Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, or simply Spider-Man, is an animated superhero television series based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and produced by Mainframe Entertainment, Marvel Enterprises, Adelaide Productions and Sony Pictures Television. Initially intended to serve as a continuation of Sam Raimi's film Spider-Man, as well as a loose adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic books by Brian Michael Bendis, the show was made using computer-generated imagery rendered in cel shading. It ran for only one season of 13 episodes, airing from July 11 to September 12, 2003, and was broadcast on cable channels MTV in the United States and YTV in Canada.
Initially connected to the Spider-Man film series, the series' events were contradicted by Spider-Man 2, rendering it a separate universe.

WWW mtv.com/onair/spider-man

Series overview

Set shortly after the events of the 2002 film, Peter Parker, and his friends Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn start attending Empire State University together. Peter and Mary Jane try to establish a relationship without much success. Peter's superhero duties, and later his involvement with Indira Daimonji, interfere with his romance with Mary Jane, while Harry continuously blames Spider-Man for the death of his father Norman Osborn. Peter faces an assortment of other villains including the Lizard, Kraven the Hunter and Electro while trying to maintain a job and his studies.

Cast and characters

Main

Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker / Spider-Man: A superhero who is also an Empire State University student and photographer for the Daily Bugle. Peter confronts with the desire to use his powers to do good, he finds it hard balancing his responsibilities of being a superhero with schoolwork and his romance with Mary Jane Watson.
Lisa Loeb as Mary Jane Watson: A student at Empire State University and model/actress. She is the on-and-off girlfriend of Peter Parker, but also seems to still hold some affection for Peter's alter-ego, Spider-Man, who she is unaware are both the same person.
Ian Ziering as Harry Osborn: The son of the late industrialist Norman Osborn. He attends Empire State University along with his friends Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Ironically, he blames Spider-Man for his father's death and seeks revenge, but is oblivious to the fact that his father was the Green Goblin, and accidentally triggered his own death; however, as the series progresses, Harry has shown to warm up to Spider-Man, as well as helping him defeat Electro and accept being rescued from the Lizard.

Recurring

Keith Carradine as J. Jonah Jameson: The Daily Bugle newspaper publisher. Consistent with his appearances in the comics and films, Jameson spent most of his appearances berating Spider-Man and adding political spin to his activities, usually in front of Peter Parker.
Angelle Brooks as Indira "Indy" Daimonji, a journalist and Peter Parker's girlfriend.

Guest

Stan Lee as Frank Elson
Rob Zombie as Curt Connors / Lizard
Eve as Cheyenne / Talon
Kathy Griffin as Roxanne Gaines
Jeremy Piven as Roland Gaines
Michael Dorn as Kraven the Hunter
Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin. Duncan reprises his role from the 2003 Daredevil film.
Keith David as FBI Agent Mosely
Jeffrey Combs as Dr. Zellner
David DeLuise as Mack and Jack
Clancy Brown as Raymond
Virginia Madsen as Silver Sable
James Marsters as Sergei
Harold Perrineau as Turbo Jet
Ed Asner as Officer Bar. Asner had previously voiced J. Jonah Jameson in the 1990s animated series.
Gina Gershon as Shikata
John C. McGinley as Richard Daimian
Ethan Embry as Max Dillon / Electro
Devon Sawa as Flash Thompson
Tara Strong as Christina
Cree Summer as Professor Williams
Jeff Fischer as Doug Reisman

Production

Spider-Man: The New Animated Series was ordered by MTV as early as January 2002. Initially, it was supposed to be an adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comics by Brian Michael Bendis. However, after the success of Sam Raimi's 2002 Spider-Man film, the show was reworked to follow its continuity. The computer-generated imagery was produced by Mainframe Entertainment. Michael Rosenbaum was approached for the lead role, but he didn't audition. Neil Patrick Harris, Lisa Loeb, and Ian Ziering were announced as the primary voice cast in May 2002. The producers found that the relaxed standards of MTV allowed them more creative freedom than usually allowed for a Saturday-morning cartoon.
Peter Parker was originally supposed to wear baggier clothes to hide his superhero musculature, but cost-effective difficulties with the CGI prevented folds from being put into his everyday attire. As a result, Peter's street clothes were redesigned to be close-fitting and contemporary, while still managing to hide his physique as Spider-Man. The character of Aunt May was not included in the series, because MTV executives feared that the appearance of any elderly people would deter their target youth audience from watching.
The series was canceled after only 13 episodes, reportedly due to low ratings. Director Brandon Vietti stated that had the series gone on he would have used the villains Mysterio, Vulture, and more of Kraven.

Episodes

The episodes aired on MTV out of the correct scripted order. The DVD releases feature the episodes in the correct order.

Reception

In 2004, the series was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production while "Keeping Secrets" got a nomination in Outstanding Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production.

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD as Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Special Edition on January 13, 2004. Four separate DVD volumes containing three episodes each were also released from 2004 to 2005. These releases contained various behind-the-scenes featurettes, as well as trailers for Cowboy Bebop, Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis, Cyborg 009, Tokyo Godfathers, and the theatrical trailers for Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. The entire series was licensed by Marvel and Sony to DigiKids/Sentimental Journeys, who re-edited the footage from many episodes into one feature, which is sold as a personalized DVD in which the purchaser's face is revealed under Spider-Man's mask.
The series was made available for streaming on Disney+ on October 19, 2022, but the episodes appear in their original air date order and not chronologically. On December 4, 2023, it was removed. As of June 2025, the series is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Fandango at Home through purchase.