Spider-Man Unlimited
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- For the comic book, see Spider-Man Unlimited (comic book).
Spider-Man Unlimited was an animated series featuring the Marvel comic book superhero Spider-Man, the series was released in 1999 and although it had good ratings, it was overshadowed by the main ratings grabber at the time, Pokémon, and cancelled after only a few episodes were aired. Fox later resumed airing the show, but aired only the first 13 episodes, cutting the show off on a cliffhanger. Several scripts written for Season 2, including the conclusion of the cliffhanger, were never produced.
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[edit] Plot
Whilst covering the launch of John Jameson's one man mission to an alternate reality, Spider-Man's attempts to stop symbiote adversaries Venom and Carnage from boarding the shuttlecraft are met with failure. Blamed for Jameson losing contact with our Earth, Spider-Man becomes a target of persecution by the media and the public. Believed to be dead after saving a life in a fire, Peter Parker uses this shroud to embark on a mission to retrieve John Jameson on Counter Earth. Making his way to the planet, Spider-Man learns that Jameson has fallen in with a band of freedom fighters opposed to the High Evolutionary, whose Beastials, hybrids of animal and humanoid attributes, are the dominant species whilst humans are the minority.
With Jameson reluctant to return until the Evolutionary is defeated, Spider-Man elects to remain on Counter-Earth, blending in as best he can also as Peter Parker, and fighting Beastial versions of some of his greatest adversaries. It soon becomes clear also that Venom and Carnage are on Counter-Earth...
[edit] Episode list
| Episode Number | Title | Airdate | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Worlds Apart (1) | October 2, 1999 | When Spider-Man spots his two main enemies, Venom and Carnage, hijacking on John Jameson's spaceship on a trip to the mysterious planet, Counter-Earth, he fails and the two symbiote villains go with Jameson to Counter-Earth, where the ship crashes and Jameson presumably dies. The public then blame Spider-Man for Jameson's seeming death and once Spider-Man fakes his own, he lays low for half a year until he gets a new costume and gets another ride to Counter-Earth. |
| 02 | Worlds Apart (2) | October 9, 1999 | Spider-Man reaches his destination on Counter-Earth and finds out that John Jameson survived the crash and became a member of a rebellion who is fighting against the forces of the High Evolutionary, a figurehead who hates humans and creates animal-mutant hybrids called the Beastials. Spider-Man then joins the group and moves in with a single mother, Dr. Naoko Yamada-Jones, and her son, Shayne Jones. |
| 03 | Where Evil Nests | October 16, 1999 | Spider-Man meets the Counter-Earth version of The Green Goblin, who is a hero who at first mistakens him Spider-Man for a villain. And when Spider-Man realizes the kidnapper of Dr. Naoko Yamada-Jones isn't The Goblin. So the two team up to save her and stop a plan by her kidnappers: Venom and Carnage. |
| 04 | Deadly Choices | December 23, 1999 | A member of the rebellion against the High Evolutionary, Git Hoskins, steals a bomb and threatens to blow up the Counter-Earth New York, the rebellion and the Beastials are forced to team up to get it back before both humans and Beastials will die. |
| 05 | Steel Cold Heart | January 13, 2000 | A machine man, X-51, of one of the High Evolutionary's refuses to hurt innocent people, he betrays of the Evolutionary and decides to join the rebellion. |
| 06 | Enter the Hunter! | February 3, 2000 | When the High Evolutionary sees that Spider-Man is a bug in his plans, he has his minion, Sir Ram, hire an assassin named The Hunter to kill Spider-Man. |
| 07 | Cry Vulture | February 10, 2000 | Spider-Man teams up with the Counter-Earth hero version of The Vulture to take down one of Sir Ram's evil plots. |
| 08 | Ill Met by Moonlight | February 17, 2000 | John Jameson turns into a Man-Wolf, half-man, half-wolf. And now, Spider-Man will have to break ino the High Evolutionary's tower to find a cure for John where he confronts a gecko that is Counter-Earth's version of Electro who is guarding the Evolutionary's tower. |
| 09 | Sunstenance | February 24, 2000 | The Goblin returns and figures out that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. They are both then kidnapped by Rejects, failed Beastials created by the High Evolutionary. They attend to sneak into one of the Evoltuionary's hideouts so Spider-Man can escape, pretending to help the Rejects. |
| 10 | Matters of the Heart | March 10, 2000 | Spider-Man agrees to help Bramley, a member of the rebellion against the High Evolutionary, to find his long-lost brother. |
| 11 | One Is the Loneliest Number | March 17, 2000 | Eddie Brock, alter ego of Venom, is separated from the Venom symbiote and Spider-Man agrees to retrieve it by donning it and give it to Brock or he'll die in a matter of time. |
| 12 | The Sins of Our Fathers | March 24, 2000 | Karen O'Meilly, a member of the rebellion against the High Evolutionary, is kidnapped by machine men of the Evolutionary and Spider-Man and X-51 team up to save her. Meanwhile, the High Evolutionary realizes Karen is his granddaughter! |
| 13 | Destiny Unleashed | March 31, 2000 | It is soon realized on why Venom and Carnage are on Counter-Earth of the Synoptic they have been explaining about: the plan is to team up with the High Evolutionary and when the time is right, they would unleash millions of symbiotes on the planet to finally rid of humans once and for all. Spider-Man, John Jameson, the rebellion, X-51 and The Goblin all team up to put an end to the Evolutionary's plans but appear too late when Venom and Carnage's plan occurs. |
[edit] Comic Book
Alongside the animated series, Marvel Comics commissioned a comic to tie in with the series, it would be the second volume of Spider-Man Unlimited as a whole from the company, but the only one of the Unlimited volumes to be based on it. The first two issues adapted the first three episodes of the series, with the last three providing its own storylines.
Issue 3 Peter is assigned by the Daily Byte to follow the Counter-Earth Version of Reed Richards. It is suspected that Reed has knowledge of a mysterious creature called the The Brute. The only thing Peter finds is that Richards is a really uptight indivdual. Together they go to a party which requires everyone to have ID Chips. Before Peter is discovered not to have one The Brute shows up to crash the party. After a fight between Spider-Man and The Brute, it's revealed to him that the creature is none other than Reed Richards. Turns out that The Brute is helping the rebel against the Beastials, as Reed he is a spy. He's also aided in his mission by his friend Ben Grimm. After as tested flight similar to the Fantastic Four's Reed was transformed by cosmic rays into The Brute, Ben was uneffected, Johnny Storm was killed and Susan Richards was left in a coma.
Issue 4 introduced a sub-plot of humans and Beastials living in harmony in a hidden paradise called "Haven" which Spider-Man discovers, and stumbles on a human Gwen Stacy double, before he is driven from the place of solitude.
In the final issue he meets an escapee from Haven, a Beastial version of Wolverine. After fighting, the two team up and take down a Beastial Chameleon. It is hinted that Wolverine is really Naoko Jones's missing husband (Although the cartoon hints that The Goblin is really Naoko's husband), but nothing came out of the storylines, as poor sales ended the comic's run.
[edit] Credits
Director
- Patrick Archibald
Writers
- Larry Brody - Head Writer
- Robert Gregory Browne - Writer
- Michael Reaves - Writer
Produced by
- Avi Arad - executive producer
- Matthew Edelman - co-executive producer
- Will Meugniot - producer
- Eric S. Rollman - executive producer
Original Music
Film Editing
- Shawn Logue
Production Design
Art Department
- Patrick Archibald - storyboard artist
- Stefano Gaudiano - storyboard artist
- Keith Giffen - storyboard artist
- Rick Hobers - storyboard artist
- Lothell Jones - storyboard artist
Voices
- Rino Romano as Spider-Man / Peter Parker / The Goblin
- Brian Drummond as Venom / Eddie Brock
- Michael Donovan as Carnage
- John Payne II as John Jameson
- Akiko Morison as Dr. Naoko Jones
- Rhys Huber as Shayne Jones
- Christopher Gaze as Daniel Bromley
- Jennifer Hale as Mary Jane / Lady Vermin
- Kimberly Hawthorne as Karen O'Malley
- Tasha Simms as Lady Ursula
- David Sobolov as Lord Tyger
- Ron Halder as Sir Ram
- Mark Gibbon as Nick Fury
- Richard Newman as J. Jonah Jameson, High Evolutionary
[edit] Trivia
- The series ended on a cliffhanger because other seasons were expected to be produced. Six episodes of season two were already produced but not animated.
- The character of Mr. Meugniot is named after this series writer, Will Meugniot.
- The new costume from this series was an unlockable costume in the Spider-Man (2000) game, complete with the stealth feature.
- The comic Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #s 13-14 utilised elements of the cartoon setting, including the costume, although the story was set in the main Marvel Universe.
[edit] Resemblance to Batman Beyond
This re-imagining of Spider-Man: The Animated Series bears a striking resemblance to the then-popular Batman Beyond. Similarities include:
- In addition to his powers Spider-Man also possesses a suit composed of state-of-the-art technology, including "spider-stingers", invisibility, and a built-in sonic weapon.
- Spider-Man is transported to a world that is much more advanced technologically than his home of Earth but is also a police state patrolled by heavily-armed law enforcement meant to challenge the dangers posed by loose cannons in society.
- The appearance of Spider-Man's new costume was inspired by (although sharing very little in common with) the Spider-Man 2099 series, which was a series by Marvel that featured a future Spider-Man. The series began as an attempt to bring Spider-Man 2099 to the small screen (the rights to many of Spidey's rogues gallery were tied up with Sony), but eventually this format was approved.
[edit] External links
- IMDb.com Entry
- epguides.com - Titles and Air Dates Guide
- Garn's Guides
- International Catalogue of Superheroes
- Spider-Man Unlimited - Pazsaz Entertainment Network
- Marvel Animation Age Presents: Spider-Man Unlimited
- 'Spider-Man Unlimited' Comes To Marvel Animation Age
- Spider-Man Unlimited Comic Talkback
| Spider-Man | ||
|---|---|---|
| Publications | Main continuity: Amazing Fantasy | The Amazing Spider-Man | Marvel Team-Up | The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Spider-Man Unlimited Other continuities: Ultimate Spider-Man | Marvel Adventures Spider-Man | Spider-Girl | Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane |
|
| Television | Spider-Man (1967) | Amazing Spider-Man (1978) | Spider-Man (1981) | Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) | Spider-Man (1994) Spider-Man Unlimited (1999) | Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (2003) | Untitled Spider-Man Animated Series (2007) |
|
| Films | Spider-Man (2002) | Spider-Man 2 (2004) | Spider-Man 3 (2007) | |
| Other topics | ||
| Spider-Man writers | Spider-Man artists | Spider-Man supporting characters | Spider-Man villains | Spider-Man's powers and equipment | Video games | ||
