Follow TV Tropes

Following

YMMV / Spider-Man: The New Animated Series

Go To

YMMV tropes for the Spider-Man: The New Animated Series series

Tropes with their own pages:


  • Animation Age Ghetto: This was a big factor in the show's demise. It was a serious, dramatic show aimed at adults on MTV, but it was animated and about Spider-Man. It was too dark for kids, but its adult target audience wasn't interested in it.
  • Awesome Music: The opening theme.
  • Broken Base: The show's portrayal of Electro is subject to some debate over the way he was handled in the wake of Columbine just four years before the show began airing. One side of the fandom feels as though the subject was handled with the care and attention it deserved, while the other sees the portrayal as disrespectful and too soon following how raw the subject surrounding school shootings were (and still are) for Americans.
  • Creepy Awesome: The Lizard, who is pretty much a nigh invincible horror movie monster with a Healing Factor. His creepy, cool design and being voiced by Rob Zombie also helps.
  • Cult Classic: Despite only thirteen episodes, the series has a notable fandom in the years since. Neil Patrick Harris was even brought back for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and its more mature and violent look at crime as well as unique art-style makes it a pretty unique take on Spider-Man if not a very faithful or consistent one.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Out of the villains, the Lizard seems to be one of the most popular, thanks to being an interesting new take on a classic villain and his horror movie vibe, with his only appearance being considered one of the series’ best episodes.
    • Electro and Silver Sable were also well-received, the former due to being an absolutely terrifying Tragic Villain and the latter due to being a Dark Action Girl Badass Normal.
  • Fan Nickname: MTV Spider-Man, because it aired on MTV.
  • Magnificent Bastard: The Kingpin, from "Royal Scam", is an intimidating New York crime boss whose raw strength matches his guile. The Kingpin sets up a scam to convince Spider-Man to steal a microchip that can be used to hack into the world's banks by pretending to be an FBI agent and that he's taking it away from criminals. In actuality, he plans to use it to make himself the richest man in the world. The Kingpin is able to fight Spider-Man toe to toe even without powers, using his intelligence and technology to defeat him easily. Always with a trick up his sleeve to get away if things go south, the Kingpin proves to be one of Spider-Man's most dangerous foes.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The Gaines Twins cross it at the end of the series, first by making Spider-Man believe Kraven killed MJ, leading him to nearly kill the Hunter, and then by tricking him into pushing an innocent civilian off a building, landing her into a probably permanent coma, and even after they die, Spidey’s reputation is permanently damaged and he gives up being a superhero. And the reason why Indira “Indy” Daimonji, Peter’s new Intrepid Reporter girlfriend and one of his few supporters, wasn’t able to help him? The innocent civilian that Spidey pushed off the roof under the Gaine’s manipulations was Indy herself.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The Lizard himself is full of this. The Gaines Twins, with their malicious behavior and their Mind Rape powers.
  • Older Than They Think: Some took note of the Lizard talking in his appearance on the show. While the comics have portrayed him as a savage beast, this wasn't the first time he had ever spoken. His very first appearance in The '60s and his appearances in the Spider-Man (1981) cartoon and Spider-Man: The Animated Series, for example.
  • Questionable Casting: Keith Carradine as Jameson, trying desperately to emulate J. K. Simmons's take on the character. This bit of casting was seen as particularly strange, as Ed Asner was in the recurring cast as an anti-Spider-Man cop.
  • Replacement Scrappy: A good portion of the villains were not well-received, for being lamer, blatant expies of previously established and popular Spider-Man villains.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A lot of fans had a dislike of the show merely because most of the villains were Canon Foreigners. Of course, given that a fair amount of these villains were rather uninspired expies of popular canon villains, they may have a point. They also seriously despised MTV's stupid guidelines like not allowing any "old people" on the show, preventing Ensemble Dark Horse J. Jonah Jameson for making too many appearances and Aunt May, one of the most important people in Peter's life and a very iconic and popular member of Spider-Man's supporting cast, from appearing at all.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Or rather: a Perfectly Good Premise. Many fans have stated they liked the idea of a Spider-Man series geared towards an older audience, but that anything interesting that could have been done with the series was squandered by MTV.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: A recurring criticism of the series is that the oppressively dark tone, frequent Downer Endings and often disturbing and unsettling imagery and stories make the show hard to watch, and means that it lacks the general optimism Spider-Man is known for. It doesn't help that the show ends on an exceptionally bleak note due to its premature cancellation.
  • Uncertain Audience: The show was intended to be a darker, more adult take on Spider-Man, but it also tried to tie in with the first Sam Raimi movie, which for the most part had a bright, colorful tone. A number of famous characters from the comics were also replaced with uninteresting expies, and what villains they did include were frequently killed off after one episode. It was too dark for younger viewers, didn't attract fans of the Raimi film, and fans of the comics were too annoyed at the changes to enjoy it.
  • Vindicated by History: It didn't garner a whole lot of fanfare at premieres, with many seeing it as a "nothing special" type of show. Now, you can find people reminiscing about the darker tone and visuals as the show's defining feature, especially in the face of later Lighter and Softer Spider-Man shows (especially the Disney produced ones), with not only dedicated fans working to make an unofficial Season 2, but wonder if the show was too ahead of its time and could've done better if it was released as an original on Disney+.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: While the animation generally doesn't hold up, when it does, it can look awesome. The animation on the webhead himself is a particular standout.


Top