History WesternAnimation / SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** The closest one would be Peter describing Morbius as "a refugee from the ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''".
** In the first episode, Spidey rescues a traumatized sewer worker that keeps repeating "The red eyes are following me!" Because the guy was driving so erratically, Spidey suggests he's just seeing "PinkElephants".
** ''"This snowjob won't stop me, Mysterio!"'' Season four, episode 9. 'Nuff said.
** In Doctor Octopus' first appearance, Felicia quips, "Reminds me of Flash Thompson. All hands."

* InsaneTrollLogic: The Green Goblin "charges" the Oscorp stockholders with the crime of hypocrisy. However, the hypocrisy he accuses them of is utterly false.

** The Goblin accuses Anastasia Hardy of funding Dr Octopus who is a criminal. However, as seen in Octavius' debut episode he became Dr Octopus ''after'' Anastasia Hardy stopped funding his legal practices. Ironically, funding criminals is something both Jameson and Fisk are guilty of, but Norman/The Goblin don't know about Jameson's hand in creating the Scorpion and the Green Goblin doesn't mention any of Fisk's crimes that he ''is'' aware of and simply [[YouAreFat mocks him for his weight]].

* RightForTheWrongReasons: The Green Goblin calls Jameson and Anastatia hypocrites. He isn't wrong but the reasons fro why he calls them hypocrites are:
** He calls Jameson a bad friend to Norman for reporting Norman's creation of chemical weapons but that doesn't make Jameson a hypocrite or a bad friend, just a journalist who does his job. Now if the Goblin had called out Jameson for creating the Scorpion, he'd have been on the money.

** In the original comics, Black Cat was already in action on her own when she first appeared and turned to Kingpin to try to get superpowers after being badly beaten in a fight by Dr. Octopus. In the show, Kingpin is directly responsible for her creation, using Felicia as a guinea pig to test the recreated Super Soldier formula, a link which also connects her directly to Captain America.

** Doctor Kafka didn't believe Eddie's stories about Venom - thinking "Venom never existed." Instead, she thinks that Eddie was deluded because of ''Spider-Man'''s "horrible persecution" of him. This is odd because not only is Eddie completely upfront about it, but there were a number of witnesses that actually saw Venom (including Jonah and Robbie). Her skepticism doesn't last long, though.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Jameson gets a lot of these. The show repeatedly makes it clear that he sincerely believes all the actions he takes are right, and on at least one occasion he calls off a bounty on Spidey upon discovering that Eddie Brock had witheld evidence that put Spidey's guilt into question.

* LostInImitation: Most tellings of the Black Suit Spider-Man and Venom's origin story after this series are at least partly based on this show's version of events. The comic-book Symbiote never actually made Peter more aggressive or enhance his powers, though it did take his body on joyrides and tried to permanently bond with him when he learned it was alive. Some of this was [[AdaptationDistillation simply streamlining the existing elements]] from the comics into a more cohesive whole (it originated from alien manufacturing equipment in ComicBook/SecretWars, a whole other arc the show adapted much later, whereas this show had astronauts bring it back from a space mission), and being [[FirstInstallmentWins the first adaptation of that story helped a lot there]].

** In the GrandFinale Peter visits another universe where among other changes from his own universe Mary-Jane is a shallow empty-headed party girl unlike the Mary-Jane he knows. The amusing part is the shallow empty-headed party girl WAS her character when she was introduced in the comics before CharacterDevelopment that this show had skipped in order for her to be [[BettyAndVeronica the Betty to Felicia Hardy's Veronica]]. Also, Anna Watson was much nicer to Spider-Man than in his own universe, in the comics she actually ''was'' nicer to Peter.

** He calls Jameson a bad friend to Norman for reporting Norman's creation of chemical weapons but that doesn't make Jameson a hypocrite or a bad friend just a journalist who does his job. Now if the Goblin had called out Jameson for creating the Scorpion, he'd have been on the money.
** The Goblin accuses Anastatia of funding Dr Octopus but Octavius became Dr Octopus because Anastatia stopped funding his work. In season four, it is revealed that Anastatia was married to the Cat, a known thief and it is implied much of the Hardy fortune is from things he stole. Had the Goblin known about this, it would have made for a much more reasonable charge to levy at Anastatia rather than falsely blaming her for creating a supervillain.

* SuperPoweredAlterEgo: It's not particularly explicit but Felicia's personality appears to change into a more casual, reckless, confidant, slightly more amoral and sexually forward version of herself upon turning into the Black Cat. This is shown best after her inital bank robbery where the Cat is smugly boasts about her success but quickly becomes indigant and outraged after turning back into Felica.

** The producer of the show reportedly disliked the Hobgoblin as a character. When the Hobgoblin and Green Goblin finally clash in "Goblin War", the latter refers to the former as an impostor and the Green Goblin is depicted as easily being the Hobgoblin's superior in terms of weaponry and powers.

* {{Brainwashed}}

** Mysterio, who in his final episode is simply trying to keep the disfigured woman he loves content with a scheme he knowos will not work, and who ultimately sacrifices his life to die with her when it fails.

* LullDestruction: And how. It is especially noticeable as dialogue was the only thing keeping the patchwork animation together.

** The comic version of Electro could be defeated quite easily for someone with his powers ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin controlling electricity]]) to the point where even Daredevil brought him down in their first encounter. The cartoon version of him? He brought down the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. single-handed. It probably helped that the cartoon version was literally a different person from the comics incarnation.

** What should be noted is that in the comics, Black Cat has no powers; she's simply very skilled in fighting and acrobatics. (Originally, she had some vague psychic, and/or reality warping powers, but those [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness were retconned out]] fairly early in the character's publication history.) In the show, she's given the same "super soldier" formula that was given to Captain America.

** Mysterio
** Spider-Carnage

** The "Neo-genic Nightmare" arc has Spidey eventually mutate into the mindless Man-Spider. It is ''not'' pretty.
** At the end of this arc, [[spoiler:it's transferred to the Vulture because of his energy absorbtion technology. He retains his mind, but is shown flying away in horror at what he has become. When he reappears, while he's human now, he shifts back-and-forth between his true, aged form and a younger form repeatedly.]]
** The Scorpion gets a higher dose of this than usual. In his first appearance he doesn't stop mutating, gradually growing into a monster complete with fangs, claws, green skin and standing at least twelve feet tall. Hes partially cured by the end of the episode but is still trapped in his suit and with scorpion powers.

* ConspicuousTrenchcoat

** The show didn't use Gwen as a regular character because all roads with lead to death so instead they gave her Ditko-era characterization as LovableAlphaBitch of Peter's college and character design to pre-Black Cat Felicia and her sweet wholesome girl next door characterization to Mary Jane.
** The Golden Age super hero Black Marvel [[spoiler:is split into two different people. Dan Lyons, the hero's identity from the comics, is made into a separate character only posing as the real Black Marvel, while his true identity in the cartoon is Omar Mosely, a friend of Lyons.]]

** Earlier on, Alistar Smythe disapproves the Hobgoblin. He is even happy when he sees him betraying Kingpin for Osborn.

** The Scorpion seems generally considered dumb muscle, but when the Insidious Six first team-up, he's the one to think of exploiting the known "connection" between Peter Parker and Spider-Man (even before Doc Ock). A later episode also reveals that he's engaged and that his criminal life is to fund a way to return himself to normal.
** Jonah Jameson hates Spider-Man and verbally abuses his staff in every episode he appears in, but he loves his son, goes out of his way to prove Robbie innocent of a frame-up and (secretly) pays Peter's legal bills. [[spoiler: And, after Peter and Mary Jane get married, his gift is a Daily Bugle van for them to take a honeymoon on.]] It's occasionally implied that he sees Peter as a [[{{Irony}} surrogate son]].

* ItsAllMyFault: Spidey blames himself for '''''everything''''', no exceptions. Particularly [[DrinkingGame/TVTropes egregious]] is the whole business with Morbius; Spider-Man goes so far as to state he ''created'' Morbius as if he shoved the guy in a tube and shot him with the neogenic recombinator personally, even though in reality, all he really did was fail to anticipate Morbius trying to steal his work. Morbius was the one who stole the blood samples and operated the neogenic recombinator by himself in an unsecured lab.

** Jameson's wife was killed in a gang crossfire, giving him a distate for "people in masks who think they're above the law," while no other version, even DarkerAndEdgier versions, gives Jameson any FreudianExcuse for hating Spidey.

* MentalMonster: In the "Secret Wars" arc, Doctor Doom manages to absorb the powers of the [[CosmicEntity the Beyonder]] and become a RealityWarper. However, his mortal mind was ultimately incapable of controlling these new abilities properly, causing him to [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy inadvertently create gargoyle-esque monsters in his sleep]], stated to be manisfestations of the darker elements of Doctor Doom's psyche, who proceeded to wreck havoc on his utopian kingdom.

* MultiarmedAndDangerous: Doc Ock has his robo-tentacles while Peter developes two extra pairs of arms (much like his alternate universe counterpart). In Peter's case, however, this is a sign of his mutation into Man-Spider.

* MythologyGag:

** The rich, armored Spider-Man double has a [[GiantRobot giant spider-robot]] -- a nod to the [[Series/SpiderManJapan Japanese]] {{toku}} series.
*** He also serves as a nod to [[ComicBook/IronMan another hero]] who is wealthy, armored, and can be arrogant.
** The alternate Spider-Men from the Clone Saga actually reference different costumes/situations from the comics; the mainstream Spider-Man did have six functional arms at one point (a storyline referenced by this animated series earlier, during the Neogenic Nightmare arc), did once steal and try to use for himself a set of Doctor Octopus's arms, and did once make an armored suit for a particularly tough opponent. And, of course, the ComicBook/ScarletSpider needs no introduction...
*** In addition, Mary Jane turning out to be a clone was one of the (many) ideas pitched during ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' to end Spidey's marriage.

** In the GrandFinale Peter visits another universe where among other changes from his own universe Mary-Jane is a shallow empty-headed party girl unlike the Mary-Jane he knows. The amusing part is the shallow empty-headed party girl WAS her character when she was introduced in the comics before CharacterDevelopment that this show had skipped in order for her to be the Betty to Felicia Hardy's Veronica. Also, Anna Watson was much nicer to Spider-Man than in his own universe, in the comics she actually ''was'' nicer to Peter.
** In the Insidious Six episode, while posing as a medical doctor, Dr. Octopus and Aunt May gotten friendly with each other. In the comics, Aunt May had a crush on Doc Ock who she thought was a nice man.
** The Mega-Slayer from "The Tablet of Time" is clearly based on the more humanoid early Spider-Slayer designs, right down to Smythe's face appearing in the screen
* NerdsAreSexy: Both Peter and Dr. Connors.

* NonMammalMammaries: The episode "The Lizard King" featured a group of lizard people who were created when Curtis Connors discarded some chemicals that ended up mutating lizards in the sewers. The sole female mutant lizard is named Gila and she has breasts.

** The three-part episode adapting ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' dispenses with a lot of characters from the original comic book storyline. The most notable and understandable omissions are the Hulk (who couldn't appear because of [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk his own show]] airing on Creator/{{UPN}} and had the Lizard take his place) and most of the X-Men (as it proved expensive to have the Canadian cast of the [[WesternAnimation/XMen concurrently airing X-Men cartoon]] flown in to reprise their roles in "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutants' Revenge").

* TheGhost: Bruce Banner[=/=]The Hulk is mentioned in some episodes, but couldn't physically appear because of [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk his own show]] airing on UPN.

!!''Spider-Man: The Animated Series'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* RetiredBadass: J. Jonah Jameson gets this treatment, particularly as seen in the first episode of Season 4. "Jigsaw" Jameson used to be one of the toughest journalists in town, and arguably still qualifies as a BadassNormal. Robbie Robertson in this show apparently had something of a brief military career as seen with him still having a service pistol.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Mary Jane's Aunt Anna was bad-tempered, arrogant and condescending, treating Peter like yesterday's garbage even though he was never anything but polite to her. In the comics, on the other hand, she was a sweet lady much like Aunt May, who even developed a very positive opinion of ''Spider-Man'' after he saved her from a Spider-Slayer.

--->'''Spider-Man:''' This is starting to sound like a [[ComicBook/CloneSaga bad comic book plot]]!

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The Creator/ABCFamily run of the show heavily censored several episodes for being TooSoon due to 9/11. Some episodes were even completely taken out. Thankfully, later runs on the channel (as well as its run on Creator/ToonDisney) would be shown uncut with all episodes intact and shown.

* SharedUniverse: With the concurrently aired WesternAnimation/XMen and WesternAnimation/IronMan; the show featured the titular characters of both guest-starring.

* AlternateUniverse: The final arc has versions of Spider-Man from several universes team up to stop Spider-Carnage, ''another'' alternate Spider-Man, from destroying all reality. There's the Scarlet Spider, a Spidey in PoweredArmor that sounds like he's that world's version of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], one with Doc Ock's tentacles, a version that still has [[MultiarmedAndDangerous four extra arms]], and most surprising of all, an actor from a universe where Spidey is just a comic character. So basically, it was ''Comicbook/SpiderVerse'' before ''Spider-Verse''.

** What should be noted is that in the comics, Black Cat has no powers; she's simply very skilled in fighting and acrobatics. In the show, she's given the same "super soldier" formula that was given to Captain America.

* ActionGirl: Black Cat is frequently taking every opportunity she can to kick butt.

** After crushing Jameson's press badge, War Machine quips "[[Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre I don't see no stinkin' badge!"

* ThreeDEffectsTwoDCartoon:

* AlternateUniverse: The final arc has versions of Spider-Man from several universes team up to stop Spider-Carnage, ''another'' alternate Spider-Man, from destroying all reality. There's the Scarlet Spider, a Spidey in PoweredArmor that sounds like he's that world's version of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]], one with Doc Ock's tentacles, a version that still has [[MultiarmedAndDangerous four extra arms]], and most surprising of all, an actor from a universe where Spidey is just a comic character.

* EvilAlbino:
** The Chameleon is a criminal master of disguise with pale skin.
** Tombstone is an albino criminal, but in a divergence from the comics, he is not a natural albino and obtained his albinism from a freak accident.

** Originally Tombstone was just an EvilAlbino, albeit a shrewd criminal mastermind and later was written to have some degree of SuperStrength. Here he's TheBrute for Silvermane, but is portrayed as much stronger than Spider-Man and [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] him twice.

* LampshadeHanging: Tombstone in this series has an origin very similar to SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's... his skin is bleached after falling into a vat of chemicals. At the end of his title episode, he almost falls into the vat again, but Spider-Man saves him, saying:

** "Another swim in that chemical soup and [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker your hair might turn green]]."