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

That episode was really good, my favorite of the series (though many Spider-Man episodes were as good and a few better), but I think it was the only episode of the series that focused on the Clark Kent identity and its importance.

 

I loved both as a kid, but Superman: TAS was just all-around better, imo.

And Spectacular Spider-Man was the superior Spidey cartoon.

 

My favorite interpretation of Spider-Man in any medium. The series not being allowed to continue was a travesty.

 

I’d say so.

 

Or you could skip TAS and just watch Spectacular Spider-Man.

 

I'd say watch season 1 of TAS, and then go to SSM. Season 1 was the most balanced in terms of letting villains shine in their own episodes, and keeping Kingpin restrained from infiltrating nearly every episode.

 

Don't dissuade Neil from watching the Wedding episode that has breakneck pacing, but some of the best moments the show had to offer.

The 90s show introduced the concept of having villains personally involved with Spider-Man that was transferred to the Raimi movies (all supervised by Avi Arad), and it doesn't work for Fisk and Ock, even after all these decades and the Superior Spider-Man stuff.

Spectacular took the more classic route and kept villains uninvolved in Peter's life, save for the ones that were that way since early days of comics, which is how I personally prefer it.

Fisk has a bigger role in season 1 than he does in season 2. He appears in six episodes of both seasons, but his role in the X-Men arc in season 2 is very limited compared to how involved he is in the Spider Slayer arc from season 1.

 

His role in the Venom saga arc is very limited, too. Plus he's completely omitted from episodes that introduce Ock, Lizard, Scorpion, Mysterio, Kraven, Chameleon etc. They all got to be the stars of their own episode and be the focus of them.

 

It was also before TAS really started to go off the rails with multiple dimensions and mystical stuff like magic and vampires. There are some good episodes in later seasons, but overall I think it really gets away from what Spider-Man is.

 

You don't see the problem with a hero who has a terrific rouges gallery of villains, but has one villain over shadow all the others and drive the story for five seasons of the show to the point where the good villains are reduced to being lackeys to him.

BTAS never did that. Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon never did that. That's one of many reasons why they're held in a higher regard than STAS ever will be.

For example, compare how one of Spidey's A-list rogues, Doc Ock, was treated in each show. STAS gave him a great intro episode in season 1. He was established as a clever, ruthless, and ego centric villain with a deep passion for science who had a past link with Peter. A teacher/student relationship. Peter looked up to Octavius as a great scientist. He became a villain through having his work shat on by the Hardy Foundation, and it gave him a bit of nuance. He wasn't just a "MWAHAHAHA I am an evil scientist" type villain. There was some good character stuff in that episode. After that he was just a servant to Kingpin. A member of his Insidious Six, or just a thug to deliver hostages to him. All the good character stuff they did with him in his first episode was just gone. Awful.

Ock in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon was a dominating force of villainy on his own steam. Introduced as a meek repressed scientist at Oscorp. In two seasons we saw him lead the Sinister Six, carry out his famous Master Planner operation, and engage in a gang war with Tombstone and Silvermane. Three of Ock's most famous comic book stories done so well in just two seasons. All the time he was his own villain doing his own thing. He was the leader/mastermind. Being so true to the comic book character. He even had a coffee mug that said EVIL GENIUS lol.

Its apples and oranges how those two shows treated the characters. SSM is still the purest interpretation of Spidey ever put on screen.

 

Superman TAS for me. Loved the Darkseid stuff and the adaptations of some classic Superman stories. The theme music captures the character almost as well as the classic Williams march.

I like Spider Man, but after a while all of his various animated series kind of blurred into one, and I lose interest, that's definitely how I felt about Spider man the animated series , but I can understand how real Spidey fans enjoyed it.

 

Batman Beyond is more on par with SSM than TAS. Beyond has a lot of great stuff in it.

 

I'd take the Timmverse Batman:TAS, Superman: TAS, Batman Beyond, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited and Green Lantern: TAS over ANY Marvel cartoon, personally. Spectacular Spider-Man's the only one I'd put near their league.

 

Yeah, I am a sucker for a lot of the Spider-Man and X-Men shows. I also really dug Earth's Mightiest. But the gap is pretty massive imo, especially when we are talking about the 90s Marvel output. I love it because it's from my youth, but it is all honestly pretty terrible imo.

Also another Green Lantern show fan?

 

As far as my preferences go:

Comics, DC. I was a big John Byrne fan and enjoyed his runs on XMen and Fantastic Four - and I read Xmen pretty religiously during the 80s, before they turned to crap.

But, otherwise its DC for me, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern , Flash- I just prefer the DC characters.

Animated: DC by a mile, their animated films and series are much better than Marvel's.

Live action:

Big screen = the MCU formula works for me, its cohesive and IMO has created a much better mythology than the disjointed approach DC has taken. It's so hit and miss - I liked Shazam, Man of Steel and Wonder Woman. Justice League was okay as was Aquaman but B v S and Suicide Squad were. Does Joker even count ?

The MCU is a very different story. For me, it's so well done that even characters I didn't like - like Cap, I used to be a big Cap hater - I really enjoy their films ( Winter Soldier and Civil War are on my top 10 list of cbms) I mean, I could care less about Ant Man but his films are great fun.

Spider Man films ? I'll go see them but Spidey's far from my favourite superhero.

X-Men films ? Enjoy them, but nothing could do the classic Xmen stories justice ( like late 70s early 80s).