Accidental Innuendo: A rare visual example in the first episode. When Spider-Man is monologuing his backstory, we get a brief look at at Uncle Ben's grave and... well, it looks rather phallic shaped, unfortunately. It continues to look like that in its later appearances.
Adorkable: Phil Coulson can be adorably nerdy and suffers a good deal of comedic abuse, to the point where one almost forgets he's a competent SHIELD agent.
Nova is notably more serious in any episode where the Guardians of the Galaxy appear. Considering he would have fought at least a few cosmic threats with them, fans genuinely believe his attitude while on Earth is a reflection that he may view the threats Earth faces as being significantly less frightening. Some of his stupidity about certain things may be attributed to not being familiar with the Earth's culture. The fact that we still don't know exactly how he became Nova just complicates matters in the eyes of some fans.
Supporters of the show have pointed out there may be reason for Nova's, White Tiger's, Power Man's, and Iron Fist's jerkass/unheroic behaviour in the first season. Prior to meeting Spidey all they had was S.H.I.E.L.D. training and nothing else. note Except for Nova, who previously worked with the Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of Anti-heroes. They were trained in combat, told to follow certain protocol and Fury's command, and nothing else. Add the fact that 3/4ths of them have some level of Dark and Troubled Past and the fact that they all have nowhere else to really go, Nova and White Tiger (and Power Man at the time) are latter stated to be orphans. Iron Fist left the material possessions as an heir behind, you can very easily view them as being Child Soldiers who haven't had the chance to develope a strong sense of morals. Then Spider-Man comes into their lives and they become progressively nicer and more inclined to do what's morally right and act as their own people rather than just do everything Fury tells them to do thanks to Spidey's influence. After each of their focus episodes in season 2 you can argue that their Character Development in this regards has come full circle, and that they’re all proper heroes.
This also brings in the idea that Fury brought Spider-Man in for this express purpose, rather than to just teach him how to cause less property damage like he told Spidey himself. Helped by the fact that he makes Peter leader due to the fact that he has experience the others don't, which could easily mean both field experience as well as life experience.
Some fans view this version of Spider-Man as being aromantic, as he's shown absolutely zero interest in dating — Which is rather unusual for the character. He has gotten flustered on a couple of occasions however, so fans haven't been portraying him as asexual.
And You Thought It Would Fail: Almost the entire Spider-Man fandom thought it would, with many guessing it wouldn't so much as get a second season. Despite this, it has grown incredibly popular with both children and parents, as well as people who enjoy the aversion of It's the Same, Now It Sucks!, and being the first Spidey animated series in about a decade to not get Cut Short.
Angst? What Angst?: Numerous episodes in the series involve Spider-Man being involved in fights or incidents that many people (especially teenagers) would be traumatized by (i.e. the episode where he (as Peter Parker) is kidnapped by the Green Goblin as a replacement for Venom/Harry and is forcibly turned into Carnage so he can fight his team and SHIELD. Yet he seems unfazed by the end of the episode).
Anti-Climax Boss: For a suit that was designed to take on the Hulk, the Hulkbuster armor went down pretty easily in "The Iron Octopus".
Let's just say that the show isn't very subtle about Spider-Man having to learn responsibilities, although a common complaint against the show is that there's no reason for him to learn about responsibility from Nick Fury because he had already learned the importance of responsibility from his own origin. Furthermore, as shown in this list below, Nick Fury is far from the most responsible authority figure.
"The Rhino" stands out as an Anvilicious offender. With the "Don't bully your bully, or you'll be the bully" message beaten over the viewers' head about every 3 minutes.
Ass Pull: Doc Ock getting a redeeming moment in helping Spidey save the other heroes in the climax of the series finale and his last appearance implying that Iron Man is going to give him a job at Stark Industries. After his role in Season 4 as the Knight of Cerebus Archenemy who kept further crossing the Moral Event Horizon with each new episode, it feels very unearned and makes Ock a major Karma Houdini. Then again, if Avengers: Ultron Revolution is anything to go by, Ock may still be in Iron Man's custody.
Badass Decay: Taskmaster on "Ultimate Deadpool". After not appearing for 35 episodes, his long-awaited return has him utterly annihilated by Deadpool (with next to no help from Spider-Man). Meanwhile, none of the mysteries set up in "Why I Hate Gym" (his being an ex-SHIELD agent, his relationships with Fury and Coulson, his team under Fury, his further plans for Spider-Man, whether he would return to Peter's school) were brought up again, and he seemed to even be captured at the end of the episode, meaning these parts of his character's background are likely to be forgotten entirely.
Harry Osborn. When he was revealed to be Venom in this incarnation, some fans were outraged, arguing the character had been ruined, while other welcomed it as an interesting twist and something original.
Sam/Nova. Hated by many fans but seems to be well liked among fangirls. The same seems to go for Ava/White Tiger too.
The other spider themed characters. Some love them, others hate them for being a rather large Spot Light Stealing Squad and replacement scrappies to Spidey's original teammates, all four of whom have long since been Rescued from the Scrappy Heap and have become relatively well liked among the show's fanbase. There's also complaints from some fans that they also over shadow the other new recruits, most of which these fans find more interesting, such as Dagger and Cloak.
Bizarro Episode: The crossover with Jessie, of all the shows to cross over with. Spider-Man teams up with Jessie and her trick-or-treating charges to prevent Morgana Le Fey from coming back to wreck havoc on the city. Chaos ensues at the museum, and at one point, Mrs. Kipling the komodo dragon winds up being turned into an actual dragon. None of this was brought up again on either show.
One of the main morals of the show is that Peter needs to know and become friends with his teammates. One problem is that several episodes have gone by that make no use of the teammates, instead focusing on Spider-Man solo. The other problem, though, is that these people know more about him than he knows about them, keep finding some way to insert themselves into his life, and tending to attack him in the end of the episode for doing something minor. This was more a problem of season one, however, as later seasons show Spider-Man learning more about his teammates and bonding with them.
The Rhino's introductory episode tries to have an aesop about telling an adult when someone you know is dealing with bullying, as shown through Peter trying to stop Flash's bullying of Alex by himself. Yet, despite knowing that Alex should tell someone about the bullying (and telling him to reach out to someone), Spider-Man doesn't tell anyone but Luke about the bullying, and neither of them tell Coulson. It's only after Alex takes matters into his own hands by becoming the Rhino that Spider-Man fully steps in and gets Agent Coulson involved. Plus, the episode's constant repeating of its moral without a hint of subtlety makes it hard to take seriously.
The "Electro" episode tries giving an aesop about people becoming too dependent on technology. That coming from a show that made Spidey go from a guy with relatively simple web-shooters to using high tech gadgets for the sake of merchandise. Spidey doesn't even uses his ordinary web-shooters in the episode. (Although this is used to highlight the Aesop; Spidey no longer has his regular web-shooters because the high-tech ones were so cool, and this was a mistake. But still...)
Lampshaded at the end of one episode where Coulson asks Spider-man if he's learnt his lesson about not touching things that don't belong to you after he lost Captain America's shield. Spider-Man points out that if he hadn't done this then they never would have found out about Doctor Doom's plan to take over the world.
The humor of the series. For some fans, it's funny and clever. For another group of fans, it's just stupid and overdone. Some say it's a little of both, depending on the joke.
Drake Bell as Spidey was also rather divisive during the show's airing. Some fans thought he's great for the role and some were critical of him. That he starred in a movie with a role that PARODIED Spidey doesn't help. The now infamous redubbing incident on The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, where he redubbed over fan favorite Josh Keaton didn't help and in fact, it made things worse, inflaming the detractors and even turning some people who had defended Bell against him. The actor's real-life scandals in the 2020s have only further cemented this sentiment and there are now very few who enjoyed his tenure.
The rumors that the show may be adapting, of all things, The Clone Saga. On one side there are people who are excited about seeing fan-favorite Scarlet Spider, on the other hand most of the Spidey fandom views TCS as a massive Audience-Alienating Era, and worry about how this show (itself already divisive amongst Spidey fans) will adapt it. Then there are fans who hate the idea as well as some of which are okay with adapting The Clone Saga but (both) feel adapting TCS is stupid when they could adapt more well liked stories like Spidey's search for the truth about his parents, or the Identity Crisis arc.
Seasons 1 and 2 are either loved or hated for their overall wackiness, there's no in between. Season 3 is either a vast improvement over the first two seasons or it's excessively boring, especially the Spider-Verse arc. Depending on the person Season 4 either handles its darker themes well and you wish the show had been like this the entire time, or it edges you into Too Bleak, Stopped Caring because of everything Spider-Man goes through during the season.
Iron Fist, Nova, Power Man, and White Tiger being Demoted to Extra in Season 3 onwards. By Season 2 they got Rescued from the Scrappy Heap for a good majority of fans thanks to their character development episodes, only to get lumped in with the New Warriors, most of which get very little development past their intro episode, as the show's supporting cast before ultimately getting replaced in the main cast by Spider-Man's new team, the Web Warriors, consisting of Agent Venom (Flash Thompson), Iron Spider II (Amadeus Cho), Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) and Spider-Man II/Kid Arachnid (Miles Morales), who, with the exception of Scarlet Spider and in contrast to Spider-Man's old team, are all ascended extras. You either think this is a nice change and enjoy seeing so many heroes on the screen at once or you're annoyed that characters you've watched develop as people be reduced to little more than a footnote.
Scarlet Spider being revealed to be The Mole in Season 4. For some it's an interesting plot point that adds buckets full of depth to show. For others it's an unnecessary and cruel blow for Spider-Man to have to take in an already dark season where he was already going through something of a Trauma Conga Line due to his inability to save Vulture, Rhino being Brainwashed and Crazy, being directly responsible for Miles getting trapped in the wrong universe, Fury and Nova disappearing, and lastly leading both Harry and Agent Venom into a mission where the former ends up in a coma while the latter is critically injured. Having someone so close to him betray him in such a way (which involves kneeing him the back, holding him down, practically laughing in his face, and revealing his identity to Doc Ock) was just too much for many viewers. Others meanwhile like The Revealbecause of those reasons.
After the episode directly after this one was released the base was splintered even more due to Scarlet Spider's fate. He redeems himself but (supposedly) died doing so. There's three groups. People who still aren't ready to forgive him, People who do, but find their fate sad while acknowledging that it was probably the only way it was going to go down. Lastly, people who find the character's fate as undeserved and yet another blow Spider-Man is going to have to carry for the rest of his life. The base only broke further with the reveal that Scarlet Spider lived. Some fans view this as an Ass Pull while others use it as hope for a happy ending.
If you've even remotely followed either of the Spider-Verse arcs it's incredibly easy to figure out that in Return that Wolf-Spider is an alternate universe version of Peter. Mostly due to the fact that almost every other spider character in the multi-verse that has appeared by that point is an alternate version of him, with the only exceptions being Miguel O'Hara, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy. Possibly lampshaded from Peter's lack of a reaction.
Scarlet Spider being revealed to be a clone of Spider-Man. It's treated as a big startling reveal but even people who aren't familiar with the character were expecting it. After all there's only so many explanations a viewer can come up with when he is an Unreliable Narrator and looks just like Peter but with shorter hair and a scar on his face. The fact that his face was shown multiple times before The Reveal certainly doesn't help. Also not helping is that Doc Ock had been known to create new life from Spidey's DNA (the symbiotes) and that Ben doesn't seem to "remember" anything before meeting Ock.
Agent Coulson; after suffering Badass Decay for most of the first episodes, he is finally portrayed as an appropriate Badass Normal in "Run Pig Run".
Possibly Loki and Taskmaster in the third season, as well. The former was a major joke in the first two seasons, and the later suffered Badass Decay in his only second season appearance, "Ultimate Deadpool"; in "Web Warriors" they return to being characterized as dangerous chessmasters and formidable fighters.
Spider-Man himself in season 2. He goes from having the comedic aspects of his character being flanderized to being a more traditional (if goofy) representation of the character.
The Goblin from Miles Morales's universe proves to be far worse than his main universe counterpart. Having killed Peter Parker from his universe, the Goblin fights numerous times with 13-year-old Spider-Man Miles Morales, even trying to kill him at times. When Peter Parker from the main universe arrives in his universe, the Goblin tries to kill him alongside Miles, feeling a sadistic pleasure with the idea of "crushing" two spiders. In season 4, Baron Mordo and Doctor Octopus bring him to the main universe with the artifact "Siege Perilous" with the purpose of killing Spider Man; the Goblin tries to use it to destroy the universe. When Mordo tries to control him, Goblin hits him with the Siege Perilous, splitting his body into multiple fragments and apparently killing him, before trying to do the same with Peter Parker.
"Anti-Venom" & "The Symbiote Saga" three-parter: Michael Morbius is a Hydra scientist who is introduced as a new assistant to Doctor Octopus and who helps him create the Anti-Venom symbiote. After being promoted, Morbius uses the imprisoned Octopus as his lab assistant in creating the Carnage symbiote, before trying to have him killed. After being mutated into a bat creature, Morbius uses Mind Control technology to gain control over the Carnage Queen, ordering her to kill the friends of her host MJ. Morbius plans to spread the Carnage symbiote across the world and establish Hydra dominance.
"Return to the the Spider-Verse" arc: Wolf Spider is an evil alternate version of Peter Parker who decides to use his powers for evil instead of good. Declaring heroism and responsibility to be "pathetic ideals", he personally killed anyone who had believed in those ideals, including his world's Miles Morales. Upon discovering the existence of the other Spider-Verses through a shard of the Siege Perilous, Wolf Spider decides to use it to kill all of the other Spider-Men and conquer the multiverse. Forming a false alliance with the Lizard King, he attempts to kill Spider-Man and his friends in order to acquire the shards they had found. When this fails, he would later reappear in Kid Arachnid's dimension where he threatened to kill his mother if Arachnid didn't surrender the shards to him. Upon acquiring the Siege Perilous, he lures Spider-Man and his friends to his lair, leaving a trail of destruction behind in the process, where they witness him draining the life forces of the other Spider-Men to become stronger, before he attempts to drain them of their life forces as well. A ruthless, sadistic super villain who made his own name into a symbol of fear to the people of his world, Wolf Spider is the complete opposite of everything that Spider-Man stands for.
Continuity Lockout: The show has many different standalone episodes, so the few episodes which actually connect to each other become difficult to understand if you haven't watched the show from day one or at least seen the arc's beginning. May even apply to episodes that don't seem to contribute to a greater arc, such as "Home Sick Hulk" and "Run Pig Run", which focus on Spider-Man teaming up with Hulk and Thor, respectively, with the events of the episodes they previously teamed up in ("Exclusive" and "Field Trip") being acknowledged. Kind of ironic, if you consider Jeph Loeb mentioning his intention with retooling another MARVEL show because he was afraid viewers wouldn't be able to jump in due to all the plots running alongside each other.
This gets especially bad in late season 2 and season 3 overall, due to having a shared continuity with Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and Avengers Assemble. You need to have at least a basic understanding of what's happening in the first two seasons of Avengers Assemble and you have to watch all the episodes of S.M.A.S.H. that Spidey appears in or else several events, characters, and lines of dialogue during the multi-episode season 3 finale will make little to no sense for those who have only been watching this show.
Nova and Spider-Man were also part of this trope despite the former's mistreatment of latter. It got more popular since Nova Took a Level in Kindness during Season 2.
She-Hulk and Spidey get very little interaction during her cameo but since their dialogue can be interpreted as being mildly flirty they've gained a small but noticable fanbase.
Pretty much any of the Iron Fist ships count.
Critic-Proof: Despite the vocal hatedom the show has, it managed to get four seasons. The toy line also sells very well despite the frequent complaints about how Merchandise-Driven the series is. This makes some sense however due to how immensely popular it is with its younger target audience, parents, and people who liked the light-heartedness of the first two seasons. In fact, some critics actually listed that as one of it's strengths considering the last few shows always followed the same formula and, like or hate the series, Ultimate at least was willing to break from the norm and try something new. Carving out its own identity in the process.
Spidey's teammates in season 1; Spider-Man gets constantly blamed by them for not trusting them, wanting to work alone and trying to keep his distance from them, while they are arguing that they are his friends and teammates now. However, Spidey's arguments to defend himself are pretty valid: they very forcefully insert themselves in his life without him asking them anything, and his deal with Fury clearly involved him still being allowed to work alone. Yet the show still seems to present this as him being a jerk when, for example, he understandably refuses to tell his team that Harry Osborn is Venom. Get to an extreme when, at the end of "Venomous", he thanks them for actually acting like his friends... and they reply by pulling a prank where he is about to get beat up by S.H.I.E.L.D. training robots. That "trust your teammates" thing becomes even more stupid when you realize that, until the second season, both Peter and the audience know nothing about his teammates except their names and powers. Spidey doesn't know how they got those powers and how they got to be superheroes, he doesn't know where they live, what friends they have aside from themselves, etc. Yet they know a lot about Peter: where he lives, what school he attends, who are his friends, they even know about Aunt May. How can Peter trust people who know more about him than he does about them? And yet they're allowed to call themselves Peter's friends.
The episode "Venomous" shows how bad Fury and Spidey's team can be. To elaborate, Nick Fury orders teammates to actually outright kill Venom, even though he suspects that Spidey knows who Venom is and the person inside there is dear to Peter. Then, we see Spidey's team beating, hurting and attempting to kill Venom. Spidey pleads them to stop hurting Venom, saying that the person inside Venom is innocent and possessed by the symbiote and has no control of his actions, but his teammates ignore Spidey, stating that the person inside Venom is gone and do not care about the fact that they would have murdered an innocent person, not in control of his actions. It's only when Spidey tells them that Venom is Harry Osborn that they attempt to rescue Harry.
Nova is probably the worst aside from Fury. He spends most of his time when not fighting crime being downright cruel with his insults. And not just towards Spidey either (though he usually endures the worst of it). The episode "Venomous" is a prime example. Like Fury Nova is completely comfortable with killing Venom, unlike Fury, he rubs Spideys nose in the fact when he and the team are off to go and try to kill Venom. Basically Nova appears to represent everything a superhero is not supposed to be.
White Tiger and Nova insult and criticize Spider-Man even before they actually meet him in person. When they are watching Spidey fighting against training robots, White Tiger begins to criticize Spidey for his fighting style and even criticizes him for choosing naming himself Spider-Man. She didn't even meet with Spider-Man in person and already criticizes him based only on his fighting style alone, without knowing anything else about him. Nova calls Spidey lame and doesn't want him in the team because Nova wants to be a leader of the team. Basically they dismiss Spidey before they actually get to know him for some petty, and in Nova's case, selfish reasons. Iron Fist and Power Man at least gave Spidey a chance. It is very jarring to see them acting nice to Peter in season 2, especially in "House Arrest", considering their treatment of him during most of the season one.
Also, one finds it rather hard to believe that Nick Fury never told the other four about Deadpool going rogue on them, whereas the team describes him to Spidey as a freelance hero his morality is clearly much darker than that and Fury at the very least knew it. They just let him kidnap Spider-Man, though.
Hell, Spider-Man himself comes across as this at times, even when he's not around the team. A number of episodes actually show him either being the one who started the problem or just making it worse, so while his friends-in-theory are definitely too harsh at times their criticisms are sometimes deserved.
Do Not Do This Cool Thing: The apparent moral of "Ultimate Deadpool": just because someone seems cool, doesn't mean they're not an irresponsible, amoral psychopath; so choose your role models carefully.
Fan-Preferred Couple: As stated under Shipping Goggles, Peter/Ava is getting more popular, especially after it became clear Peter/MJ wasn't happening and Mary Jane's screen time gradually lessened with each season. With no other canon love interest in sight, Ava "wins" the non-existent shipping war by default.
When Mary Jane returned in Season 4, the Peter/MJ shippers resurfaced.
Fanon Discontinuity: The crossover episode with Jessie due to its status as a Bizarro Episode and the fact that there is a much more well received Halloween Episode that actually had something to do with the show's over arching plotline. Though with Cameron Boyce's passing, this has slacked a bit and many just find it an amusing little crossover these days. The fact that it is a one-off likewise helps.
Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Trying to say Peter is just Deadpool in a Spider suit due to the fourth wall breaking is a good way to get the fandom upset with you. For one, the comics' Deadpool (and later this show's very own Deadpool) treats the fourth wall completely differently. Both Deadpools go about simply shattering it, and treating the viewers as if they are just extra characters, being (for the most part) extremelyGenre Savvy despite their respective insanity, while lampshading the bizarre-ness of their respective worlds. ("Unalive," anyone?) Spidey on the other hand does it in a way that's arguably closer to Zack Morris in Saved by the Bell (but less aware and without his "time-outs" being able to change the situations he's currently in), full on narrating his adventures in a way that's clearly meant to help him calm down and show his thought process. Heck, the entire Ultimate Deadpool episode is meant to show how different the two are on more than one level despite the surface similarities. The episode also establishes that Peter, isn't even actually aware of the audience, that's just how his thought process works.
The season one finale has earned a more glowing reception than expected after previous episodes. After it, season 2 got slightly better compared to the previous one, giving more Character Development and bringing Spider-Man villains, though the quality remains highly contested.
Most fans agree that Web Warriors is a great improvement with respect to the previous two seasons.
In the second episode, Dr. Connors pretends not to have a right arm as a prank and Mythology Gag. And then in the Season One finale, the same arm is crushed thanks to the Green Goblin.
Every heartwarming moment with the Scarlet Spider became a lot less so in light of "The New Sinister 6, Part 1", where it was revealed that he, and not Rhino, was really The Mole for Octavius, meaning those moments consisted of him stringing Peter, Flash, Aunt May, and others along as part of his cover to make it hurt worse when he betrays Peter and unmasks him to Ock.
Likewise, as Scarlet Spider is a clone, those couple of times Doc Ock managed to catch Spider-Man become even darker than they already were, especially the times he successfully acquired blood from Spidey.
If Spidey had kept up his dedicated I Work Alone attitude he had in the first half of Season 1 he likely wouldn't have become so personal with other superheroes or gone through the effort of reforming some villains, meaning the Trauma Conga Line he experienced in Season 4 would have likely not come to pass. Then again if he hadn't opened up he would have been utterly alone against the world as Spider-Man. Either way he gets hurt. His character development during Season 2 into an All-Loving Hero in general is this given that it arguably is what allowed Scarlet Spider to infiltrate his team and gain his trust to begin with.
He Really Can Act: Many fans agree that this series has one of the scariest, most threatening depictions of Dr. Octopus of any Spider-Man show. Along with the typical metal arms and Mad Scientist tools/weapons, his perfectly chilling, menacing voice (along with near-perfect delivery) make him one of the show's best characters. Did I mention that his voice actor is Tom Kenny, aka Spongebob?
I Knew It!: The synopsis for the episode "The Sinister Six", which, well, introduces the Sinister Six, describe their members as being Lizard, Rhino, Electro, Kraven, Beetle and "a secret sixth member". Considering that 1) Dr. Octopus is the leader of the group in most incarnations and 2) This version of him is indirectly responsible for the creation of two of them, nobody really was surprised when the spoiler images confirmed it was him.
It's Not Supposed to Win Oscars: Man of Action Studios reportedly tends to tell haters that they shouldn't have expected greatness from a children's cartoon airing on Disney XD. Which only raised more backlash amongst both haters and fans. Several Disney XD Fans also pointed out how much quality shows like Phineas and Ferb and Gravity Falls had compared to USM.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Averted Trope. After word of mouth spread about how different it was from other Spider-continuities, the show actually got an influx of older fans who were tired of seeing the same old plotlines and the same old villains being used in the same old way. After all, Spider-Man at the time this show came out had two film series, many cartoons and games, several Alternate-Earth realities, and many modernizations under his belt, and most of these stuck to the same formula and characters. This show, however, arguably re-envisions nearly the entire rogues gallery, as well as putting a younger, less experienced Spider-Man in a role not typically seen until he's much older; being a part of a superhero team, an aspect of the character that largely gets ignored outside of the comics. Of course, the show still suffers from They Changed It, Now It Sucks! as explained below.
As revealed in "Me Time", Doctor Octopus, who was going to be laid off by Osborn unless he captured Spider-Man. His Evil Cripple status has taken a toll on his hygiene, appearance, and sanity. And there are signs that he longs for what came before this status, as he laments "I was handsome once." "The Iron Octopus" takes this even further, with finally showcasing his backstory, showing that Norman actually saved him, but kept him locked away from the outside world rather than fess up to a mistake, and all of his attempts to tell everyone that Norman isn't as perfect as everyone thinks he is falls upon deaf ears (though Spidey does get the nagging feeling Doctor Octopus is right), and eventually, being locked away again.
Even though Flint Marko/Sandman is a psychotic, he tends to fall in this trope when you consider the fact he essentially went nuts after Fury had him trapped alone on an island for years in the Bermuda Triangle, to the point he was reduced to create himself an imaginary friend.
Rhino; he actually became what he is because he was bullied all the time by Flash Thompson, who was even worse with him than he was with Peter. He wished to be like Spider-Man and consumed Oscorp's mutagene, but this caused him to go psychotic in getting a revenge on Flash. You truly feel sorry for him when he is taken by SHIELD at the end of his episode.
Ironically, Flash himself may qualify as this in Rhino's episode. It is revealed that he only has a gas station as his home and that his parents have almost no money. It is also hinted that he acts like a jerk because he wants to hide this and appear cool and confident. His realization that his bullying drove Alex to the path of villainy also makes him quite sympathethic.
White Tiger turns out to be this in "Kraven the Hunter", where we learn the reason she is so reckless and disciplined: her father was hunted and killed by Kraven, leaving her alone to take up the Mantle, and she gets her powers by wearing an Amulet that always pushes her to be more animal-like, forcing her to control herself all the time to prevent it from taking over.
Implied with Nova, as he's stated to have been an orphan prior to becoming a Guardian.
Just Here for Godzilla: The show has many guest characters, some of whom are famous or popular comic book characters or are played by veteran voice actors (who sometimes have played roles in previous Spidey cartoons), so people may just watch an episode just for one character. Particular examples are Maurice Lamarche as Doctor Doom and Clancy Brown as Taskmaster.
Web Warriors got a lot of attention when it was announced that Ensemble Dark Horse Spider-Men like 2099 and Noir were appearing.
For the long-term fans who were used to the show being goofy and subsequently turned off when it got Darker and Edgier during Season 4, the return of MJ near the season's end is what brought them back in.
Spider-Gwen in the Return to the Spider-verse arc. As a bonus, she's portrayed by Dove Cameron.
Many fans tuned in to see the animated debuts of fan favorite comic characters Taskmaster in season 1 and Moon Knight in season 4.
The show's most watched episodes are the two part halloween special that was heavily marketed around Ross Lynch voicing werewolf by night as well as featuring Blade, and the second most watch is the Jessie Crossover.
Launcher of a Thousand Ships: As with most animated incarnations, Spider-Man has fallen victim to this. He's been shipped with best friends Harry and MJ, most of his teammates (including the ones that come in on latter seasons), Iron Man, Norman Osborn, and many more.
Nova, White Tiger, and Iron Fist all place in second, third, and fourth most shipped characters respectively.
Deadpool is a hilarious, utterly insane mercenary who excels at his job. A rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who is still well-liked by his old teammates and regarded as a badass "hero-for-hire", Deadpool, seeking to sell S.H.I.E.L.D. files detailing the identity of every hero in the world on the black market and make a fortune, breaks into their computers and steals the information. Though the hard drive containing the files is swiped from him by Taskmaster, Deadpool manipulates Spider-Man into assisting him in breaking into Taskmaster's compound, where Deadpool effortlessly outsmarts and defeats Taskmaster and dozens of his goons in combat. When the truth of Deadpool's trickery comes out, the mercenary giddily fights Spider-Man and matches him blow-for-blow in ridiculous creativity, and, even when beaten, Deadpool graciously concedes defeat to Spider-Man before beating a quick escape, free to continue his treasured life of no rules and complete freedom.
Frances Beck is the daughter and successor of her father Quentin, the supervillain Mysterio. A gifted illusionist who seeks to avenge her apparently-dead dad, Frances infiltrates the Sanctum Sanctorum by evading Moon Knight and tricking Spider-Man into thinking she's an innocent little girl. After using Spidey as a pawn to fight Moon Knight, Frances steals her father's magical helmet from Strange's lair, using it to begin causing chaos throughout New York City in honor of her father's memory. When she discovers Quentin's soul is trapped in the helmet, Frances teams with Spider-Man to save him and restore him to life, at which point Frances ends her rampage and becomes an ally to the heroes, content with having her father back.
Joking about how hard puberty hit Spidey after season 2 is beginning to become commonplace in some circles.
Deadpool replacing the word "kill" or "die" with "unalive" had some small popularity on the internet, but really caught on after TikTok became a platform as people use it to get around and mock censorship of the actual words.
Mis-blamed: Despite the common misconception, this series wasn't responsible for cancelling The Spectacular Spider-Man; Spectacular was cancelled for various reasons related to the TV right returning from Sony to Marvel. Long story short, Spectacular was done in-house at Sony before Marvel was brought by Disney. When Sony wouldn't give up the film rights for Spider-Man, they sold the TV rights to Disney as a compromise. This meant if Specutacular was to be continued, Disney would have to pay Sony to keep it going as that show was still Sony's property which wasn't going to happen. Hence why Ultimate Spider-Man was created, to at least keep the brand going on their end. Hence it merely was a consequence of this, not a cause.
Moral Event Horizon: Norman Osborn/Green Goblin crosses this when he shocks Harry to turn him into Venom for purpose of having a weapon to destroy Spider-Man and later leaving him to die in collapsing Helicarrier and deeming him unworthy because Harry rejected the Symbiote.
Season 4 is a long running one for Doctor Octopus. His obsession with Spider-Man reaches his peak, continues to harass the Osborns, erases the mind of at least one character in attempt to enslave them, creates Scarlet Spider for the exact purpose of infiltrating the team and getting close enough to Spider-Man so that our hero will reveal his name and family, only to backstab him in the most heartbreaking way possible, shows he only views Scarlet Spider as weapon (which leads to Ben's redemption,) lays waste to New York at one point, goes to attack Aunt May, with creepy, predatory undertones to the action, and reveals he cares about absolutely nothing or anyone except himself. No matter how sympathetic he may have been in the first two seasons, nothing excuses his actions anymore.
Never Live It Down: On a meta-level, the common misconception that the show had something to do with the previous Spider-Man show getting cut short is a common source of bad press among the Marvel fandom as a whole.
Nightmare Retardant: Carnage's birth. The scene apparently is intended to be Nightmare Fuel, but Drake Bell's incredibly bad performance to make a convincing agony scream (seriously, he sounds like he is whining) and the cartoonish expression made by the usually serious and realistic Green Goblin make the scene more laughable than anything else.
Despite what some viewers think, Spider-Man has broken the fourth wall before in his own comics. Here are some examples. It's just flanderized here.
Plus, Doc Ock's bonded with the Carnage symbiote before.
Some fans decried Mary Jane expressing an interest in journalism as making her an expy of Lois Lane—except during the "Ultimate Knights" arc shortly before Ultimatum, the MJ of the actual Ultimate Marvel comics displayed an interest in journalism and even joined Midtown's school network after filming a report and and after Peter's "death", she typed up a story about how she felt the world and Nick Fury killed Spider-Man with the intent of sending it to various media outlets.
The concept of Mary Jane getting powers and donning a spider costume is nothing new as well since in Marvel's multiverse there is an alternate universe where Mary Jane acquired spider powers instead of Peter classic example include Marvel Mangaverse and recent The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows where she fought alongside Peter and their daughter and recently in possession of a symbiote costume.
Additionally, the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D. acting like a mentor to Peter also came from the Ultimate comics, as Nick Fury kept an eye on Peter and even interacted with him (though he also intended to force Peter to join S.H.I.E.L.D. when he turned 18) and in the lead-up to The Death of Spider-Man, Fury's successor Carol Danvers and the Ultimates decided to mentor Peter.
Padding: The Imagine Spots can come across this way, given that when they're used to give out exposition, the stuff tends to have been explained just a moment ago, and even when Spidey does explain it when it hasn't been explained before, it's sometimes explained afterward in a manner that's much more simple and to the point, making the necessity of the exposition via Imagine Spot questionable. When they're done for humor, they take time away from the episode and in some cases, ruin the pacing due to just how out-of-the-moment they are.
In addition of his already unlikable personality mentioned before, Sam Alexander is a Canon Immigrant in the Marvel Universe, replacing the popular Richard Rider as Nova and with no explanation of how he even has the Nova forcenote though Original Sin issues explained that his (black) helmet was made by a group of rogue Novas who wanted to gain full power of Novaforce through their helmets before being compromised by Jesse Alexander who later absorbed them into Nova Corps as Elite Army., when Rider's last appearance had him fight Thanos off long enough for a portal to close behind him whilst powered by the entirety of the Nova force.
The Spider-Girl that appears in Season 3's The Spider-Verse four-parter is Petra Parker, a female version of Peter Parker that hails from a Gender Swapped universe who was created specifically for the show, as opposed to the very popularMayday Parker from the comics, so this reaction was to be expected. The fact that she turned out to be a very generic, unsympathetic Straw Feminist only rubbed salt on the wound.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Flash Thompson started off as The Scrappy for lacking the depth and more sympathetic traits of his comic counterpart. He steadily grew more popular as he started gaining these traits and underwent a gradual Heel–Face Turn, culminating in him becoming Agent Venom.
Rooting for the Empire: Our heroes consist of a protagonist whose sense of humor really depends on personal taste and his teammates who regularly mistreat him. Many villains are usually composed of Creepy Awesome characters who have excellent vocalization on the part of their actors, and tend to be the part many people think is worth watching. There's also the fact that some major villains on the show are portrayed in a very sympathetic light. Particularly Venom, who is actually Harry Osborn, who is genuinely a good person, who cannot control the symbiote and is easily the most sympathetic character on the show.
Sequel Displacement: It is the first Spider-Man series in 15 years to avoid a sudden cancellation. The much maligned Spider-Man Unlimited series only got 13 episodes, the Broken Base MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series only got 13 episode and the well-received The Spectacular Spider-Man only got slightly better off with 26 episodes. note Though in that last case, it ended up being cut short due to legal reasons rather than ratings. Yet despite mixed reception, Ultimate Spider-Man has been the first Spider-Man series since Spider-Man: The Animated Series to break this curse, being the longest running Spider-Man cartoon at 104 episodes note For awhile, it was also the longest running Marvel cartoon until Avengers Assemble ended with 127 episodes..
Ship-to-Ship Combat: While there doesn't seem to be as many shippers in this show's fanbase as there is in other show's there is a pronounced war between several Spidey ships. The most pronounced being Harry/Spidey, MJ/Spidey, White Tiger/Spidey, Nova/Spidey, and Agent Venom/Spidey.
The Scrappy: Most of the main cast, with the exception of Iron Fist.
White Tiger is criticized for being this for her nagging attitude toward Spider-Man.
To an extent, even Spider-Man himself suffers this, mostly because his sense of humor seems closer to Deadpool's than that of the comic Spidey (whose comedy depends more on wit and dialogue than zaniness).
The Spider-Cycle counts as an object-example of this trope; most fans think that the only reason Spider-Man was given a motorbike was for merchandise purpose, and feel like it's essentially useless, considering he can web-sling. An excuse is given to justify, but it's generally considered a poor one. It even gets this treatment in-universe from Hawkeye, who even lampshades how stupid it is to have a bike when you can web-sling.
Petra Parker, due to being a straight up misandrist who's also the most bland of the alternate universe Spider-Men that appear in Season 3's The Spider-Verse four-parter, the others being Spyder-Knight, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Ham, Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2099.
While people still have problem with Spidey, he starts to get a bit more sympathy due to being the Butt-Monkey for his team and actually acting like the Only Sane Man in some episodes.
Power Man was criticized as a Flat CharacterBig Guy, but his nightmare in "Strange" caused some to warm up to him, and his appearance in the next episode, "Awesome", further helped him out.
White Tiger, big time. Most fans saw her as the most obnoxious character after Nova for most of the show, but "Kraven the Hunter" gives her a very large Character Development, revealing her origin, and shows her actually expressing affection for Peter.
This show's incarnation of Flash Thompson was loathed when first introduced due to having all the character'sleast likable traits while clearly lackingthe more positivesides. Later episodes "I Am Spider-Man", "The Rhino" and "Agent Venom" develop him into a sympathetic character, have him finally gain his more heroic side and eventually turn him into his popular Agent Venom alias.
While there is a Broken Base regarding Drake Bell as Spider-Man, consensus generally seems to be that he's a workable actor, capturing the youth of the character, with the only real problems being that he sometimes overacts and the show's writing being counter-intuitive to the performance. Some state that he'd probably be pretty good in another Spider-Man product.
Following a polarizing reception for the first two seasons, Web Warriors has made some fans admit the show can be good at times, but it's still overall quite mediocre.
As a whole, this seems to be the best criticism the show can get. Defenders cite that most of the vitriol was largely due to bad timing of the show coming in after losing the beloved Spectacular Spider-Man. Taken on its own, it's not a bad stray from the formula and still has its moments of brilliance (especially concerning the Rogues Gallery) plus a good break-away from the more heavy handed Spider-Man series if you're looking for something more light-hearted. Seasons three and four are noted to be very good improvements which do show the writers were listening and trying to improve as well. Overall, it's far from a terrible show, just has a more different vibe that at the least, makes it stand out even if it isn't as noteworthy as its predecessor.
Spiritual Adaptation: The Fourth Wall humor made some consider this a better Deadpool cartoon than a Spider-Man one.
Peter is constantly portrayed as wrong when he's talking about how he doesn't want to work on the team he's on, and is portrayed as a jerk for not wanting them to be his friends. As pointed out on Designated Hero, the big issue is that Peter has good reasons, such as having no personal space (Nick Fury even set up security cameras in his house) and his teammates keep finding some way to force themselves into his life without any consent on his part.
This comes up again in "The Incredible Spider-Hulk" where Fury acts like Spidey's whining again about his PR problem when it's clear that Jameson constant berating him has begun to affect his ability to fight crime. Even the villain Spidey's chasing lampshades this.
Batroc the Leaper: I'm the one who robbed the bank, and you're the one everybody hates!
In "The New Sinister 6 Part 2" we are supposed to be taught about the strength of Compassion and Teamwork, to help drive this point Dr. Octopus and his mole are used. Doc Ock berates Spider-Man for being so trusting and reliant on his team and at the end of the episode we're supposed to be shown that he was wrong. Except he wasn't, Spider-Man is completely dependent on his team and has gotten worse because of it, consider how he was in the first season Doc Ock could only beat him by launching a surprise attack and using various weaponry like a buzzsaw and tazer, now he can Curbstomp Battle Spidey while holding the Villain Ball.
Squick: The idea that the Green Goblin and Venom are related to Spidey due to the fact that his blood was used to make them can qualify.
In "Freaky," when Wolverine, in Peter's body, hit on Mary Jane, when you remember that he's supposed to be over 100-years-old (physically in his 30s), while she's still a teenager.
Tainted by the Preview: The more looks people got at the show's sense of humor, the more they worried about the possibility that the show wouldn't prove worth the wait.
Nova finally gets this when Spider-Man discovers in "Nightmares" that he is afraid of rabbits and uses it against him. And is not immediately punished for it.
Nova gets it again in "Damage" where he accidentally gets hit by a shrink ray and spends the episode being pint-sized. The team have a lot of fun with him in this state, and Spidey even flicks him away when he gets too irritating.
Also, seeing Logan in Peter's body beating the crap out of Flash for attempting to bully him was possibly one of the most satisfying scenes.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A lot, since the show seems determined to be as different as possible to any previous Spider-Man version made before. A lot of fans still can't handle the changes, and even those who are more open-minded tend to be annoyed by some drastic examples:
Spider-Man being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and part of a teenage superheroes team (despite being a loner with occasional honorary membership to the Avengers in the comic) broke the base before the show was even up. Learning two members of said team are adult superheroes in the comic that became teens for the series only made things worse. Some fans did argue this wasn't the first time, but at least Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends actually indicated he was part of a team in its very title.
And when actual Spider-Man villains show up, they will usually be drastically different than their classic well-known incarnation (Venom is a suit made of Spider-Man's DNA and has Harry Osborn as his host, Scorpion is a martial artist and more Iron Fist's enemy, and the list goes on)
Mary-Jane being turned into what some fans may see as a Lois LaneExpy with no romantic relationship with Peter so far.
The show's humor. Nothing else to say.
In a separate case, for fans of Avengers EMH, they might not like the very childlike Hulk in this show compared to the Genius Bruiser of the previous show.
A frequent criticism from fans is that this show is trying way too hard to be a Teen Titans (2003) rip-off rather than an actual Spider-Man series. Which is rather ironic considering most opinions about the recent cartoon series.
One other criticism is about the show's humor. The random Cutaway Gags are a better fit for Family Guy.
As mentioned above in Broken Base Season 4 caused this in a large portion of fans due to the Trauma Conga Line Spider-Man gets put through. However there are people who like the season for said darkness.
Weirdly enough, this trope already applied to some extent in season 1 and 2. Many fans complained that Fury was a Designated Hero, Spider-Man hopelessly irresponsible, and his teammates were Jerkass treating him like crap for little to no reason, making it really difficult to care for anyone the main cast.
Not as strong as Avengers Assemble, but this show still has the misfortune of being a show intended for little kids coming right after Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Spectacular Spider-Man, both shows who were loved by their fans for being more mature and arc-oriented than the average kid show. Practically everyone ends up judging the show by comparing it to one of those. This was especially the case with the latter as the sting of "Spectacular..."'s cancellation was still fresh when this show was announced which contributed to why most shunned the show. It's also coming after its own comic namesake, which was more serious than your average Spidey story without becoming needlessly Darker and Edgier. Needless to say, fans of Spectacular who were hopeful because it was going to be an adaptation of the USM comic got a double whammy.
Especially noteworthy is Drake Bell's performance as Spidey, compared to fan favorite Josh Keaton, since Keaton's voice is as iconic to Spider-Man as Kevin Conroy is to Batman.
Agent Coulson is under cover as the Principal of Spidey's school.
Well, more like "Unexpected mention of a character", but it still comes out of left field. In the "Guardians of the Galaxy" episode, Star-Lord lists of random heroes on Earth that Korvac sees as a potential threat. Raise your hand if you knew one of the heroes he was gonna list off was DEVIL DINOSAUR.
Despite ties to Spider-Man in the comics, as well as the push Marvel has been giving him around the time the show aired, many fans still didn't expect Moon Knight to make the full jump to animation due to him still remaining a B-lister in comparison to more successful pushes around the time like Squirrel Girl or the Guardians. Even fewer expected him to debut in the Christmas special.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Doctor Octopus, in the first two seasons at least, due to his backstory in this continuity. Most fans agree he lost this after season 4 however.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Nick Fury clearly is intended by the writers to be seen as a Big Good and Reasonable Authority Figure. Problem is, many fans see him more like a Designated HeroControl Freak who basically blackmailed Peter into joining SHIELD, keeps not holding his side of the bargain, leaves him very little freedom (he placed cameras in his house, has an agent pose as his principal and made his teammates forcefully insert themselves in his life), and has a spectacular record of creating his own villains. This wouldn't be so much a problem if these were acknowledged as flaws to make Fury a morally grey character — but the show lacks any self-awareness on the topic, and keeps portraying him as always in the right.
Vindicated by History: To an extent. While there's still mixed opinions on the show, more people are softening up and are more upfront in admitting its strengths. Plus, it did introduce Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen into animation (and to a lesser extent, Squirrel Girl who finally get some time to shine as well. Tellingly not long after she debuted in the show, she got her own comic book), who are still well liked, serving as a launch pad into mainstream recognition.
Visual Effects of Awesome: The all-too-brief segment in the 2099 universe, animated in an ultra-slick full 3D. Makes you kind of wish they'd give Spider-Man 2099 his own series with that kind of animation.
Win Back the Crowd: Season 4, in large part, did this for the show in the eyes of the Spider-Man fandom as a whole. Due to it being much more serious and its plot being more focused, as well as this season not integrating the other shows that the show shares a continuity with. This gave the show a chance to stand on its own feet rather than forcing viewers to look up particular episodes of the other shows, a common complaint in Season 3. Many people say that Season 4 feels like a "real" Spider-Man show when compared to the previous seasons.
However, Season 4 did suffer from Too Bleak, Stopped Caring within the show's long-term fanbase. Fortunately, the Symbiote Arc that was featured near the season's end helped draw the long-term fans back in, inciting this trope, as it could get dark but not overtly so like the previous episodes. The return of MJ and the introduction of her persona, The Carnage Queen, certainly helped.
Prior to this was season 2, which gave Spidey's original team some much needed character development and made them come off as less jerk-ish, immoral child soldiers and more like actual heroes. The fact that emphasis is put on the positive aspects of their relationships with Spidey certainly helped.
Harry Osborn, becomes Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds as Venom. Taking it further, if Anti-Venom is any indication, he seems to have developed a symbiote-related form of PTSD.
Peter can be seen as this, due to his status as Butt-Monkey and all the things done to him by his teammates, Fury or Flash. Season 4 especially, and not in the Butt-Monkey way. Legitimately horrible things happen to him and people around him during Season 4, several of which are showing to have a prolonged impact on him.
Curt Connors, especially from the Season One finale onwards.
are some examples. It's just flanderized here.