While the Hobgoblin was popular in both the comics and the show, John Semper hated the character (both then and now) and only used him because toys were being made based on decisions made by his predecessor.
He also hated the Spider Slayer robots featured in two Season 1 episodes and only included them at Avi Arad's insistence.
It's possible the writers weren't allowed to use the words death, die, or kill; hence, when Peter found out Uncle Ben had been killed, it was shown as a police officer shaking his head and saying "I'm sorry, kid. The guy was armed." Also, realistic guns were out, so even petty thieves were armed with futuristic lasers. Oddly enough, there were a few instances where the word "kill" was used, but these were behind atenuating circumstances (using the word on a different context) or as part of news stories.
A case of executive meddling having an outright odd effect was with Morbius, a vampire. Allegedly, the writers weren't allowed to show him sucking blood through his fangs, so he apparently has fangs for no reason, as he instead drains plasma through suckers in his hands. The suckers were so squicktastic that they made the character even more creepy than if he had just bit people in the neck. Meanwhile, his declarations of "I hunger for PLASMA!" were often Narm. Interestingly enough, the Swedish translator had him hungering for blood plasma.
In the comics, Carnage is a mass-murdering psychopath, but in the series the writers couldn't have him kill anyone — instead he sucks out their "essence" through his hands, which is restored to his victims after he was sucked into a portal. In the scene where he acquires the symbiote he attacks some prison guards; he picks one up and makes some knives with his fingers but instead it shows him busting through a wall.
The Punisher had to undergo some censorship. He was purely non-lethal, though this is mentioned in-show as a deliberate thing he's doing as a one-off for his effort in chasing Spider-Man, with it being a "Legit job" for him to do without killing anybody. His origin was also altered to not show the murder of his family on-screen, rather just a visual metaphor.
When the series started, James Cameron's movie was going to feature Sandman and Electro as villains (though with heavy tweaking), so the writing team were told not to use either. However, by the end of the show's run, it looked like the James Cameron movie wasn't going to happen, so the showrunner snuck Electro in as the Big Bad of one of the story arcs, and got away with it. Sandman, meanwhile, was replaced entirely by Hydro-Man.
This is why the Sinister Six was changed to the Insidious Six, though the exact reason is unclear.
Despite running for five seasons Spider-Man never actually punched anyone, though he was allowed to kick and throw his enemies. He also couldn't break through glass windows, likely to try and prevent kids from copying what they see him do.
There were originally plans to have Ghost Rider in an episode, but the episode was scrapped due to Ghost Rider having a series planned for UPN, which didn't happen. Allegedly, a full script was written, and given out to backers of the showrunner's Indie Go Go for a series he was trying to get off the ground in 2016.
Another UPN-related character embargo happened because of The Incredible Hulk (1996) airing on that network. Because of this, the Hulk is only mentioned a few times in the series and couldn't be used in the show's Secret Wars adaptation, which replaced him with the Lizard.
Jennifer Hale, who voices Black Cat, is Canadian by birth. However, both of her parents were American.
Captain America is voiced by the very CanadianDavid Hayter. Yes, that David Hayter.
Native New Yorkernote This was long before the comics retconned him into being Southern Cletus Kasady is voiced by British actor Scott Cleverdon.
Flip-Flop of God: When drafting Spider-Verse, writer Dan Slott and editor Nick Lowe decided that Spider-Man Unlimited was "logically" the sequel to Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and killed off the show's Spider-Man to show how dangerous a threat the Inheritors were. A few years later, the 1990's animated series' Spider-Man cameoed in X Men 92 with no explanation whatsoever as to how he was still alive. However, this turned out to be false as both TAS and Unlimited had already been established to take place in two different realities, Earth-92131 and Earth-751263 respectively, while the designation Slott used, Earth-7831, is a new universe showing a Broad Strokes version of Unlimited.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: The series has never had a full DVD release in the United States. A full DVD set of the series was released in Europe however and the series has streamed on Netflix and other sites. The series is also available in its entirety on iTunes, as well as Disney+.
Missing Episode: Following the 9/11 attacks, ABC Family pulled "Shriek of the Vulture" and "The Final Nightmare" (both of which featured a burning skyscraper) from the rerun schedule. These two episodes concluded the Neogenic Nightmare arc and led into Season 3's "Doctor Strange". It wasn't until the end of 2007, though, that this changed. Toon Disney aired the two episodes as a part of an all-series New Year's Eve/Day marathon. As long as the show has been airing, the two episodes have been rerun regularly ever since.
While The Other Darrin within this series, similarly during the "Secret Wars" arc, Storm went from her second X-Men: The Animated Series voice actress Alison Sealy-Smith (who voiced the character during the X-Men's guest appearance) to her original voice actress, Iona Morris.
In the flashback seen in "The Cat" of John Hardesky finding out the super soldier formula, the Red Skull was voiced by David Warner (though Warner was only credited for voicing Herbert Landen). For the "Six Forgotten Warriors" and "Secret Wars" arcs, he was instead voiced by Earl Boen.
In the Japanese version:
None of the X-Men characters are reprised by their voice actors from the Japanese version of X-Men: The Animated Series.
In the French dub, with the exception of Michel Bedetti as Iron Man, none of the voice actors from the other 90's Marvel cartoons reprised their roles here. Oddly enough, Claude Chantal (the first voice of Storm in X-Men: TAS) and Bernard Tiphaine (the voice of Beast in that same cartoon) were instead given the roles of Madame Web and Doctor Doom respectively.
The Brazilian Portuguese dub had several characters whose voices changed between appearances. Or in the very same episode! And there were cases caused by a few episodes having to be redubbed for the Disney+ release, most notably Aunt May, one of the few with a consistent dubber, but who had died a few years prior.
Hank Azaria usually voices and plays comedic characters, and initially Eddie Brock is no exception. After he becomes Venom, however, he becomes a serious threat who sadistically toys with Spider-Man.
Promoted Fanboy: Armando Coria, the Mexican voice actor who voiced Spider-Man in the Mexican dub of the series, is a hardcore fan of Spider-Man since childhood.
Recycled Script: "The Spot" and "Goblin War" come one after another, and they both have the exact same plot beats. A villain is using a portal device to commit robberies. The Kingpin gets involved somehow. Felicia has a scene where she flirts with Spider-Man despite being engaged, to which he brushes her off, leaving her sad. Harry has a scene where he acts petulant toward Peter about how he "stole" Mary Jane from him. Spider-Man ends up at Crime Central where the Kingpin almost squeezes him to death.
Iona Morris reprised her role from the first season of X-Men: The Animated Series as Storm in the "Secret Wars" three-parter. That said, she is not the first actress to play the character in this series, as her replacement in X-Men, Alison Sealy-Smith, voiced Storm during the team's earlier guest appearance in "The Mutant Agenda" and "Mutant's Revenge".
Screwed by the Network: The show was always intended to have 65 episodes as was tradition at the time, but it was popular enough it could have received more episodes. However, the head of development for Fox Kids disliked Avi Arad, who was the producer for the show. Story Editor and showrunner John Semper has gone on record in saying he ended the show in a way he considered to be definitive enough that it was a satisfying ending, but that if it was renewed for more, there was still room for the story to go further.
