Original cartoon series based on the web-slinging Marvel comic book character, Peter Parker, who, after being bit by a radioactive spider, assumes extraordinary powers.
Student Peter Parker is bitten by a spider while witnessing an experiment in radiology and finds that the radiation has transferred the properties of the spider (ability to scale walls and swing on webs) to him with a strength proportional to his body. Peter now has super spider powers and is so preoccupied with their possibilities that he fails to help the police stop a thief, who later robs the house of Peter's guardians, Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and kills Ben. Furious, Peter tracks down the culprit at a warehouse, and, on seeing the man's face, Peter realizes that if he had acted earlier to help stop the crook, Ben would be alive now. So, Peter vows to use his new powers to fight crime, as the super-heroic Spider-Man.—Kevin McCorry <[email protected]>
The 1967 'Spider-Man' series displayed the web-slinging crime-fighter for the first time outside the comic book. Peter Parker, an ordinary college student, is bitten by a radioactive spider and soon finds he has the spider's ability to climb across buildings and swing across streets. After his Uncle Ben is murdered by a thief he surprised, Peter assumes the identity of Spider-Man to go after the low-lifes who plague Manhattan's streets. For 3 years, he battled with such villains as Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin, the Kingpin, Mysterio, the Radiation Specialist, Clive, and the Rhino - always putting an end to their criminal ambitions.—Derek O'Cain
The 1967 incarnation of "Spider-Man" marked the web-slinging hero's first television series. Spider-Man was based on the popular Marvel Comics comic-book hero. Peter Parker is a college student who works as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle. He acquires his superpowers after being bitten by a spider that had been exposed to nuclear radiation. Peter, who struggled to understand his newfound superpowers (which included the ability to sling giant webs on various villians and scale sheer walls), used his Spider-Man alias to fight the forces of evil. Other characters were Betty Brant, a stenographer at the Bugle, and J. Jonah Jameson, the newspaper's editor. Later programs starring or featuring Spider-Man included "The Electric Company" (about two dozen three-minute segments were produced, featuring that show's cast as the villians and supporting characters); a new animated series, "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" (and later, shared billing with the Incredible Hulk) that aired on NBC in the 1980s; and another new animated version of Spider-Man on Fox's children's schedule, starting in 1995.—Brian Rathjen <[email protected]>
