Western Animation: Ultimate Spider-Man aka: Ultimate Spiderman
Spider-Man and his Amazi—...er Ultimate Friends cast White Tiger, Power Man, Nova, Iron Fist
Loki:The Trickster tricked... by a MORTAL!? Thor: He is no mere mortality. He is the Man of Spiders! Spider-Man: Close enough.
Ultimate Spider-Man is an American animated series based on the superhero character published by Marvel Comics. Paul Dini (of DCAU fame), Brian Michael Bendis and Man of Action Studios (of Ben 10 and Generator Rex fame) are involved in the making of the show, which premiered April 1, 2012 as part of Disney XD's Marvel Universe block. The executive producers consist of Jeph Loeb and Stan Lee, and is the replacement series to The Spectacular Spider Man, which was cancelled when Sony lost the TV rights to Spider-Man (movies, on the other hand...).Peter Parker has been Spider-Man for one year when SHIELD sits up and takes notice. Nick Fury invites him to be professionally trained in superheroics, alongside other young heroes: Iron Fist, Power Man, Nova, and White Tiger. With SHIELD's experience and resources backing him, Peter might just become the Ultimate Spider-Man!Denser and Wackier than any previous installment of the Spider-Man franchise, the show is action-comedy format, heavy on the characterization, with a healthy dose of Medium Awareness on Spidey's part. These elements, plus the obvious toy promotion put in it , have led to a notoriously Broken Base; by now, the show has largely become a Love It or Hate It case, to the point of being probably the most contested show ever made in Marvel Animation. However, the ratings were, according to Word Of God, impressive, and the series has already got renewed for a second and third season.Not related to the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, outside of the usual incorporation of Ultimate Marvel elements. Although confusingly enough, it has its own comic book tie-in.Here's a trailer
Ultimate Spider-Man provide examples of the following tropes:
Actually a Doombot: In "Doomed", Spider-Man and the team fight and capture who they think is Dr. Doom, only to realize too late that it was really a Doombot that Doom let get captured so it could destroy the helicarrier.
Amazingly, Sandman, an already powerful villain from Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery, is portrayed as even more dangerous than he is in the comic;
The Wrecking Crew, while not exactly more threatening than they were in the comic, are portrayed as MUCH smarter than their Dumb Muscle comic counterparts, as they come up with an actual plan instead of just wrecking everything.
Agent Coulson can fight on equal terms with the Beetle, using nothing more than Improvised Weapons.
John Jamerson actually laughs at Spidey's comment about coming to the Moon to get some space from his dad.
Adaptation Distillation: The symbiote's origins in the series are noticeably similar to that of the Ultimate version of Carnage; it's created from a stolen sample of Peter's blood.
Air Vent Passageway: "For Your Eye Only." The Helicarrier has squeaky clean vents!
Peter Parker obviously, but also Ava Ayala (White Tiger).
Subverted by Nova. Richard Rider's replacement, Sam Alexander, was created specifically for this show.
Ambiguous Situation: At the end of "Me Time" Spider-Man, having just saved Doc Ock from underwater death, is falling deeper into the ocean, drowning, while Octopus drifts towards the surface, seemingly unconscious. Spidey blacks out then wakes up safe with SHIELD The circumstances of his rescue aren't shown and Ock is nowhere to be seen, so there is the possibility that Doc Ock saved his life.
Animal Themed Superbeing: Spider-Man, White Tiger, the Beetle, and most of the Spider-Man villains introduced in season 2.
Animation Bump: The fight-scenes are wonderfully crisp and fluid, with smooth animation and lots of attention to detail. It's best seen with the intricate ways Venom or Doctor Octopus move their pseudopodia/limbs.
Art Evolution: The character designs for season two have become a little more streamlined and less rounded than in the first season. Somewhat reminiscent to what happened for Batman The Animated Series when it underwent a Time Skip.
Ascended Fanboy: Based on what was revealed for the 5th episode, Spider-Man is a massive fanboy of Iron Man and in return, Tony makes him his own Iron Spider armor. Also, White Tiger is a SHIELD fangirl and geeks out every time they are in the Helicarrier. Agent Coulson, true to the movies, is a rabid Captain America fanboy.
Asshole Victim: Spider-Man is tempted to think of Flash this way whenever he's attacked but resists the urge.
Badass Bystander: Mary Jane Watson kicks a plate of slippery, messy cafeteria food under Thundra's foot to help Spidey win the battle of Midtown High School.
Aunt May blasts Beetle with a jet engine.
Badass in Distress: In "Me Time" Doc Ock manages to capture Spidey for a bit. Also plays into the episode's Aesop, in that Spidey likely would have never been captured in the first place if he hadn't insisted on having some time to himself.
Baleful Polymorph: Thor is turned into a frog for most of "Field Trip". Despite this he's still pretty badass.
"Run Pig Run" has Peter turned into the talking pig Spider-HAM as well.
Bash Brothers: Power Man and Iron Fist, they are usually seen fighting side by side. Which is, of course, a Shout Out to their comic series, appropriately named Power Man and Iron Fist..
Be Careful What You Wish For: For Spidey's lack of respectability due to Jonah's bad press, Nick Fury, Coulson, Thor and his team of heroes are more than ready to do all they can do save him when he gets turned into a talking pig. Showing he was a lot more desirable than thought, ironically, by Loki.
Power Man, White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Nova pull one in episode 2.
The four do it again in "Beetle Mania", after Spidey takes a beating from Beetle.
Blah Blah Blah: How Spider-Man tends to hear Nick Fury once he's gone into lecture mode.
Brain Bleach: Requested by Peter at the end of Episode 6.
Brick Joke: In "Damage", J. Jonah Jameson announces he's keeping an eye on Spider-Man's cleaning job, and shortly afterwards, he appears on the TV screen in Times Square. He wonders who's recording him, but then he sees a camera truck with a camera man perched on top who yells "Yo, Spidey!" At the end of the episode, the team take down the Wrecking Crew in the same area with minimal collateral damage and the help of Mac. Spidey wishes Nick Fury could have seen it, but then Mac points at the large screen showing everything was televised. He's confused, but then he sees the camera truck from earlier in the episode with the cameraman yelling: "Yo, Spidey!"
Bring Him to Me: Norman believes that Spider-Man can be used to create a new generation of spider-enhanced super soldiers and is not above hiring super villains to capture him as of episode one. Why he's so impressed with Spider-Man in particular when there are much more powerful superhumans out there is unclear.
Spider-Man has the perfect balance of strength, speed, agility, and toughness. That's why he can take on the big dogs. Plus the Spider-Sense doesn't hurt either. It would have made a lot of sense if it hadn't been as of episode one; by this point you can see that almost all of Spider-Man's opponents are much stronger than him and he comes out ahead - this doesn't change even when Fantastic Four and The Avengers baddies come to town. Give him a team, and half the time, they're just holding him back. Betting on Spidey makes sense. However, by episode one, he'd lost four of five rounds with the freakin' Trapster, and the fifth was actually for the purpose of planting a bug on him, which succeeded.
Then Fridge Brilliance kicks in and you see why Norman Osborn wanted Spider-Man so damn bad. Norman knew how much potential Spider-Man had and realized grabbing him when he sucked was his best chance. Now he has to deal with an experienced Spider-Man that is being trained by Nick Fury, is allies with the Avengers, and is on a team of superheroes. It's possible he was prepared to deal with an experienced Spider-Man, but he was not expecting this.
Bring It: In his first appearance in Season Two the Beetle at the climax of their fight inside the incomplete helicarrier, the Beetle has Spider-Man dead-to-rights with his Arm Cannon. Spidey knows it too but instead of firing he deactivates his gun and makes the classic hand-gesture. He's gonna beat Spidey the old-fashioned way.
Broken Aesop: One of the main morals of the show is that Peter needs to know and become friends with his teammates. One problem is that several episodes have gone by that make no use of the teammates, instead focusing on Spider-Man solo. The other problem, though, is that these people know more about him than he knows about them, keep finding some way to insert themselves into his life, and tending to attack him in the end of the episode for doing something minor.
Not only is the whole theme of Spider-Man learning responsibility from working at SHIELD pointless considering his origin, but Nick Fury himself is nowhere near the ideal person to teach him this, since the show depicts him as the most irresponsible authority figure. Breaking his promises, having people he knew become villains and yet he never gets called out for it or show regret and has Spidey's teammates force their way into his life.
The "Electro" episode tries giving an aesop about technology making you too much dependant. That coming from a show that made Spidey go from a guy with relatively simple web-shooters to using high tech gadgets for the sake of merchandise. Spidey doesn't even uses his ordinary web-shooters in the episode. (Although this is used to highlight the Aesop; Spidey no longer has his regular web-shooters because the high-tech ones were so cool, and this was a mistake. But still...)
Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Spidey gets grabbed as Peter, turned into this continuity's Carnage, and sent to attack...Spider-Man. Doesn't get much more held hostage than that
The Brute: Thundra is a rare female example. She's the muscle of the Frightful Four.
Bucket Helmet: Worn by Peter Parker in a secret recording in his bathroom when he was mocking Nova. This is a direct reference to the original Nova of the comics, Richard Rider, and his semi-affectionate nickname "Bucket-Head" given to Rider by his teammates in the New Warriors.
Butt Monkey: The team doesn't seem to care much if anything happens to New Jersey.
The new White Tiger, Ava Ayala, was created for the show and currently appears in Avengers Academy.
The new Nova, Sam Alexander, was also created for the show and was introduced in the comics during the prelude to the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover.
Coulson, a SHIELD agent undercover as the principal of Spidey's school, is an immigrant from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Cassandra Truth: Fury and the rest of the team blow Spidey's concerns off about Black Suit Spidey being Venom returned. Spidey takes off to prove himself right — and he is.
Cerebus Syndrome: The finale of Season 1 is considerably darker than the rest of the series.
Cerebus Rollercoaster: While it is Lighter and Softer and Denser and Wackier than the usual Spidey fare, it's main arc plot is much darker than the comedic episodes. Season 2 seems to be going for a more mature arc plot too, while still maintaining humour.
Character Filibuster: Literally everytime J. Jonah Jameson is on screen he's going on about how bad Spider-Man is.
The Chessmaster: By manipulating the laws about the Asgardian Boar Hunt, Loki seems to get a chance at revenge when he disguises himself as a hot-dog vendor to give a hungry Peter a free hot-dog that turns him into a talking pig.
Spider-Man makes a joke about his new SHIELD webshooters that falls flat.
There is also an occasion in "Back in Black" where a joke falls flat the same way.
The Chosen Many: Nova. It hasn't come up yet, but the original comics version of the character is part of a "Nova Corps."
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: In "Strange", Spidey confesses a complete lack of belief in magic. ("My 'non-sense' is tingling.") By the end of the episode, he has come to realize that magic is real but nightmares are not, which gives him enough power to defeat Nightmare.
Played for Laughs, as the tentacle-bot pinches Spidey's ass. He slaps it away and wins the battle, only to find out the hard way that the crowd is taking pictures of the hole in his Spidey-suit... which also reveals he goes commando underneath.
After Iron Fist is freed from being stuck to a wall by Venom, most of his clothes vanish along with the symbiote's webbing.
In "Back in Black" Spidey recalls how inconvenient his Spidey suit can be in comparison to Harry Osborn's Venom-slick-it-on, slick-it-off Spidey suit, including the time it ripped in the back and revealed his red polka dotted underwear... which might explain why he was going commando in the second episode.
"Kraven The Hunter" give us a various of what happened to Spidey in "Venom" only to Nova. Since their chasing Ava he ties a pizza box to keep hidden that he too goes conmmando under his costume.
Combat Tentacles: The Venom Symbiote's main form of attack, in addition to whatever abilities its host has.
Doctor Octopus as well, obviously. In fact his primary limbs appear to be non-functional.
Carnage uses them, too, through they're more like tendrils in his case.
Comes Great Responsibility: Lampshaded by Peter when trying to explain to Harry Osborn why using the Venom symbiote to be Spider-Man in a black suit just to feed his ego is a very bad idea.
Norman has his own version. "With great power, comes great reward."
Composite Chatacter: Electro is a "multiple versions of the same character" type. He changes from the 616 version to the Ultimate Universe version when he gets supercharged,
Contrived Coincidence: The episode "Not a Toy", when Spider-Man accidentally tosses Captain America's shield out of the helicarrier. It lands in the Latverian Embassy (which is in New York for some reason) while Doctor Doom is standing in the specific room it flies into. Spider-Man even lampshades how only he could get that result.
Cool Bike: The Spider-Cycle. It fires webs that it can drive on, and can drive on any surface Spidey can wallcrawl on.
Curse Cut Short: Spider-Man webs Thundra's mouth shut just as she is about to sling a vulgar insult at him. He explains that he gagged her to prevent her from cursing in front of "the kiddies".
Da Chief: Nick Fury. Like most versions of him, he's the "Top Cop".
(after Spidey lets the Venom Symbiote possess him to stop it from hurting anyone else) Nova: Ah, I wish we hadn't just had a special moment where you'd sacrificed yourself and junk. (proceeds to blast Venom)
Defrosting Ice Queen: Ava, for most of season 1 she's an uptight jerkass to Peter, until comes the "Kraven the Hunter" episode where she warms up to Peter since they can both relate to the loss of a loved one . Though she should have known it already by the first place since she along with the rest of the team already know his personal facts and info.
The Determinator: Peter states when MJ sets her mind to something, nothing can change it. He seems to believe if she wanted to, she could get Galactus to stop eating planets.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dr. Octavius dies in Norman Osborn's arms, but obviously, he's not really dead.
Disappeared Dad: Norman Osborn is the "neglectfully absent/physically present" variation.
Distressed Damsel: Subverted bigtime! Aunt May alternates between scolding and sweet talking the Beetle until he's distracted enough for her to run off, then pulls a Ripley on him with a jet engine then bats her eyes at Coulson and Spider-Man like she was helpless all along.
Mary Jane also has no problems with kicking a guy right in the sourdough area when he tries to take her hostage. Especially if its the Trapster.
Present-day embarrassing photos include pics of Spidey going commando under his costume, and Spider-Ham's time during the Asgardian Boar Hunt (which had everyone else laughing).
Living Laser, who is made of living photonic energy.
Also the Hulk villain Zzzax in the episode "Exclusive".
Epic Hail: In "The Sinister Six" Spidey needs to contact his team. What does he do? Jumps on a Daily Bugle Helicopter and records himself stating he needs help. Of course, JJJ doesn't like this.
Even Evil Has Standards: Norman is genuinely distraught when he learns that the Frightful Four is attacking his son's school. Though he's mainly concerned with Harry's safety, making it more an Even Evil Has Loved Ones case.
Loki might not spit in another's hot dog, but with things so close, he won't let a time limit deny him (or he won't try to)
Evil Cripple: Doc Ock. Because of an accident, he lost the use of his limbs. He uses his metal arms to work, fight and move around. He's still menacing and looks rather creepy.
Exactly What I Aimed At: Spider Man states this when fighting the Beetle and smashed him with the couch he was aiming at.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the season 2 episodes; no, seriously, all of them so far are named after the villains or new characters showing up in them: "The Lizard", "Electro", "The Rhino", "Kraven the Hunter", "Hawkeye", "The Sinister Six"... you can hardly get more obvious than that.
Exact Words: Fury did promise Spidey that the surveillance tapes of him would be erased in 24hrs. He never did say he won't show them to the team before that.
Exhausted Eye Bags: Peter suffers these as a result of being sick and not getting enough rest due to wall-crawling heroics.
Expressive Mask: The Spidey mask is very expressive, though Peter Lampshades that you can't see all his expressions. Same goes for White Tiger.
False Reassurance: Nick Fury has cameras spying on the young heroes and their families to keep them safe. In one episode, Nick told Spidey all embarassing images of him would be erased in 24 hours. 23 hours and 23 minutes later, he had finished showing said images to the other young heroes and then he deleted them.
Fanservice: For the female viewers! Iron Fist, once freed from Venom and webbing, is stripped down to his matching banana hammock.
Flashback: A couple, on Peter's part, relating to Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and his growing up with Mary Jane.
Later, Peter flashes back to how he became Spider-man, but since everybody is sick to death of Spidey's origin story, his chibi avatar rushes through it.
Food Fight: Peter starts one against the Frightful Four to give him the chance to get away.
Fourth Wall: Peter abuses the hell out of it, talking directly to the viewer. Basically, it's his trademark inner monologue visualized!
Foreshadowing: In the Lizard episode, Doc Connors shows Spidey tubes of glowing animal DNA, one is labelled with a lizard, the other two with a Scorpion and a Vulture. The vulture isn't too clear, but it's emphasised by the Imagine Spot two seconds later featuring an evil petting zoo.
Forgotten Aesop: More than a few episodes centre aound Spidey and one or more of his teammates learning that they need to put aside their differences and work as a team. Expect to see them be right back to bitching at each other next week.
Same thing apply to Spidey; no matter how many times he learns about responsibilitiy and humility, he keep forgetting it again so he can get humiliated to learn it over and over again.
Freaky Friday Flip: Wolverine and Spider-Man have one in an episode (appropriately enough, the episode is titled "Freaky"), a plot taken directly from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic.
Funny Background Event: After Agent Coulson invites Aunt May on a date, Peter starts talking about it. In the background you can see Coulson's shadow jumping around in the principal's office, and then you can hear something crash.
Genius Loci: The heroes vacation on a classified island and meet Sandy, a Creepy Child who looks a lot like Sandman, and later his older brother Flint. Eventually the entire island turns against the heroes. Or at least its soil: Sandman - we find pictographs on the mysterious ruins that hadn't been there a minute before that depict his old-school origin, completely unchanged - has assimilated every single bit of soil until the place was an extension of himself. Near the end, it's a race against time because a little dirt had clung to one of their costumes, allowing Sandman to come home with them. They had to keep him from the mainland because if any part of him had touched the ground on the mainland, he could have assimilated it all. All. As in, "North America, you were nice while you lasted."
Genre Blindness: Doc Ock is hit with this hard. Despite observing Spider-Man's movements for months, he falls for every single on of his tricks.
Going Native: The exact words used to describe Agent Coulson, who seems more concerned about the school budget and meatloaf than keeping an eye on the teen heroes.
Papa Wolf: Yet when the students of the high school the teen heroes are going to are endangered because of the Asgardian Boar Hunt being brought to the school, he's not going to let them get hurt.
Let's Get Dangerous: He also hides an arsenal in the principal's office to show he's serious.
Good Angel, Bad Angel: Spidey gets chibi good and evil Spideys◊ helping him think through whether or not he wants to work with Iron Fist, Power Man, White Tiger and Nova. Unfortunately, the angels' dialogue very quickly devolves into a grudge match, which gets quite rough if Peter's reactions are any indication. And they agree on letting Taskmaster do what he wants to Flash Thompson, forcing Spidey to web them both out of the shot after saying, "Only Flash could get these two to agree on something."
Later Bad Angel is replaced with Hulk Angel, when Peter has to decide between being honest and looking out for a friend.
Gory Discretion Shot: "Freaky" deals with Wolverine, and so has a few "we are experiencing technical difficulties" screens to keep the less kid-friendly aspects of Wolverine's character from going onscreen. I.E., Peter accidentally stabbing himself with Logan's claws, Logan beating the tar out of Flash, etc.
Gravity Master: The Wizard has this ability thanks to his tech.
Groin Attack: Used by Mary Jane on Trapster when he attempts to use her as a hostage. Peter even lampshades it.
Half-Arc Season: With all the one-shot stories, but also with the interconnected stories mixed in as well, it looks like the first season is shaping up to be this.
Subverted. Peter and Mary Jane in this series have been childhood friends. Although this is keeping in with the comics, before Peter and MJ got a Relationship Upgrade.
Peter: At 12, we decided to "get serious". (they kiss, and immediately go "ewww!")
Wolverine, whilst in Peter's body, attempts to make a move on MJ, stating that he's always had a thing for redheads. Due to her and Peter deciding to be Just Friends, MJ is understandably put off by this.
Hologram: Fury appears to Spider-Man as one after his training session on the Helicarrier.
Honor Before Reason: The Hunters Loki uses for "Run Pig Run" enjoy a good hunt, but when time's up, they won't kill someone who's won because he outlasted the clock.
Hot Blooded: Nova is rather quick to act without thinking.
Hot Scoop: In this adaptation Mary Jane is an aspiring journalism student and thinks she can get a job at Daily Bugle Communications, run by J. Jonah Jameson.
How Do I Shot Web?: A very literal example. When Iron Fist has to wear Spidey's costume to protect Peter's secret identity, he has trouble figuring out the web shooters.
Humble Goal: Spider-Man would surely like a world with world peace, without criminals, without weird villains, without school, without J.J.Jameson defamations, without Nova being a jerk... but, as that won't happen anytime soon, he can settle for a brand-new rocket pack, or perhaps a Spider-mobile.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: When Loki turns Spidey into Spider-Ham in "Run Pig Run," he's made the porcine Wall Crawler into the prey for an "Asgardian Boar Hunt." Fortunately, Thor, Coulson, Fury and "the team" are with Spidey.
Kraven the Hunter is confirmed to appear in season 2. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the character should expect this. Surprisingly enough, his prey isn't Spidey. It's White Tiger.
Hurricane of Puns: After Loki turns Spidey into Spider-Ham (nicknamed thus by Thor of all people) in "Run Pig Run", the pig puns range from "Pig man on campus" from Nova to "Porker" (Parker) thanks to Coulson. Even Nick Fury gets one in. Peter, notably tries to not make one, and when he does, it's accompanied by breaking the fourth wall to lampshade it.
Played with. The lightbulb is over Peter's head, and a little chibi imaginary Spidey plugs it into Peter's ear to power it from his thoughts as he realizes something.
The lightbulb flashes over Peter's head only to be replaced by another of the more ecologically improved lightbulbs. Peter even comments on this directly to the audience.
Idea Ding: Mary Jane saves Peter's day by coming up with the idea of a study date for Harry to get used to the idea of Peter's "new friends": Danny, Ava, Luke, and Sam.
Spidey's team as a whole has already seen Venom in action, been possessed (each member except White Tiger) by him and all of them are perfectly aware he is a shapeshifting symbiotic organism whose appearance changes according to his host. Yet, when a "mysterious" black Spider-Man shows up, not only is Peter the only one to recognize the symbiote, but when he points out the similarity, they dismiss it without any doubt, arguing that "Venom was huge, this is just a normal guy in a suit". Made even worse by the fact that Octavius, on the other hand, immediately recognizes his work.
If Mesmero could have Spider-Man and Wolverine switch bodies, what exactly prevented him from controlling them like he did with the others civilians? Assuming he couldn't, he could have at least try. But no, all he could think about was using civilians to try to kill Spider-Man and Wolverine, then have them switch body just to screw with them.
Doctor Octopus actually managed to capture Spidey in "Me Time", but he chooses not to remove his mask or webshooters, and places him in restraints he easily breaks out of.
Spidey himself loses his otherwise high intelligence and even his spider-sense whenever the script decides it'd be funny (and can be easily attributed to him being a very high-strung teenager).
The Team didn't seem to think a LARGE GAPING HOLE into an EMPTY BANK VAULT was suspicious.
Nova is nowhere near the - well, brightest of the bunch, but even he grips the ball tight, when he thinks that a beach is labeled "Classy Fied" instead of "Classified."
Imagine Spot: Lots and lots of them, including one where Spidey imagines how him trying to show up in costume and hide his true identity from Mary Jane. He also imitates the Christian Bale Batman voice.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Zodiac soldiers seem to have taken a few courses there. They actually manage to hit each other way more often than they do Spidey or Fury.
In Name Only: The series is nothing like the comic book from which it borrowed its name and a few of its design choices.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Spidey flung a few at Doc Ock, but he warns the audience that the Trapster makes cringingly bad ones based around his glue schtick.
Spider-Man:(running out of webbing as he falls from the Helicarrier) Okay, now I'm scared thwippless!
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: J. Jonah Jameson. He compliments MJ on her video report for the Bugle's contest, even though the video was very Pro-Spidey and he even gives her a new camera. We repeat, this is JJJ we're talking about.
Jet Pack: Early in the series, we see Spidey fantasizing about flying with a jetpack. In "Me Time", Spider-Man discovers that SHIELD has given one to Nova — who doesn't need one because he can fly.
Venom, after the relatively lighthearted first half of the episode he appears in, barring the parts with Octavius, the second half is accompanied by less Imagine Spots and jokes.
Dr. Octopus also, as he's never played for comedy in all his scenes, or unless he's fighting Spider-Man.
In general, most of the main villains of the series (Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom, Loki, Nightmare) are played dead serious.
The Green Goblin really makes his mark as a Knight of Cerebus. For once, Spidey doesn't snark at all while fighting him.
The Rhino/ Alex can be seen as this, at least in his debut episode. Alex, like Peter was bullied by Flash Thompson. Unlike Peter, however, Alex's status as victim of bullying is not played for laughs and issue of bullying is treated seriously. Not to mention that Flash, who was quite an asshole towards Alex and Peter throughout the series, is horrified that his harrassment led Alex to become Rhino. The same episode also reveals that Flash only has car station as a home and that his family has no money
Painting the Medium: When Spidey narrates introducing a new character, they get a title screen that they usually knock around. Occasionally, a really powerful attack generates a textual sound effect as well.
Legacy Character: It's mentioned that the White Tiger mantle is one that is passed down in Ava Ayala's family. "Kraven the Hunter" reveals that her father was the original White Tiger. He passed it to Ava before dying from injuries sustained battling Kraven.
Let's You and Him Fight: Subverted with Hulk in "Exclusive", where Hulk ignores Spidey in favor of focusing on fighting Zzzax. Hulk even tells Spidey he doesn't want to fight "Bug Man".
Lighter and Softer: Compared to the three previous animated incarnations of Spider-Man. This series has yet to have anything too dark. So far, two of the Knights of Cerebus (who coincidentally are the only truly active Spider-Man rogues thus far) have added a touch of darkness whenever they come in, but their appearances have been limited due to the constant one-shot adventures.
Light Bulb Joke: Spider-Man makes such a joke in "The Sinister Six".
Spider-Man: How many Sinister Sixters does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: Six! Four to hold down Electro. One to screw the lightbulb into his mouth.
Electro:(to the rest of the Sinister Six) Heh, you guys want to see that? It actually does work! (the other villains glare at him) ...Maybe later.
Loophole Abuse: As the son of Odin, Thor can't call off the Asgardian Boar Hunt without going against his father's law. Officially anyway. The laws never said anything about him stalling the hunters before sunset.
Macross Missile Massacre: So the Beetle is cornered by Spidey's team, what is his response? To reveal that his armor carries an unholy number of missile launchers, which triggers a Mass Oh Crap expression from the heroes.
Magical Security Cam: This trope is very noticeable in Doctor Octopus's lab, where most of the footage of Spider-Man is recycled footage from previous episodes.
Magic Pants: Alex's clothes seem to change with him when he goes to and from Rhino form. The animators seem to choose angles that will specifically keep the audience from seeing how.
Male Gaze: Although it's justified, and averted as well. White Tiger wears a skin-tight suit and is... Developed as most females in their late teens would be. Her proclivities towards acrobatics only help this trope. But, given how her male colleagues also wear skin-tight outfits, their assets also get some nice screentime.
Malevolent Masked Men: Zodiac soldiers all wear animal masks (lion, bull and ram to be specific).
The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: On one side of the mirror, Peter. In the reflection, Spidey, alternately berating him for being a loser, and encouraging him to take Fury up on his offer to be trained by SHIELD.
Marquee Alter Ego: The heroes tend to stand around in costume with their masks up or off, just as in the movies — presumably so it won't be so jarring to fans when watching the movies.
Martial Pacifist: Iron Fist, who is generally spouting philosophical advice, advises the symbiote to back up, lest he forget he's a pacifist.
Merchandise Driven: With all the toys they're giving Spider-Man this is obvious. Why else would someone who can web-swing need a motorcycle (though the show does make a decent stab at justifying this one) or a suit that enables him to fly?
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus — although in the latter's case, he was a real doctor before the lab accident that left him in his current state.
Morality Pet: Harry to Norman Osborn. While a he's Corrupt Corporate Executive and he kinda wishes he was more like Peter, he does seem to care for his son's well being.
Horribly twisted when Norman finds out that Harry is Venom. His response is to tell Harry how proud he is of what he's become.
More Dakka: Norman blasts a copy of Iron Man with a huge gatling gun. Spider-Man then wonders if this is the side of Henry's dad he was hinting at complete with a goofy shot involving blasting a pickle jar.
Motive Decay: Rhino, when first introduced, was an Anti-Villain with a sympathetic motivation who seemed willing to get help for his condition. This is completely dropped in The Sinister Six, where he now only cares about getting more serum from Doctor Octopus.
Spidey is still a terrible driver, but Lampshaded by Peter pointing out that in New York, driving is hardly necessary for getting from place to place, especially since he can thwipp thwipp.
The first episode even has a reference to the first Iron Man movie (specficially, the scene where Tony tries to learn how to fly in his lab).
Spider-Man sees a version of his Iron Spider armor, and comments it's been done.
By the time of his first appearance, Sandman has gone insane and split into several aspects of his personality - one of which is his inner child - an altered reference to one of the more important storylines featuring the character in "Peter Parker: Spider Man."
One of the SHIELD agents can be seen wearing a pair of webbed glider wings that look exactly like the ones made famous by Spider-Woman.
White Tiger initially introduces Power Man as Luke Cage before he corrects her. In the modern comics, Luke no longer wears a costume or uses an alias while fighting crime.
When Spider-Man first meets Curt Connors at SHIELD, the doctor has his right arm hidden up his sleeve, making it appear as though he's missing it. Most incarnations of Dr. Connors a.k.a. The Lizard are in fact amputees, having lost their arm during military service.
The show's version of Dr. Octopus as handicapped and reliant on his mechanical arms may be a referance to the Marvel Noir universe's Dr. Octopus or to the mainstream Doc Ock, who is now wearing a cybernetic life-support system due to being crippled and dying from internal injuries sustained in his fights with Spider-Man.
Likewise, Venom's origin seems to parallel the backstory of Marvel Adventures version of the villain, replacing the Tinkerer with Otto Octavius as its creator.
Venom's first host was Flash Thompson, who happens to be Venom's current host in the comics.
A Stark tech invention "scatters molecules across multiple dimensions" — including the one in which Peter Porker, the Amazing Spider-Ham exists. But the one that turns out to be important is the verse in which The Super Hero Squad Show takes place.
This happens with Spider-Ham again when Loki turns Peter into his porcine counterpart.
When watching the Hulk fight the energy villain Zzzax, MJ describes him as "Incredible".
The device Harry has to contain the symbiote is similar to the device used by Spider-Man in Spider Man Unlimited to hold his new costume.
In the episode "Back in Black", Doop (of X-Force, later X-Statix) cameos as Venom's sidekick in Peter's fantasy sequence.
Peter has a hard time telling where the source of an attack is coming from when warned by his spider-sense, which is also how it worked in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics as well. (The mainstream 616-verse Spidey can use his to pinpoint the source.)
In the episode "Beetle Mania", the team's Imagine Spot of them Curb-Stomping the Beetle showcases his Mark I, II, and III armours from the comics.
Spider-Man imagines a Spider-Buggy this alludes to the Spider-Mobile in the mainstream 616-verse.
When meeting Coulson's team of young heroes, Captain America remarks that there may be a few future Avengers in their line-up. In the comics, Spider-Man, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage all ended up joining the New Avengers.
And in the Marvel Adventures universe, Nova (albeit a different one) is also a member.
After the Green Goblin destroys the Helicarrier, Ava, Sam, Luke, and Danny end up living at Peter's house, just like Gwen Stacy, Johnny Storm, and Bobby Drake did in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
When Spider-Man first meets Doc Ock face-to-face, he jokes that he needs a haircut. He offers to take care of it if he'll give a bowl and some scissors. Doctor Octopus is, of course, known in the comics for his bowl haircut (which he likes just fine, thank you very much).
One episode has Spider-Man referring to Power Man's battle as a "Contest Of Champions."
Aunt May beat Peter in a video game where she plays the Hulk vs The Thing, which happened on previous Marvel shows.
When Kraven wears the White Tigers' amulet, he transforms into a humanoid tiger, much like in The Spectacular Spider Man where he became a humanoid lion.
Some of Spider-Man's Imagine Spots depict the various villains in their Silver Age or Bronze Age appearances, most egregiously in "Beetle Mania" and "The Lizard."
The Spider-Cave in Boston contained the Spider-Copter, which was an actual toy made at one point years ago. The Spider-Mobile was also seen in the Cave.
Nick Fury's biography "Eye on the Prize" contains a review by Thor, reading "I like this book! Another!".
Never Mess with Granny: Aunt May has Taken a Level in Badass. She is a tech at work, does yoga, and bowls; not your typical frail and helpless doting old lady. She even beats her nephew in a superhero fighting game.
Never Say "Die": Danced around in some cases, averted in others as Spidey ruminates on dying within moments of joining SHIELD.
"Kraven the Hunter" is almost reminiscent of ''Spider-Man The Animated Series in how obvious this is. Aya's father was killed by Kraven, and yet the only time, despite discussing it very often, anyone says anything along the lines of die or kill is in a throwaway joke.
Harry: ...and I thought I'd move to the sewers and train albino alligators for the circus. (beat)...Father of the year.
Not So Different: Spidey says this about him and Hulk, since people also call Hulk a menace even though he's trying to do the right thing.
Not So Stoic: Doctor Octopus loses it in "Why I Hate Gym", where, after being told that Spider-Man isn't at a High School, he starts destroying his own lab in rage. He spends "Me Time" in a more or less continuous state of Unstoppable Rage.
Oh Crap: Spidey, after having been captured by Doctor Octopus, is rather distraught when Fury manages to track him down and tells him that he's deep under the East River. Even Fury seemed surprised.
The expression on the team's faces when the Beetle reveals his armor carries more missiles than some warships counts also. Cue Nova yelling that five against one wasn't enough to beat him.
Spidey does this when Nick Fury knows his secret identity.
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Taskmaster lies to Doctor Octopus about Spider-Man's connection to the school so he can have another crack at the wall crawler.
Out-of-Character Moment: In "Back in Black", Jonah J. Jameson suddenly starts supporting Black Spider-Man for no apparent reason when he shows up, despite the character being well-known to hate all costumed heroes.
He does it again in "I Am Spider-Man" where he praises the musical version of Spider-Man. Now he's just coming off as a major hypocrite.
Pet the Dog: Norman Osborn actually seems kind of angry that the Frightful Four attacked the school, showing what looks to be legitimate concern for his son.
Psychological Torment Zone: Nightmare catches the whole world in one so he can feed off the energy of their bad dreams. Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and Spidey are briefly caught up in it too but manage to get free.
Punch Clock Villain: The Asgardian Hunters weren't too bad when they heard the horn and saw sunset at "Run Pig Run": those were the signs the Asgardian Boar Hunt was over—and Peter, magicked into Spider-Ham thanks to Loki, didn't need to worry about becoming their dinner.
Record Needle Scratch: The whole party at Harry's stops this way when Sam says, "Tell me you rented a lion!"
Recursive Adaptation: The show is getting a comic adaptation called Marvel Universe: Ultimate Spider-Man starting in April.
Relax-o-Vision: Employed several times in the episode "Freaky," including instances of "Wolverine" stabbing himself with his claws, and "Peter" giving Flash Thompson a well-deserved pummeling. [1]◊
Retirony: Parodied. A Doombot in "Doomed!" says "three days 'til retirement" after he's slashed by White Tiger.
Revenge: Played for laughs. Marvel released a trailer for a later episode in which Loki comes to New York in order to exact his revenge on Spidey for defeating him. He tricks Spidey into eating an enchanted hot dog that turns him into a pig — otherwise known as the Spectacular Spider-Ham.
Played for drama with Aya intent on avenging her father's murder at Kraven's hands.
The Rival: Nova and Spider-Man constantly bicker over who will lead the team, even though Spidey has more experience (a whole year).
Rogues Gallery Transplant: Curiously, as of the first dozen episodes or so, the series seems to be mostly avoiding classic Spider-Man antagonists with the exception of Venom (minus Eddie Brock) and Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man has taken on the Frightful Four (Wizard, Trapster, Thundra and Klaw), Doctor Doom, Living Laser, Batroc the Leaper, Taskmaster, Zzzax, Loki, Mesmero, Sabertooth , The Wrecking Crew and Whirlwind for example.
Rookie Red Ranger: Toyed with. Spidey is the newest member of SHIELD and lacks the others' discipline, but he's been a hero longer and has first-hand experience in how to act when fighting threats.
Rule Of Cool: The Spider-Cycle. Though Spidey didn't like it at first.
Spidey runs out of webbing at the worst possible moment.
J. Jonah Jameson tirading on jumbotrons in the background of any episode. Said jumbotron is usually damaged or completely destroyed by the end of whatever fight occurs.
Rule of Three with the "Flag on the joke!" Chibi Spidey Referee bit in "Me Time".
"Flash! You'd better run, this is gonna get messy!" is said by Spidey, and the next scene has Flash breaking out in a run (Genre Savvy Spidey seems to know wherever Spidey goes, Flash probably got there first).
Peter even endures being Stuffed into a Locker by Flash Thompson on a regular basis to help preserve his.
Lampshadedagain by Spidey, as MJ offers to tell his side of the story against Jameson's "menace!" tirades. (See Imagine Spot).
And yet again as Peter ponders Harry revealing to him that he's the new "Black Suit Spider-Man"... and why it's a terrible idea to reveal his true identity.
Spidey has electro-webbing that, when grounded against metal, forms a high voltage circuit that effectively fries foes. Unfortunately, Spidey himself is part of the circuit and gets the shock as well.
The episode Spidah-Man! is rife with references to Batman.
Sick Episode: "Back in Black". Somehow Spidey also manages to fight off Venom and Dragon Man while sick.
There's also an episode whereupon Spidey is trying to care for an injured Aunt May and a sick Hulk at the same time.
Smug Snake: The Wizard, he's cocky and arrogant in both fights against Spidey, but he loses his cool when Spidey turns the table on the Frightful Four, especially in the second fight, where his team loses the numbers advantage.
Snark-to-Snark Combat: Spider-Man and Hawkeye's episode together is nothing but this trope.
Squee: Spidey's reaction to seeing Iron Man show up after taking out the Living Laser. Chibi Iron Man Cupids float around Spidey's head, complete with Heart Symbol.
State Sec: SHIELD. officially it is an intelligence agency but it has it's own private army, navy and air force that operates outside the regular military's chain of command. It also controls several teams of superheroes and has multiple R&D labs working on various projects.
Stealth Hi/Bye: Fury makes his entrance in the first episode. Bonus points for using the Helicarrier as a distraction.
Stock Parody: "For Your Eyes Only" utilizes a lot of James Bond references. Despite the episode really being Die Hard on an X. However, it did have more of Nick Fury in action than any other episode to date.
Stubborn Mule: J. Jonah Jameson. He sees evidences from his own camera crew that Spider-Man not only saved the day and protected everyone that was broadcasted to everyone in the city, he still refuses to believe that Spider-Man is a good guy, and even states that he believes Spider-Man set all of this up.
Stuffed into a Locker: By Flash Thompson. But Peter takes any chance he can get to turn the tables and stick Flash in the locker.
Super Strength: Luke Cage (His name is Power Man, duh), Nova and Spider-Man all exhibit good examples of this. Nova was strong enough to prevent a hellicarrier from falling out the sky. Spider-Man himself seems somewhat stronger than in his previous animated incarnation. So far, he has caught a falling helicopter out the sky, thrown multiple cars with ease, and even kicked sabretooth so hard that he sent the villain flying into a bus 50 feet away, which flipped over due to the impact.
Spider-Man: I won't screw this up. I won't screw this up!
Talking Your Way Out: Spider-Man explains to his teammates that Mary-Jane can't be stopped once she puts her mind to something, with various examples throughout their shared childhood. The last example has Galactus about to devour earth, only to be stopped by Mary-Jane explaining to him that the Earth's populace would pose a lot of health problems. He than says it didn't happen, but it could have.
Take That: The episode "Back in Black" features one in regards to Peter's public unmasking as Spider-Man during Civil War, immediately pointing out why such a thing is a bad idea.
Theme Tune Cameo: "Why I Hate Gym" has an Imagine Spot of Peter using his Spidey powers in Gym class and wowing everybody. Its background music is the Ultimate Spider-ManTheme Tune.
This Is Gonna Suck: Spidey's notion before using his electro-webs for the first time — on a tentacle-bot, while lying on electrified subway train tracks. As the subway is approaching.
Spidey: This will be pain.
And again in The Beetle.
Spidey: This is going to hurt.
Timed Mission: "Run Pig Run" is one: the hunters have until sundown to kill a transformed Spider-Man (who's now Spider-HAM) or everyone else to keep Peter alive.
Title Drop: "The Ultimate Spider-Man" is tossed around to refer to Spidey's hypothetical SHIELD-improved self. Text actually appears around him when Fury says it!
To Be Continued: Spidey himself says this word for word at the end of episode 1. Considering that it's a 2-parter, it makes sense.
Too Dumb to Live: In episode 3, Spidey and his team decide to disobey Fury and attempt to capture a powerful villain to show they are good. The target they choose? Doctor Doom. And as if that wasn't enough, they go to attack him in the middle of Lavteria, without provocation. Needless to say, Doom quickly comes up with a plan to take advantage of the situation.
Tracking Device: Used by the Trapster on Spidey in the first episode to track him to his school. Spidey finds the bug in the armpit of his costume, and flashes back to how it must've gotten there.
An In-Universe example. Judging from Spidey's inner thoughts, he's willingly dumbing himself down with his jokes, refusing to correct others when they insult his intelligence. On at least one occasion he lets things escalate wildly (up to his team invading a foreign country without provocation, preparation, or support) turning down multiple chances to mitigate the damage, seemingly for kicks. Likewise, he's a capable leader, but refuses to act the part in favor of playing the clown. This may be partly to alleviate the tension between himself and Nova. And also because people take him less seriously and then are surprised when he shows what he's really capable of. Lampshaded as being Spidey's most potent weapon during "Field Trip" as he uses his words to trick Loki into changing Thor back.
Loki also gets in on the game. A trailer released on Marvel's YouTube page reveals that Loki manages to turn Spider-Man into a pig. Who is bipedal. And can talk. And is still in the costume.
Troperiffic: The trope count went over seventy-five tropes represented before the second episode was finished. And there is no doubt the creative team is having a ball cramming as many tropes into the show as they can possibly get away with.
True Companions: Cemented in the season finale. Peter admits his friends are like his family, and by the end of the episode the team are living together.
Truth in Television: In "Damage" the fact that the cameraman remained despite the danger reflects real world cameramen who continue filming no matter what.
Viewers Are Morons / Viewers Are Goldfish: One of the primary criticisms of the show is that Peter's Imagine Spots sometimes do exposition that's already been explained, or in worse cases, explaining things that people will probably already have noticed five seconds ago (an example of this is when Peter finds out Harry is the new black Spider-Man, and after Harry hisses, Peter promptly points it out to the audience). Lampshaded and subverted in "Freaky" when Spidey explains Nick Fury's the director of S.H.I.E.L.D, then stops in the middle of what the organization stands for, saying that the viewer should know all this by now.
He also constantly reminds the viewers that he is a science geek anytime a problem requires his brain rather than his fist.
Villain Takes An Interest: As in several other continuities, Norman Osborn takes a definite interest in both Peter and Spider-Man, sending the not-so-subtle message that he prefers Peter over his own son Harry.
Voices Are Mental: Surprisingly averted. Spider-Man and Wolverine's body swap actually has them keep their body's VAs.
We Can Rule Together: Taskmaster offers Spidey the chance to work with him over being brought to his employer because he says that he also worked on a team lead by Fury before Fury double-crossed him. Spider-Man's subsequent Imagine Spot is of him in an apron and cleaning Taskmaster's lair as Taskmaster lazes about on the couch in a pair of boxers.
Wham Episode: The two part season finale. After a whole season of dancing around it, Norman Osborn finally becomes the Green Goblin as a result of a fusion of both Spider-Man's blood and the Venom compound. At first driven crazy, he regains his sanity, and seeks to revert his son to Venom. While he fails, a ton of shakeups to the Status Quo happen. Dr. Octopus leaves his services forever, the SHIELD Helicarrier is destroyed (for now), Harry loses the Venom symbiote which Norman takes a sample of, Dr. Connors gets one of his arms crushed, Harry hears of how the Green Goblin came from Spider-man and vows revenge, Spider-Man realizes just how important having a team is, and finally, the rest of the SHIELD team moves in with Peter. Whew.
"The Sinister Six" to a lesser extent. The Sinister Six is created, which test Peter's strength as a leader. In the end, the team does manage to work together and Spidey gets some Character Development. However, the real WHAM is that, although Spider-Man and his team bring in five of the six, Curt Connors fully becomes The Lizard and runs away, leaving Peter feeling helpless after he tried to save him.
Wheel of Excuses for what to tell his Muggle friends when duty as Spidey calls.
Wheel of Explanations shows up when Peter struggles to explain to Harry Osborn that his father Norman is "an evil mastermind", "his mind go crazy bye bye" and "a liar liar pants on fire". He ends up jumbling together the explanations he got from his head.
Wheel of Bad News for when he needs to tell Harry that Green Goblin has showed up in town and may be coming after Harry.
Wild Teen Party: Harry throws one after feeling ignored by his father. It gets interrupted by the arrival of the Venom symbiote.
Your Worst Nightmare: "Strange", featuring (appropriately) Nightmare, lets us see the worst fears of the main cast. White Tiger fears unexpected final exams and failing class; Power Man fears being too weak to save innocents or his teammates; Iron Fist fears losing his Iron Fist power because he subconsciously believes he is unworthy; Nova fears... bunnies? Naturally, Spidey takes advantage of this last one.
Spider-Man is immune to this spell because his worst fear is refusing to take responsibility for his powers and allowing Uncle Ben to die. He lives with his worst nightmare daily, and accepts the responsibility of Uncle Ben's death, so all manifesting it does is allow Peter to have a friendly chat with his beloved uncle.
14 reviews 
