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Madame Web
Madame Web
"One day you will yearn for the wisdom of Madame Web!"
- Voiced by: Joan Lee
A mysterious woman who takes it upon herself to be Spidey's mentor, preparing him for "the ultimate battle".
- Adaptational Badass: In the comics, she's "merely" a blind old lady with precognitive abilities. Here, she's a near-omnipotent Reality Warper with virtual omniscience.
- Adaptation Species Change: In the comics, Madame Web was a mutant named Cassandra Webb. This Madame Web is a cosmic entity like the Beyonder.
- All-Powerful Bystander: She is a powerful cosmic being. She is the assistant to the Beyonder. Spider-Man chews her out for the "bystander" bit when she refuses to bring back Mary Jane and Norman Osborn/Green Goblin when they were trapped in an interdimensional limbo.
- The Call Knows Where You Live: When Spider-Man was going to quit in the third season finale (like usual), Web warned him that the two-headed monster will rise above from the underworld. What Web meant by that was that his enemy, the Green Goblin, would figure out his secret identity, and Spider-Man knew the Goblin was Norman Osborn, and the two identities would clash.
- Cool Shades: She wears always black glasses.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Her clothing may make her come off as looking like and witch and having yellow creepy glowing eyes under her shades, but she serves as a heroic mentor to Spider-Man.
- Deadpan Snarker: Towards Peter/Spider-Man.
- Figure It Out Yourself: She gives Spidey cryptic warnings, and then disappears, leaving him to come to his own conclusions about what she meant.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She insults Spider-Man a lot, but she really does care about him and is trying to help him learn what he needs to know. Though she has no love for Iron Spider-Man, for obvious reasons.
- The Mentor: Her role was typically to act as cryptic adviser to Spider-Man, offering him strange clues and riddles that would ultimately help him.
- The Omniscient: She gives this impression, at least, though it may have something to do with the fact that she's allied to the Beyonder, and in fact the events of the series have already happened once from her perspective; they had to "roll back" time after Spider-Carnage set off his multiverse-annihilating bomb and are now using their memories to help ensure he can be stopped this time.
- Reality Warper: Part of her power.
Michael Morbius
Michael Morbius
Human form
"Living vampire" form
"Giant bat" mutated form
- Voiced by: Nick Jameson
A schoolmate of Peter's and one of Felicia Hardy's love interests who becomes what's basically a vampire after getting bit by a neogenetically modified vampire bat he accidentally created. His accent and appearance are based on those of Bela Lugosi.
- Abled in the Adaptation: In both the cartoon and the comics, Morbius' vampirism came about due to his attempt to cure a disease. The difference is the cartoon Morbius didn't have it, whereas the comic character did.
- Age Lift: This version is a college student. His comic book counterpart already had a doctorate.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: His human form in the comics is explicitly stated to be ugly, here before he’s changed he’s a good looking guy who dates Felicia Hardy.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Because censorship rules meant he couldn't drink blood with his fangs like in the comics, he now drinks plasma through these leech-like suckers on his hands, which many fans believe is actually even more horrifying.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: His transformation is caused by using a sample of Spider-Man's blood.
- Anti-Villain: He did not intend on becoming an evil, plasma-draining monster, and is in constant anguish about what he is forced to do in order to survive.
- Arc Villain: He serves the main antagonist for most of the "Neogenic Nightmare" arc that comprises season 2, going on a rampage throughout the city that culminates in an attempt to turn everyone into vampires like himself. He's not the only recurring villain and is defeated several episodes before the finale, but most of the other new antagonists only have the spotlight for one or two episodes compared to Morbius' tenure as the main villain of five. Spider-Man's desire to cure his own mutation is the main plot thread of the season, but Morbius' prominence means curing him is an important secondary conflict.
- Badass Longcoat: He wears this even before he turns into the Living Vampire.
- Body Horror: His transformation into the Living Vampire elongates his ears, causes his nose to upturn into a rather gonky snout, makes his skin turn pale, colors his eyes red, and gives him pulsating leech-mouth suckers all over the palms of his hands.
- Evil Feels Good: For a short while after transforming, Morbius hated what he'd become, especially having to prey on others. But eventually, he started to enjoy his new life, namely the strength and invulnerability it provided. He later walks this back, though.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: He eventually teams up with the dhampyr Blade to hunt down other vampires.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Introduced this way - he is arrogant and condescending toward Peter, but also brave and noble enough to attack a thief to recover what he'd stolen from Felicia. Later on, he himself steals something from Peter's locker, but it's for the purpose of ultimately saving his home country from a plague.
- You also see more of his tender side the deeper his love for Felicia gets. When Debra does her Anguished Declaration of Love to him, Morbius politely turns her down, saying he's flattered but that he's in love with someone else.
- Love Redeems: His love for Felicia/Black Cat drove him to embrace his good side once more.
- Our Vampires Are Different: He's a scientifically created vampire born from an accident with a vampire bat that was unintentionally exposed to neogenic radiation as it fed on Spider-Man's blood. As a result, he's not as vulnerable to Blade's arsenal, which is based on "ordinary" magical vampires. Furthermore, he feeds using suckers on his hands despite having traditional vampire-style fangs.
- Super-Strength: One of the abilities granted by his transformation. The more people he feeds on, the stronger he becomes; During one of his encounters with Blade, he gloated that he had fed well enough that night to make him stronger than the vampire hunter and Spider-Man combined.
- Tragic Monster: He was studying vampire bats in order to cure a bat-borne plague in his home village. An accident in his lab ended up turning him into a pseudo-vampire.
- Vampiric Draining: He drains "plasma" out of people through suckers on his palms.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: After being restored to his more humanoid appearance, he resumes wearing his previous attire, trench coat included, but notably lacks a shirt this time.
Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter
Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter
- Voiced by: Gregg Berger
A big-game hunter who, thanks to a potion made from strange jungle herbs, has been granted great strength, stamina, and an animalistic knack for hunting. Initially one of Spider-Man's enemies, Kraven eventually becomes one of his strongest allies.
- Adaptational Heroism: He's much nicer and more heroic than his comic book counterpart, who is a villain through-and-through. Here, he's only villainous in his introductory episode and that's only due to his jealousy and a misunderstanding; every appearance afterward has him acting as an ally to Spider-Man.
- Beard of Evil: When he starts off as an antagonist, at least.
- Brought Down to Normal: It's ambiguous, but it's implied in his second appearance that the cure he was given in his first appearance has stolen away a lot of the bestial super-powers he initially developed from it — at the very least, he's lost some of his strength.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: While under the influence of the serum.
- Cultured Badass: He quotes Solzhenitsyn and Francis Bacon. Spidey begs to differ as to how cultured this makes him, however.Kraven: I know fears and delights, the silver of the Prussian moon's the crimson of the Prussian nights.
Spidey: Quoting Solzhenitsyn doesn't make you human! - Egomaniac Hunter: Actually averted; while this version of Kraven is still a skilled hunter, he never tries to hunt Spider-Man and the only times that he is a villain are due to being driven mad by an experimental Super Serum and his love for Calypso. In fact, it's stated that he used to be a professional big game hunter in Africa but easily gave that up to be a safari guide instead after hunting was outlawed in that country, rather than illegally hunting endangered animals like most Egomaniac Hunters would.
- Emergency Transformation: His wife gave him the wonder-drug that turned him into Kraven the Hunter after he was mortally wounded protecting her from a pack of hyenas.
- Heel–Face Turn: He's a hostile character in his first appearance, but this is because he's been driven mad by an experimental Super Serum. At the end of the episode, a refined version restores his sanity, and from there on out becomes an ally.
- Morality Pet: Dr. Mariah Crawford, his estranged wife.
- Poor Communication Kills: The plot of "The Return of Kraven" would have been much shorter if Kraven had simply told Spider-Man that the monster stalking the streets of New York was a transformed Mariah. Instead he states that the creature killed Mariah and he was the one who created it. If not for Black Cat's arrival with information about who the creature really was, Spider-Man - who was still mourning Mary Jane - would have ended up killing Mariah in grief not knowing she was actually his friend who had been turned into a monster.
- Super-Strength: He's basically a mix between a human and a lion, so naturally his strength is a lot higher than a human's.
- Super-Senses: He has a Wolverine-esque increase in his abilities to hear and smell; even after being cured, when tracking down the Man-Spider, he's able to pinpoint the Man-Spider's lair because the gravel caught in its webbing still smells like gunpowder to him.
- Unrelated in the Adaptation: He isn't the half-brother of the Chameleon here.
Dr. Mariah Crawford
Dr. Mariah Crawford
Serum-mutated
- Voiced by: Susan Beaubain
A kindly research scientist and the lover of Sergei Kravinoff. When Kravinoff was injured protecting her, she gave him a serum created by her mentor which gave Sergei super powers. Unfortunately, this also made him hostile and possessive. She becomes a friend and ally to Spider-Man after he helps her cure Sergei.
- Adaptation Name Change: Her comic book counterpart is named Calypso Ezili. Here she is named Mariah Crawford. Kraven does refer to her as "Calypso" as an Affectionate Nickname.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Calypso was a sadist who enjoyed fueling Kraven's murderous tendencies and hatred for Spider-Man. In this series, Mariah is a kind scientist who only sought to save Sergei from death and his becoming Kraven the Hunter was an accident. After Spider-Man helps her, she becomes a friend and ally to him.
- Ambiguously Brown: She has an indiscernible accent and has darker skin than the white characters. Her comic book counterpart is of Haitian descent but it is not known if this applies to Mariah.
- Beast Man: "The Return of Kraven" reveals that Mariah contracted the fatal disease she was trying to cure in Africa. Sergei used the Psycho Serum to cure her but also transformed her into a feral, lion-like beast. Dr. Curt Connors is able to reverse most of the effects but she maintains the darker skin tone and longer hair.
- Birds of a Feather: She says that her new beast-like form makes her feel closer to Sergei than ever before.
- Nerves of Steel: You'd need these to get between Man-Spider and the Punisher.
- Nice Girl: It is easy to see why Spider-Man considers her a friend and why Kraven loves her so much.
- Put on a Bus: After being cured of her mutation, she and Kraven run off together.
Silver Sable
Silver Sable
- Voiced by: Mira Furlan
The leader of a team of mercenaries called the Wild Pack, Silver makes her living hunting war criminals. She crosses paths with Spider-Man and Robbie when she is hired by Rheinholt Kragov to capture the German scientist Wolfgang Groitzig. Upon Kragov revealing himself as the son of the Red Skull and Spider-Man saving her life, she aids him in battle.
- Action Girl: A Badass Normal female mercenary commander.
- Anti-Hero: She only does mercenary work on the side for extra cash but the true goal of the Wild Pack is to hunt down war criminals who have escaped justice. Even then, she was only working for Kragov because she didn't know he was helping the Red Skull.
- Badass Normal: She's a badass mercenary with no superpowers.
- Jet Pack: She and her Wild Pack use them.
- Ms. Fanservice: Very attractive, snow-haired vixen with a form-fitting Sensual Spandex.
- Nazi Hunter: Her Wild Pack specializes in hunting down Nazi war criminals.
- Punch-Clock Hero: Whilst she may do good, it's ultimately a job, and so she mostly goes after targets whom she's paid to defeat.
- Sensual Spandex: Her catsuit is very skin-tight and shiny.
The Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four
"It's clobberin' time!"
- Voiced by: Cam Clarke (Mister Fantastic), Gail Matthius (Invisible Woman), Quinton Flynn (Human Torch), Patrick Pinney (The Thing)
Four people who gained super powers after being exposed to cosmic rays on an outer space mission. They are among the heroes recruited by Spider-Man in the "Secret Wars" three-parter.
- Barrier Warrior: The Invisible Woman can project force fields and uses them to try and keep the villains from attacking.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Thing is lured over to Doctor Doom's side because of a device that enables him to change into his human form Ben Grimm and into the Thing at will. In the end, he gives up the ability to become Ben Grimm again in order to stop Doom.
- Rubber Man: Mr. Fantastic has stretching powers.
- Wreathed in Flames: The Human Torch can surround his body with flames.
Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange
Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange
- Voiced by: John Vernon
A master of the mystic arts, he alongside his butler Wong, help Spider-Man rescue Mary Jane from a dangerous cult led by his nemesis Baron Mordo.
- Alliterative Name: Stephen Strange.
- Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The Eye of Agamotto.
- Astral Projection: One of his trademark powers.
- Kung-Fu Wizard: His spellcasting gestures tend to be very physically involved.
- Magical Gesture: His iconic "I Love You/Metal Horns"-esque handsigns.
- Magical Incantation: Usually, but not always, required for him to work magic. More complicated spells seem to require longer incantations, which often rhyme.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: At the end of his guest appearance, he notices that his actions were being watched by a powerful entity (Madame Web).
Blade
Blade
- Voiced by: J.D. Hall
A fierce vampire hunter who is himself part-vampire, rendering him immune to their bites as well as their weaknesses.
- Anti-Hero: He's so focused on killing vampires that he doesn't care about the long term effects of killing Morbius rather than curing him of his vampirism.
- Dhampyr: As in the comics, Blade is half-human and half-vampire — though here, it's the result of his mother entering a relationship with a vampire and him being born out of it rather than his mother being bitten while pregnant with him.
- Half-Human Hybrid: A change from the comic origin. In this series, Blade was born out of a relationship between a vampire and a woman.
- Hypocrite: Blade wanted to kill Morbius, believing there was no chance of curing him. When Blade discovers his own mother is a vampire, he tries to save her and repeatedly thwarts any attempts by the heroes to kill her. To his credit, he eventually realizes that his mother is Beyond Redemption, and fights her as fiercely as any other vampire.
- Large Ham: Definitely more dramatic than his counterpart in the film series by New Line Cinema.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: He and Terri share a mutual attraction, but their being from two different worlds prevents them from being together.
- Super-Strength: Thanks to being partially a vampire, he's much stronger than a normal human.
- Tough Spikes and Studs: Blade wears a leather jacket adorned with three spikes on one shoulder.
Abraham Whistler
Abraham Whistler
- Voiced by: Malcolm McDowell (season 2), Oliver Muirhead (season 4)
Blade's mentor who took him in and trained him to hunt vampires.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Responsible for the wide array of specialized weapons Blade implements in his war on the undead.
- Handicapped Badass: He notably walks with a limp.
- Only Sane Man: he tries to talk Blade out of his more hasty and knee-jerk actions.
The Punisher / Frank Castle
The Punisher / Frank Castle
- Voiced by: John Beck
A lonesome vigilante who, driven by dark memories of losing his family in a crossfire, utilizes advanced weaponry to punish those who hurt the innocent.
- Anti-Hero: As Robbie puts it, 'He's known for using lethal force, he shoots first and never asks questions'.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: He chases Spider-Man down just as the latter is succumbing to his mutation disease. When Spider-Man becomes Man-Spider, Frank goes from confidently marching towards his quarry to running for his life.
- Badass Normal: For a man without superpowers, he puts on quite a fight.
- Badass Longcoat: This was based on the early '90s comics, so of course he sports one.
- Badbutt: He's toned down greatly from his comic book counterpart, but is still established to be a force to be reckoned with against the criminal underworld.
- Bounty Hunter: Tries to apprehend Spider-Man who is mistakenly believed to have kidnapped Michael Morbius. In his case, it's not for money, but to clean up his reputation.
- Cool Car: His battle van is packed with tons of equipment and weapons including remote control, lasers and missiles.
- Dark and Troubled Past: And how.
- Determinator: He will stop at nothing to get his target. Even if it's a hulking superpowered monstrosity.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Frank comes to the incorrect conclusion that Peter is actually the Green Goblin. His evidence? Peter has a map leading to Green Goblin hideouts throughout the city, was seen by Frank at one of said hideouts, uses Goblin technology to fight off Frank, is shown to be rather agile while riding a Goblin Glider and, according to the aunt of the missing Mary Jane Watson, is known to be rather secretive.
- Establishing Character Moment: He first appears blowing up a hole in the wall and proceeding to take down a gang of kidnappers. When the last of them surrenders, Frank says that there are no prisoners in this war. The arrival of police forces him to retreat, but he takes time to cut the hostage free.
- Heel Realization: Has one after Dr. Crawford explains that he's been trying to kill an innocent man.
- Jetpack: Uses one when dealing with Spider-Man.
- Lighter and Softer: In this series, he was restricted from using proper firearms and doesn't kill anyone.
- However, the series does rather heavily imply that he has done so in the past (his partner convinces him to use the nonlethal ordinance for once) and he looks like he's about ready to off a crook in his first appearance, but the crook jumps out the window and ran to the police himself instead.
- Mission Control: He has one in the form of his sidekick Microchip.
- Mugging the Monster: Quite literally on the 'monster' part. He did very well against Spider-Mannote , but him turning into Man-Spider wasn't something Punisher accounted for. He barely escaped with his life.
- Narrating the Present: To make entries in his war journal.
- Oh, Crap!: When he faces Man-Spider.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: When he spots Peter Parker at the warehouse with the Green Goblin's tech in "The Return of the Green Goblin", Frank suspects Peter is the Green Goblin and was the reason for Mary Jane's absence. While he is technically right in some way (Peter was responsible for the Green Goblin and Mary Jane vanishing into another dimension), Frank is incorrect that Peter is the Goblin.
- What Is This Feeling?: When he rescues and returns Mary Jane, he describes the gratitude he experiences as feeling human again showing the audience that he is fundamentally a good man that wishes to help others.
- Would Hit a Girl: 'Hit' is too strong a word here, but during his introductory scene he does throw a female thug into a pile of boxes.
Nick Fury
Nick Fury
- Voiced by: Philip Abbot, Jack Angel
The leader of the top secret world-protecting organization S.H.I.E.L.D..
- Eyepatch of Power: Naturally. A patch on the wrong eye is what allows Spider-Man to identify Chameleon as an impostor.
- Older and Wiser: Has more decades under his belt than you'd readily believe, but is still one of the most capable (and dangerous) fighters on Earth.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite being the head of an international espionage organization, he trusts Spider-Man and is grateful for his help.
Tony Stark / Iron Man
Tony Stark / Iron Man
- Voiced by: Robert Hays
A billionaire scientist with a double-identity, Iron Man aids Spider-Man against Venom and Carnage when they try to rob one of his labs.
- Clothes Make the Superman: His Powered Armor.
- Composite Character: In terms of his armor design — it's partially based off his Modular Armor (the one used over in his own show and in various video games), but the helmet design, round unibeam and faux-pecs owe more to the NTU-150 telepresence armor that preceded the Modular Armor in the comics (there's also the random coloration of design elements, like his belt buckle, as gray, which didn't exist on either armor).
- Honest Corporate Executive: Most of the time, Tony's morally upstanding in his business.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While it wasn't his intention, after the events with Venom and Carnage, he shut down the dimensional portal project which caused a Disaster Dominoes of tragedies. From creating The Spot, to losing the tech to The Hobgoblin and The Green Goblin — the latter of which made Spider-Man almost lose Mary Jane.
- Powered Armor: The most famous example.
- Power Palms: The repulsor rays in his hands are perhaps his most iconic weapons.
James Rhodes / War Machine
James Rhodes / War Machine
- Voiced by: James Avery
Tony Stark's chief of security, James Rhodes is also Iron Man's crimefighting partner War Machine.
- More Dakka: When you're wearing an armored battlesuit packing all the standard weaponry of the Iron Man suit in addition to two big-ass shoulder cannons, this will be your default attack more often than not.
- Powered Armor: The "Variable Threat Response Battlesuit", a.k.a. the War Machine armor.
- Shoulder Cannon: Has two of them (a rocket launcher and a chain machine gun), and they are his signature weapons.
Matt Murdock / Daredevil
Matt Murdock / Daredevil
"There'll be the Devil to pay for this!"
- Voiced by: Edward Laurence Albert Jr.
A blind attorney who represents Peter during his trial for treason, Matt Murdock's father was murdered on orders from the Kingpin. He maintains a double-life as the vigilante, Daredevil, and helps Spider-Man discover the truth about the Kingpin's identity.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: This version of Daredevil is blonde while most versions are redheaded.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Matt Murdock's father, Jack Murdock, was a boxer, but to support his young son after his wife died, he became a crook working for a mobster. Shortly after Matt discovered his father’s criminal status, Matt was accidentally bombarded by radiation from canisters of radioactive waste materials, which were being illegally transported through the city on behalf of the Kingpin. As a result, Matt was blinded, and Jack sought revenge on the Kingpin, but whilst collecting evidence of his crimes, he was caught by the Kingpin, who had him killed.
- Alliterative Name: Matt Murdock.
- Badass Bookworm: He's a professional lawyer who spends his free time fighting the criminal world.
- Cool Shades: Almost always wears his sunglasses when not fighting crime.
- Disability Superpower: The same accident that blinded him also heightened all his other senses to superhuman levels.
- Good Lawyers, Good Clients: It is not surprising that completely innocent and all-around hero Peter Parker gets Matt Murdock as his lawyer
- Handicapped Badass: In spite of his blindness, Daredevil developed his other senses and he successfully brings criminals to justice through force.
- Living Lie Detector: Which lets him see through most of the Chameleon's bluffs. But it somehow didn't help him realize sooner that Spidey was framed and also that the Federal Agent asking for the evidence clearing Peter was The Mole.
- Secret-Keeper: When they seemingly capture the Kingpin, Spider-Man gloats that they finally have him, while Daredevil tells them that he was a decoy, and the real Kingpin escaped, exposing the captured decoy as the Chameleon, and explains to Spidey that he can 'see' through costumes. Spider-Man gets a little uncomfortable after hearing this fact and asks if he knows his secret identity and Daredevil responds by saying "No. I respected your right to privacy. I'm a big believer in the Constitution and the law."
- Super-Senses: Has a form of 'radar' to help him navigate around places to compensate for his loss of sight. Peter outright states this radar sense is actually more formidable than his own Spider-Sense.
Steve Rogers / Captain America
Steve Rogers / Captain America
As he appears in X-Men 97
- Voiced by: David Hayter (Spider-Man: The Animated Series), Lawrence Bayne (X-Men: The Animated Series), Josh Keaton (X-Men '97)
A WWII super soldier, and leader of the American Six, he was trapped in a vortex alongside his archnemesis The Red Skull at the end of the war. He also used to work with Wolverine during WWI.
- The Ace: He is portrayed as a highly competent, skilled, and respected hero.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: The super soldier serum that was used to create him ended up being used by the Kingpin to turn Felicia Hardy into the Black Cat.
- Amazon Chaser: Takes a shine to the Black Cat.
- Arch-Enemy: He is the archfoe of The Red Skull.
- Big Good: During WWII, he was the most important hero. It's Captain America, for crying out loud.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He first appears briefly in a flashback in an early episode of Season Four ("Partners in Danger") that deals with Black Cat's origin, before later showing up in person in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" and "Secret Wars" arcs in the final season.
- The Hero: He is the leader and most important member of the American Six.
- The Leader: He led the American Six.
- Nice Guy: As in the comics, Cap is nice and altruistic.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When he appears in X-Men '97, he's sympathetic to Rogue and mutantkind for the tragedy of Genosha and is on the hunt for Trask himself to bring him to justice, but he also emphasises that a Captain Patriotic like him can't go busting into Mexico City without UN approval as it would cause an international incident.
- Ret-Canon: Captain America worked as a partner to Wolverine in the X-Men crossover, which was never revealed in the comics until much later.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Captain America sacrificed himself again, and both he and The Red Skull were placed in the vortex. Two times!
- Ship Tease: Crushes a little bit on the Black Cat when they meet, accidentally calling her a "beautiful woman."
- Super-Reflexes: Not only can Cap always position his shield to block attacks, nothing can prevent him from reflexively moving his shield arm to block attacks with his shield.
- Super-Soldier: Classic example. His origin involved being a test subject for a project to create super-powered soldiers.
- Underwear of Power: Granted, for most of his appearances, even in Spider-Man, Steve is depicted with trunks that's the same blue as the rest of his pants (as well as the blue of the mask and chainmail), but for his appearance in X-Men: The Animated Series, he's sporting Superman-style red trunks, complete with a yellow belt, which Julia and Eric Lewald weren't fond of. This didn't carry over to X-Men '97.
- Unexplained Recovery: Much like with Venom, X-Men '97 shows Steve managed to get out of the vortex at some point despite being sent back there again at the end of the "Secret Wars" saga.
The X-Men
The X-Men
A team of mutants trained by the telepathic Professor Charles Xavier to use their abilities for good. Being as these characters originate from their own separate show, more info can be found here.
The Beyonder
The Beyonder
- Voiced by: Earl Boen
An extradimensional being whom Madame Web serves. He pits Spider-Man along with six other heroes against six super-villains in his "Secret Wars", with an alien world as the battlefield. Later turns out to be testing Spider-Man all along, and chose him as a leader of a team of alternate Spider-Men to fight another insane Peter Parker now known as Spider-Carnage, tasking them with saving the multiverse.
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: His hair is longer than it was in the comics, plus he has a beard when his comics counterpart is clean-shaven.
- Adaptational Heroism: While the comics Beyonder wasn't exactly malevolent, he tended to lash out when his curiosity wasn't abated to his satisfaction, and had no qualms messing with the lives of mortals. This version is actually out to save all of reality.
- Adaptational Wimp: Justified since his powers have limits outside of his dimension. On the other hand, in the comics when Doctor Doom stole his powers, he largely had control over them. In this series Doom never had any real control and was only able to use the Beyonder's powers because he allowed it.
- Big Good: Of the entire series, though he'd probably disagree that he is "good". It was him who tasked Madame Web with training a champion to one day save the multiverse. The result was our Spider-Man taking up the charge.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The entire "Secret Wars" was him trying to explore the Balance Between Good and Evil, and which side would eventually overcome the other. He deliberately has an extraterrestrial civilization which had achieved the ideal society nearly ruined when he sends six super-villains over to their planet, arranging it so that Spider-Man and his team of heroes materialize there only after the villains have had a whole year of stomping around to their heart's content. Spider-Man is horrified by the callousness of his actions, but to his credit, the Beyonder pushes the Reset Button when all is said and done, which makes Spidey confused as to what the entire point of the battle was. It's implied the whole war was just a formality for the sake of testing Spider-Man.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Both himself and Madame Web assume humanlike forms to interact with Spider-Man. They're really something closer to Energy Beings.
- Fusion Dance: With Doctor Doom. The thing is, he himself could have broken it any time he wanted, but he wished to observe the heroes' actions.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Despite his benevolent intentions of testing Spider-Man and the implicit undoing of all the damage he caused once he has what he wants, the Beyonder is nonetheless the one to instigate the devastating conflict of the Secret Wars arc. What still prevents him from being the main antagonist proper of the arc is that he declines from actively participating in the conflict; the closest he comes to interfering is when he allows Doom to steal his powers.
- The Omnipotent: He is able to do anything and everything. While being outside his home dimension limits his power, there is still nothing you can do to him unless he allows it to happen (looking at you, Doctor Doom...).
- Physical God: Perhaps the most obvious in all of fiction. Everything we see him do is at a mere fraction of his full power. He in fact expended most of it reversing time on the entire multiverse to save it from being annihilated by Spider-Carnage.
- Secret Test of Character: The Secret Wars was a rather roundabout way of doing this to Spider-Man, having him go through days of battle on a hostile alien world leading a team of heroes, to ensure that he can do the same against alternate counterparts of himself against Spider-Carnage.
The American Six
The American Six
- Voiced by: Roy Dotrice (Destroyer, present day), Dee Bradley Baker (Destroyer, past), Kathy Garver (Miss America), Hansford Rowe (Thunderer, present day), Brett King (Thunderer, past), Paul Winfield (Black Marvel), Walker Edmiston (Whizzer, present day), Cain DeVore (Whizzer, past)
A band of five heroes from World War II, created as part of a series of experiments to recreate the original formula that produced Captain America. The result was a partial success; each American Warrior gained superpowers, but theirs were all unique. Furthermore, their powers were inherently unstable, and so they used special rings to activate and deactivate their powered state, much like the Black Cat would do later. They served under Captain America during the war, and after he fell, they continued to operate for a time under the leadership of the Destroyer, until their dwindling powers caused them to retire and disband. The American Warriors return as part of a plot that makes up the first half of the fifth and final season, helping Spider-Man battle a Hydra plot to retrieve the Red Skull.
The American Warriors consist of:
- Destroyer: Real name Keene Marlow, bestowed with superhuman strength and agility.
- Miss America: Real name Madeline Joyce Frank, able to manipulate density in order to make herself super-strong and tough or lighter than air.
- Thunderer: Real name Jerry Carstairs, imbued with the ability to project powerful shockwaves through his vocal chords.
- Black Marvel: Real name Omar Mosley, the closest of the group to a true re-creation of Captain America with enhanced strength, durability and agility. African-American, he was the chauffeur to Dan Lyons, whose father forbid him from undergoing the experiment, but who was used as the "true" identity of Black Marvel.
- Whizzer: Real name Robert Frank, a super-speedster who took his name from the buzzing noise he made when moving at hyper-speeds.
- Adaptational Achilles Heel: The Whizzer, Miss America, and Destroyer need the use of rings to activate and deactivate their powers due to the instability of the serum. In the comics, they didn't need such rings as their powers were stable and could be used at any time. On the other hand...
- Adaptational Badass: Black Marvel and Thunderer had no super powers in the comics, instead being Badass Normals with Thunderer's sonic scream being the result of a device cobbled together from a microphone and a speaker built into his mask. Here, Black Marvel has powers similar to Captain America and Thunderer's sonic scream is an actual superpower he has.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the comics, Miss America eventually married the Whizzer. Here she gets a few Ship Tease with the Destroyer.
- Adaptation Origin Connection:
- None of the American Warriors had origins in the original comics that connected them to attempts to recreate the formula that created Captain America. Nor were they grouped as a team that worked under Captain America.
- Keene Marlow specifically has an indirect connection to Spider-Man, with his mistake causing the death of his wife being what taught him and Ben that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, a core value to the hero's character. In the comics no such connection exists and Keene never even met Ben.
- Ascended Fanboy: In his youth, The Destroyer, Keene Marlow, always wanted to be a superhero, then it became a reality for him.
- Atrocious Alias: Peter is outright incredulous when told their names, questioning how anyone could possibly take them seriously. Omar Mosley remarks they were indeed hailed as heroes at the time, noting it was a different time.Spider-Man: Why did you call yourself "the Whizzer"?
Whizzer: Hey, that's the sound I make. Sure, these days it sounds a little corny, but back then it was a swell name. - Decomposite Character: In the comics, Dan Lyons wasn't a decoy, but really was the Black Marvel. As noted above, here, that isn't the case.
- Friends Turned Romantic Rivals: This happened with Keene Marlow and Ben Parker when they met Lenora Sharp, despite having been friends for several years. Initially Ben won Lenora's affections, which upset Keen and seemingly led him to join the military experiment that turned him into the Destroyer. He then told Lenora about his double life and she left Ben to marry him, which left Ben heartbroken and seemingly ruined their friendship. Their relationship was strained even further after Lenora's death, as besides Ben agreeing to keep his equipment hidden so Keene couldn't become the Destroyer again the two seemingly never reconciled before Ben's death.
- Future Foil: Out of all the American Warriors, Keene Marlow acts as a parallel to Peter and represents how his life could turn out. Despite the tragedy they have both experienced, Keene and Peter do enjoy being superheroes. However, Keene's enjoyment of the lifestyle led him to make a reckless decision to confront bank robbers while out with his wife, getting her killed in the crossfire. Peter notes that he's terrified of doing the same and putting Mary Jane in danger.
- Get Thee to a Nunnery: Whizzer's name gets a fair bit of In-Universe mockery, due to alterations in slang; at the time, it was a fair reference to the whizzing noise he made when moving super-fast, but in modern times, it's a slang term for urination. Not helped by his yellow outfit.
- Heroic Vow: After Captain America was lost, the Thunderer vowed to watch over the facility out of loyalty to their leader.
- Hour of Power: Due to not getting the original Super Soldier formula like Cap did, their powers aren't permanent. Scientists crafted special rings that would allow them to ration the powers for use on missions. As they got older, the window for such usage significantly shortened.
- Old Superhero: As it had been half a century since their glory days, and their powers had become substantially weaker. Several of them admit they actually regretted not continuing being superheroes back when they were still in their prime. Helping foil Red Skull's plot is their last hurrah.
- Race Lift: Thanks to the use of Decomposite Character, as noted above, Black Marvel is now an African-American man. Dan Lyons, who was Black Marvel in the comics, was white in both.
- Ship Tease: Miss America and the Destroyer get a little of this, having some affectionate moments and interactions.
- Small Role, Big Impact: As it turns out, Keene had an indirect impact on Peter's life. If he hadn't confessed his double life to Lenora, she potentially could have married Ben which means he wouldn't have fallen in love with May. Keene further explains how Lenora's death taught both himself and Ben how important responsibility was when you had power, a lesson he would teach Peter.
- Still Got It: While most of the American Six have gotten pretty long in the tooth by the present day, when the call comes knocking they all demonstrate they're just as brave and capable as they were in the war.
- Super-Reflexes: The Destroyer and Black Marvel both possess greater-than-human agility and reflexes.
- Super-Scream: The Thunderer's unique super power allows him to howl with such fury that he can shatter concrete and send mooks flying.
- Super-Soldier: But of course. Each of the five were an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier formula, but they instead got unique, temporary powers that had to be rationed with special rings.
- Super-Speed: Whizzer's unique super power is to run at incredible speeds.
- Super-Strength: The Destroyer and Black Marvel are all far stronger than any normal human being, whilst Miss America can mimic the effects in terms of hitting power by altering her molecular density.
- Super-Toughness: Only Black Marvel possesses this particular superpower, although Miss America can emulate it by making her own molecules super-dense.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Whizzer and Miss America were originally killed in the comics, but are shown here as having lived to old age.
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: After the war, Keene Marlow found he couldn't give up his adventurous lifestyle, even with his powers fading. One night, he impulsively rushed into action to stop some bank robbers, but his wife was killed in the crossfire. In his grief, he gave his old friend Ben Parker his ring and key to hide so that he would never be tempted to play superhero again.Keene: From that moment, we both knew that with great power, there must always come great responsibility.
Spider-Man: [thinking] So, that's how Uncle Ben learned that lesson.
