In the first episode, Spidey complains that he has to crawl around sewers and can't land an easier superhero gig with the Avengers, which he eventually did in the comics starting with 2005. He also complains about not being "a galaxy-hopping superhero," which he essentially becomes in the final episodes.
This show's version of the Spot was Driven to Villainy as a result of Tony Stark shutting down his research into interdimensional portal creation. Two decades later, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would also have Tony be the catalyst for a Spider-Man villain turning to crime not oncebut twice.
Three related to the "Spider Wars" arc:
Among the Spider-Men from alternate universes in the Secret Wars arc, there is one in particular that claims to have taken Doc Ock's Combat Tentacles after defeating him. Almost 20 years later, the Superior Spider-Man debuts.
The Spider Wars arc as a whole is this in light of Spider-Verse.
One of the alternate universe Spider-Men is a version of Peter who is rich, arrogant, and wears Powered Armor, essentially Peter Parker if he was like Tony Stark. This is hilarious for three reasons:
At one point in the mainline comics during Dan Slott's run, Peter did gain armor and his own company, leading to fans comparing him to Tony Stark.
Iron Man: Armored Adventures reimagined Iron Man as a teenage hero similar to how Spider-Man originally started out.
Both the comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe eventually had Iron Man become a mentor to Spider-Man.
One of the alternate Spider-Men being a rich and arrogant tech entrepreneur is even funnier in the Brazilian dub when one recognizes his voice as Seto Kaiba's.
Additionally on a meta level, Mutant Agenda/Mutant's Revenge is the first X-Men TAS story (if not episodes) that involved voice actors from LA among the ones from Toronto, Canada. The 2024 revival X-Men '97 involves a mix of Toronto, as well as LA voice actors.
In the "Six Forgotten Warriors" arc, the Black Marvel (who in this universe is an African-American man) has been safekeeping Captain America's shield and even uses it a few times in battle until Captain America returns. 17 years later, The Falcon would take over as Captain America.
When Morbius introduces himself to Felicia, she excuses herself and Peter before making a crack to the latter about Morbius looking as though he came from a B-Movie. Several years later, she would be proven right.
Spider-Man teaming up with Doctor Strange becomes a bit more popular by the time of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The SNES game based on the series has a green-clad Palette Swap of a generic enemy that looks a lot like Master Chief.
Rob Paulsen plays Hydro-Man, who has an unhealthy interest in the redheaded Mary Jane. Less than two decades later, another cartoon based on a popular comic book franchise would have him play another character, a heroic one in this case, also with an unhealthy interest in a redhead.
This show's Dr. Octopus was established as an Adaptational Wimp who played second fiddle as The Dragon to Kingpin. Decades later, Marvel's Devil's Reign had Octavius working under Fisk in the comics. Ironically, even though Dr. Octopus considerably Took a Level in Badass himself by commanding the Superior Four and even killing an alternate Dr. Doom/Sorcerer Supreme version of himself, Fisk still ends up upstaging and getting the better of Dr. Octopus.
In "Day of the Chameleon", Nick Fury complains to J. Jonah Jameson how the Daily Bugle accidentally flipped his picture causing his eyepatch to be in the wrong eye, which The Chameleon then copies. In 2019, some posters for Spider-Man: Far From Home showed Nick Fury with his eye patch in the wrong eye, which his actor Samuel L. Jacksoncomplained about. Some fans even called back to this episode and wondered if they were building up to a similar twist regarding someone impersonating Fury. As it turns out, the Fury seen for most of the film is actually a Skrull but he did have the eyepatch on the right side, meaning the posters simply made a mistake.
. Some fans even called back to this episode and wondered if they were building up to a similar twist regarding someone impersonating Fury. As it turns out, the Fury seen for most of the film is actually a Skrull but he did have the eyepatch on the right side, meaning the posters simply made a mistake.