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Ultimate Spider-Man is an American animated television series based on the Spider-Man comics published by Marvel Comics. The series featured writers such as Brian Michael Bendis (who also writes the comic book series of the same name), Paul Dini, and Man of Action (a group consisting of Steven T. Seagle, Joe Kelly, Joe Casey and Duncan Rouleau). The third season was retitled Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors and the fourth and final season was retitled Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Spider-Man vs. the Sinister 6.
It was first announced to air on Disney XD in early 2012 and debuted alongside the second season of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as part of the Marvel Universe programming block on April 1, 2012. At New York Comic Con 2016, it was confirmed that season four will be the series' final season, making way for a new series titled Marvel's Spider-Man. The series ended on January 7, 2017, with the two-part "Graduation Day" episode.
Synopsis[]
Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for one year. He has saved lives and fought supervillains, but he is still in the process of learning how to be a superhero. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. offers Peter the chance to train to be a real superhero and become "The Ultimate Spider-Man." However, Peter will first have to learn how to work with a team of four fellow teenage superheroes: Nova, White Tiger, Iron Fist and Power Man.
Season one[]
During the first season, corrupt industrialist Norman Osborn targets Spider-Man in the shadows in hopes of collecting his DNA to make a spider-soldier army to sell to the government. To do this, he uses Doctor Octopus as his pawn, having him send numerous supervillains after Spider-Man and use a sample of Spidey's blood to create the Venom symbiote, which ends up bonding with Harry Osborn, Norman's son and Peter's best friend. In the two-part season finale, Spider-Man learns that it was Norman who was the mastermind behind Doctor Octopus' schemes and Venom's creation, just in time to see Doctor Octopus get his revenge on Norman for the way he treated him by turning him into the Green Goblin.
Season two[]
In the second season, following the fight with the Green Goblin which resulted in the destruction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, Spider-Man's team ends up staying at Peter Parker's house. In the season premiere, after learning that Spider-Man got his powers from one of Oscorp's genetically altered spiders at the end of the last season, Doctor Octopus creates a bunch of serums with animal DNA in hopes of re-creating the process, and S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Dr. Curt Connors, still dealing with the aftermath of the helicarrier's destruction after injuring his right arm and having it severed off, injects himself with one of these serums to become the Lizard. Later, Doc Ock controls Lizard st that he can join him, Electro, Rhino, Kraven the Hunter, and Beetle as a member of the Sinister Six. While Spider-Man and his team are able to defeat the Sinister Six, Lizard gets away, and Spider-Man swears to find and cure him. During the season, Spider-Man learns more about his teammates' origins (Ava Ayala having assumed the mantle of White Tiger after her father was killed by Kraven, Sam Alexander being the last member of the Nova Corps since former member Titus wiped the rest out trying to get another helmet and was recruited by the Guardians of the Galaxy, Danny Rand having assumed the mantle of Iron Fist after training in K'un-L'un and Luke Cage had received his powers from a S.H.I.E.L.D. version of the Super Soldier Formula developed by his parents).
Season three[]
Season three was subtitled Web Warriors.
In the third season, Spider-Man officially joins the Avengers, but after a fight with Loki, Doctor Octopus and a group of Norse creatures bonded with the Venom symbiote, he chooses to resign and remain with S.H.I.E.L.D. After this, the symbiote permanently bonds with Flash Thompson to become Agent Venom and Spider-Man is tasked by Nick Fury to recruit other young heroes to form the New Warriors. At the same time, Green Goblin hires Taskmaster to find the young heroes before Spider-Man does and form the Thunderbolts. Spider-Man manages to recruit Ka-Zar and his pet saber-toothed tiger Zabu from the Savage Land, and Amadeus Cho in the Iron Spider armor, while Taskmaster recruits Cloak and Dagger and Vulture. When the Thunderbolts attempt to bust out Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Beetle, and Scorpion, Spider-Man leads the New Warriors against the group and is able to convince Cloak and Dagger to switch sides. The New Warriors ultimately defeat the villains, but Green Goblin gets away with the Siege Perilous, leading to a variation of the Spider-Verse storyline in which he travels across the multiverse to collect DNA samples to Spider-Man's alternate counterparts to turn himself into the Spider-Goblin. Chasing after him, Spider-Man meets up with Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Girl, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, Spyder-Knight and Miles Morales, helping them each one by one with their problems, before teaming up with all of them to take down Spider-Goblin and a giant helicarrier robot controlled by Electro. After both are defeated and the alternate Spider-Men return to their homes, Goblin reverts into Norman Osborn and ends up suffering amnesia, making him forget his time as the Goblin. Afterwards, Spider-Man and his team begin their education at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy located at the Triskelion while dealing with the reawakened Arnim Zola. Not long afterwards, Spider-Man gets involved in a contest between the Collector and the Grandmaster for the fate of Earth. During this time, Aunt May, Agent Venom, and Iron Spider learn of Spider-Man's identity.
Season four[]
Season four was called Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister Six.
As the fourth and final season begins, Doctor Octopus allies himself with Arnim Zola and HYDRA and begins to from a new iteration of the Sinister Six starting with Kraven the Hunter. When Doctor Octopus attempts to turn Norman Osborn back into Green Goblin, he finds that Osborn injected himself with an anti-Goblin serum to prevent further transformations. Doctor Octopus then uses the Siege Perilous to summon the Green Goblin's demonic winged counterpart from Miles Morales's universe and after a brief battle recruits him instead. He bribes Rhino into becoming a spy for him while operating as a student at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy in exchange for finding a cure for his condition. Spider-Man forms his own new team consisting of Agent Venom, Iron Spider, Miles Morales (going by the name Kid Arachnid now), and the newly introduced Scarlet Spider (who has no identity and is later named Ben by Aunt May). It was later revealed that Scarlet Spider was the real spy for Doctor Octopus and unmasks Spider-Man in front of Doctor Octopus, revealing his identity. This leads to Doctor Octopus leading up to his next plot that has him turning against Arnim Zola and captured Aunt May. However, Scarlet Spider has a change of heart at the last minute, he ends up sacrificing himself to save the city from Doctor Octopus.
Soon after, Spider-Man discovers the reason behind Fury and Nova's disappearance; they were protecting Madame Web from HYDRA but were ultimately discovered and Fury was held hostage by HYDRA and Crossbones. After Fury was rescued by Spider-Man, Web and Triton, Fury and Web went into hiding again to protect themselves from HYDRA, with Fury leaving Spider-Man in complete control of S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy during his absence. Later, Crossbones and Michael Morbius do some experiments with the Venom symbiote which leads to the revival of Carnage leading up to Carnage's explosion causing every civilian to turn into Carnage-like monsters. Harry awakens from his coma and reverts into Anti-Venom and begins to drain the Carnage symbiote away from the civilians. After losing control, Peter reveals his identity to Harry, who reverts to himself, before re-emerging with Anti-Venom to destroy the Carnage symbiotes. The Carnage symbiote revealed itself to still be alive, however, and goes on a rampage throughout the city in direction of Mid-Town High to find Mary Jane Watson, who was overtaken by the Carnage symbiote to become the "Carnage Queen." They are attacked by Morbius, who became a living vampire due to the injection he received from Doc Ock. Spider-Man, Agent Venom and Harry Osborn ultimately save Mary Jane from the symbiote after revealing their identities to her, and she destroyed the symbiote herself. Unbeknownst to Spider-Man, a fragment of the Carnage symbiote is inside her body.
Later on, Madame Web comes to the conclusion that the destruction of the Siege Perilous during the fight with Doctor Octopus and alternate Green Goblin has shattered the dimensional barriers between numerous worlds. Spider-Man and Miles Morales travel to alternate realities in order to collect the pieces of the Siege Perilous, but an evil version of Spider-Man named Wolf Spider seeks to reassemble the pieces in his plans to conquer the multiverse. During their adventure, they reunite with Spider-Man Noir and meet other spider-based characters as they work to get to the Siege Perilous shards before Wolf Spider does. They find the last piece in Miles' native dimension where they learn that since he and Goblin left, crime got even higher and the universe's native Aunt May, feeling that it needs a Spider, used leftover equipment from the universe's native Peter Parker (who died in a fight with the demonic Green Goblin) to turn one of his friends Gwen Stacy into a new spider-powered hero Spider-Woman. Together with her, they repair the Siege Perilous, but Wolf Spider manages to swipe it and go forth with his plan. Spider-Man manages to deceive his evil counterpart into absorbing too much power, causing him to explode which sends the life force of the other spiders back to their native homes. Although they have the Siege Perilous and after seeing how well Spider-Woman has done with protecting his universe, Miles decides to let her remain as the main spider-powered person of it, while he and his mother Rio Morales permanently settle in Spider-Man's native dimension.
In a similarity to the Clone Sage, Spider-Man and Mary Jane soon discover the clone of Spider-Man called Kaine who tries to feed off them. The clone of Spider-Man eventually leads them to "Project Kaine" which involves combining DNA of Spider-Man with the Synthezoids. Surprisingly, Mary Jane is able to control the Carnage Symbiote inside her, thanks to Dr. Connors experiment and assumes the identity of Spider-Woman. It is discovered that Doctor Octopus and Arnim Zola had created Scarlet Spider as part of Weapon S which are Spider-Man/Synthezoid Spider-Slayers where he is to have been the leader of the Delta-Nine Synthezoids. When Scarlet Spider gets control of the Delta-Nine Synthezoids and Doctor Octopus reclaims his Nanotech that gives him a more mobile body, Spider-Man's group causes HYDRA Island to sink into the water again. Back on the Triskelion, the other team of Spider-Man: Nova, Power Man, Iron Fist and Squirrel Girl attacks Scarlet Spider and the Delta-Nine Synthezoids, because they know Scarlet Spider worked for Doctor Octopus, who, not only knows Spider-Man's identity, but also endangered S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and Aunt May, being all against him. Kaine returns and draining the energies of its inhabitants enough to leave them with coma-like symptoms, he targets the spider-based heroes. The Web Warriors fight Kaine, but he gets control of the Delta-Nine Synthezoids, Spider-Man and the other spider-based heroes must defeat Kaine even when he combines with the Delta-Nine Synthezoids to form a hybrid form called The Ultimate Spider Slayer until Agent Venom saved Scarlet Spider and uses the energy transmitter to overload and explode.
Production[]
The series is adapted from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, which was created and written by Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis and Paul Dini served as writers and producers of the show. Man of Action (a group consisting of Steven T. Seagle, Joe Kelly Joe Casey and Duncan Rouleau), the creators of the animated series Ben 10 and Generator Rex, serve as supervising producers on the show. Twenty-six episodes were ordered for the first season. According to Paul Dini, the series features a "redefined" Peter Parker, and a combination of frequent guest stars loosely based on Bendis' comics, and original material, such as the origins of some of the heroes and villains. actor J.K. Simmons reprises his role as J. Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi's live-action Spider-Man film trilogy for the series. Notable voice actors include Adrian Pasdar as Iron Man and Kevin Michael Richardson, who voices Robbie Robertson and Bulldozer.
The series depicts Spider-Man becoming the newest member of S.H.I.E.L.D. under the leadership of Nick Fury, on a team with four other teenage superheroes. Villains such as Living Laser, Venom and Doctor Doom were seen in a trailer shown at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con.
Ultimate Spider-Man premiered on April 1, 2012, on Disney XD in the United States, while the pilot episode was released on XBox Live and PlayStation Store on April 2, 2012. In the UK and Ireland, the show premiered on Disney UK and Ireland on May 31, 2013. It premiered in Canada on June 22, 2012, on Teletoon.
Disney XD and Marvel officially announced Season 3 on July 20, 2013, at San Diego Comic Con. Season 3, retitled Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors, includes Spider-Man joining the Avengers (consisting of the line-up from Avengers Assemble) and introduces characters such as Cloak and Dagger, Amadeus Cho, Ka-Zar and Agent Venom.
The fourth season, retitled Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister 6, began broadcasting on February 21, 2016.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Drake Bell | Spider-Man / Peter Parker Project Kaine / Ultimate Spider-Slayer Swarm Jack O'Lantern Spider-Punk |
| Ogie Banks | Power Man / Luke Cage Miles Morales / Spider-Man / Kid Arachnid |
| Greg Cipes | Iron Fist / Danny Rand |
| Caitlyn Taylor Love | White Tiger / Ava Ayala |
| Logan Miller | Nova / Sam Alexander |
| Chi McBride | Nick Fury Taurus Soldier Thunderball |
| Clark Gregg | Phil Coulson |
| Mat Lanter | Harry Osborn / Patrioteer Flash Thompson / Agent Venom |
| Steven Webber | Norman Osborn / Green Goblin / Iron Patriot |
| Tom Kenny | Doctor Octopus / Otto Octavius |
| Misty Lee | May Parker Squirrel Girl / Doreen Green |
| Tara Strong | Mary Jane Watson / Spider-Woman |
| Scott Porter | Scarlet Spider / Ben Reilly |
| Eric Buza | Amadeus Cho / Iron Spider |
| Dee Bradley Baker | Lizard / Curt Connors Sandman / Flint Marko Carnage Chitauri soldier Venom Wendigo King Splinter Sandman Lizard King |
| J.K. Simmons | J. Jonah Jameson |
Crew[]
- Writer/Producer/Creative Producer: Brian Michael Bendis
- Supervising Producer: Dana Booton
- Executive Producer: Dan Buckley
- Writer/Supervising Producer: Joe Casey
- Writer/Producer/Creative Consultant: Paul Dini
- Executive Producer: Alan Fine
- Supervising Producer: Henry Gilroy
- Writer/Supervising Producer: Joe Kelly
- Co-Executive Producer/Supervising Producer: Cort Lane
- Co-Executive Producer: Stan Lee
- Executive Producer: Jeph Loeb
- Line Producer: Leanne Moreau
- Executive Producer: Joe Quesada
- Co-Executive Producer: Eric Rodomski
- Writer/Supervising Producer: Duncan Rouleau
- Writer/Supervising Producer: Steven T. Seagle
- Story Editor: Eugene Son
- Supervising Director: Alex Soto
- Casting/Voice Director: Collette Sunderman
- Associate Producer: Harrison Wilcox
Episodes[]
Season 1[]
- Great Power
- Great Responsibility
- Doomed!
- Venom
- Flight of the Iron Spider
- Why I Hate Gym
- Exclusive
- Back in Black
- Field Trip
- Freaky
- Venomous
- Me Time
- Strange
- Awesome
- For Your Eyes Only
- Beetle Mania
- Snow Day
- Damage
- Home Sick Hulk
- Run Pig Run
- I Am Spider-Man
- The Iron Octopus
- Not a Toy
- Attack of the Beetle
- Revealed
- Rise of the Goblin
Season 2[]
- The Lizard
- Electro
- The Rhino
- Kraven the Hunter
- Hawkeye
- The Sinister Six
- Spidah-Man!
- Carnage
- House Arrest
- The Man-Wolf
- Swarm
- Itsy Bitsy Spider-Man
- Journey of the Iron Fist
- The Incredible Spider-Hulk
- Stan By Me
- Ultimate Deadpool
- Venom Bomb
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- The Parent Trap
- Game Over
- The Howling Commandos
- Second Chance Hero
- Sandman Returns
- Return of the Sinister Six
- Ultimate
Season 3[]
- The Avenging Spider-Man: Part 1
- The Avenging Spider-Man: Part 2
- Agent Venom
- Cloak and Dagger
- The Next Iron Spider
- The Vulture
- The Savage Spider-Man
- New Warriors
- The Spider-Verse: Part 1
- The Spider-Verse: Part 2
- The Spider-Verse: Part 3
- The Spider-Verse: Part 4
- The Return of the Guardians of the Galaxy
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy
- Rampaging Rhino
- Ant-Man
- Burrito Run
- Inhumanity
- Attack of the Synthezoids
- The Revenge of Arnim Zola
- Halloween Night at the Museum
- Nightmare on Christmas
- Contest of Champions: Part 1
- Contest of Champions: Part 2
- Contest of Champions: Part 3
- Contest of Champions: Part 4
Season 4[]
- HYDRA Attacks: Part 1
- HYDRA Attacks: Part 2
- Miles from Home
- Iron Vulture
- Lizards
- Double Agent Venom
- Beached
- Anti-Venom
- Force of Nature
- The New Sinister Six: Part 1
- The New Sinister Six: Part 2
- Agent Web
- The Symbiote Saga: Part 1
- The Symbiote Saga: Part 2
- The Symbiote Saga: Part 3
- Return to the Spider-Verse: Part 1
- Return to the Spider-Verse: Part 2
- Return to the Spider-Verse: Part 3
- Return to the Spider-Verse: Part 4
- Strange Little Halloween
- The Spider Slayers: Part 1
- The Spider Slayers: Part 2
- The Spider Slayers: Part 3
- The Moon Knight Before Christmas
- Graduation Day: Part 1
- Graduation Day: Part 2
Reception[]
Critical and fan reception of the series has been mixed. Brain Lowry of Variety criticized the series, suggesting that the source material was "strained through the juvenile, rapid-fire-joke filter of Family Guy", and called the show a "high-profile misfire" that didn't "bode well for Marvel's efforts to straddle the line of catering to kids without dumbing down venerable properties that plenty of adults know and love."
David Sims of The A.V. Club gave the pilot a "C" ranking, writing that the first episode "feels rather lame and perfunctory, with wackiness dialed up to 11 in an effort to distract from how fundamentally bland it is." Sim subsequently gave a "C+" to the episode "Doomed" and a "B+" to the episode "Back in Black." Oliver Sava, also of the A.V. Club, gave the episode "Venom" a "B", stating that the title of the show should be changed to Synergy Spider-Man, because it goes beyond movie and Ultimate continuity to create and entry point for young viewers into the main line of Marvel titles. Sava subsequently gave the episode "Field Trip" an "A-".
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show a 4 out of 5 stars, noting the abundance of action and humor afforded by the series' premise, and opining that the lessons that Peter learns about growth and responsibility under the guidance of his mentor and friends would make lasting impressions on young viewers.
