Superman: THE ANIMATED SERIES VS. SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES ?

[Neil McCauley]

Recently I have decided to start watching some animated series, and I started with Batman The Animated Series (my favorite hero) and it's been good for now.

Superman and Spider-Man are some of my favorite characters in comics, but I did not really watch these two series. So which one do you think is better and I should watch first? It will be fresh and I heard they are the best cartoons/TV series about the character.

 

[thangaran]

Spectacular Spider-Man all the way

 

[Captain Tired]

I'm more into Superman as a character, but to me the animated series always felt lacking in heart and passion. It's especially glaring when you consider how BTAS feels like such a labour of love for Dini and Timm.

There are also certain decisions I've always disagreed with, such as tying Lex Luthor into the storylines of virtually every villain who ever crossed Superman's path on the show. It got old very quickly. And Tim Daly always felt like so lacking in charisma as Superman. I'm tempted to think he's a large part of the reason why so many people immediately assume the character is bland and boring.

For such reasons, I never really got into Superman the Animated Series until I was well into my teens. And even then, it's only ever been a tepid sort of fondness. Spider-Man the Animated Series, on the other hand, was totally up my street when I was a kid.

 

[metaphysician]

Superman TAS, by a long shot. Spider-man wasn't bad, sure, but it was ultimately an inferior copy of the Fox X-Men cartoon. Superman TAS was a fully worthy followup to Batman TAS, that did quite a few things even *better* than its predecessor, and definitely maintained the same quality of storytelling.

 

[Neil McCauley]

Spectacular Spider-Man all the way

it's TAS and not spectacular, the one released in 90s.

 

[Boy Scout]

Y'all already know I gotta give it to my boy.

 

[Herofan]

In my opinion it's not close, Spider-Man is better by a lot. Very well-done, entertaining characters and storylines, very strong adaptation of the comics and show in its own right.

Superman is an OK show, it had a good start with the first 11-13 episodes and definitely had a lot of potential especially with its characters, otherwise it had some moments but was generally pretty flat.

If you like both heroes a lot you probably will enjoy both shows a lot, I do like both characters but generally prefer Spider-Man by quite a bit. Both shows have their quirks and particular focuses but with both they shouldn't be too offputting.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Superman and Spider-Man are some of my favorite characters in comics, but I did not really watch these two series. So which one do you think is better and I should watch first? It will be fresh and I heard they are the best cartoons/TV series about the character.

As an adaption of Spider-Man Spectacular is a significantly better made show than the one from the 90s. But between the 90s cartoons I think you should keep the more entertaining one for after watching the less entertaining one, in which case I think the Spider-Man cartoon is more entertaining.

There are also certain decisions I've always disagreed with, such as tying Lex Luthor into the storylines of virtually every villain who ever crossed Superman's path on the show. It got old very quickly. And Tim Daly always felt like so lacking in charisma as Superman. I'm tempted to think he's a large part of the reason why so many people immediately assume the character is bland and boring.

I often feel that way, and am glad George Newbern replaced him for Justice League.

 

[kguillou]

Spiderman wins this. Just overall much better storytelling. Superman obviously had much better animation quality though.

Once the Darkseid saga started kicking in Superman got really good but that was a ways into the show. Spiderman had much better overarching storytelling and pathos since the beginning.

Also, man gotta give it up to Chris Barnes. He is the definitive Spiderman/Peter Parker to me.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Superman TAS. Sorry Spidey, I liked the show. But there were several TAS's of that era that were just better. I think Batman, JL/JLU, and Superman were all better

 

[The Joker]

I am a much bigger Spidey fan, but STAS was a better show.

 

[The Batman]

STAS had the better tone, but Spider-Man was far better at capturing the spirit of its lead character.

I just wish Superman got a cartoon as great as BTAS or Spectacular Spider-Man.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

STAS was the much better show. Better storylines, animation, voice acting, MUSIC.

I recently gave a few episodes of Spider-Man a re-watch on Disney+ and boy are they rough, with poor animation and extreme over-acting. In fact, both Spider-Man and X-Men never really made it out of the 90's whereas all the DC toons from that era feel like timeless classics.

 

[The Joker]

Spider-Man suffered most from constant recycling of footage, extreme over use of Kingpin to the point where it hurt other significant villains as characters (Ock, Chameleon, Vulture, Smythe etc), and spending way too much time on characters who did not deserve so much spotlight e.g. Morbius.

The Spidey fan in me also disliked a lot of their creative choices like what they did with Electro, and bringing in Hobgoblin before Green Goblin.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think by and large, DC has just been better on the animation front. I always liked Spider-Man TAS, but Spectacular Spider-Man many years later was much better and I never can say I loved the show. The animation style of the show was very ugly at times. Like Lizard and such look great. Then look at others like Punisher or even the X-Men when they crossed over. Very spotty. X-Men TAS was the only one of the 90s Marvel shows I felt was anywhere near Timmverse quality.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

And quite frankly, I don't even think X-Men TAS is anywhere near the same level of quality as BTAS, STAS, or Justice League.

When it comes to animation, DC > Marvel and I say this as someone who is generally more of a Marvel fan.

 

[The Batman]

I think STAS is overrated. The only time it was truly great was with the Darkseid storyline and a couple of one off episodes.

Sure, STAS is better than X-M:TAS and S-M:TAS on a purely technical level, but its also kind of bland for the most part, which is why I'm not surprised that it's not as well remembered as BTAS, X-M:TAS and S-M:TAS.

 

[Spider-Fan]

There were plenty of other good episodes. Most episodes about Brainiac were also gold.

 

[Neil McCauley]

There were plenty of other good episodes. Most episodes about Brainiac were also gold.

personally, I decided to watch spider man and it’s pretty fun and enjoyable.

jut saw the first 6 episodes today, and Peter is better than any live-action versions, plus I think besides the fight, the humor and villains are well done.

I am a much bigger Spidey fan, but STAS was a better show.

I saw your comment in the other thread and I would agree that Batman TAS has aged better, but Spider-Man's series seems much more fun and light hearted than Superman's, and I get about spectacular Spider-Man but since it doesn’t have a proper ending then I would go with Spider-Man the animated series.

of course Batman TAS is better, and has amazing portrayals of many characters like Two Face , Joker, Gordon etc.

 

[Neil McCauley]

As an adaption of Spider-Man Spectacular is a significantly better made show than the one from the 90s. But between the 90s cartoons I think you should keep the more entertaining one for after watching the less entertaining one, in which case I think the Spider-Man cartoon is more entertaining.

I often feel that way, and am glad George Newbern replaced him for Justice League.

I tried to watch spectacular man, but honestly I remember this show a bit as a kid so I prefer 90s and how it portrays the character and it got more carnage and venom.

Only superhero I prefer to Spidey is Batman and by a good margin, due to better films, animated series, rogue gallery etc. but spidey is great as well, and yeah these two animated series seems like a comic come to life, not the same for the Batman and spectacular imo. Both are in my top 10 favorite characters of all time, so hope you get my point man

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

'The Late Mr Kent' is more memorable than anything produced from the 90's Marvel stable.

WB/DC just did everything better. They built these shows to last.

 

[Neil McCauley]

Shouldn't have seen before, but yeah it does use their villains really well I saw how many episodes there are some each. Kingpin is clearly the main villain, so it's fair to give him a lot of screentime due to being great.

rest got about 5 or 10 episodes each so, I disagree with your take Joker. But again, I am at episode 10 at the moment. Some episodes are ok, like the ones with flaws trying to be Spider-Man but many are solid, like the lizard one or mysterio one etc.

Wanna see Carnage's and Venom's episodes in the future.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I recently gave a few episodes of Spider-Man a re-watch on Disney+ and boy are they rough, with poor animation and extreme over-acting.

It has its moments of shoddy animation, strange change of mass for Spider-Man between scenes, stock footage stuck to the background... but for the most of it, this show has some of the best animation made for TV with solid frame rates that is neither short of frames nor has too many, and barely a moment of static shots with only one part moving.

I tried to watch spectacular man, but honestly I remember this show a bit as a kid so I prefer 90s and how it portrays the character and it got more carnage and venom.

Only superhero I prefer to Spidey is Batman and by a good margin, due to better films, animated series, rogue gallery etc. but spidey is great as well, and yeah these two animated series seems like a comic come to life, not the same for the Batman and spectacular imo. Both are in my top 10 favorite characters of all time, so hope you get my point man

Understood.

 

[thangaran]

The Superman and Spiderman cartoons are both very enjoyable and nice

 

[Neil McCauley]

It has its moments of shoddy animation, strange change of mass for Spider-Man between scenes, stock footage stuck to the background... but for the most of it, this show has some of the best animation made for TV with solid frame rates that is neither short of frames nor has too many, and barely a moment of static shots with only one part moving.

Understood.

only thing is that there is a bit or censorship. But I will see when I finish it, for now even the weaker episodes are very enjoyable.