Ultimate Spider-Man TV series.

True. At least this series is creative, while Avengers Assemble just mashed together bits from the comics and the MCU.

Sad that Spider-Gwen's first animated appearance is gonna be in this cartoon. She deserves way better.

Eh, they could pull it off. I just saw Miles From Home, and that did a decent job with Miles Morales.

With the continuity, this show seems to assume either its audience have the attention span of goldfish and minutely dole out backstory every episode as a reminder, or have a character show up very, very infrequently and assume you know who he is. With how episodic some episodes get, and the awkward continuity of others, it feels like at times if it can't decide which it wants and tries to have its cake and eat it too.

Funny how they can't seem to decide wheither these cartoons are for kids or for the fans.

Ideally you'd have both: a show that the fans like, and makes the kids into the next generation of fans.

I don't expect the series (or the Animated Verse in general admittedly) to age well.

I get that, but this one doesn't exactly do a good job at it. They try to be for kids meaning they remove any complex storylines and character development that could please fans, yet they constantly throw fanservice from recent stuff that little kids can't possibly understand unless they read comics (which are FAR from kid-friendly for some of them).

Neither do I. Hell, in the case of Avengers Assemble and Agents of SMASH, it already looks like it's from the 90s in some parts...

Neither has (IMO) Spider-man TAS. It still drew a lot of kids to Spider-Man, and is thought of fondly.

(though my point was hopefully a new series would have broad appeal, not about this series)

Edit:

edited 29th Aug '16 12:21:51 PM by Windona

Aaah, alright then.

I can only hope for a decent series after this one's done.

The only thing that keeps me from really getting into Ultimate Spider-Man is the way they Discard and Draw with characters and rarely give them any development, despite often having the opportunity to do more interesting things with them. The show likes it's character types, and it brings down the plots sometimes.

Also, I really hate the Lizard's character design and the current "coffin with tentacles" one for Ock.

Other than that, however, it's a pretty decent show. So every once in a while I like watching a few episodes just to see where they're at. Which is more than I can say for Avengers Assemble: I keep giving that show another try and it keeps disappointing me. Ultimate Spider-Man is rarely truly disappointing, as much as it's usually just okay and I wish it could be better.

To be fair, while Spiderman The Animated Series' censorship and sometimes cruddy animation gets flak nowadays, the way it developed long, develops plots with all of its characters and balanced being episodic and arc-based still holds up and was very much an influence on superhero adaptations that came out in the decades after it. I wouldn't say the show aged badly so much as a new show came long afterwards that eclipsed it.

As for this verse aging well, I think it's going to run the problem of not really doing anything innovative and thus being forgotten once it goes off the air, especially in today's "you always have to have a show out and ready to go for the big name character" climate. There's isn't much that the current Marvel verse really adds to the table. To compare, another show that was in a similar position, being a contested and less nuanced adaptation on the heels of a much more acclaimed one, is The Batman, but it at least had a few things of its own that one could point to as really standing out and making the show shine in its own way.

Ultimate Spider-Man's big problem is really that it doesn't commit to anything.

edited 29th Aug '16 1:22:23 PM by KnownUnknown

That's... Much more thought out and concise than my own reasons for thinking it won't age well (I'm biased and not that smart).

I'm wondering what else the show's gonna offer before it's maybe/definite end.

Eh, I'm hoping some of the concepts from this show crossover. (Again, huge fan of how they have been doing Harry in a new and original way).

Anyone have any good Ultimate Spider-man fanfic recs?

Funny you say that. If you go by what is written on its YMMV page, USM got so much success because its fans felt it averted It's the Same, Now It Sucks! and did something different with Spidey...

I don't want to sound like a dick, but I find it hard to believe this thing has non-ironic, completely dedicated fans. The merch-driven show feels more like a 90s Saturday morning cartoon than the 90s Saturday morning cartoon.

It's not even enough to make me upset or anything. It's just kind of banal.

People can be fans of something without considering it actually good. After all, part of being a comics fan is complaining about comics.

I don't get it either, but apparently there are fans who are dedicated to defend this show.

Is it really that surprising? Or has everyone forgotten the huge fandom Twilight had? Compared to that, this show having fans is nothing odd.

... Good point.

Wait so now Mary Jane is a spider hero? Imagine her meeting Spider Gwen?

I can't wait for Jameson to get spider powers.

Jameson will get powers at Doc Ock and Aunt May's wedding

That'll never happen, since the writers know it would risk having this version of Jameson get any personality.

Isn't MJ a "not-evil-we-swear" Carnage at this point? The last time I saw this show was the end if the Carnage arc, where they did the Not Quite Dead bit with the Carnage symbiote in her system and her scowling at the camera.

Latest ep is part 1 of returning to the multiverse. It may be like it was with Harry and Venom, with it taking several episodes to pay off.