There was going to be a Venom show?
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00:00 Now, although there are plenty of other cartoons that will likely win the spot for best superhero
00:04 cartoon ever, you can't deny that the spectacular Spider-Man was pretty much perfect in a lot
00:10 of regards.
00:11 But tragically, it also ended early, ending in season 2 when Disney took control of Marvel
00:15 Entertainment.
00:16 This resulted in Sony giving up their broadcasting rights to the Spider-Man TV shows so that
00:20 they could keep the rights to Spider-Man films instead.
00:23 In short, the show was one of the first sacrificial lambs in regards to the continual beef between
00:27 Sony and Disney over Spidey.
00:30 Which only makes it all the more impressive that it managed to do so much with only half
00:33 of the time it expected to run.
00:35 And of course, in between all of this, there's some mind-blowing facts for you, which I'm
00:39 here to detail today.
00:40 As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 Mind-Blowing Facts That You Didn't
00:44 Know About The Spectacular Spider-Man Cartoon.
00:47 10.
00:48 There's Unseen Footage
00:49 One of the weirdest things about the Spectacular Spider-Man series is that, unless we are somehow
00:54 blessed by a creator who kept secret copies, we'll never see all of the footage that
00:57 was produced for the show.
00:59 This is because, when it was first being created, the plan was to have bonus material for each
01:03 episode that you could only see by watching the DVD, which would release each story arc
01:07 as a film.
01:08 Unfortunately, this idea was canned after the first arc, meaning that any footage made
01:12 for the next arcs went in the bin.
01:14 It feels weird to wonder what moments we missed, as it was likely that it was just scenes meant
01:18 to connect the various episodes into one coherent experience.
01:21 But it's also maybe not a terrible thing that the series was released on DVD in episodic
01:25 form, as otherwise you'd have to commit to watching a full film any time you fancied
01:29 watching an episode.
01:30 And while binging a show is practically a way of life now, being sort of made to feels
01:34 entirely less fun.
01:36 9.
01:37 Some of the show's creators actually cameo in it
01:40 Comics have long been one of the easiest things to put yourself into as a creator.
01:44 Doodle yourself in a background, show somebody who looks a lot like you getting crushed by
01:48 a supervillain, or just outright place yourself in a story as part of the plot.
01:51 All three are more common than you might expect in the world of comic creation.
01:54 The crew behind Spectacular Spider-Man appear to have taken great inspiration from this,
01:58 as they very sneakily appear in the series itself.
02:01 The show manages to feature three of the supervising staff, all hidden where you'd least expect
02:05 them.
02:06 Greg Weissman, the supervising writer, appears in the portion of the intro where a gathering
02:10 of people are in front of an electronics store.
02:12 The supervising director, Victor Cook, also appears in this part of the show.
02:15 And one further time in the episode "Gangland".
02:18 Sean Galloway, the series' character designer, gets the short end of the stick, though, only
02:22 briefly appearing as a DJ in "Blueprints".
02:24 However, even this is pretty cool, all things considered, meaning the only real shame is
02:28 that more of the production team didn't get to make their cameo.
02:31 8.
02:32 There was going to be a Venom spin-off
02:34 Spectacular Spider-Man being ended early was a great shame, largely because it wasn't
02:38 from a lack of talent by the creators, or lack of interest from the fans, but rather
02:42 because of complications that arose from Disney buying Marvel.
02:45 But as it turns out, this didn't just stifle the Spectacular Spider-Man series, as the
02:49 team then revealed that Venom was going to appear quite often in the extra 39 episodes
02:55 that were planned but never made.
02:56 Had audiences reacted well to Venom, the plan was to then have him feature in a spin-off
03:00 series of his own, that would presumably focus around a version of Venom that was more like
03:04 the anti-hero we see in comics today.
03:07 This would have been downright fascinating to watch, and so it's even more of a shame
03:10 that the show was canned before it could spawn this potentially stellar spin-off.
03:14 It would have been a great way to establish the wider Spidey world, and to make sure nobody
03:18 ever felt too overloaded with the show solely being based on Peter Parker.
03:22 Tragically, it remains only a fun idea for now.
03:24 7.
03:25 Sony asked the show to recreate film scenes
03:28 Unlike some production nightmares, Sony apparently allowed the team behind the Spectacular Spider-Man
03:33 a long leash, letting them more or less have a free run on developing the cartoon.
03:37 But there was one stipulation to this, however, and that was that scenes from the Spider-Man
03:41 films be added into the cartoon, to make fans feel more familiar with the lore of the hero.
03:46 This explains why Spidey's origin scene is very similar to that found in the Sam Raimi
03:50 films, why there's a train scene that perfectly mirrors the iconic shots in the second film,
03:54 and why many of the fights may also appear familiar to fans of the Raimi trilogy.
03:58 Most of these are subtle enough that you might feel paranoid for suggesting they exist, but
04:02 for once, these conspiracies are in fact right on the money.
04:05 It's an unusual request for Sony to have made, for sure, but it's also an undeniably
04:09 wonderful one.
04:10 It allows the cartoon and film universes, which are usually very separate, with the
04:14 exception of Into the Spider-Verse, to join together and share all their best bits.
04:18 6.
04:19 The Team Never Planned to Kill Gwen Stacy Off
04:22 Gwen Stacy's death is one of the most shocking and most important events in Spider-Man's
04:26 life.
04:27 While it was Uncle Ben's death that taught Peter that with great power comes great responsibility,
04:31 Gwen's demise showed him that even the great powers he'd obtained didn't mean he could
04:34 save everyone.
04:35 But it's also a pretty dark scene, involving a pretty brutal neck snapping.
04:40 And as such, fans speculated en masse as to how the show would kill Gwen off, as it seemed
04:44 impossible that they'd use the comic event given how violent and gruesome it was.
04:48 This disturbed the team, who would later reveal their darkest secret, and that was that they
04:52 never intended for Gwen to die.
04:54 Even though the series was cancelled early, there were no later plans to have her murdered,
04:58 because it felt like this didn't match with the generally light tone of the cartoon.
05:01 The team would express how strange they found the idea that fans felt that Gwen had to die,
05:06 because the show had always intended to be child-friendly, which put the idea of such
05:10 a traumatic death safely off the cards.
05:12 5.
05:13 Some of the iTunes episode summaries were very wrong
05:17 When Spectacular Spider-Man finally made its glorious debut to the world of iTunes, where
05:21 you could pay your tech overlords to finally re-watch the show, it appeared on the pages
05:25 of the store with some rather strange additions.
05:27 The fact that you could buy the show episode by episode meant that naturally each had to
05:31 come with its own short description, so if you wanted one particular episode, you could
05:35 find it easier.
05:36 However, these descriptions came with a few issues.
05:38 Firstly, and most importantly, they mentioned the Human Torch, who never features in this
05:42 series.
05:43 Secondly, they replaced the name 'Tombstone' with 'Kingpin' repeatedly, presumably
05:47 because Tombstone sort of plays the role of Kingpin in this series, likely since the latter
05:51 is considered more of a daredevil villain than a Spider-Man one.
05:54 You have to wonder if these summaries were the original design plans for the various
05:57 episodes, before changes like the Tombstone swap were implemented, or if somebody somewhere
06:02 along the line just got very, very confused.
06:04 We'll likely never know the true answer, but it is likely a bit of both.
06:08 4.
06:09 The Stan Lee Cameo
06:10 So, having Stan Lee cameo in anything to do with Marvel is the hallmark that it's probably
06:13 going to be great.
06:15 This is why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is littered with appearances of the patron
06:18 saint of selling comics, because he's basically a good luck charm for the industry.
06:22 Spectacular Spider-Man clearly also wanted a bit of that luck, because the man himself
06:26 also pumps into the series for a cheeky hello.
06:29 In the first episode of the show's second season, we're treated to a version of Stan
06:32 Lee who works on the docks.
06:34 He looks exactly like Lee, and is provided with plenty of funny quips and wonderfully
06:38 strange dialogue to warrant calling this one of the best cameos in anything to date.
06:43 Better yet, Doc Lee is accosted by Mysterio, and yet treats the supervillain with skeptic
06:48 disbelief, which is made infinitely funnier by the knowledge that this is one of Marvel's
06:52 forefathers being cast as the guy who thinks Mysterio's appearance is a prank.
06:56 Also the cameo provides us with Stan saying the phrase "Are we being punked?", which
06:59 is just a soundbite for the ages.
07:01 3.
07:02 Combined Two Characters
07:04 Being fans of Spider-Man may have felt slightly bad when the hilariously named Fancy Dan got
07:09 his villain upgrade, getting some swanky new armour and calling himself Ricochet.
07:14 After all, the character of Ricochet surely existed.
07:16 Had comic fans forgotten a fairly cool Spider-Man foe?
07:19 Well, the short answer is no, they hadn't, technically.
07:22 The long answer is that Ricochet does exist in the comics, but as a totally different
07:25 figure.
07:26 The comic Ricochet was actually a persona that Peter Parker took on while Spider-Man
07:30 was wanted for murder.
07:31 The alias would go on to be the superhero title of Johnny Gallo, one of the most badass
07:35 mutants to ever go basically under the radar.
07:38 So the cartoon version is a pretty drastic change, but that said, it's still cool to
07:42 see this mantle find its way into the spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, even if it's under a
07:46 very different premise than the comics.
07:48 Also, it gave a bit of legitimacy to Fancy Dan, who otherwise would have been remembered
07:52 for having a particularly silly name, even for a supervillain.
07:55 2.
07:56 It Has A Tribute To Spider-Man's First Appearance
07:58 If there's one thing cartoons based on comics like to do, it's to reference the first
08:03 appearance of the hero they're about, likely as a tribute to the comic medium.
08:06 It's also there as something that comic fans can get hype about recognizing, which
08:10 is always a cool reason to feature something in the show.
08:12 You gotta remember your roots, after all.
08:14 Spectacular Spider-Man is, naturally, no exception to this rule, and features a testament to
08:19 the hero's beginnings in a major way.
08:21 During the show's opening credits, we see a scene where Spidey is shown posing on the
08:24 front of the Daily Bugle, swinging through the air while holding a captured criminal.
08:28 While you might presume that this is just put in because it looks cool, and indeed it
08:31 does, this specific visual is an homage to Peter's first appearance in the comics as
08:36 Spider-Man, in issue 15 of Amazing Fantasy.
08:39 It's a small detail, for sure, but one that's very much appreciated nonetheless.
08:43 It's also especially well-placed, as this little nod to the web-slinger's paper-and-print
08:47 origins appears just before every episode.
08:49 1.
08:50 There's A Secret Romance
08:52 When a man proposes to his partner in season two, episode ten, also known by the title
08:56 'Gangland', most likely didn't react to it at all.
08:59 After all, the Spectacular Spider-Man series is pretty good for having some interesting
09:02 set-dressing, which at a glance is all that it appears to be.
09:06 Only eagle-eyed fans will know the true story behind the pair, though, because this is actually
09:10 a couple that we've seen before, specifically in 'Reaction', the eighth episode of the
09:14 previous season.
09:15 At the beginning of the episode, we see Spidey web together two people while getting his
09:19 daily fix of saving the day.
09:21 From their expressions, it seems like this was actually a pretty good way to matchmake
09:24 us.
09:25 We're actually unfazed about the fact that they're a few feet up in the air, dangling
09:28 from spider-string.
09:29 And, since a mere season later it looks like they're getting married, you could say that
09:32 this method of meeting worked out pretty well for this particular couple.
09:36 Not all relationships can be blessed by a Spider-Man encounter, but this blink-and-you'll-miss-it
09:40 background romance definitely was.
09:41 And there we go, my friends.
09:42 Those were ten mind-blowing facts you didn't know about the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon.
09:46 I hope that you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you thought about it down in
09:50 the comments section below.
09:51 As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter @RetroJWithAZero,
09:54 or you can swing by Liv and Let's Dice, where I do all of my streaming outside of work,
09:58 and it'd be great to see you over there.
10:00 But before I go, I just want to say one thing.
10:02 Hope you're treating yourself well with love and respect, my friend, because you deserve
10:05 all the best things in life, alright?
10:07 And don't let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise.
10:09 You are a massive ledge, and I want you to go out there and thwip your way to greatness.
10:13 As always, I've been Jules, you have been awesome, never forget that, and I'll speak
10:17 to you soon.