The animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man features an extensive cast of characters originally created by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and other comic book creators. Greg Weisman and Victor Cook and the rest of the crew redesigned these classic characters in the series to be more modern but remain faithful to its characters in the comics. Most of these characters are based on the characters in the original mainstream universe but there have been characters that have been introduced from the Ultimate Marvel universe such as Kenny Kong and characters from Sam Raimi's film series such as Bernard Houseman as well. The majority of the villains that have debuted in the show have started out as supporting characters before becoming villains. The character's portrayals in the shows have mainly gained positive reviews from TV critics.
Overview Character Voiced by Seasons Spider-Verse films Season 1 Season 2 Across Beyond Main characters Peter Parker / Spider-Man Josh Keaton colspan="2" colspan="2" Gwen Stacy Lacey Chabert colspan="2" colspan="2" Harry Osborn James Arnold Taylor colspan="2" colspan="2" J. Jonah Jameson Daran Norris colspan="2" colspan="2" Mary Jane Watson Vanessa Marshall colspan="2" colspan="2" Flash Thompson Joshua LeBar colspan="2" colspan="2" Liz Allan Alanna Ubach colspan="1" colspan="1" colspan="2" Captain George Stacy Clancy Brown colspan="1" colspan="1" Norman Osborn / Green Goblin Alan Rachins colspan="1" colspan="1" Supporting characters Aunt May Parker Deborah Strang colspan="2" Uncle Ben Parker Ed Asner colspan="2" Dr. Curt Connors / Lizard Dee Bradley Baker colspan="2"
Role in The Spectacular Spider-Man The main protagonist of the series is Peter Parker, a young teenager who attends midtown high school and is an extremely bright honors student. Peter is also secretly a superhero called Spider-Man. In school, his two best friends are Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn. Peter is constantly being bullied and taunted by his shallow, more popular peers—particularly football star Flash Thompson (due to the fact that Peter is a shy science nerd who has a scholastic interest toward science) —and, as Spider-Man, engenders the editorial wrath of newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. Ironically enough, much to Peter's dismay, Flash Thompson is also one of Spider-Man's biggest fans. Also at school, Peter's feelings wrestle between Gwen Stacy and Liz Allan. Peter Parker soon finds himself getting a job at the Daily Bugle as a freelance photographer working with characters such as J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Betty Brant, Ned Lee and Frederick Foswell. Parker as Spider-Man fights a lot of villains in the series as the majority of his rogues gallery in the comics are introduced in this series. Season one introduces villains such as Vulture, Electro, Lizard, Shocker, Sandman, Rhino, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom, Hammerhead, and Tombstone. Season two introduces Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, Molten Man, and Silvermane.
Creation and concept
As story editor, Greg Weisman approached the character by going and buying the first seven volumes of The Essential Spider-Man and reread them. The creator Greg Weisman originally grew up on Stan Lee and John Romita Sr., the comic book writers who created the characters and he later went back and read the original Stan Lee and Steve Ditko stories. He then re-read them and took copious notes and tried to get the voice of those early stories, put his own spin on some of the origins and the costume designs and wanted to create something that was coherent, cohesive, contemporary and classic. Greg Weisman stated:
Because Sally Avril's character was later developed in Untold Tales of Spider-Man the creators used her. In Season 2, he used Bernard Houseman from the movie. The creators didn't want to wait several seasons to introduce Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn and Mary Jane Watson, all of whom met Peter when he was in college in the comics. The creators wanted to stay true to the characters and tried to figure out what they would have been like in high school. "What kind of guy would Harry Osborn have been back in high school?" Greg Weisman stated that. "It doesn't mean taking his college character and just sticking it in high school, it means extrapolating what he may have been like back then. Same thing with Gwen Stacy, and later with Mary Jane. We included those characters because they meant a lot in Peter's life and were iconic."
As for having guest stars in the show, the creators didn't want the show to be guest star of the week. The creators felt that if they started bringing people in too early, viewers would keep asking "well, who's gonna show up next?" and it would be a distraction from their main characters who are so interesting. Greg Weisman stated:
The characters that the creators decided to put on the show came from some kind of source and were never intended to be original characters. The characters either came from the mainstream comics, the Ultimate Spider-Man comics or in the Spider-Man films.
Main characters The main characters featured in the opening credits: Peter Parker / Spider-Man Peter Benjamin Parker / Spider-Man (voiced by Josh Keaton) is the titular protagonist of the series. Bitten on the hand by a radioactive spider during a field trip to Empire State University, Peter gained superhuman spider-powers including superhuman speed, strength, agility, durability, stamina, reflexes, coordination and balance, as well as the ability to cling to solid surfaces. His most notable ability however is his "spider sense," which allows him to sense danger and react quickly. He would also design his own equipment to supplement his powers, such as his web-shooters, which he can use to shoot artificial webbing at his foes, and swing through the city. One day, Peter donned a spider costume and sought to fight crime after allowing a burglar to escape, only for that same criminal to kill his Uncle Ben in a mugging. He learned that "with great power there must also come great responsibility", a phrase that now drives him to act as Spider-Man. The series focuses on the character's struggles while leading a double life as Parker in Midtown High, maintaining a job at the Daily Bugle, and as the superhero Spider-Man, with his friendships often being damaged by his business. Despite their financial troubles, the 16-year-old and his Aunt May have a great relationship. His best friends in school are mainly Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn and gradually Mary Jane Watson. Peter is extremely bright, and became an honors student at Midtown High School. Although, Peter's shyness and scholastic interest, especially in science, often make him a social outcast and he is often bullied and called names like "Puny Parker" by his shallow popular peers. Although his powers have given him confidence, he often has to take the taunts to stop anyone suspecting his secret. Keaton stated, "I grew up reading comic books and Spider-Man was always one of my favorites. I felt that I always identified with him. Spider-Man is awesome. I definitely was a huge Spider-Man fan growing up and still am." Before he was chosen for Spider-Man, Keaton auditioned for the roles of Harry Osborn and Eddie Brock.
This version of Spider-Man appears in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a member of the Spider-Society, with Keaton reprising his role.
Gwen Stacy Gwen Stacy (voiced by Lacey Chabert) is the main love interest of Peter Parker in the show. Gwen is the daughter of police captain George Stacy, and is one of Peter Parker's best friends and intellectual equal; they are both recommended by their teacher to work in the lab of Doctor Connors. Although initially strong willed, kind, harboring deep feelings for her best friend Peter and unconcerned with her appearance, she gradually evolves into a more confident and attractive character more closely resembling and truly faithful to her comic book counterpart. She is always supportive of Peter, and also shows well-meaning concern for Harry Osborn. Although she is Peter's best friend, her weakness is that she has a colossal crush on Peter.
Harry Osborn Harry Osborn (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) is portrayed as Peter Parker's best friend and is Norman Osborn's son. While being true to his comic counterpart, he constantly lives in his father's shadow and considers Peter a good friend, though at times also resents him for earning Norman's approval, which Harry has never been able to do. Being ignored and neglected by his father and overprotective of his mother and just like Peter, he is an unpopular kid at school. With his lack of approval, he is prone to do anything to get it.
J. Jonah Jameson J. Jonah Jameson (voiced by Daran Norris) is portrayed as a loudmouth, irascible, egotistical, and gruff publisher of the Daily Bugle. Showing excessive pride in his son John Jameson, he is obsessed with exposing fraudulent claims to heroism, and is therefore always demanding pictures of Spider-Man so that he can continue his smear campaign against the vigilante that has, at least temporarily, turned much of the gullible city against the hero. Even though he loves to sell newspapers of Spider-Man and takes delight in anything that might discredit or defame him, he feels that the real heroes are ones that have nothing to hide such as his son and will do anything to get him on the spotlight instead of Spider-Man. He is shown as a foolishly stubborn and pompous skinflint who micromanages his employees and resents Spider-Man out of jealousy. However, he reluctantly will give Spider-Man credit where it is due, and will always print retractions for unfair allegations. Aside from that, he retains his dislike for Spider-Man from the comics, and takes delight in anything that might discredit or defame him and considers Spider-Man a menace and a vigilante.
Mary Jane Watson Mary Jane Watson (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) is portrayed as the niece of Anna Watson. She attends the Fall Formal as Peter Parker's date before ultimately switching schools to be at Midtown. Mary Jane befriends Peter and Gwen Stacy, and is initially determined to stay single, desiring to be a "free agent". Marshall states "I always make sure my choices for Mary Jane are that of an independent thinker, that she's not concerned with what the people around her think, which is an uncommon trait in teenage girls, there's a distinct confidence about her that I try to emulate". She also explained about the character she played "Mary Jane's character is incredibly complex, Her strength plays a major part in Peter's growth and maturation she really keeps him on the straight and narrow. Even though our characters are still only in high school during this cartoon, and you're not going to get a lot of that character development at this point of the series, I know it's going to be there in the future and so that has an effect on how I play her now".
Flash Thompson