”Wow! You’re Peter Parker! I’ll keep your secret for the rest of my life!”
Spoilers Off applies to all Heartwarming pages, so all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!- In "Duel of the Hunters" (Part 3), Calypso, Kraven and the Punisher are able to inject Spider-Man with the serum to reverse the mutation of Man Spider. At the end of the episode, Spider-Man offers a truly warm thank you towards them for giving him back his life.
- As the mutation is cured, Dr. Crawford persuades Punisher to put Spider-Man's mask back on his face before any of them can learn his true identity.
- The entire two-part "Make a Wish" and "Attack of the Octobot", after a fight with Doc Ock goes haywire. Peter, feeling more down than usual, starts to consider giving up being Spider-Man, until Madame Web introduces him to his biggest fan: a sweet little girl named Taina. While the pair go out for a little harmless web-slinging fun, Spidey fights the Doc again and gets amnesia, and the “good” doctor manages to convince poor Spidey that they are a criminal team. Taina, believing herself at least partially to blame for this, spends the rest of the episode trying to help Peter get his memories back. But the best part comes at the end, when she asks her hero to reveal his Secret Identity, and he does. More heart-wrenching is that she is revealed to be terminally ill.
- A crucial ally in Taina's quest is a cab driver named Mousie, who ropes her fellow drivers into providing intel from around the city. Turns out Spider-Man has helped so many cabbies over the years, they all immediately agree to pay back the favor.
- When Norman Osborn saves his son Harry against a falling beam, when Hobgoblin fires a pumpkin bomb at him. He survives, but it makes Harry realise how much Norman cares for him.
- In the episodes "Framed" and "The Man Without Fear", Peter Parker is framed by the Kingpin for stealing defense secrets and is defended in court by Matt Murdock (Daredevil). Murdock is a very famous and expensive lawyer in this continuity and he refuses to say who paid him to defend Peter. At the end, we find out that J. Jonah Jameson footed all of Peter's court costs anonymously. He'd always liked and respected Peter and had believed in his innocence the whole time, but was too embarrassed to show it publicly. He helped Peter despite the latter quitting the Daily Bugle in the first place.
- In a short scene of "The Mutant Agenda", Peter Parker walks away from another student in disgust when she voices her fear of being anywhere near a mutant. It's nice to see that even Peter has zero tolerance for prejudice against mutants.
- The end of "Mutants' Revenge," before the X-Men depart.Cyclops: I'm sorry we got off to such a rocky start. You're a heck of a team player.
Gambit: You got that right! A regular ace!
Wolverine: Nice workin' with ya, kid.
Jubilee: Real nice.
Spider-Man: Thanks. I don't know what to say.
Wolverine: Just remember, no matter what problems ya got or mistakes you've made, ya don't have to carry the load by yourself. Ya got friends if you need 'em. - Flash Thompson comforts Debra Whitman when the Vulture rapidly ages her. What makes it especially frightening for them/heartwarming for us is that Flash and Debra have no idea what just happened, and for all they knew, her aging was permanent. And he still comforts her. He's also the one who calls Debra out when she starts really throwing her life away after Morbius is lost for good. He really does care about her.
- During the "Partners in Danger" season, we re-meet Scorpion, and it turns out he's laying low and trying to save up so he can have his mutation reversed and marry his sweetheart. In his last appearance, he's back to crimes, yes, but implies he snatched the rings to marry her.
- Also, when he is put in danger in said episode, his girlfriend actually comes to his rescue through the aid of the Vulture. It's touching that she cares so much to risk her own life for his sake, and that the Vulture would also help Scorpion despite their relationship bordering on vitriolic.
- During the final episode of the "Six American Heroes" arc, "Enter Electro", Captain America does a Heroic Sacrifice to take himself and the Red Skull back into the vortex, before which he gives amazing parting words to Spider-Man to never give up:Spider-Man: Cap, I can't do this without you!
Captain America: You can do it, Spider-Man. You're a true hero — first, last, and always! Fight on, Spider-Man! (Cap wrestles the Red Skull and himself into the vortex) - During "Guilty", we see Jameson being his snarky self as usual about Peter refusing to take Spider-Man's picture, but when it settles down, Robbie discusses a personal matter of him leaving to see his son play in the All Stars. We get this exchange, which is one of the rarer times Jameson shows genuine heart. As well as the moments why Jameson and Robbie are friends. As well as why he personally tries to clear Robbie's name in a recent Frame-Up.Jameson: You know, I miss those days with my own son. You should cherish these times with your family. You're a lucky man.
Robbie: That's one thing we can agree on, I am a lucky man. - Alistair Smythe truly does love his father. In "Secret Wars", he almost immediately surrenders when the heroes attack, saying all he wants is to get back home.
- In "Return of the Green Goblin", we see Frank Castle at the local cemetery in the middle of the night, talking to the plot where his family is buried and telling them about his troubles in trying to avenge their deaths. A few minutes later, he notices Anna Watson grieving at her husband's gravestone and, genuinely concerned, Frank walks up to comfort her a bit and offer to call her a cab. When she explains that she's been feeling particularly low since Mary Jane went missing, he offers to do whatever he can to help find MJ entirely out of the goodness of his heart. He might be a ruthless vigilante who pulls no punches whatsoever, but the Punisher is still human, damnit, and it's really nice to see this side of him.
- Spider-Man defeats Spider-Carnage, an Alternate Universe insane version of himself, by bringing the still-alive Uncle Ben from another universe to talk Spider-Carnage out of it. The speech moves him so much, he snaps out of it long enough to jump into a void dimension, willingly sacrificing his life in order to stop the Carnage symbiote. Then Spider-Man gets to talk to Uncle Ben for one loving moment.
- There's also a deeper element to this - throughout the series, Peter has often grappled with self-doubt. If he was doing the right thing. If being Spider-Man was a mistake after all it cost him. Would Uncle Ben approve? Here Peter sees Uncle Ben, fully knowing all the horrible things Spider-Carnage did, look at that version of Peter Parker and without hesitation tell him he believes in his goodness and his ability to do the right thing. And later, Uncle Ben outright tells our Spidey that yeah, he's proud of what he does.
- And then this is followed up by Spider-Man meeting Stan Lee. "I've always wanted to be appreciated as a real hero. It seems you've made me into one."
- After all the heartaches and tragedies Peter's endured throughout the show's run, it's very touching to hear him earnestly declare, "I like my life! I like myself!"
- The very end of the show, where Madame Web, who has made Spidey's life miserable with her enigmatic tests and dragging him into the Secret Wars, reveals that she's going to help him find Mary Jane and says that after all he's had to put up with, he "deserves some happiness". It was very sweet coming from a character who was often equal parts enigmatic mystic and Deadpan Snarker to show a warmer side.
