Ultimate Spider-Man

**Ultimate Spider-Man** is a Disney XD American television series created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko for Disney XD. The show is based on the Spider-Man comics with some Ultimate Spider-Man comic elements. The third season was retitled as Ultimate Spider-Man: Web-Warriors and the fourth and final season as Ultimate Spider-Man vs The Sinister 6. The series ran from April 1, 2012 to January 7, 2017

## Summary

The series follows the life of the young teenager Peter Parker, who is the amazing hero Spider-Man to understand and reach his maximum potential powers by joining the agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and forming a team of super heroes to defeat the powerful supervillains. In his journey, he meets his most difficult challenges, while still maintaning his secret identity as Spider-Man.

## Why It Rocks

1. It is a well written Marvel TV series that goes in a new direction of being a comedy series with a balanced mix of Marvel elements to make a pretty cool formula.
2. Spider-Man's portrayal in this show is good and fitting for this show's direction as he tends to have a whitty and energetic personality while having some fourth wall breaking moments for any extra comedic moments, and even though fourth wall breaking isn't usually Spider-Man's shtick, it's an original use of the character.
3. Great voice acting, especially from Drake Bell as Spider-Man, Ogie Banks as Power Man, Greg Cipes as Iron Fist, Caitlyn Taylor-Love as White Tiger, Logan Miller as Nova, and others.
4. It features tons of Marvel characters like Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, and some other characters that are currently in the MCU.
5. Awesome animation with some creative designs in the comedic scenes.
6. It has some pretty funny moments.
7. Iron Fist, Nova, White Tiger, and Power Man are all some well developed allies for Spider-Man. Mostly after season 1.
8. Deadpool makes an appearance in one episode, and he literally takes over the show calling it "Ultimate Deadpool."
9. Has a crossover with Jessie called "Halloween Night at the Museum".
10. It offers some pretty great originally that can be found interesting. Like how Harry Osborn is Venom in this incarnation.
11. Awesome and funny cameos of Stan Lee.
12. Clark Gregg and J.K. Simmons reprise their respective roles as Agent Coulson and J. Jonah Jameson.
13. The credits song is very good to listen to.
14. It did the Spider-Verse before Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the show did it twice.

## Bad Qualities

1. Generic theme song. (If you can call it that, it’s just the logo) This is repeated by other Marvel shows, like Avengers Assemble and Marvel's Spiderman.
2. Some may find the humor to be a little too wacky sometimes, mostly in season 1, and it has a few times ruined dramatic moments.
3. Some mean-spirited moments. Especially from Flash Thompson locking Peter in the locker room every single day, Nick Fury, and Spider-Man's teammates in season 1.
4. A few of the characters like Nick Fury and Nova were just unbearable.
5. Poor grasp to the source material like the Rhino being a bullied teenager in Peter's school than a heavyweight criminal, at the hands of Flash Thompson. But he is also a rip off of Willie Watt from *Batman Beyond*.
6. Flash Thompson used to be unlikeable to Peter by locking him in the locker room prior to the start of the series and later seasons improved him, thus stops being a jerk.
7. Season 1 is considered by many fans to be the weakest season.

### Critical reception

The series received mixed reviews. Brian Lowry of *Variety* criticized the series, suggesting that the source material was "strained through the juvenile, rapid-fire-joke filter of *Family Guy*", and called the show a "high-profile misfire" that didn't "bode well for Marvel's efforts to straddle the line of catering to kids without dumbing down venerable properties that plenty of adults know and love."

IGN gave the show an 6/10.

David Sims of *The A.V. Club* gave the pilot a "C" ranking, writing that the first episode "feels rather lame and perfunctory, with wackiness dialed up to 11 in an effort to distract from how fundamentally bland it is." Sim subsequently gave a "C+" to the episode "Doomed" and a "B+" to the episode "Back in Black." Oliver Sava, also of *The A.V. Club*, gave the episode "Venom" a "B", stating that the title of the show should be changed to *Synergy Spider-Man*, because it goes beyond movie and Ultimate continuity to create an entry point for young viewers into the main line of Marvel titles. Sava subsequently gave the episode "Field Trip" an "A−".

Emily Ashby of *Common Sense Media* gave the show a 4 out of 5 stars, noting the abundance of action and humor afforded by the series' premise, and opining that the lessons that Parker learns about growth and responsibility under the guidance of his mentor and friends would at least make lasting impressions on young viewers.