Spider-Man (1967 TV series)



"Spider-Man, Spider-Man,

Does whatever a spider can

Spins a web, any size,

Catches thieves just like flies

Look Out!

Here comes the Spiderman."

- Opening verse of the Title Theme Tune

Probably the first show to ever feature the titular pop culture phenomenon.

The show was odd.

It can be viewed on the Marvel website here.


 * The Abridged Series: Spiderdub.
 * Art Evolution: Inverted: Budget slashes during the second season caused the animation to become worse.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: So many puns that the Vulture ended up begging for mercy to make Spidey stop making egg jokes.
 * Becoming Part of the Image: Happens to Spider-Man in episode 45.
 * Camp
 * Cloudcuckoolander: The Vulture is a bit of an odd bird in this version.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: In the second season, mostly because of using footage of villians from Rocket Robin Hood, the villians were inevitably green-skinned.
 * The Dark Age of Animation
 * Darker and Edgier: Say what you will about the second season, at least the first two episodes covered Spider-Man's origin, including the murder of Uncle Ben.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Spidey, as always. Betty Brant has her moments, too. Also, Electro, Green Goblin and Vulture when put together.
 * Electro can be pretty sarcastic with Spider-Man, too.
 * Expy: Klivendon to Kraven and Charles Cameo to Chameleon. Which is an odd case, because they had licensing to those characters.
 * Harmless Freezing: In the first episode but Spider-Man combats this with a self-made heating unit on his chest... which doesn't get used anyway.
 * Ice Person: The Plutonians.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Jerk: Jameson. To quote Betty Brant: "Beneath that gruff exterior is a gruff interior."
 * Limited Animation
 * Meaningful Name: Dr Smarter.
 * Off-Model
 * Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Peter used a lower-toned voice as Spider-Man.
 * Stock Footage: A large abundance of it. Particularly notable during the second season, when endless shots of Spidey swinging across the city were combined with intercut footage from Rocket Robin Hood as a means of severe cost cutting.