Spider-Man Unlimited

Spider-Man Unlimited is a short-lived animated series featuring the Marvel comic book superhero Spider-Man.^[1][2] The series was released in 1999, but, although it had fair ratings, was overshadowed by Pokémon, and was canceled after airing only a few episodes.^[3] Fox later resumed airing the show, airing 13 episodes, the last ending on a cliffhanger. Several scripts written for Season 2, including the conclusion of the cliffhanger, were never produced.

Starting on October 10, 2009, Jetix began showing all 13 episodes of Spider-Man Unlimited. Disney XD currently airs them weekend late evenings.

Plot

While covering the launch of John Jameson's one man mission to Counter-Earth (another Earth in an alternate dimension), Spider-Man attempts to stop his two symbiote adversaries Venom and Carnage from boarding the shuttlecraft. Blamed for Jameson losing contact with our Earth, Spider-Man becomes a target of persecution by the media and the public. Believed to be dead after saving a person's life in a fire, Peter Parker uses the ruse to embark on a mission to retrieve John Jameson on Counter-Earth, using nanotechnology borrowed from Reed Richards to design a new suit that incorporates stealth technology and sonic weaponry. Making his way to the planet, Spider-Man learns that Jameson has fallen in with a band of freedom fighters opposed to the High Evolutionary whose Beastials, hybrids of animal and humanoid attributes, are the dominant species whilst humans are the second-class minority.

With Jameson reluctant to return until all of the Beastials are defeated, Spider-Man elects to remain on Counter-Earth, blending in as best as he can as Peter Parker, and fighting the High Evolutionary and his Knights of Wundagore alongside the rebels as Spider-Man. It is soon discovered that Venom and Carnage are also on Counter-Earth, and are following orders from a being known as the Synoptic. This series also shows the animated version of John Jameson's Man-Wolf form, as well as superhero versions of mainstream villains the Green Goblin and the Vulture.

Episode list

Comic book

Alongside the animated series, Marvel Comics commissioned a comic to tie in with the series. It would be the second volume of Spider-Man Unlimited as a whole from the company, but the only one of the Unlimited volumes to be based on it. The first two issues were adapted from the first three episodes of the series, with the last three providing its own storylines.

In the final issue, he meets an escapee from Haven, a Bestial version of Wolverine. After fighting, the two team up and take down a Bestial Chameleon. It is hinted that Wolverine is really Naoko Jones' missing husband (although the cartoon hints that The Goblin is really Naoko's husband), but nothing came out of the storylines as poor sales ended the comic's run.

Characters

Protagonists

• Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Peter Parker is a photographer for the Daily Bugle newspaper company who was bitten by a genetically altered spider and got spider-like abilities making him a superhero called Spider-Man. In this version of Spider-Man , it is not revealed that how Peter gets the bitten by the spider, but it is shown in the theme song.

At the beginning of the show Spider-Man (Peter) was chasing and trying to stop Venom and Carnage from getting into a rocket with John Jameson riding it. After failing to stop them, Venom and Carnage took John Jameson with them and went to the Counter Earth, another Earth on the opposite side of the sun. After this, Peter borrowed nanotechnology from Reed Richards to design a new suit that incorporates stealth technology and sonic weaponry. With the new suit, he went to Counter Earth to save John Jameson.

In Counter Earth, Peter lives at Dr. Naoko Yamada's house for rent. Making his way to the planet, Spider-Man learns that Jameson has fallen in with a band of freedom fighters opposed to the High Evolutionary whose Beastials, hybrids of animal and humanoid attributes, are the dominant species whilst humans are the second-class minority. He joined John and the Human Revolution to defeat the high Evolutionary and his old enemies, the Venom and Carnage.

In his new stealth suit, Spider-Man is slightly different. He has dark color scheme and a cape made of webbing. He also has a sonic weapon to defeat Venom and Carnage.

In this series, Peter was in love with Mary Jane like in other series. But due to him leaving the real Earth and going to Counter Earth, he was separated from her and they aren't seen together again.

• Dr. Naoko Yamada-Jones: is a doctor in Counter Earth. After Peter rescues her son, Shane, from a Machine Man, she gave Peter an offer to live in her house for rent for two weeks, which he accepts. She is married to Hector Jones, her long lost secret husband and is the mother of Shane. She doesn't know of Peter's Spider-Man secret. She has a dislike for Spider-Man despite his heroics; in one episode, when he saved her from Venom and Carnage, her only concern was the damage that they had caused to her clinic.

• Shane Yamada-Jones: is the only son of Dr. Naoko Yamada and Hector Jones. He is a 10 year old boy who lives on Counter Earth. He looks up to Peter and hates when Peter and Naoko are fighting, reminding him of his father and Naoko fighting which led his father to leave him and his mother. He, like his mother, doesn't know of Peter's Spider-Man secret.

• John Jameson: is a member of the rebels which is a team who fights against the High Evolutionary. In the series, while traveling into space, John Jameson crashed on Counter-Earth thanks to Venom and Carnage. He and Spider-Man (who went there to save him and return him back to Earth) joined the human rebels to fight the High Evolutionary and his Beastials and restore peace to Counter-Earth. Later on as seen in the episode "Ill Met By Moonlight", the High Evolutionary had experimented on Jameson and every time he gets angry he becomes the Man-Wolf, marking Man-Wolf's first animated appearance.

• Karen O'Malley: is another member of the Rebellion. It is revealed that she is from the real Earth and is the granddaughter of the High Evolutionary. He made some experiments on her when she was young. She looks similar to Mary-Jane Watson in appearance and can be thought of as the counter-earth version of Mary-Jane.

• Green Goblin/Hector Jones: is a the Counter Earth Green Goblin.This version is actually a hero instead of a villain, mistaking Spider-Man for a villain during their first encounter. Instead of a glider, he wields a backpack that sprouts wings. The Goblin's next appears when he finds out that both Spider-Man and Peter Parker are the same person. He also learns that Spider-Man is from the original Earth, and his intentions on Counter-Earth are to rescue John Jameson. Since Jameson, who is working with the rebels against the High Evolutionary, does not agree to come and lets Spider-Man go off on his own, the Goblin decides to help by getting a ship the High Evolutionary has, which was originally Spider-Man's. Spider-Man and the Goblin team up with the Rejects, a group of Beastials that the High Evolutionary got rid of since they proved useless, and they get to Solaris II, the ship Spider-Man once had. Spider-Man has more heart and has Solaris II crash into one of the High Evolutionary's towers, which presumably kills the Goblin in the explosion. However, by the series finale, it is revealed he survived the explosion and joined the Rejects. He leaves them to help Spider-Man and the rebels fight against the High Evolutionary. By the end of the episode, he is one of the characters who run off when thousands of symbiotes spring to Counter-Earth according to Venom and Carnage's plans.

In Counter Earth, Green Goblin's secret identity is Hector Jones, ex-husband of Dr. Naoko Yamada and father of Shane Yamada-Jones. This is revealed many times in the series as by the end of his first appearance, after saving Naoko and Shayne Yamada-Jones from one of Venom and Carnage's plans with the help of Spider-Man and after the Goblin lets Naoko and Shayne go, he whispers to himself about calling Naoko his love. It is revealed in the next episode, which the Goblin himself does not appear in, that Naoko has a jealous ex-husband who works for the rebellion against the High Evolutionary. Naoko's ex-husband, who is standing in the shadows by the end of the episode, reveals that he is jealous, suspecting that Naoko and Peter Parker, the man who pays the rent while living at Naoko's home, are having an affair. He punches a wall that bricks fall down thus confirming the Goblin, who has super strength is indeed Naoko's ex-husband.

• Git Hoskins: is a member of the rebels. Sir Ram made an experiment on Git when he was young, resulting in him having mummy-like bandages and giving him the powers to stretch and control his bandages. Due to his appearance, he didn't have any friends growing up. Because of this, he has a grudge against Sir Ram.

• X-51: is a Machine Man who got crashed and got his personalities changed. He changed from attacking humans and decided to save humans from High Evolutionary. He saved Shane from a giant rhino. The High Evolutionary wanted him tested and find out how he still lives even when he got a lot of damages. He was kidnapped by the High Evolutionary, but was saved by Spider-Man, Karen and John. It was revealed he was a trap and turned against the rebels. But he finally understood his path, which is to join the rebels and save humans.

• Vulture: is the Counter Earth version of the Vulture. Like the Counter Earth Green Goblin, this version of the Vulture is a hero instead of a villain and also like the Counter-Earth Goblin, he first mistook Spider-Man for a villain. It is explained the Vulture was a human who got Bestial powers, hanging out with Beastials and disrespecting humans while he was also playing with one. When he caused his human friend trouble, he hated the High Evolutionary for what he did and rebelled against him.

Villains

• High Evolutionary: is the principal villain. He had created Beastials (half-humans, half-animals) on a planet called Counter-Earth with The Knights of Wundagore (who were Sir Ram, Lord Tiger, Lady Ursula, and Lady Vermin). In the second to last episode of the series, it was revealed to the High Evolutionary that he is the grandfather of Karen O'Malley and that he experimented on her when she was young. The High Evolutionary was injured during the series finale in a fight against Spider-Man and The Rebellion.

• Venom/Eddie Brock: returns with enhanced powers, allied with Carnage. They appear as reoccurring villains, serving a hive-mind called the Synoptic and trying to conquer Counter-Earth with an invasion of symbiotes.

• Carnage/Cletus Kasady: also returns with his enhanced powers, allied with Venom. They appear as reoccurring villains, serving a hive-mind called the Synoptic and trying to conquer Counter-Earth with an invasion of symbiotes.

• Sir Ram: is a hybrid of a ram and human and is one of High Evolutionary's Beastials. He is a scientist and one of the most loyal.

• Lord Tyger: is a hybrid of a tiger and human and is one of High Evolutionary's Beastials. He was kicked out by his master when Lady Vermin found out the rebels hide out.

• Lady Ursula: is a hybrid of a bear and human and is one of High Evolutionary's Beastials. She is one of the females with Lady Vermin.

• Lady Vermin: is a hybrid of a rat and human and is one of High Evolutionary's Beastials. She is one of the females with Lady Ursala. She is in love with Spider-Man, but he doesn't like her back due to her being a criminal. Lady Vermin even kissed Spider-Man in the first episode. When Counter Earth Robbie told Peter to collect photos of Spider-Man and his girlfriend, he took photos of Spider-Man and Lady Vermin kissing because he doesn't have a love interested in Counter Earth at that time. She always calls Spider-Man her 'love'.

• Electro: is the Counter-Earth version of Electro. He is a Bestial electric eel possessing electrokinetic powers. In the episode, Electro is a guard in the High Evolutionary's main base, Wundagore Castle. Throughout his fight with the Counter-Earth Electro, Spider-Man also references the Earth Electro.

• The Hunter: is the Counter-Earth's version of Kraven the Hunter. He is one of a few humans that the High Evolutionary allows to live in the upper parts of the city. He works as a mercenary for both the rebels and the High Evolutionary and is hired by the later to hunt and kill, and/or capture Spider-Man. Upon breaking into his lair, Spider-Man discovered that The Hunter was using a toxic formula that when mixed with certain animal pheromones gives traits of that animal to the drinker, but also poisons bone marrow, screws up the liver, and cuts your lifespan in half. The Hunter stated it's a necessary sacrifice for the power it brings. Spider-Man defeats him by trouncing him and turning his security system against him stating that he now knows The Hunter's secret and if he comes after the Rebels or him again, he will use this knowledge to beat him into the ground.

Cast

• Rino Romano - Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Green Goblin/Hector Jones
• Brian Drummond - Venom/Eddie Brock
• Michael Donovan - Carnage/Cletus Kasady
• Garry Chalk - Mr. Meugniot, The Reverend, Durwood Bromley
• John Payne II - John Jameson
• Akiko Morison - Dr. Naoko Yamada-Jones
• Rhys Huber - Shane Yamada-Jones
• Christopher Gaze - Daniel Bromley, Karen's Father
• Jennifer Hale - Mary Jane, Lady Vermin, Karen's Mother, Haley Wing
• Kimberly Hawthorne - Karen O'Malley
• Kathleen Barr - Alice, Prima
• Jim Byrnes - Fire Drake
• Tasha Simms - Lady Ursula
• Paul Dobson - The Hunter
• David Sobolov - Lord Tyger
• Ron Halder - Sir Ram
• Scott McNeil - Vulture, Man-Wolf (SFX), Lester
• Mark Gibbon - Nick Fury
• Richard Newman - J. Jonah Jameson, High Evolutionary, Dr. Brofski
• Dale Wilson - X-51, Machine Men, Electro, Phil

Crew

Director

• Patrick Archibald

Writers

• Larry Brody - Head Writer
• Robert Gregory Browne - Writer
• Brynne Chandler - Writer
• Michael Reaves - Writer

Produced by

• Avi Arad - executive producer
• Matthew Edelman - co-executive producer
• Will Meugniot - producer
• Eric S. Rollman - executive producer

Original Music

• Jeremy Sweet

Voice Director

• Jamie Simone

Film Editing

• Shawn Logue

Production Design

• Shannon Denton

Art Department

• Patrick Archibald - storyboard artist
• Stefano Gaudiano - storyboard artist
• Keith Giffen - storyboard artist
• Rick Hobers - storyboard artist
• Lothell Jones - storyboard artist

DVD releases

As with the majority of the other Disney-acquired Marvel Comics animated series, Liberation Entertainment UK planned to release this on DVD in 2009. Due to Liberation's bankruptcy, the Marvel licenses were re-acquired by Clear Vision Ltd, who released it on DVD (in Region 2 PAL format) in a 2-disk set containing all 13 episodes. It was released on the 3rd of May, 2010.

All 13 episodes are now available on Netflix Instant.

Notes

External links

• Spider-Man Unlimited at the Internet Movie Database
• Spider-Man Unlimited at epguides.com
• International Catalogue of Superheroes
• Marvel Animation Age Presents: Spider-Man Unlimited