMAN
WHO HE IS: After becoming a criminal, William Baker used the alias Flint Marko to become a mob enforcer and spent years going in and out of jail. When Baker broke out of prison, he fled onto a beach to escape. But Baker discovered that the beach was being used a nuclear testing site and his body had bonded with the irradiated sand. After discovering that he could alter his body into different forms by thought and create weapons with his hands, Baker became the Sandman and one of Spider-Man's most famous enemies.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: Like Electro, Sandman was supposed to appear in Jim Cameron's "Spider-Man" film, but he was not called William Baker or Flint Marko in the screenplay. Instead, Sandman was Boyd, Electro's henchman. As a result of Jim Cameron's script, Sandman was not allowed to appear on either the "Spider-Man" series or the "Fantastic Four" animated series that both aired on the Fox Kids network. The villain Hydro-Man, who had similar abilities but with water instead of sand, was used on both shows in Sandman's place. Personally, this remains one of the biggest negative aspects about the "Spider-Man" series. Sandman has so much history and is such a big part of the Spider-Man mythology, and I can't believe he wasn't able to appear on the show.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
WHO HE IS: You know the drill. Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, the inventor of the Gamma Bomb, was about to test his creation at a testing site in a New Mexico Army base. But Bruce was horrified to learn that teenager Rick Jones had snuck onto the site on a dare and was unaware that the bomb was about to detonate. Banner managed to rush onto the test site and he saved Jones by pushing him into a ditch. But Bruce himself was caught in the heart of the blast and his body absorbed the full impact of the gamma rays. The gamma radiation exposure caused Bruce to become a gray-skinned brute of incredible strength by nightfall known as the Hulk, and he changed back to Banner at dawn. This was later changed when the Hulk received exposure to cosmic radiation. Since then, Bruce's adrenaline would turn him into a green-skinned, baby-talking, and far stronger version of the Hulk.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: The question actually should be, "why didn't they use him when they had the chance?" You see, for the first two or three seasons of "Spider-Man", the show actually COULD have used the Hulk. The Hulk had no animated series at the time "Spider-Man" was airing, and he had already been a guest star on the "Fantastic Four" and "Iron Man" animated series that aired on the Fox Kids network. So you'd think that Fox could use the Hulk on the "Spider-Man" show with no problems too, right? Wrong. Although the Hulk was supposed to appear on the "Spider-Man" show, he never got the chance to. By the time the crew were going to use the Hulk, he had gotten his own animated series on the UPN network and the character became forbidden to be used on the "Spider-Man" series. The only episodes that fans know for sure that the Hulk was going to appear in was the three "Secret Wars" episodes in season five, but rumors insist he was supposed to appear in a Spidey feud/team-up episode first somewhere on the show before "Secret Wars". With the Hulk and then the She-Hulk unavailable to appear on "Secret Wars", John Semper had to include the Lizard in their place. While the Lizard did fit the scientist-turned-monster aspect well on those episodes, I've never liked the "heroic" Lizard on those episodes when the Lizard had Curt Connors' mind. Unlike Sandman and Electro, Mr. Semper could have used the Hulk when he had the chance, but he never did. I find that extremely disappointing and wish that the Hulk had been able to appear on this series. Hulk and Spider-Man have since appeared together on recent Marvel's current animated series on Disney XD, such as "Ultimate Spider-Man" and "Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.", but unfortunately, neither show are as good as this animated series. If only Spidey and the Hulk had appeared together on this animated series. Hulk SMASH!
GHOST RIDER
WHO HE IS: Originally, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze was the man who turned into the original Ghost Rider. Blaze wound up selling his soul to the arch-demon Mephisto (BOOOO!!! - Sorry, I'm still mad at the guy for the terrible, terrible Spider-Man storyline "One More Day") in order to save the life of his stepfather and mentor, "Crash" Simpson. When Crash's daughter Roxanne discovered the deal and she had used a spell to deny Mephisto from claiming Johnny's soul, Blaze instead became possessed by a demonic rival of Mephisto's named Zarathos. When night falls, Blaze turned into Ghost Rider, a motorcycle-riding, supernatural being with a flaming skull. In the 1990s, however, Daniel Ketch replaced Blaze as the second Ghost Rider in the comic books in the 1990s. After his sister was injured by ninja gangsters (and yes, you read that correctly), Ketch found a mystically enchanted motorcycle that allowed him to turn into the Spirit of Vengeance. It was later revealed that Ketch and Blaze are brothers. Blaze is once again Ghost Rider in the comics, and Ketch is currently a normal dude again.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: Ghost Rider almost did make the cut, but his episode got scrapped. Reportedly, Ghost Rider was supposed to team up with Spider-Man and they would have fought both Dormammu and Mysterio. However, the Fox Kids network did not want to use Ghost Rider because UPN was apparently trying to get a solo "Ghost Rider" animated series made at the time. Although the Ghost Rider cartoon never happened, he did manage to guest star on an episode of UPN's "The Incredible Hulk" animated series. Still, while Sony owns the legal rights to both the Ghost Rider and the Spider-Man movies, don't expect Ghost Rider to pop up any time soon.
THE ROSE
WHO HE IS: The Rose's real name is Richard Fisk, who is the son of Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. the Kingpin. At first, he had faked his death and struck at his own father's criminal empire as a gang leader known as the Schemer. Later on, Richard ended up working for his father as the crime lord known as the Rose, but secretly planned to overthrow his father and become the new Kingpin. Richard Fisk hasn't made any trouble in the last few years in the comic books, however, as Richard was shot dead by his own mother Vanessa after he'd tried to get rid of his father. Despite this, two other men - Sergeant Blume and ex-Daily Bugle reporter Jacob Conover - have also taken on the masked alias of the Rose after Richard.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: Well, Richard Fisk did appear on the show (as pictured above), but his Rose identity never did. This isn't entirely surprising to me, since the Kingpin was, with the exception of Silvermane's few appearances, the main crime lord of the animated series. According to an interview with John Semper, there were plans for Richard Fisk to return for a sixth season of "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Apparently, Richard Fisk was going to become the Rose at some point and he would have tried to frame Ned Leeds. But why he wanted to frame Ned is not known, and it's also unknown when Richard would've become the Rose in the sixth season. Hopefully, we'll see the Rose on a "Spider-Man" animated series one day, but it's going to be a long time before we see the Rose make an appearance...if he ever does appear on a Spider-Man series.
JACK O'LANTERN
Jason Macendale, the original Jack O'Lantern, as he appeared on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series"
WHO HE IS: Before he became the second Hobgoblin, mercenary Jason Macendale donned a pumpkin head and flew through the sky on a round hovercraft as Jack O'Lantern. Though he started out fighting the Machine Man, after his first fight with Spider-Man, Jack O'Lantern became one of Spidey's newest resident recurring enemies. When Macendale ordered the murder of Ned Leeds, who he believed was the Hobgoblin, Macendale took over the Hobgoblin identity and other people have taken on the identity of Jack O'Lantern afterwards.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: In "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", Macendale started off as a hired goon who later became the Hobgoblin. Since he had never used the Jack O'Lantern identity before and Macendale was unmasked as the Hobgoblin in season three, I have no idea as to how they could've used Jack O'Lantern before Jason's unmasking if they wanted to use the character. Despite being left out of the series, Jack O'Lantern wound up as a villain in the "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" video game for Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo consoles. Ironically, the Hobgoblin, the identity Macendale was using on the cartoon show, was left out of the video game.
PUMA
WHO HE IS: The owner and CEO of Firehart Enterprises, Thomas Firehart is a protector of his Native American tribe and is able to transform into a mountain lion werecat with enhanced strength, speed and senses. In his early comic book appearances, Puma operated as a mercenary-for-hire and even tried to kill Spider-Man a couple of times, but he's also been known to ally himself with Spider-Man as often as he's tried to eliminate him.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: The real reason is not known, but it is possible that, like the Beetle, the writers meant to use him but simply didn't get around to using him. There are rumors that insist that a Puma story was written for the show, but not used. Then again, Puma isn't as well-known to Spider-Man fans as, say, Venom or the Green Goblin. And if you wanted more episodes of the show, then honestly, which one would you rather see pop up in a later episodes? My point exactly.
THE TINKERER
WHO HE IS: The Tinkerer is really inventor Phineas Mason, literally one of Spider-Man's oldest foes. Mason is quite brilliant and has been known to create some of the most advanced gadgets known in the criminal underworld. While the Tinkerer may not be a threat in hand-to-hand combat, he's one of the biggest providers of advanced weapons in the gangland and has been known to create everything from the suit of Mysterio, to a new tail for the Scorpion and even equipment for the Black Cat!
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: Well, I don't think that too many kids would've wanted to see Spidey fight an evil elderly inventor on this show. Heck, even the Vulture didn't stay elderly too long when he made his debut. In my honest opinion, I could see the Tinkerer making a few appearances here and there, like saying he could've been working for Silvermane and could've substituted for Smythe in fixing Scorpion's tail in season five's "The Wedding" episode. Still, all isn't lost for the Tinkerer. He popped up in the "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" video game for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis systems, though he was in the background controlling gadgets and traps in the Carnival/Fun House level of the game. Tinkerer has also made his animated debut when he popped up for several episodes of "The Spectacular Spider-Man" animated series.
MAN-WOLF
Man-Wolf's alter-ego John Jameson, as seen in season one's "The Alien Costume, Part 3"
WHO HE IS: Astronaut John Jameson, the son of Daily Bugle owner and publisher J. Jonah Jameson, discovered a strange ruby-red gem on the moon and he took it back to Earth. He even wore it around his neck, but was horrified to learn that the gem had grafted onto his skin and when the moonlight touched it, the gem would be activated and would transform John into the werewolf known as Man-Wolf! He has fought Spider-Man several times as the Man-Wolf, but John has always been stopped and cured of his bestial alter-ego. On this series, he appears in season one's three-part "The Alien Costume" storyline, where he discovers the alien symbiote on the moon instead of the gem and he takes it to Earth.
WHY HE DIDN'T APPEAR: My guess? They either ran out of episodes for John Jameson to turn into the Man-Wolf, or they probably couldn't use any more monsters on this show. Yeah, we got to see vampires on this series, but given the limitations with Morbius alone - like having to say he needed "plasma" instead of "blood" - I don't think they would've been able to do much with Man-Wolf. Then again, I'm not surprised we never saw Man-Wolf, because John Jameson was never seen or heard from again on this show after he popped up in "The Alien Costume" storyline in season one. Still, John DID have a larger role and became the Man-Wolf in the spin-off series "Spider-Man Unlimited". However, since that series wasn't well-received, I won't really comment much on his stint there.
SWARM
Bio Coming Soon
More Characters Coming Soon
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THE STORIES WE NEVER SAW
"Spider-Man has to stop the dreaded pairing of Dormammu and Mysterio, and only Ghost Rider can help him stop them!"
"The fur is going to fly once Spider-Man faces off against his newest foe, the werecat known as Puma!"
"Spider-Man takes to the skies to face off against his newest foe, the high-flying, armored criminal the Beetle!"
Yeah, the summaries above may sound corny, but you could almost imagine these being mentioned as official descriptions for upcoming "Spider-Man" episodes, couldn't you? The problem is, these episodes were never made...but they were going to be. You see, even though "Spider-Man" ran for five seasons and 65 episodes, there were plenty of other stories left to tell and there were lots of written scripts that were never used. Here's what we never got to see...
THE PUMA DEBUTS
As mentioned above, the Puma was supposed to appear for at least one episode. Rumors insist Puma's debut episode was written, but never made the cut to be animated.
SPIDEY MEETS GHOST RIDER
I've mentioned this before, but I don't mind repeating this news. According to an online interview with John Semper, Dormammu was supposed to pop up on "Spider-Man" after season three. Semper said that Mysterio and Dormammu were going to be the villains for an episode which guest starred Ghost Rider, but plans fell through when rival network UPN was talking to Marvel about doing a possible "Ghost Rider" animated series. As a result, the team-up episode never happened and neither did the "Ghost Rider" series.
THE BEETLE DEBUTS
Again, the Beetle was supposed to appear. Story Editor/Producer John Semper said that he had planned to use the Beetle on the show, but simply never got around to writing an episode for him. Since then, the Beetle has become off-limits from appearing on a "Spider-Man" animated series due to legal reasons.
SECRET WARS, THE UNCUT VERSION
"Secret Wars" was supposed to be much longer and feature more characters than what we actually got on the show. Apparently, the entire X-Men team, The Incredible Hulk, and Magneto were going to appear in the storyline and it would've been four episodes long rather than three! Magneto was later written out and replaced with Mr. Sinister as the villain of the deleted chapter of "Secret Wars". As a bonus, Spider-Man would have teamed-up with the X-Men and he was even going to temporarily don another black symbiote costume after his classic red-and-blue outfit is badly shredded during battle! Sounds good, right? It was also insanely expensive. You see, it would have cost a lot of money to get the voice cast for the X-Men to return to the "Spider-Man" show. Then the Hulk had gotten his own animated series on the UPN network and quickly became off-limits. As a result, She-Hulk was originally going to serve as the Hulk's replacement in "Secret Wars", but then that was rejected when she became a regular guest star in the second season of "The Incredible Hulk" series. As mentioned above, the Lizard was written in their place for "Secret Wars". With the deleted chapter gone, the new black costume for Spidey was written out. It's a shame that "Secret Wars" had so many cool aspects taken out of it, but given how costly it would've been, I'm not surprised.
THE WEDDING...THE ORIGINAL SERIES FINALE?
Apparently, Peter and Mary Jane were going to be married in the final episode of "Spider-Man" instead of the Peter/Mary Jane clone marriage that we got in the first episode of season five. Since I openly admit I loathed the last season and the Mary Jane clone plotline on the show, I wish that they had married Peter and the REAL Mary Jane in the series finale. Don't quote me on this, but from what I've read online, the one person who changed this was Story Editor/Producer John Semper. He thought that Spider-Man shouldn't "get the girl" in the show, according to internet rumors, and so instead we got the Peter/MJ clone wedding instead. A shame, really.
JACK THE RIPPER WAS...CARNAGE?
Now with all of the restrictions that the "Spider-Man" animated series had, this seems pretty dang impossible to me. I mean, Spider-Man was never allowed to punch anyone on the show, so how were we going to see Carnage back and masquerading as a real-life serial killer? Oy. Regardless, Story Editor/Producer John Semper mentioned that, if there was a sixth season, it would've been only five or six episodes in which Spider-Man and Madame Web would travel through different periods of time to find the real Mary Jane Watson. Spidey was apparently going to find her in Colonial England along with Cletus Kasady/Carnage, who was posing as Jack the Ripper. Spider-Man would've stopped Carnage, saved Mary Jane, and Madame Web would've returned the couple pack to the present time. Once back home, Mary Jane would've confessed to Spider-Man that she had always known that he was really Peter Parker, and this was hinted at in various episodes of the show's first three seasons. As much as I would've loved to have seen Peter and the real Mary Jane reunite and marry, though, I don't like the time-travel and "Carnage pretends to be Jack the Ripper" aspects. I mean, Mary Jane was in limbo at the end of season three and Carnage was trapped in another dimension in season three, so how did they wind up back in time in Colonial England? I don't think the history books were ready for Spidey to shoot a web at Jack the Ripper, do you?
THE RETURN OF THE ORIGINAL GREEN GOBLIN:
Story Editor/Producer John Semper mentioned in an online interview that the show had planned to bring Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, out of limbo and reclaim the Green Goblin mantle from his son Harry. Now THIS is what I would've loved to see happen. Neil Ross was downright PERFECT as Norman Osborn and his giggling alter-ego, the Green Goblin, and I always thought that the original Green Goblin was grossly underused on this series. Any chance to give the Green Goblin more screen time is always a plus in my book. But sadly, it never happened. No word on whether this was actually written or just an idea, but if it was the latter, it's still a heck of a good idea.
More Coming Soon
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN:
These are obviously manip images, yeah, done with Microsoft Paint. Even so, enjoy the images. These are pics of things I wish we had seen on this show...
If Spider-Man had kept his black costume, and had fought Doc Ock...
Personally, I wish we'd gotten to see a few more episodes where Spider-Man wore a cloth replica of his black costume. Also, Doctor Octopus is my all-time favorite Spider-Man villain and I would've loved to have seen an episode where Spider-Man wore his black suit while fighting Doc Ock.
If Spider-Man had kept his black costume, and went up against Electro...
I think that "The Alien Costume" episodes are some of the best Spider-Man stories ever on this show, but I just wish Spidey had the black suit long enough to fight some more of his classic villains. Since I loathe the Kragov version of Electro we saw on this show, I added the yellow trunks and pant legs' electric bolts to switch him to the Max Dillon version of Electro from the Spider-Man comic books.
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man had kept his black costume, and went to face off with the Hobgoblin?
(UPDATED)
Mark Hamill is awesome. Go on, tell me I'm wrong. Plus, I think the idea of Hobgoblin fighting Spidey in his black costume looks really cool. I also erased the Hobgoblin's face and re-colored the eye lenses to have the "shadowy Hobgoblin face" look from the Spider-Man comic books.
NEW! - What If... the Shocker and Hydro-Man teamed up to fight Spider-Man
I loosely based this image off of a two-part story from the Spider-Man comics ("Peter Parker: Spider-Man", vol. 2, #51 and #52) where the Shocker and Hydro-Man team-up to pull a bank heist and are foiled by Spider-Man. I also re-colored the black areas on Shocker's suit brown to match his comic book counterpart's costume.
NEW! - What If The Amazing Spider-Man had met The Incredible Hulk...
The Amazing Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, my two favorite comic book heroes ever (Spidey, naturally, is my #1 favorite). Too bad they never got to appear together on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". That would've ROCKED! Hulk and Spidey will FINALLY appear together on-screen on Disney XD's new animated series, "Ultimate Spider-Man", in 2012. However, I really, REALLY hate the current "Ultimate Spider-Man" animated series.
NEW! - What If Venom had not been banished to Dormammu's dimension in season three, and had faced off against Spider-Man's clone, the Scarlet Spider...
Yeah, I disliked the Clone Saga, and who didn't? Even so, these two look good together in the same picture, don't you think?
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man met the Sandman
Since we never did see the Sandman on this animated series, I used an image of the Sandman from the "Spider-Man Unmasked" episode of "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends". I still wish the Fox Kids network was allowed to use the Sandman on this wonderful animated series.
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man met and fought Max Dillon/Electro
Okay, we all know Electro did show up in Season Five of "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". But I'm talking about the real deal: Max Dillon/Electro, the classic Electro from the classic Spider-Man comic books. In this fan art image, I tried to re-create the look of the classic Electro costume from the 616 classic Marvel Universe. I copied the electric bolt suspenders, pasted them onto the pant leggings and erased as best I could. I also added yellow onto the pants, erased the belt and lower part of the pants, and turned the outfit into trunks. I know, I've used this image of Electro before in my "What If" pictures, but I wanted to make sure the pant legs' lightning bolts were as visible as possible.
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man had teamed up with Black Cat while wearing his black costume
This shouldn't be too much of a shock, since Black Cat DID make a cloth black costume replica of Spider-Man's black suit for him to wear. It's a shame we didn't see them team up when he was in this suit, though.
NEW! - What If Spider-Man and the Black Cat teamed-up to fight the Hobgoblin...
On this animated series, I was always surprised to see that, when the "Partners in Danger" storyline from Season Four took place, that we never got to see Spider-Man and the Black Cat fight with the Hobgoblin. In the "Goblin War!" episode of Season Three, Felicia Hardy learns her fiance Jason Philips is actually mercenary Jason Philip Macendale, also known as the super-villain the Hobgoblin. Macendale even says he can't let Felicia live if she won't marry him and only the arrival of the Green Goblin stops him from attacking her. So when the show finally had Felicia become the Black Cat, I was left confused as to why we never got to see the Hobgoblin fight Spidey and Black Cat. I always thought it would've been fun to see Black Cat wanting revenge on the Hobgoblin and show the Hobgoblin and Spider-Man both wondering what Hobgoblin did to make the Black Cat so angry at him.
What If Spider-Man had teamed up with Daredevil while wearing his black costume...
I know, there are a lot of "what if Spidey met (fill in the blank) while in the black costume" manip pictures, but remember, he DID wear that costume for a couple of years back in the 1980s. Besides, these two heroes look good together like this, don't you think?
What If the comic book Sinister Six roster had appeared on this show...
I know, Kraven wasn't really a villain on this animated series and Sandman never got to show up at all on this show, but still, this was too cool not to make. The image of the Sandman was from "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" with a sand blast effect made for over his legs. I like to think this is the Max Dillon version of Electro and Doctor Octopus is in charge instead of the Kingpin.
What if the second Sinister Six roster from the Spider-Man comic books had appeared on this show...
In the 1990s, Erik Larsen had the Sinister Six reunite and had the Hobgoblin take the place of Kraven the Hunter. I would've loved to have seen this Sinister Six team roster used for the Insidious Six on this "Spider-Man" animated series if a sixth season had been made. Again, the Sandman image is from "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" and I prefer to think that would be the Max Dillon version of Electro from the Spider-Man comic books. It's too bad this series was never able to use Flint Marko/Sandman and Electro was (lamely) the Red Skull's son...
NEW! - What If the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyline was adapted...
In the comic books, there was a six-part storyline from writer/artist Erik Larsen called "Revenge of the Sinister Six". In the comics, Spider-Man is injured by Doctor Octopus' new adamantium tentacles and his left arm is temporarily put into a high-tech cast. Doctor Octopus also replaces teammate Sandman with the being called Gog, though the character is naturally left out since he wasn't on the show. I included some of the heroes who guest-starred to help Spider-Man fight the Sinister Six, including The Incredible Hulk and the Invisible Woman and the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. I changed the hue of the Human Torch's body to make him a reddish-orange and I also altered Invisible Woman's costume to have her costume match her comic book counterpart. For the Merged/Professor Hulk from the comics, I used a screen capture of the Hulk from the Fox Kids "Fantastic Four" animated series.
NEW! - What if the second Sinister Six roster from the comics had appeared on this show...
This is based on the "Return of the Sinister Six" and "Revenge of the Sinister Six" stories from the Spider-Man comic books, which had Doctor Octopus re-assemble the Sinister Six with the Hobgoblin taking the place of Kraven the Hunter. Since Sandman, sadly, wasn't on this awesome animated series, I used an image from "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" instead. For Doctor Octopus' white suit, I used and image of Doc Ock in his lab coat disguise from the Season 2 episode "Battle of the Insidious Six" and added his tentacles. I also added the yellow trunks and electric bolts on Electro's pants to switch this to the Max Dillon version of Electro from the comic books. If only the Sinister Six comic book roster, and name, had been featured on the show...
NEW! - What if Spider-Man fought Monster Ock?
If you remember playing the ActiVision/Neversoft "Spider-Man" video game for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 game consoles, then you already know that the last level of the video game had the Carnage symbiote take over the game's main villain Doctor Octopus and Doc Ock is turned into the nightmarish Monster Ock. As Doc Ock's hideout starts to explode, Spider-Man has to flee from the exploding building and go from one level to the next to reach the surface, while Monster Ock relentlessly chases after our hero. The storyline from the game would've made for a great couple of episodes had this animated series continued and seeing the Monster Ock character appear on this show would've been truly amazing.
What if Spider-Man and the Human Torch had teamed up to fight the Beetle...
This animated series had originally planned to use the Beetle, but the writers just weren't able to use him on this show. So, for this manip pic, I decided to have Spider-Man and his buddy the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four team-up to fight him. The Beetle image is from the "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" animated series, while I changed the color of Human Torch's body and flames, as I never was a fan of the Human Torch's orange tinge that this series gave him. It's unfortunate that this series didn't get to use the Fantastic Four in any of the episodes before Season Five's "Secret Wars" three-parter. It would've been amazing (no pun intended) to see an episode like this on the show.
NEW! - What If... Doctor Octopus fought Spider-Man on Christmas Eve?
If this story sounds familiar, it should: it's based on "The Spectacular Spider-Man", volume 1, #173. In this classic comic, a lonely Doctor Octopus goes to May Parker's home to spend Christmas Eve with her. Doc Ock finds May with her family and friends, but when The Amazing Spider-Man spots Doc Ock and thinks he's up to no good, the two wind up fighting in the snow before the two realize May Parker, Peter's wife Mary Jane Watson-Parker and their friends are watching the fight. Doctor Octopus apologizes and leaves, leaving Spider-Man to wonder if anyone is a hero, or a villain, during the holidays. The snow used is from Season Five's "Secrets of the Six" during the flashback sequence of the Six American Warriors.
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four fought with members of the Frightful Four?
Yep, I made another fan art image with Flint Marko/Sandman and Max Dillon/Electro included, as I really, REALLY wanted to see both characters on the show. Since Sandman and Electro were members of the Frightful Four and Spider-Man has always had a close history with the Fantastic Four, I decided to have all of them together in the same image. I also changed Invisible Woman's Fantastic Four costume to put the 4 emblem on the suit's chest and I added some effects to make Invisible Woman all white for her new invisible look.
NEW! - What If... "Secret Wars" had lasted for more than three episodes?
This series did adapt the 1984 "Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" storyline, but since the comic version was 12 issues long, there was a lot left to explore. Having more Avengers included like The Mighty Thor and Hawkeye, including the entire X-Men team, including many more villains, and having forbidden characters like The Incredible Hulk finally appear would have been a joy to see. For this image, I included an image of the Hulk from the Fox Kids network's "Fantastic Four" animated series, I re-colored Captain America's costume to brighter shades of blue and red, I included Wolverine to show more of the X-Men, and I used an image of Spider-Man in his black costume from "The Alien Costume, Part Two". There was a fourth part for "Secret Wars" planned that would have had Spider-Man don his black costume temporarily, the entire X-Men team would have returned to help the heroes and Mr. Sinister was going to show up as a villain. Instead, we only got three episodes for "Secret Wars" and fans are left wondering "What if...?"
NEW! - What If... this animated series adapted the storyline from the "Arcade's Revenge" video game?
If you were a '90s kid, one video game you probably played on the Super Nintendo and/or Sega Genesis game consoles was "Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcade's Revenge". The video game had the X-Men villain Arcade abduct Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine and Spider-Man witnesses Gambit being abducted by Arcade's truck. Spider-Man follows the truck to Arcade's hideout and all five heroes have to get through two stage levels each before the game's final boss battle with Arcade. The game was frustratingly hard, but it was also fun playing as Spider-Man and the X-Men. This image is also made in memory of Cyclops voice actor Norm Spencer, who passed away last year.
NEW! - What If... Venom tried to kidnap Mary Jane Watson?
In Spider-Man media, from the comic books and video games to the 2007 film 'Spider-Man 3', Venom has kidnapped Mary Jane Watson in the past to lure out Spider-Man. Heck, Venom even saved Mary Jane from Carnage during the "Maximum Carnage" storyline (more on that in the next photo below). Even though Mary Jane met Eddie Brock on this animated series, I was disappointed that Mary Jane never met Brock when he was Venom. Since Mary Jane and Venom have crossed paths many times in the comic books, it's disappointing that we didn't get to see one episode where Mary Jane met Venom.
NEW! - What If... the "Maximum Carnage" story from the Spider-Man comic books was adapted on this animated series?
Admit it - pretty much everyone wanted to see more of Venom and Carnage on this animated series. When both characters were banished to Dormammu's dimension in Season 3 of this show, I was, and remain, incredibly disappointed that the show didn't get to use Venom and Carnage more. One storyline that easily could have done that and had multiple super-heroes guest star is "Maximum Carnage", a 14-part storyline that went on for way too long but gave us a truly wonderful video game. The story had heroes like Captain America, the Black Cat, Firestar, Deathlok and Cloak and Dagger guest star to help Spider-Man and Venom stop Carnage and his allies. Carnage had the villains Shriek, Demogoblin, Carrion and Demogoblin help him cause chaos throughout New York - and unfortunately, none of those characters appeared on this animated series. I added Venom's teeth to an image of the Six-Armed Spider-Man from "I Really, Really Hate Clones" to make Doppelganger and I had Black Cat and Venom show up to help our wounded wall-crawling hero against Carnage.
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man fought Demogoblin?
Since Demogoblin wasn't able to appear on this show, I re-colored the Hobgoblin, added torn fabric of Man-Spider's costume from "I Really, Really Hate Clones" and re-colored the Goblin Glider a bright fiery red to create the Demogoblin.
NEW! - What If... Spider-Man and the Hulk fought the Sandman?
We all know that the Sandman and the Hulk were forbidden to appear on this animated series, but I really, really, really wanted to see them on this show (as well as Max Dillon/Electro instead of the Kragov version we got. *cough*). I used an image of the Hulk from the "Nightmare in Green" episode of the "Fantastic Four" animated series, added the Sandman from the "Spider-Man Unmasked" episode of "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends", and -- viola! Another "What If? image!
NEW! - What If... Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson REALLY got married?
If there's one thing on every Spider-Man's wish lists that I think we can all agree on, it's that fans wanted to see Spider-Man and Madame Web find the real Mary Jane Watson. Since this show, unfortunately, had Peter marry a clone of Mary Jane, I would've liked to have seen this show have Peter and Mary Jane really tie the knot before the series ended. I took the image from "The Wedding" episode and added an image of Peter's friends from Armored Spider-Man's reality from the "Farewell, Spider-Man" episode to have the guests standing. Since Harry Osborn was present for Peter's wedding to Mary Jane in the comics, I wanted to make sure he was shown as a guest as the comics intended. J. Jonah Jameson is actually two images of Jonah from "The Wedding", with one being his body and the second is a different scene of his head so that is facing forward like the other guests.
STORIES I WISH THIS SHOW HAD MADE INTO EPISODES
Even though this show ran for five seasons and sixty-five episodes, this show STILL had the potential to keep going. If it had, these are the stories I wish we'd seen the most in seasons six, seven, eight, nine...
"BACK FROM LIMBO"
Here is where we correct two of the fatal flaws of this show: Madame Web takes Spider-Man through limbo and he brings the real Mary Jane Watson back home. However, their return brings a stow-away with them: the original Green Goblin! Seeking revenge for being banished for months into limbo, the Goblin attacks them both to get payback on his hated enemy. After the fight, you could have Norman go to his son Harry at Ravencroft and Mary Jane can finally tell Peter she's secretly all along he's really Spider-Man!
"THE FANTASTIC FOUR"
Gee, guess who appears in THIS episode? One of the things I disliked about the "Secret Wars" episodes on this show was that nobody remembered anything that happened after winning the war, except for Spidey. Here, we'll have an episode where Spidey and the Fantastic Four first meet (well, that the Four remember, anyway) and they can team-up to stop whatever villain that Mr. Semper and company decides to include in this episode.
"THE SANDMAN STRIKES"
No thanks to James Cameron, Sandman was left out of this show entirely. Had it continued, I would've loved to have seen Sandman make his debut. You could show the origin sequence of how crook William Baker was transformed into the Sandman, one of Spider-Man's most powerful, not to mention on his more popular, enemies. Heck, maybe Mr. Semper could've brought Sandman back in a solo episode and in order to stop him, Spidey teams up with a team of guest heroes who were also not allowed to include him on their animated series: the Fantastic Four.
"ENTER ELECTRO"
No, not the 2001 video game for PS1. Here, Spider-Man discovers that an accident has turned electrical lineman Max Dillon into the new Electro. While not as clever or powerful as his predecessor, Electro is still smart enough and dangerous enough to overpower Spider-Man. With no other heroes around to help him, Spidey has to come up with a plan to stop this new Electro alone. (Hint: it's water. Heh heh.)
"RETURN OF THE SYMBIOTES"
Self-explanatory, isn't it? Here, you could bring back Baron Mordo and have him try to free Dormammu again, only to bring out Carnage and Venom from Dormammu's home world too. I'd also come up with an explanation of how Eddie Brock can now separate from the Venom symbiote and not perish. Besides, Venom and Carnage deserved more episodes.
"CAPTAIN AMERICA RETURNS"
Again, pretty self-explanatory. Let's say that Tony Stark has managed to find a way to get Captain America out of the vortex with his tech at Stark Enterprises. Well, what if the Chameleon interferes and manages to not only free Cap, but the Red Skull too? This way, you get to have not only Spider-Man team up with Captain America and Iron Man again to stop the villains, but you also manage to have Cap join the team he should've been a part of when this show started: the Avengers. And I'll mention the Avengers more a bit later... ;)
This was one of the worst, most difficult Spider-Man games I've ever played in the 90s, but the story for "Arcade's Revenge" was actually quite clever and could've been adapted into a great multi-episode story. Like in the video game released for the likes of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis game consoles, Spider-Man is web-swinging over the city when he notices Arcade's truck has captured the X-Man Gambit. Spidey follows the truck to Murderworld, Arcade's amusement park hideout with deadly traps, and finds Gambit with three other previously captured X-Men: Cyclops, Storm and Wolverine. Now, Spidey and the four X-Men must fight deadly robots of their greatest enemies, from Carnage and Rhino to Apocalypse and Juggernaut, in order to get out of the amusement park and stop Arcade. Besides, I'm you guys would've have loved to have seen the X-Men back too.
"HOUSE GUEST"
I loved the moments between Otto Octavius and May Parker in the "Insidious Six" episodes in season two. I would've liked to have seen that continue with Ock renting Aunt May's spare room like he did in the comics and develop a friendship with her. Sure, Ock would eventually flee and be returned to prison after being defeated by Spider-Man, but still, imagine the headaches Pete would get worrying about his Aunt May being under the same roof as Doc Ock.
"THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING SPIDER-MAN"
I despised Mysterio's off-screen demise in season four, so here, I'd fix it so Quentin Beck survived but was placed in a coma. When Beck awakens in the hospital, he learns his love interest Miranda Wilson did not survive the explosions in the catacombs. Blaming Spider-Man, Beck becomes Mysterio again to get revenge on the wall-crawler by luring him into a trap and making Spidey think he's shrunk and is only six inches tall! If the story sounds familiar, it should be: I'd adapt this from "The Amazing Spider-Man", vol. 1, issues 66 and 67, which is one of Mysterio's greatest stories.
"TO BECOME AN AVENGER..."
See? I told you I'd mention the Avengers again on my list. Adapting the story of the same name from "The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3", Spidey is being considered to become the Avengers' newest teammate. When he meets with the team, they give him a chance to prove himself worthy of being a team member: he has to find The Incredible Hulk and bring him back to their headquarters. Spidey manages to find and fight the Hulk, but during the battle he discovers the Hulk is really Dr. Bruce Banner and learns that Banner can't control his transformations into the Green Goliath. This results in Spidey going back to tell the Avengers he couldn't find the Hulk in order to protect Banner's secret, unaware the team wanted to find the Hulk in order to help him. D'oh! Anyway, I would've loved to have seen this story as it's one of my favorite Spidey comics. The fact it includes the Hulk, my second-favorite Marvel hero ever and the lone hero I wish we'd seen guest star on this show the most, doesn't hurt either...
Come on, how could this NOT be included on my list? Sure, the comic storyline this was based off of ran too long and needed a better plot, but who better to fix it than story editor/series writer John Semper? We needed to see more of Venom and Carnage on this show, and had it continued, this would've been the perfect way to include the returning characters and introduce new ones as well, like Shriek and Demogoblin. Besides, I'm sure Mr. Semper wouldn't be against using guest characters like Captain America and Morbius again.
"THE SINISTER SIX"
Here's where the show would finally do it: sick of being the Kingpin's lackey, Doctor Octopus cuts his ties with the crime-lord for good and Ock assembles his own team to destroy Spider-Man. With Mysterio back (we never DID see him die, after all), I'd have Doc Ock assemble the Vulture (back to his old man self), Sandman, Electro (and yes, I do mean Max Dillon, the Electro from the comics, and not Kragov) and the Hobgoblin as he forms his own team separate from Kingpin: the SINISTER Six. Sure, John Semper and company would come up with a better story than I could on what kind of plan they'd have, but the point is, these guys NEEDED to be together on-screen as part of the same team. This show would've been the perfect Spidey animated series to adapt this Sinister Six roster into a multi-episode story.
"TROUBLE AT RAVENCROFT"
Adapted from the final level of the "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" video game released on the Sega Genesis and SNES game consoles, Spider-Man has just finished locking up his worst enemies at Ravencroft. However, Venom wants to make sure that Spidey's enemies don't break out of the prison again to cause further trouble -- by destroying them himself! Spider-Man goes into Ravencroft in order to protect the inmates from being eliminated by Venom, only to discover some of his enemies have broken out of their cells and set out to attack Spidey themselves, one by one. Now Spidey has to stop not only Venom, but Mysterio, the Shocker, the Scorpion, Rhino and Beetle as well. Sure, Beetle wasn't introduced on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", but I'm sure Mr. Semper and company would have no problem introducing him on the show.
Remember how I previously mentioned that the story on the back of the toy boxes of the "Spider-Man: Electro-Spark" toy line sounded good enough to be made into an episode? Well, I say include it on the show! According to the toy boxes, Electro broadcasts from a skyscraper and warns that he'll destroy all of New York's power supply with his energy-siphoning machine unless he's paid a hefty ransom. Spider-Man not only goes to investigate, but so does Captain America, who has responded to a distress call sent to the Avengers' mansion. Cap manages to nullify the energy-siphoning machine with his shield, which allows Spidey to fight Electro and take the villain down. Sounds like it would've made a good episode for this show, don't you think?
"CROSSED PATHS"
Here's where I would've included something I felt this show should've done before it ended: Black Cat meets the Hobgoblin. Black Cat could drop in to visit Spidey for whatever reason, only to find the Hobgoblin's broken out of jail. Here, you could have Black Cat be personally mad at Hobgoblin and she'd want to get even for what he did to her in the past. I mean, Hobgoblin DID try to marry Felicia for her wealth and he threatened to kill her if she didn't agree to marry him and keep his identity a secret. With Spidey and Hobgoblin both puzzled as to what the villain did to upset Black Cat so much, you could finally do the big reveal as both men discover that Black Cat is really Felicia Hardy! To make things juicier, after the two defeat Hobgoblin, Black Cat can learn Peter Parker is actually Spidey and they have to deal with knowing that their own friend was secretly their ex-partner against crime!
"CREATURES STIRRING"
Adapted from the story of the same name from the comic "The Spectacular Spider-Man", vol. 1, #173, Doctor Octopus has the holiday blues and decides to visit one of his lone true friends, May Parker. Elsewhere, Peter Parker's been having a rough day too and he goes over to his Aunt May's home to spend the holidays, only to find Doc Ock outside and snooping in the window at his family. Mistaking Ock's loneliness for an attack, Spider-Man and Doc Ock have a fight on the front lawn that is stopped only by the presence of May, who's heard the fight from inside. Ock takes his leave and Spidey realizes his error in judgment too late. This is one of my favorite Doc Ock stories and I would've loved to have seen how John Semper and company would've adapted it. Besides, can you imagine what the dialogue from that comic would've been like quoted from Ock's voice actor, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.?
"THE BIG DAY"
This time, we finally see the REAL wedding between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. No clones, no tricks, just a real wedding between the lucky young couple. Yep, things can't possibly go wrong this time... right? Heh heh... ;)
More story ideas will be posted soon...
BANNERS
These were made from a friend of mine, Pumjetsu, and I cannot applaud him enough for these awesome, AWESOME manip images:
What if Spider-Man had worn a cloth version of his black costume:
Yes, these are the same villains used in my previous manip images all together in the same banner, but a good thing is worth repeating. Granted, we only saw Spider-Man wear the black costume in two episodes of this animated series, but man, this image just looks so cool, doesn't it?
What if Marvel Comics' iconic heroes had teamed up in the same animated series:
The text of this image is in honor of the long-since-closed studio that produced "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", and I deliberately requested Captain America and the Hulk put in the same image with Spider-Man because they're two of my favorite Marvel heroes. Also, think of this as a "Secret Wars" image of sorts, since we never saw the Hulk in those episodes.
Very, VERY Special Thanks must be mentioned to Pumjetsu for his work. You rock, buddy!
Last Updated 01/09/2021