Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981–1986)

Spider-Man battles crime in New York City with the help of Iceman and Firestar.

Creators:

Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Stars:

Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, Frank Welker

1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Dan Gilvezan	...	Spider-Man (24 episodes, 1981-1983)
Kathy Garver	...	Firestar (24 episodes, 1981-1983)
Frank Welker	...	Iceman (24 episodes, 1981-1983)
Stan Lee	...	Narrator (14 episodes, 1981-1983)
Dick Tufeld	...	Opening announcer (12 episodes, 1981)

Storyline

In this series, Spider-Man forms a close friendship and alliance with two superheroes, Iceman and Firestar. Together, the group, informally known as "The Spider Friends", battle crime in New York City. Along the way, they not only face Spider-Man's own enemies, but also other major Marvel Comics villians like the Red Skull and Doctor Doom while also meeting other heroes of the Marvel Universe.

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Plot Keywords:

marvel comics | mutant | prejudice | based on comic book | teenage boy | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

El hombre araña y sus increíbles amigos

Company Credits

Production Co:

Marvel Productions, Mihahn, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the first season episode "Videoman", the ending was vague as to whether or not the villain of the episode (Electro) died at the end. Being a Saturday morning cartoon, they made up for it by having Electro make a cameo appearance in the third season episode "Attack of the Arachnoid" (in a super-powered jail cell, no less!). Only three villains made return appearances after their first appearance on "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends": Magneto (In a brief flashback in the episode "A Firestar is Born"), Electro (As mentioned above), and Videoman ( Who appeared in "Videoman", "The Origin of Iceman, and "The Education of a Superhero"). Doctor Octopus was the only super-villain to cross over from "The Incredible Hulk" to "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" (both cartoons were on NBC on Saturday mornings at the same time). The Human Torch was supposed to be one of the Spider-Friends, but NBC didn't want children to think it was okay to play with fire. That is why Firestar was created, having similar powers, but not having the appearance of being on fire.

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Quotes

Bruce Banner: Superheroes on a bus? What are you advertising?
Spider-Man: Comic books.

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Connections

Referenced in Alexander (1986)

User Reviews

Team ups are good but...

Spider-Man was a loner and always has been. It's fun to see one favorite character to team up with another favorite character but this went a little out of hand. This series had Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar (a character who did not exist in comics when this came around I believe) in an alliance against evil. Their alter egos also lived together in Aunt May's house. Really. I felt this show was not true in any way to Spider-Man unlike the other shows. It provides some enjoyment but not as much as the others.