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The Spider-Friends
The main characters. A team made up of Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Iceman (Bobby Drake) and Firestar (Angelica Jones), based in a boarding house run by Aunt May while attending college together.
In general
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Spider-Man has brown hair, Iceman is blonde, and Firstar is a redhead.
- First-Name Basis: Even in-costume, they address each other by their first names when no one else is around. This sometimes helps in Spot the Impostor situations.
- Love Triangle: There are initially some hints of something like this developing (Angelica is just as likely to go out on a date with Bobby as she is with Peter), but it isn't really brought up. By the end of the series, however, Peter and Angelica have gone out much more often and are occasionally affectionate with each other.
- Secret-Keeper: They're this to each other. Spider-Man specifically reveals his identity to Firestar and Iceman as a sign of trust and so they'd all be on even footing.
Spider-Man
The Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.
- Clear My Name: "Attack of the Arachnoid" featured Spidey being framed for crimes by a scientist who duplicated his powers and ended up mutating into a monstrous human/spider hybrid.
- Dramatic Unmask: The episode featuring an explanation of how the Spider-Friends formed has Spidey taking off his mask to reveal his true identity to Angelica and Bobby since Peter figured out they were Firestar and Iceman, respectively.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: In one episode, Peter attends a superhero-themed costume party dressed as Spider-Man.
Iceman
One of the original X-Men, Bobby Drake brings his heroic experience to bear as Iceman.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: The comic books' Iceman is brunet, but he's rendered blond for the show because it was believed viewers wouldn't be able to tell Bobby from Peter if both were brunet.
- Adaptational Protagonist: The show focuses on a young Peter Parker and his roommates and friends: the mutants Firestar (Angelica Jones)—created for the show—and Iceman (Bobby Drake). In the comics, Bobby Drake is a regular member of the X-Men and has sparingly starred in his own arcs and comic series, being the Plucky Comic Relief whenever he is a team player. Unlike the comics, Iceman becomes part of the protagonists and doesn't belong to the X-Men team (which pops here and there during the series).
- Casanova Wannabe: He has an eye for the ladies, but is about as successful as Peter Parker in that regard. He does go on several dates with Mona Osborne until she hooks up with Flash Thompson.
- An Ice Person: It's even in his name: he is able to manipulate ice and cold temperatures.
- Logical Weakness: He's vulnerable to sources of heat.
- Weaksauce Weakness: His vulnerability to heat sometimes crosses over into this. In "Attack of the Arachnoid", for example, he's knocked out when he fall into a hothouse and is overcome by the humidity and heat.
Firestar
A former member of the X-Men, Angelica Jones takes to the air as the flame-haired Firestar.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: She briefly had a crush Kraven the Hunter.
- Canon Immigrant: She was created for the series, but later migrated into the comics.
- Expy Coexistence: She was created for the series due to the Human Torch (Spider-Man's closest superhero friend) not being available thanks to rights issues. Her civilian character design also looks a lot like Mary Jane Watson, because early drafts of the pilot episode had Peter taking MJ to the costume party instead of her.
- Fiery Redhead: A more literal example than most, as in her Firestar form her hair changes from auburn (a reddish-brown) to a deep red.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Angelica tends to keep both guys at arm's length (and not without just cause sometimes), but she's noticeably displeased in "The Quest of the Red Skull" to learn that Peter took Mona to a party and insists on taking Ms. Lion for a walk near the house.
- Logical Weakness: Her powers are derived from her flames, so anything that extinguishes them (a typical example in the show is the occasional Freeze Ray) leaves her helpless. Worse, since her powers of flight are also linked to her flames, them getting extinguished in mid-flight leaves her falling out of the air.
- Ms. Fanservice: She wears a very form-fitting jumpsuit that showcases her entire body and her curvy, well-endowed physique. She actually had to be censored as the seasons went on. Rick Hoberg said, in an interview, that her butt was altered in seasons 2 and 3
to show less and less of a crack line as possible. - Weaksauce Weakness: She's vulnerable to anything that can extinguish her flames. Besides the occasional Freeze Ray, strong enough concussive force (such as from an explosion) can also do the job.
Other Heroes
Other heroes who appeared throughout the show. Captain America
Doctor Strange
The Sorcerer Supreme and Master of the Mystic Arts.
Iron Man
A member of the Avengers and the bodyguard of Tony Stark, the billionaire businessman who owns and runs Stark International.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: He's the one who provides the Spider-Friends with their high-tech equipment.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: No one would expect that Tony Stark himself is Iron Man, since as far as anyone knows Iron Man is Tony's loyal bodyguard.
- Powered Armor: The Iron Man armor.
- The Team Benefactor: Tony is revealed to be the one who gave Spidey's team their high-tech crime lab equipment, after they helped him against the Beetle. Note that our heroes never do learn that Tony is secretly Iron Man.
Namor the Sub-Mariner
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Only wears a speedo and that's it.
Shanna the She-Devil
- Most Common Superpower: She's shown to be well-endowed
Sunfire
A mutant superhero from Japan who has the same powers as Firestar. His Mad Scientist uncle tricks him into helping him create a fire monster, which he later helps the Spider-Friends defeat.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: While Shiro in the comics tends to act like an arrogant jerk, this version of Shiro is a quintessentially nice and heroic guy who only ends up in conflict with our heroes because he was tricked.
Thor
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He's nicknamed Goldilocks for a reason.
- Large Ham: It wouldn't be Thor without this.
Video Man II
Unlike the original, villainous Video Man, the second Video Man is a nice but nerdy guy named Francis Byte who gains the ability to physically transform into Video Man. The team ends up directing him to Professor X and the X-Men to train him in how to use his powers for good.
The X-Men
A band of mutants brought together by Professor Charles Xavier to protect a world that fears and hates them. Iceman and Firestar are former members.
Colossus
Cyclops
- Eye Beams: His primary method of attack is through destructive beams fired form his visor.
Nightcrawler
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite looking like a stereotypical devil or evil imp, Nightcrawler is as heroic as they come.
Professor X
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to the Juggernaut's Cain.
- The Mentor: He's the one who formed the X-Men.
- Secret-Keeper: In "The X-Men Adventure", her learns of Spider-Man's identity but swears that he won't reveal it.
Sprite
- Naïve Newcomer: Is the most junior member of the X-Men.
Storm
- Light Is Good: Wears a white costume and is a member of the heroic X-Men.
- Weather Manipulation: Her mutant power, which also grants her the associated powers such as Blow You Away, Making a Splash and Shock and Awe.
Thunderbird
- Adaptational Superpower Change: In the original comics, Thunderbird just has super strength, super stamina and denser skin. Here, he can shapeshift into animals often associated with Native American culture, such as bears and eagles.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the comics, Thunderbird debuts in the roster along with Storm, Nightcrawler and Wolverine, in 1975, then dies immediately after in their first mission, while Sprite (Kitty Pryde) debuts in 1980. In the series, both mutants are members of the team at the same time.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Can shapeshift into certain animals.
Wolverine
- Adaptational Nationality: He's depicted as Australian instead of Canadian.
- Adaptational Wimp: As is typical of the character in most animated works, since there's no way he'd be allowed to actually harm other people on tv. Embarrassingly, he's once defeated when he gets his claws stuck in a wall.
Villains
In general
- Adaptational Wimp: Some of the villains faced are actually way out of the league of street-level heroes like Spider-Man (e.g. Magneto and Doctor Doom are normally Big Bad-level threats who require numerous heroes or even teams of heroes to oppose).
- Monster of the Week: The Spider-Friends don't often encounter the same villain more than twice. Some, like the Beetle or the Arachnoid, only appear once.
The Beetle
A villain with beetle-themed flying Powered Armor.
- Starter Villain: He's this for the Spider-Friends, being the catalyst that brings them all together.
Electro
- Adaptational Intelligence: In the comics, Electro was an electrical line repairman before he got his powers; he's no dummy, but he's not a scientist. Here, he manages to create Video Man, "the creature from the game!!!"
- Shock and Awe: Electro has his standard issue lightning-shooting powers.
Fire Monster
A giant monster made of fire created by Sunfire's Mad Scientist uncle.
- Kaiju: Of course the show's most prominent (he's in the opening credits) giant monster was created by a guy from Japan. Of course.
The Sandman
The Green Goblin
- Adaptational Nice Guy: As Norman, he's much nicer than his comics counterpart.
- Jekyll & Hyde: This version of Norman Osborne isn't an amoral businessman nor an Abusive Parent like his comics counterpart. The Green Goblin is his Superpowered Evil Side.
The Chameleon
- Eye-Dentity Giveaway: His eyes flash to indicate that it's him wearing whatever shape he's in.
- Master of Disguise: He uses hologram technology to disguise himself.
The Scorpion
Swarm
An alien energy being who reaches Earth in a meteorite. He mind controls a hive full of bees, forming the swarm into a man-shaped cloud of bees he can use as a body. He then proceeds to start mind controlling humans and transforming them into bee people — even Aunt May!
- Adaptational Species Change: Here, he's an alien rather than a Nazi, as in the comics.
- Bee People: He himself is a variation, being made of bees, but he can transform ordinary humans into more standard issue bee people.
- Energy Being: He's a disembodied consciousness who uses his mind control powers to create a body made of bees.
- In Name Only: He has nothing to do with the comic version of Swarm, who is a living swarm of bees held together by the mental will of a Nazi scientist.
- Mind Control: First of bees, then of humans — mutating them, in the process, into bug-eyed, winged bee people."Everyone will work for Swarm! Everyone!"
- Pokémon Speak: He can speak, but he mostly just bellows "Swarm!"
- Worm That Walks: He forms a vaguely humanoid body for himself out of a living swarm of bees.
Magneto
The Master of Magnetism.
- Adaptational Wimp: Magneto is one of Marvel's most powerful villains, and well out of the league of a street-level hero like Spider-Man (in the comics, Magneto vs Spidey during the Acts of Vengeance crossover was a Curb-Stomp Battle in Magneto's favour).
The Juggernaut
Half-brother of X-Men founder Charles Xavier, Cain Marko was empowered by the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak to become the proverbial unstoppable force: a human Juggernaut!
- Adaptational Wimp: Played with. Cyclops can blast him off his feet and send him crashing through a wall (and some unlucky civilian's car), but it ws a surprise attack and Juggernaut was standing still at the time. Generally his power is at its height while he's moving, which is why he's known as the unstoppable Juggernaut.
- Implacable Man: He plows through everything the heroes throw in his way.
- The Juggernaut: Nothing the heroes do to stop him does much but to slow him down.
- Weaksauce Weakness: As usual, he's physically impervious to damage so the heroes focus on removing his helmet so that he becomes vulnerable to psychic assault.
Doctor Doom
- Tin Tyrant: His usual suit of Powered Armor.
The Red Skull
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He's apparently killed by the same missiles he tied the Spider-Friends to and that he intended to use to start a new world war.
- Putting on the Reich: He happily performs the Nazi salute and intends to become the next Adolf Hitler by starting World War III.
- Uncertain Doom: He's last seen rushing to try to save some stolen Nazi gold moments before the base is destroyed by some superweapons. The explosion completely consumes the island the base was on.
Original Villains
The Arachnoid
Scientist Zoltan Amadeus, though careful observation and experimentation, believes he has developed a serum that grants him all of Spider-Man's powers. Lacking Spidey's sense of morals or responsibility, he opts to go on a crime spree disguised as the Wall-Crawler, leaving him to take the blame.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His girlfriend doesn't want to see him turned into a monster, and helps the Spider-Friends change him back to normal.
- Psycho Serum: Of course the serum drives him insane. It's just what serums like that do.
- Spider People: Eventually transforms into a big, gross spider-centaur called the Arachnoid.
- Spot the Imposter: He initially commits crimes disguised as Spidey, framing our hero.
- Villains Want Mercy: Shamelessly screams for help once his transformation is undone and he plunges from the top of the World Trade Center. Luckily for him, Spider-Man catches him.
Cyberiad
- Evil Former Friend: He became Cyberiad due to an accident caused by A.I.M. terrorists. He blames Firestar for what happened and wants revenge, but a part of him still cares for her.
Video Man I
A literal video game character come to life, created by Electro. He looks like a giant-sized, pixellated, 2D 1980's video game sprite. He's initially joined by a laser-zapping spaceship and an all-devouring expy of Pac-Man named "Grabber." He appears in two episodes, but is then replaced by a new heroic version, listed above.
- Energy Being: He's made of electricity, or some such.
- Paper People: He's literally two-dimensional, though he can bend his body around freely in three dimensions.
Other
Ariel
A young woman from the future the Spider-Friends encounter. She and Peter Parker develop an instant connection.
Aunt May
Peter Parker's elderly aunt, who owns the boarding house the trio where the trio live.
- Honorary Uncle: Bobby and Angelica address May as "Aunt", and she often tends to them the same way she does Peter.
- Locked Out of the Loop: She has no idea that her beloved nephew and his two close friends are superheroes.
Bonnie
An Alpha Bitch who bullied Angelica in her school days. It was in fact Bonnie's bullying of Angelica as kids that led to her mutant power first manifesting.
- The Bully: She's been bullying Angelica since they were little kids, and continues harassing her all the way into college when even all of Bonnie's other friends have matured and grown to like Angelica.
- Hate Sink: Rarely has redeeming qualities and is nothing more than a spiteful bully who wants to make Angelica miserable.
- Manchild: Bonnie continues to act like a schoolyard bully even as a college student.
- The Nicknamer: Of the malicious sort. She named Angelica "Miss Angelica Jinx" because of all the times Angelica's poor control of her powers caused unexplainable accidents (which never hurt anyone but always left Angelica humiliated).
Flash Thompson
- Butt-Monkey: If he ever bothers the main Power Tri, he tends to be a victim of a super-powered prank.
- Jerk Jock: As per usual. Flash is an arrogant school football star; except here he's a college student, as are Peter and his friends. In the comics, Flash was a bully in high school, and finally grew out of it in college.
Hiawatha Smith
A heroic Native American adventurer archaeologist and expy of Indiana Jones.
- Battle Boomerang: His go-to weapon. He’s good enough with it to knock a grenade out of a henchman’s hand.
- Canon Foreigner: He was created for the show.
- Magical Native American: By invoking his tribe’s gods, Professor Smith can communicate with a python and get it to help him escape from the Red Skull. His father was also one— a great chief who knew “all the secrets of Indian lore from the dawn of time” and fought the Skull during World War II.
Mona Osborne
Niece to Norman Osborne
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Despite going on a few dates with Bobby Drake or Peter Parker, she apparently hits if off with Jerk Jock Flash Thompson in "The Quest of the Red Skull".
- Canon Foreigner: She was created for this series.
Ms. Lion
Angelica's pet dog, identified by Sunfire as a lhasa apso.
- Canon Immigrant: She was created for the series, but later became a member of Pet Avengers
- Evil-Detecting Dog: In "Seven Little Superheroes", her sense of smell allows her to distinguish the Chameleon and his drones from the others when under disguise.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Come on, she's adorable.
- Team Pet: Serves as a pet sidekick for the whole team.
