Referenced By / Spider-Man

"God, I love this business."

Spider-Man is one of the most well-known Marvel Comics characters (or comics characters, period) of all time. Naturally, the character and other media has been referenced in tons of works since the comics came out.

For characters derived from Spider-Man, see Spider-Man Send-Up.

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• A Certain Scientific Railgun: Shizuri Mugino nicknames Mikoto Misaka "Spider-Woman" when Misaka starts to Wall Crawl.
• GTO: The Early Years: Mariko catches Ryuji sneaking around on the outside of a building, and asks if he's "the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man".
• In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, Spider-Man is mentioned as one of the many fictional characters brought to life by Ungalo's Bohemian Rhapsody, with some civilians spotting him and trying to shake his hand.^note This occurs in the manga. The anime changes it to Batman.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Yatsume Mumyoi dresses like Venom. Saito Hajime nicknames him "Spider-Man" at one point.

Asian Animation

• In Happy Heroes, robots with costumes of Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man are known to appear every once in a while.
• In episode 36 of Nana Moon, Keke uses her special badge to transform into a superhero who, with her red-and-blue costume and Projectile Webbing, is very obviously meant to be Spider-Man.
• Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The title of episode 65, "蜘蛛狼" ("Zhizhu Lang", or "Spider-Wolf" in English) is exactly one Chinese character off from being the Chinese name for Spider-Man ("蜘蛛侠" or "Zhizhu Xia"). Makes sense, since the episode itself is about Wolffy getting Projectile Webbing powers from a Giant Spider.

Comic Books

• I Hate Fairyland: The "Fuck Fairyland" variant cover for the original series' tenth issue shows an homage to the Spider-Man No More storyline's iconic scene of Peter Parker walking away after disposing of his Spider-Man costume into a trash can where Gertrude has thrown away the very clothes off her back and walks away naked while raising her middle finger, with her bare behind obscured by Larry's cigar smoke.
• The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis: Spider-Man makes a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo alongside other superheroes from Marvel and DC in the final issue.

Fan Works

• Glitter Force: Into the Glitterverse is named for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Film — Animated

• Shrek 2: In the "Accidentally in Love" montage, Fiona and Shrek re-enact the upside-down kiss from the first Spider-Man movie.
• The Simpsons Movie: Homer has Plopper pretend he's Spider-Pig while singing a parody of the Spider-Man theme song.

Film — Live-Action

• Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: In the unrated version, Ron Burgundy calls Spider-Man a poser.
• ...And Your Name Is Jonah: One of Jonah's roommates at the hospital sleeps in a Spider-Man T-shirt. After he's brought home, Jonah reads a comic book with Anthony, although he's terrified of Anthony's Spider-Man doll. By the end of the movie, he's learned to like the character.
• Catch Me If You Can: Villain Protagonist Frank Abagnale Jr. uses "Dr. Curt Connors" as an alias.
• Charlie's Angels (2000): One of the eponymous Power Trio, Natalie Cook, is seen dancing in her Spider-Man underwear during the film's opening.
• Daredevil (2003): The kiss in the rain is homaged.
• Deadpool 2: For the "Ashes" music video, Céline Dion calls Deadpool "Spider-Man".
• The Karate Kid:
  • The Karate Kid (1984): Daniel LaRusso bumps into a guy wearing a Spider-Man costume after pranking Johnny Lawrence during a Halloween party. After Mr. Miyagi saves Daniel from a beatdown by a retaliating Johnny and his posse, Daniel jokingly calls Mr. Miyagi "Spider-Man".
  • The Karate Kid Part III: Daniel wonders if Mr. Miyagi felt like Spider-Man while rappelling on a cliff to retrieve a bonsai the latter planted.
• Knocked Up: Pete and Debbie got into a fight because he went to see Spider-Man 3 without her.
• Power Rangers: Billy compares himself and his colleagues to Spider-Man and Iron-Man.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (2020): Sonic gives this little tidbit when the Echidna Tribe showed up during his monologue about his childhood:
  Sonic: Turns out with great power, comes great power-hungry bad guys.
• Under the Silver Lake: Protagonist Sam finds his hand stuck with a Spider-Man comic in the table, an obvious Actor Allusion to Andrew Garfield who portrays Sam.
• X-Men: First Class: Raven sees Beast use his powers while upside down and she calls him "amazing".
• Zack Snyder's Justice League: When Superman punches Flash and he falls near the memorials, one of the dead people's name is "Ben Parker". This is visible only for a split second.

Literature

• The Dresden Files: In Ghost Story Harry compares his "wizard senses" to "spider sense".
• Joe from Blue Iguana has Spider-Man pajamas and a Spider-Man lunchbox.
• The Final Battle in Ready Player One sees several mechas being summoned, one of which is Leopardon from the Japanese adaptation.^note The film adaptation changes it into The Iron Giant instead due to licensing issues
• Ethan from Things I Should Have Known complains about watching The Amazing Spider-Man because he thinks the first Spider-Man movie is better.
• In You Have a Match, Abby's Spider-Man-obsessed brother Mason once cut the sleeves off her red sweater to make a costume. When he thinks she has a spider in her room, he's delighted.
• In You Look Different in Real Life, Justine imagines herself and the other kids from the documentaries connected by an invisible cord made of something thin but deceptively powerful, like the stuff Spider-Man squirts from his wrists.
• In Sanctuary, ghost hunters Keira and Logan break into Casswell Park by climbing up the side of the building to the attic window. Vinnie grumbles, "Think they're fucking Spiderman or something." Keira says, "Which one? Are you comparing me to Peter Parker or Ben Reilly or..." Vinnie asks, "Is that really the most important issue you see before you now?" Keira says, "I need to know so I can determine whether that was an insult or not."
• In The Mermaid Chronicles, Trent makes his girlfriend Maya watch all the Spiderman movies. In Quest for Atlantis, Maya quotes "With great power comes great responsibility" during her graduation speech.
• In Both Can Be True, Mitch has a Spider-Man sleeping bag.

Live-Action TV

• In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Skye tells Michael Peterson "With great power comes... a ton of weird crap you don't know about."
• In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy says her Spider-Sense is tingling. Giles didn't understand the reference.
• In Cobra Kai, Daniel frequently likens focusing to Spider-Sense.
• In Community, Troy Barnes is seen wearing Spider-Man pajamas in the opening scene of Season 2.
• In Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, one of the main characters checks out one incident and dismisses it with "So a spider guy shot webs at you, and then a man dressed like a bat came down and saved you?" before mocking the poor guy for being a comics nerd.

Professional Wrestling

• Johnny Gargano wore a Venom-inspired gear in 2018.
• John Morrison has been compared to the Webhead several times due to his Combat Parkour fighting style.
• Rey Mysterio wore a Mysterio-based wrestling gear during WrestleMania 35.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street: One sketch has Mr. Johnson see Spider-Monster: The Musical, with Grover in the role of Spider-Monster. The entire sketch is a giant Take That! to the disastrous Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, satirizing the dangerous stunts, the number of times it opened and closed, the poor reception, and it even takes a stab at co-creator Bono by having a Muppet monster named after him.

Video Games

• Fantastic Four (2005): Nick Fury says "With great power comes great... damage."
• Final Fantasy X-2: Rikku calls her group, the Gullwings, as "Friendly Neighborhood Gullwings".
• Metal Gear Solid: Finish the game two times, each with the two different endings, and Gray Fox will get an alternate Whole Costume Reference to Spider-Man.
• The Spider-Queen boss from Oriental Legend appears to be wearing Spider-Man's red-and-blue leggings. Befitting an arachnid-themed enemy.
• The Revenge of Shinobi: The boss of Chinatown is a shapeshifter who first takes on the form of Spider-Man, and then turns into a vampire Batman. In the revised versions, the fight starts with the actual Spider-Man who flees after being defeated, and then a Devilman lookalike swoops in. After the game's initial release, Sega obtained the license to use Spider-Man for a set of licensed games, and modified the shapeshifter boss in this game to actually be Spidey in the first phase. Unfortunately, once Capcom and Activision got the license years later, Sega had to change Spidey's suit to pink to get around licensing issues.
• Sly Cooper:
  • Sly 2: Band of Thieves: Murray put his outfit in the trash after he blamed himself for crushing Bentley's legs.
  • Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves: Panda King talks to his alter ego at the mirror.

Web Comics

• Hark! A Vagrant: In "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" Peter gets bitten by a radioactive brown recluse, which makes for a far less effective and more dangerous "hero".
• How to be a Werewolf: When Ginger is telling Eli and Malaya that she can feel something is wrong but doesn't know what the Alt Text says her werewolf senses are tingling in a parody of spidey senses.

Web Videos

• The Angry Video Game Nerd:
  • One episode involved the Nerd reviewing various Spider-Man video games for the Atari 2600, NES, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance. Spider-Man (played by Kyle Justin) guest starred in the episode.
  • In Part 2 of his "Wish List" video, the Nerd reviewed Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage for the SNES.
  • In his review of LJN Sports and Marvel Games, the Nerd reviews The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider Slayers for Game Boy, Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge for the SNES and Game Boy, and Spider-Man for the SNES.
• Console Wars:
  • In one episode, Greg and Dan see whether the SNES or the Sega Genesis had the better version of the Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage video game.
  • In another episode, Pat and Dan see whether the SNES or the Genesis had the less crappy version of the Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety game.
  • In another episode, Pat and Dan see whether the SNES or the Genesis had the better version of the Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge game.
• The Season 4 finale of Epic Rap Battles of History features Stan Lee battling Jim Henson whilst the former using his characters' (including Spidey) gestures throughout the battle.
• Final Fantasy In A Nutshell: When Final Fantasy X-2 In A Nutshell references the "Friendly Neighborhood Gullwings" line, Spider-Man shows up with the parody series' recurring lawyer to sue for plagiarism.
• Philosophy Tube: In her video The Politics of Antifa Abigail describes the idea that "anyone who wears a mask in public is bad" as the J. Jonah Jameson approach to political critique.
  "Also, here's a completely unrelated picture of some riot police." (photo of riot police wearing face-hiding gas masks)

Western Animation

• American Dad!: In "Office Spaceman", Roger has an alias named Parker Peters.
• Amphibia: The episode "Spider-Sprig" is an Affectionate Parody of Spider-Man, with Sprig having abilities similar to the Spidey, a character who's based on Mary-Jane, and a villain with a name, costume, and power reminiscent of Doctor Octopus.
• Darkwing Duck briefly became an Expy for Spider-Man when a mutated spider-bite resulted in him growing four extra arms and gaining the ability to climb walls and spit webbing from his beak. Once he learned to control his extra limbs, he temporarily changed his name to Arachno-Duck.
• Family Guy:
  • Spider-Man makes a safety web for Peter.
  • A Cutaway Gag showed Spider-Man after he shot his web at a blonde woman.
  • In "The Former Life of Brian", Herbert is dressed up a Spider-Man for a birthday party.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well", Rainbow Dash frequently says, "Your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here!"
• Muppet Babies: Spider-Man guest starred in "Comic Capers," produced by Marvel Productions (whose logo, seen at the end of each Muppet Babies episode, also featured a CGI Spider-Man). Baby Rowlf and Baby Skeeter entered the Spider-Man newspaper comic, and attempted to foil bank robbers. They only succeeded in irritating Stan Lee, in a live-action cameo, who pointed out there was only one Spider-Man. The Stinger for the episode featured Baby Animal and Baby Gonzo disguised as Spider-Man, with Animal on top wearing the mask, until they collide with a building and Gonzo falls from the bottom of the costume.
• The Owl House: In "Escaping Expulsion", King protests that no one said power comes with responsibility, not knowing someone did say that.
• Rick and Morty: The Self-Referential Six in "Full Meta Jackrick" are a reference to Spider-Man's Sinister Six.
• Schoolhouse Rock!: In "Fireworks", the newspapers that the paperboy is selling are printed by the Daily Bugle.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Homer Vs. Dignity", Mr. Burns hires Homer to be his prank monkey. One of the things Mr. Burns has Homer do is buy an issue of Spider-Man #1 from the Android's Dungeon and eat it in front of Comic Book Guy.
  • In "I Am Furious (Yellow)", Stan Lee hums the Spider-Man theme song after breaking Database's 1966 Batmobile toy.
  • In "Simple Simpson", after Homer (as Pie Man) saves Marge from being trampled over, they recreate the upside-down kiss from the first movie.
  • In "Moe'N'a Lisa", J. Jonah Jameson (voiced by J. K. Simmons) appears as the boss of a poetry journal. At the end, he demands photos of Spider-Man. When he's reminded that he's working at a poetry journal, he instead demands poems about Spider-Man. Coincidentally (or not), once he's done giving orders about those poems, Jameson then sarcastically asks "What are you waiting for, Chinese New Year!?", which is something he would later say in Spider-Man 3 (which came out the year after this episode aired).
  • "Homer the Whopper" begins with Bart trolling Comic Book Guy by asking "I've just heard that before Spider-Man was a movie, it was a comic book. Is that possible?" Baffled by Bart's seemingly lack of knowledge, Comic Book Guy exclaims "Suffering Steve Dikto!" before angrily explaining that Spider-Man made his First Appearance in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15. Bart then trolls him even further by offering to buy eight copies of it due to the 12¢ on the cover, regardless of the fact that mint condition copies of that comic are much more expensive nowadays. Later on, the Lizard appears as an antagonist in the Everyman movie, even attending the premiere of it.
  • The upside-down is included in the montage of famous kisses from movies and TV shows in "Stealing First Base" when Nikki administers CPR to Bart.
• Static Shock: The spider-themed African hero Anansi has been compared to Spider-Man several times. He patiently explains that no, he can't shoot webs.

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