Spider-Man (1981 TV series)

Spider-Man
Genre	Superhero Action Adventure
Created by	Stan Lee
Based on	Spider-Man by Stan Lee Steve Ditko
Written by	Creighton Barnes Doug Booth Francis K. Feighan Donald F. Glut Jack Hanrahan Christy Marx Larry Parr Jeffrey Scott
Starring	Ted Schwartz Lee Bailey Linda Gary Morgan Lofting Mona Marshall William Woodson
Composer	Johnny Douglas
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producers	David H. DePatie Lee Gunther
Producer	Arthur Vitello
Running time	22 minutes
Production company	Marvel Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 12, 1981 (1981-09-12) – March 6, 1982 (1982-03-06)
Related
Spider-Man Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

Spider-Man is a 1981–82 American animated TV series based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is the second Spider-Man cartoon, following the 1967 series.

Synopsis

The series featured Peter Parker having to balance his alter ego crimefighting with his responsibilities as a university student, a part-time photographer for the Daily Bugle and caring for his elderly Aunt May Parker.

While Spider-Man fights his usual enemies, six episodes have him contending with Doctor Doom.

Cast

• Ted Schwartz – Spider-Man/Peter Parker
• Jack Angel – Dr. Donald Blake (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"), Man Mountain Marko (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"), Moe (in "Triangle of Evil")
• Lee Bailey – Robbie Robertson
• William Boyett – Cat Burglar (in "Arsenic and Aunt May")
• Wally Burr – Sandman (in "The Sandman is Coming"), Sam Block (in "The Doom Report"), Dean Stockton (in "Cannon of Doom")
• Corey Burton – Lizard (in "Lizards, Lizards Everywhere")
• Philip L. Clarke – Sidewinder/Wild Willie Wilson (in "The Sidewinder Strikes"), Waiter (in "The Sidewinder Strikes")
• Regis Cordic – Ringmaster (in "Carnival of Crime")
• Henry Corden – Man with Briefcase (in "The Return of the Kingpin"), Lead Henchman (in "The Return of the Kingpin"), Fosdic (in "The Return of the Kingpin")
• Brad Crandall – Doctor Doom
• Peter Cullen – Red Skull (in "The Capture of Captain America"), Stuntman/Jack Riven (in "Triangle of Evil")
• Brian Cummings – Empire State University Principal (in "The Pied Piper of New York Town"), General (in "The Pied Piper of New York Town")
• Jeff David – Akim (in "The Doom Report")
• Jack DeLeon – Kraven the Hunter (in "The Hunter and the Hunted")
• Ralph James – Uncle Ben (in "Arsenic and Aunt May")
• Lynn Johnson – Hammerhead (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner")
• Morgan Lofting – Aunt May, Black Cat (in "Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man"), Penny (in "The Web of Nephilia")
• Mona Marshall – Betty Brant, Rodeo Girl (in "The Sidewinder Strikes"), Boy Victor Von Doom (in "Cannon of Doom")
• George DiCenzo – Captain America (in "The Capture of Captain America"), Wizard (in "Under the Wizard's Spell")
• Walker Edmiston – Magneto (in "When Magneto Speaks.... People Listen")
• Ron Feinberg – Professor Gizmo (in "The Unfathomable Professor Gizmo")
• Brian Fuld – Ka-Zar (in "The Hunter and the Hunted")
• Linda Gary – Colleen (in "Arsenic and Aunt May")
• Buster Jones – Acting Teacher (in "The Pied Piper of New York Town")
• Stan Jones – Doctor Octopus (in "Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble"), Kingpin (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner" and "The Return of the Kingpin")
• Les Lampson – Dr. Lee (in "Countdown to Doom")
• John H. Mayer – Chameleon (in "Arsenic and Aunt May"), Police Sergeant (in "Arsenic and Aunt May")
• Don Messick – Vulture (in "The Vulture Has Landed"), Hank Edwards (in "The Vulture Has Landed")
• Arlin Miller – Nephilia/Dr. Bradley Shaw (in "The Web of Nephilia")
• Vic Perrin – Goron (in "The A-B-C's of D-O-O-M"), Sub-Mariner (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"), Caesar Cicero (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner")
• Tony Pope – Boris
• Richard Ramos – Gadgeteer/Joshua (in "The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man")
• Gene Ross – Shlocker (in "Triangle of Evil"), Larry (in "Triangle of Evil")
• Neil Ross – Green Goblin/Norman Osborn (in "Revenge of the Green Goblin"), Michael (in "Countdown to Doom")
• Michael Rye – Mysterio (in "The Pied Piper of New York Town"), Additional characters (in "The Pied Piper of New York Town")
• Marilyn Schreffler – Sally Ann Beaumont (in "The Sandman is Coming")
• Gary Seger – Johnny Griffon (in "Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man"), Beyond Belief Host (in "Triangle of Evil")
• Michael Sheehan – Mortimer, Johan Klemmle, Young Reed Richards (in "Cannon of Doom"), Young Victor Von Doom (in "Cannon of Doom")
• John Stephenson – Dr. Norton (in "The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man")
• Andre Stojka – NASA Worker (in "The Sandman Is Coming"), Hal Hunter (in "The Return of the Kingpin")
• B.J. Ward – Namorita (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"), Medusa (in "Under the Wizard's Spell")
• Paul Winchell – Silvermane (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"), Additional characters (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner")
• William Woodson – J. Jonah Jameson, Professor Donaldson (in "The Vulture Has Landed"), Dr. Everett (in "Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"), Dr. Niemann (in "The Capture of Captain America")

Note: Neil Ross would reprise his role as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin for the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon series.

Walter S. Burr was the voice director for the series.

Episodes

No.	Title	Written by	Original air date
1	"Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble"	Unknown	September 12, 1981 (1981-09-12)
Doctor Octopus commits various mysterious crimes in an effort to upgrade his mechanical arms and steal the world's oil supply.
2	"Dr. Doom, Master of the World"	Unknown	September 19, 1981 (1981-09-19)
Doctor Doom is mind-controlling world leaders so, at the upcoming United Nations meeting, they will declare him the master of the world.
3	"Lizards, Lizards, Everywhere"	Unknown	September 26, 1981 (1981-09-26)
Lizard is plotting to turn New York City into a swampland, filled with reptiles under his control.
4	"Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man"	Unknown	October 3, 1981 (1981-10-03)
After Spider-Man stops her from robbing a Daily Bugle party hosted by J. Jonah Jameson, the Black Cat announces that she plans to steal the Maltese Mouse and challenges Spider-Man to try to stop her.
5	"The Sandman Is Coming"	Unknown	October 10, 1981 (1981-10-10)
The Sandman steals a radioactive soil sample from Mars from NASA and goes on a crime spree. Sally Ann Beaumont accuses Peter of negligence during Sandman's theft and reports his actions to Empire State University's board where there is a chance that he'll be thrown out.
6	"When Magneto Speaks... People Listen"	Unknown	October 17, 1981 (1981-10-17)
Magneto uses a spacecraft to increase his powers and shut off the nation's power supply.
7	"The Pied Piper of New York Town"	Unknown	October 24, 1981 (1981-10-24)
Mysterio opens up a new disco nightclub in town that turns its patrons and anyone else that hears the disco music into his slaves, whom he uses to try to steal a nuclear missile.
8	"The Doctor Prescribes Doom"	Unknown	October 31, 1981 (1981-10-31)
Doctor Doom returns to replace the world leaders with robots under his control so they will declare him ruler of the world.
9	"Carnival of Crime"	Unknown	November 7, 1981 (1981-11-07)
The circus has come to town and the Ringmaster uses a special gas to rob banks while making people believe that Spider-Man is the thief.
10	"Revenge of the Green Goblin"	Unknown	November 14, 1981 (1981-11-14)
Norman Osborn escapes from a mental institution on Halloween night. When the train he is riding in crashes and blows up, he remembers that he is the Green Goblin and threatens to reveal to the world who Spider-Man really is and seeks revenge on Jameson for publishing stories about his chemical plant being unsafe.
11	"Triangle of Evil"	Unknown	November 21, 1981 (1981-11-21)
The Triangle of Evil led by Stuntman forces Spider-Man to survive deadly stunts as bills start piling up for Aunt May.
12	"The A-B-C's of D-O-O-M"	Unknown	November 28, 1981 (1981-11-28)
Doctor Doom forms a criminal partnership with Goron to pose as humanitarians to gain control of a space craft.
13	"The Sidewinder Strikes"	Unknown	December 5, 1981 (1981-12-05)
A rodeo show has come to the city and the Sidewinder tries to steal the gold spurs.
14	"The Hunter and the Hunted"	Unknown	December 12, 1981 (1981-12-12)
After being hired by Jameson to look for a mascot for the Daily Bugle, Kraven the Hunter comes to the city as a hero when he captures Zabu, the last surviving saber-tooth tiger from the Savage Land. Ka-Zar comes to the city to liberate his animal companion.
15	"The Incredible Shrinking Spider-Man"	Unknown	December 19, 1981 (1981-12-19)
A janitor, feeling that his genius is ignored, dons the identity of the Gadgeteer to steal his employer Dr. Norton's new device that can shrink anything and uses it to shrink Spider-Man.
16	"The Unfathomable Professor Gizmo"	Unknown	December 26, 1981 (1981-12-26)
Professor Gizmo seeks to reclaim sunken treasure and requires Spider-Man's help to do so.
17	"Canon of Doom"	Unknown	January 2, 1982 (1982-01-02)
Doctor Doom secretly uses a laser cannon to create a fault line on New York City and then promises to fix the problem, when in fact he plans to use his laser cannon to create more earthquakes.
18	"The Capture of Captain America"	Unknown	January 9, 1982 (1982-01-09)
Captain America is kidnapped by the Red Skull who plans to swap minds with him and take over the military. After Jameson blames him for the kidnapping, Spider-Man tries to save Captain America.
19	"The Doom Report"	Unknown	January 16, 1982 (1982-01-16)
Freedom fighters from Latveria start an underground movement in New York City while Doctor Doom orders the United Nations to make him ruler of the world or else he will use his weather control device to cause chaos.
20	"The Web of Nephilia"	Christy Marx	January 23, 1982 (1982-01-23)
A scientist named Dr. Bradley Shaw transforms into a mutant spider when trying to gain Spider-Man's powers from his blood sample and due to the level raising caused by his assistant Penny who has her own agenda. Meanwhile, Peter must find a way to give blood when Jameson wants his employees to donate at a blood drive.
21	"Countdown to Doom"	Unknown	January 30, 1982 (1982-01-30)
NASA sends a rocket into space built by Doctor Doom unaware that he has attached a device to it that will move the Earth out of orbit, sending it into a new ice age, in an effort to force the United Nations to declare him to be the master of the world.
22	"Arsenic and Aunt May"	Unknown	February 6, 1982 (1982-02-06)
Spider-Man catches the relative of the burglar that killed Ben Parker. When in prison, he meets Chameleon which leads him to discover Spidey's secret identity. He poses as Uncle Ben's spirit and tricks Aunt May into seeing his minion Colleen posing as a medium. Colleen would give Aunt May a necklace that will hypnotize her into trying to kill Spider-Man.
23	"The Vulture Has Landed"	Unknown	February 13, 1982 (1982-02-13)
The Vulture has been kidnapping scientists in an effort to gain control of a NASA space probe. Peter goes to see his friend Harry in his apartment, but he's not home. Vulture mistakes Peter as Harry when he borrows one of Harry's outfits after losing his civilian clothes and kidnaps him.
24	"Wrath of the Sub-Mariner"	Unknown	February 20, 1982 (1982-02-20)
Upon calling a truce with crime lords Silvermane (who is accompanied by Man Mountain Marko), Hammerhead, and Caesar Cicero, the Kingpin shows them a powerful acid developed by Dr. Everett to unite the crime lords in a plot to pull off crimes. The subsequent chemical waste from the new chemical is illegally dumping into the water, causing sickness to Sub-Mariner's cousin, Namorita. He takes her to the nearest doctor Dr. Donald Blake, then begins to wreak havok on the surface world.
25	"The Return of the Kingpin"	Unknown	February 27, 1982 (1982-02-27)
The Kingpin has his minion Hal Hunter trick Spider-Man into committing a series of crimes.
26	"Under the Wizard's Spell"	Christy Marx	March 6, 1982 (1982-03-06)
The Wizard invites Medusa to New York City, where he uses an unremovable collar on her in order to forces Medusa to steal an electronic device from a military base for him.

Production

Background

The series was created to launch Marvel Productions, successor of DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, who had previously produced the 1978 New Fantastic Four and 1979 Spider-Woman animated series (where Spider-Man made two appearances) and was syndicated by ARP Films Inc.

Character designs

The character design for Peter Parker (as well as other supporting characters including Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson) was quite faithful to the comic books of the period and hearkened back to the illustrations by John Romita Sr. of the young hero in Spider-Man's newspaper strip adventures from the 1970s. Due to network constraints and demands from parents, characters such as Spider-Man were not allowed to make a fist to strike an opponent, but the show's creators managed to conceal these issues with a focus on action and relatively fluid animation.

Much like the Spider-Man newspaper strip of the late 1970s, Peter Parker's character design did away with the 1960s crew cut for a more modern hairstyle during this time, which the character continued to be portrayed with through the 1980s and early 1990s. Likewise, Parker abandoned the conservative suit and tie of the 1960s comics and previous animated series in favor of dark blue straight-legged linen pants.

Peter's mask was connected to his costume at the back of the neck, like a hood which he would pull over his head when he changed into Spider-Man.

Broadcast and home media release

As was the case with Amazing Friends, the series was later re-aired in the late 1980s as part of the 90-minute Marvel Action Universe, a syndicated series that was used as a platform for old and new Marvel-produced animated fare (the newer programming featured RoboCop: The Animated Series, Dino-Riders and on occasion, X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, which was intended to serve as a pilot for a potential X-Men animated series). The show was last rerun in the US in 1998 as part of the UPN Kids Action Zone block alongside several other Marvel shows.

Region 1

Episodes of the series were included in Prism Entertainment's Marvel Comics Video Library VHS series in the 1980s.

In Canada, Morningstar Entertainment released the episode "The Vulture Has Landed" on DVD in the set entitled Spider-Man Vs. The Vulture. The set also contains "The Vulture's Prey" and "The Dark Terrors", both from the 1967 Spider-Man TV series. Morningstar also released "Canon of Doom" (on the Fantastic Four VS. Doctor Doom set, included in the Villains Showdown Gift Set that also includes "Spider-Man Vs. The Vulture"), although the episode is the Bonus episode on the disc. "Arsenic And Aunt May" was also released in the Heroes box set. All the Morningstar DVDs were mastered from VHS/Betamax copies that were released by Prism Video in 1985 as part of their Marvel Video Library series.

Region 2

In April 2008, Liberation Entertainment secured the home media rights to select Marvel shows from Jetix Europe in select European territories, including Spider-Man.

In 2009, Clear Vision took over home media rights, and released the series on DVD on four volumes in the United Kingdom, released on June 7, July 5, August 2, and September 6 of 2010 respectively, with a triple pack releasing in 2011, and a complete series release following on March 11, 2013. The company also released the show's four DVD volumes in Germany. To avoid confusion with other Spider-Man DVD titles, Clear Vision released the show on DVD under the name Spider-Man 5000.

Streaming

The series was available for streaming on Netflix from 2011 to 2013. The series became available on the Disney+ streaming service at its U.S. launch on November 12, 2019.

External links

• Spider-Man at IMDb
• 1981 Spider-Man Cartoon at Toon Zone Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine