The Spider-Verse concept has taken root in popular fiction through films such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spiderman: No Way Homeand the recent Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In the spirit of Marvel teams like the Avengers or the X-Men, a group of Spider-Men (and Spider-Women) join forces to fight an interdimensional threat. It all started with the last two episodes. Spider-Man: The Animated Series. These two episodes make up the Spider Wars storyline and are the reason for the very concept of Spider Universes to exist.
How did the “animated series” introduce the Spider-Verse?
The Spider Wars saga is rooted in Spider-Man: The Animated Series‘A film adaptation of a classic Secret Wars comic book where I saw a web slinger (voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes) gathering a group of heroes as part of the experiment of the almighty Beyonder (Earl Boen) to see if good or evil was the dominant force in the universe. After defeating the godlike Doctor Doom (Tom Kane), the Beyonder reveals to Spider-Man that all of the Secret Wars were a test to see if he was worthy of saving the universe.
As it turns out, an alternate version of Peter Parker went mad with power after bonding with the Carnage symbiote and sought to destroy all of reality. To fight him, Spider-Man was joined by six alternate versions of himself: Spider-Man, who was actually a blockbuster star; Spider-Man wearing the silver and black armor worn by the webslinger in the 90s; Spider-Man, who wore the clothes of Parker’s clone Ben Reilly, better known as the Scarlet Spider; Spider-Man possessing Doctor Octopus’s tentacles; and finally the six-armed version of Spider-Man.
This story arc managed to bring together six different Spider-Man, a feat that In spider verse will echo when it brings together a quintet of different Spider-Men (and Women and Pigs) from their respective universes; although instead of saving the universe, Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) tries to bring them back home while contemplating how to become Spider-Man. And just like No way home bringing together Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield as their respective versions of Parker, the “Spider Wars” story arc brings together six different Peter Parkers and showcases how they interact with each other. For example, actor Parker feels out of place, while six-armed Parker quickly becomes a liability when he begins to mutate into a giant spider.
But at their core, each of these Peter Parkers embraced the idea, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Even though the odds are stacked against them, they manage to work together. Even Spider-Carnage uses the classic mantra when Spider Prime sucks him into a universe where Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben never died. Ben manages to talk Spider-Carnage out of his crazy plan, and the villain more or less effectively commits suicide by jumping into a black hole with the weapon he intended to use to destroy reality.
Stan Lee Joins Spider-Fun
The final Spider-Man: The Animated Series best known for his last scene, where Spidey returns as an actor to his home universe - and literally meets his creator in the form of Stan Lee. The sight of Lee and Spidey swinging around New York has been a dream come true for many Spider-Man fans; Lee’s wife Joan also starred in the series, voicing the clairvoyant Madame Web. Lee will play a similar role in In spider verse, where he plays a costume salesman called “Stan”. When Miles asks if he can get his suit back, Lee replies, “It always fits…in the end.” This single line serves as an overarching theme for Miles’ journey, and for Spider-Man’s mantle in general; everyone who has ever put on a mask has grown into it in their own way, and the same applies to Spider-Man: The Animated Series‘ Peter Parker.
The Spider-Verse concept later caught on in a video game. Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Similar to the “Spider Wars” arc, it featured a group of Spider-Men working together across different realities to stop Mysterio and the other villains from obtaining the Tablet of Order and Chaos. Game developer Beenox later took a similar approach with Spider-Man: At the Edge of Timein which Peter Parker made a time connection with Miguel O’Hara - Spider-Man 2099 (which also becomes an important part of Through the universes of spiders). Barnes would voice Spider-Man Noir in Shattered Dimensions and O’Hare in edge of timeBye Shattered Dimensions co-author Dan Slott ended up writing the comic “Spider-Verse” storyline during his long run on The amazing Spider Man title.
WITH Through the universes of the spider now and its continuation, Beyond the Spider-Verse, releasing in 2024, Spider-Verse will continue to serve as inspiration for various Spider-Man stories. And it all started with the Spider Wars.
Source: Collider
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