Spider-Man in other media
| Adaptations of Spider-Man in other media | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Stan Lee Steve Ditko |
| Original source | Comics published by Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962) |
| Print publications | |
| Novel(s) | Spider-Man: Mayhem in Manhattan (1978) Spider-Man: The Venom Factor (1994) Spider-Man Super Thriller: Midnight Justice (1996) Spider-Man: Down These Mean Streets (2005) |
| Reference book(s) | The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide (2007) |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | Spider-Man (2002) |
| Television show(s) | Spider-Man (1967) The Amazing Spider-Man (1977) Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) Spider-Man (1994) The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008) |
| Audio presentations | |
| Radio show(s) | Spider-Man: From Beyond The Grave (1972) |
| Soundtrack(s) | "Ode to a Superhero" (2003) |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | Spider-Man (1982) The Amazing Spider-Man (1990) Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (1994) Ultimate Spider-Man (2005) Spider-Man: Friend or Foe |
Spider-Man is a fictional comic book character who has been adapted in various other media.
Television
Official appearances
Spider-Man has been adapted to television many times, as a short-lived live-action television series, a Japanese tokusatsu series, and several animated cartoon series. There were also the "Spidey Super Stories" segments on the PBS educational series The Electric Company, which featured a Spider-Man (played by Danny Seagren) who did not speak out loud but instead used only word balloons.
Spider-Man's first cartoon series ran from 1967-1970. It became known famous for its catchy theme song, which begins, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can..."
From 1978-1979, Nicholas Hammond starred as Peter Parker in the live-action television series The Amazing Spider-Man.
Two Spider-Man cartoons aired on television in 1981: the syndicated series Spider-Man which ran for one twenty-six episode season, and the more popular Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which aired on the NBC network for three seasons (ultimately totaling twenty-four episodes).
Perhaps as a bit of foreshadowing, Spider-man's hand appears shooting a web to save a citizen in the Third season X-Men Episode "Phoenix Saga 5 Child Of Light", This episode aired just months before The web-swinger's longest-running show, Spider-Man, which ran five seasons from 1994-1998, totaling 65 episodes, on Fox Broadcasting's afternoon programming block, "Fox Kids". That series continued as Spider-Man Unlimited the following year.
In 2003, MTV aired a 13-episode Spider-Man CGI series based loosely on the film continuity, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, developed by Mainframe Entertainment.
Peter Parker made a cameo in the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "Frightful." Johnny Storm hires him to make him look good
A new series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, premiered on March 8, 2008. In its first season it received critical acclaim and rocketed to the top of the ratings. Spider-Man/Peter Parker is voiced by Josh Keaton.
Parodies
Spider-Man appeared in a Saturday Night Live segment called "Superman's Funeral" where he was one of the attendees. He also appeared in a segment that was about Superman and Lois Lane's wedding.
Spider-Man appears in the Family Guy episode "Let's Go to the Hop." He saves Peter Griffin as he falls out of the window by creating a hammock out of his webs. After Peter thanks him, Spider-Man quotes "Everyone Gets One." In "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air," Spider-Man saves Cleveland Brown when he fell off the cliff while scaling it. When Cleveland thanks him, Spider-Man quotes "Everyone Gets One" and has Peter tell him. In "Back to the Woods," Spider-Man has accidentally webbed a woman that he had been sleeping with.
Spider-Man appeared in the Robot Chicken episode "Toyz in the Hood." During the Bloopers Two segment, he slams right into the window behind Katie Couric. In "Rodigitti", a boy tries to kiss Kirsten Dunst in the same style as the first movie. In "Tapping a Hero", the "Superheroes Tonight" segment had paparazzi nabbing Spider-Man emerging from the window in Aunt May's house causing Doctor Octopus to think that Aunt May is Spider-Man and attacked her. Another episode has someone dressed as Spider-Man at a scifi convention.
Timmy Turner parodied Spider-man in the movie The Fairly Oddparents in Abra Catastrophe! as The Amazing Unsueable Arachnikid.
Film
- 3 Dev Adam: An unofficial 1973 Turkish film featuring Spider-Man as a villain fighting against Captain America and Santo.
- Spider-Man: On May 3, 2002, the feature film Spider-Man was released. It was directed by Sam Raimi and stars actor Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. The film uses various CGI effects to bring Spider-Man to life. Although the film adaptation took liberties with the character's history and powers—notably, he was bitten by a genetically modified rather than a radioactive spider (an idea originating with Ultimate Spider-Man), had organic web-shooters rather than mechanical ones, and had a long-standing crush on Mary Jane Watson—it was generally held to be true to the character and was widely embraced by the viewing public. It opened at a record US$114.8 million and earned more than US$403 million in the U.S. and Canada, the highest North American gross of any film released that year, though surpassed internationally (see 2002 in film). The villain of this film was the Green Goblin portrayed by Willem Dafoe.
- Spider-Man 2 was 2004's second-most financially successful movie in North America and third internationally (see 2004 in film). It premiered in more North American movie theaters (4,152) than any previous movie. Its original opening day was July 2nd, 2004, but was moved to June 30th, 2004. Its first-day gross (US$40.5 million) surpassed its predecessor's US$39.4 million record. Spider-Man 2 was also the first motion picture released in the Sony Universal Media Disc format for the PlayStation Portable, included free with the first one million PSP systems released in the United States. The villain of the film was Doctor Octopus, portrayed by Alfred Molina.
- Spider-Man 3 began production in 2005 under director Raimi. The studio released the film on May 4, 2007, on a budget reported to be more than US$250 million. The film features three villains: the Sandman/Flint Marko (portrayed by Thomas Hayden Church), the New Goblin/Harry Osborn (portrayed by James Franco), and Venom/Eddie Brock (portrayed by Topher Grace). Bryce Dallas Howard plays Gwen Stacy. The plot centers on Peter and MJ's relationship problems, which are exacerbated by the arrival of an alien symbiote that takes over Spider-man's costume and, despite enhancing his powers, also amplifies his anger, arrogance and other negative personality traits. Despite mixed reviews by critics, Spider-Man 3 opened to record-breaking sales with $59 million on its first day.
All of the official Spider-Man films rank among the list of highest-grossing films.
Novels and books
Spider-Man features in three original Marvel novels published in the 1970s by Pocket Books. In the 1990s, Byron Preiss published a series of novels based on Marvel Comics, edited by Keith R. A. DeCandido, and written by various authors including Adam-Troy Castro, Tom DeFalco, and Diane Duane; Preiss also published two Spider-Man short-story anthologies. Byron Preiss' license eventually lapsed, and the new licensee, Pocket Star (an imprint of Pocket Books), released Down These Mean Streets, by DeCandido, in 2005. In 2006, they released The Darkest Hours by Jim Butcher, and in 2007, they published Drowned in Thunder by Christopher L. Bennett. Some of the Preiss novels were team-ups with other Marvel characters (including the X-Men, Iron Man, and the Hulk), while others were solo adventures. The Byron Preiss novels shared a common continuity and occasionally referenced events in earlier novels, while later novels included a time-line.
A number of Spider-Man children's books have also been published, from early readers and picture books to novels. Guide books such as DK Publishing's Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide, by Tom DeFalco, are also common.[1]
Newspaper strip
Spider-Man debuted in January 1977 in his own daily comic strip produced by Marvel and syndicated by King Features. The strip is known as The Amazing Spiderman and is the only official instance in which the name is not always hyphenated. The strip differs from the established storylines of the comic books, most notably in the villains who Spider-Man fights and the women who Peter Parker dates.
Early story arcs in the newspaper strip were paced much like a comic book and a complete story unfolded in about 2 months of Sunday and daily strips. Many villains were introduced that have never appeared in comic books, on television or in the movies, including The Rattler, a man who acquired snakelike characteristics. Some notable villains who appeared in the newspaper strip in the late 1970s were Doctor Doom, Kraven the Hunter and Mysterio.
The earliest years of the newspaper strip were written by Stan Lee, drawn by John Romita, Sr.[2] and were reprinted as 3 separate volumes in pocket paperback form. A few selected storylines were also reprinted in a trade paperback in the 1980s, showcasing several different artists. A black & white trade paperback reprint (on high-gloss paper) of the first 2 years of the newspaper strip was released on May 3, 2007 by Panini Publishing UK.
Stage
In 2002, the company 2MA produced the first live-action Spider-Man stunt show, staged in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The same show played at Thorpe Park in Surrey, England in 2003 and 2004. Spider-Man has also made stage appearances in Pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre, and the Churchill Theatre, Bromley UK.
At Universal Studios in California, a musical version of Spider-Man was produced, combining singing and live action sequences. The musical re-enacted the Green Goblin arc.
In April 2007, it was announced that Marvel Studios has a Spider-Man musical in the works. Julie Taymor of The Lion King fame will direct and U2's Bono and The Edge will compose and write the music.[3][4] Jim Sturgess is in talks to star as Spider-Man and Evan Rachel Wood is rumored to star as Mary Jane.
Games and toys
Dozens of computer and video games starring Spider-Man, based on comics, animation, and movies, have been released for over 15 different gaming platforms. Spider-Man editions of Monopoly, chess, pinball, and many other games have also been made. Spider-Man has been included in every Marvel expansion of the tabletop miniature game Heroclix released to date. Spider-Man cards have been included in both the Overpower and VS System card games.
According to ToyFare magazine, more action figures of Spider-Man have been released than any other character except Batman. The first major Spider-Man toy was the 1966 Captain Action Spider-Man by Ideal, a costume made for the 12 inch Captain Action figure. It is estimated only 17-22 exist in the original box. ToyFare listed this Spider-Man as the most valuable action figure at $15,000 and up.
Numerous other Spider-Man action figures have been produced, from the Secret Wars line from Mattel, to the more recent from Toy Biz, (especially in the Spider-Man Classics line, Spider-Man movie lines and the Marvel Legends line). Lego and Minimates versions have also been made. Over 7800 toys, collectibles and miscellaneous memorabilia are in existence.
Real-life Spider-Men
Real-life "Spider-Men" include:
- "Spider Dan" Goodwin climbed the glass of two Chicago skyscrapers, the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center, using suction cups in 1981.
- Alain Robert, nicknamed Spiderman, is a rock and urban climber who has scaled more than 70 tall buildings using his hands and feet, without using additional devices. He sometimes wears a Spider-Man suit during his climbs. In May 2003, he was paid approximately $18,000 to climb the 312-foot Lloyd's of London building to promote the premiere of the movie Spider-Man on the British television channel Sky Movies.
- 'The Human Spider', alias Bill Strother, scaled the Lamar Building in 1921.[5]
- Fathers 4 Justice member David Chick used a Spider-Man outfit to obtain publicity for fathers' rights.[6]
Spider-Man in music
- The catchy original Spider-Man cartoon theme song has been covered and reinterpreted by numerous musical acts, including The Mr. T Experience, Ramones, Aerosmith, Michael Bublé, Moxy Früvous and Tenacious D. The 2002 and 2004 movies have featured buskers performing the song; Jayce Bartok and Elyse Dinh respectively.
- In 1972, Buddah Records released "Spider-Man: From Beyond The Grave," a rock musical story LP record with an included wordless comic strip for listeners to follow. Kingpin appears as the villain and Dr. Strange guest stars.
- In 1975 Ramsey Lewis released a single titled "What's the Name of this Funk? (Spider Man)" [sic].[7]
- In 1975 Marvel Comics and Lifesong Records released an album entitled, "Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero." It contained songs of various styles altered to elucidate certain moments and feelings of Spider-Man's origin, such as "No One's Got a Crush on Peter" and "Peter Stays and the Spider-Man Goes" interspersed with narration clips by Stan Lee.
- In 1979, German singer Peter Griffin had his first hit with a song called "Spiderman".
- In 1983, Muse Records released Woody Shaw's jazz version of "Spider-Man Blues", based on the television theme, on Shaw's "Setting Standards" album.
- In 1992, the Italian rock band 883 made it to the European charts with a song called "Hanno ucciso l'uomo ragno" (They killed Spider-Man) from an album of the same name, describing how after the death of the superhero, the streets are being overrun by gangs of stressed accountants in double-breasted suits.[8]
- The 1993 Wu-Tang Clan song "Protect Ya Neck" includes the lyric "Swingin through your town like your neighborhood Spider-Man".
- In 1994, Joe Perry of Aerosmith wrote and performed the theme song for the Fox Kids Spider-Man animated series. Joe Perry is a noted fan of Spider-Man.
- in 1998 Michale Graves wrote the song "Spider-Man" (aka The Spider-Man Song aka Spider-Man Save Me) while still in The Misfits. It is yet to be officially released, although he has played this song live in every band he's played in since. On his 2006 solo release, Return to Earth, Michale again mentions Spider-Man in the song "Butchershop".
- The 2003 "Weird Al" Yankovic album Poodle Hat has a track entitled "Ode to a Superhero". It is a parody of the Billy Joel song "Piano Man", and recounts the events of the 2002 film.
- In 2004 Nelly performed a song called "Spida Man," on his double album Sweat/Suit.
- A soundtrack album and score was released with each of the two Spider-Man films. The two soundtracks were mainly songs thematically linked to the film, performed by popular rock acts. Both soundtracks included hit singles (notably "Hero" by Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott, "Bother" by Corey Taylor (of Stone Sour and Slipknot), and "Vindicated" by Dashboard Confessional. The two scores were composed by Danny Elfman.
- For the second Spiderman film, Michael Bublé recorded a big band version of the Spider-Man theme.
- Danish pop group, Aqua, mention Spider-Man in the chorus of their single, Cartoon Heroes.
- In his 2005 album, Lost and Found,Will Smith uses the theme music from the 60's Spider-Man cartoon series in his song "Here he Comes". This song was produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff.
- In their 2005 album "Animetal Marathon VII", Japanese heavy metal band Animetal cover the opening of the 1970s tokusatsu adaptation.
- In his 2006 album, Kingdom Come, Jay-Z raps "Peter Parker: Spider-Man, all I do is climb the charts".
- J-pop singer DJ Ozma heavily dedicates Spider-Man in his 2007 single "Spiderman." The music video for song features a club full of dancers wearing black Spider-Man masks and a man dressed in a white Spider-Man suit.
- There is also an underground song called Crank Dat Spiderman. In this song Spiderman is a sexual action in which the male ejaculates in his hand and throws it into the female's face like Spider-Man's web.
- The British indie pop band Los Campesinos mention Spiderman in their song entitled Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats
Spider-Man in popular culture
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- Comic Relief aired the Spider-Man movie parody Spider-Plant Man, starring Rowan Atkinson and Rachel Stevens.
- The CGI animated movie Shrek 2 has at least two references to Spider-Man: the upside-down kiss between Shrek and Fiona, and Donkey's "donkey-sense" tingling.
- In the Stephen King movie Maximum Overdrive the main villain, a truck carrying toys, features the face of the Green Goblin.
- The Ride at Islands of Adventure: The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man opened in 1999 and is one of the most technologically advanced rides and world renown.
- Summer Roberts kisses Seth Cohen (who was wearing a Spider-Man mask) upside-down in the rain in the second season of The O.C..
- A similar event occurred in The Simpsons where Homer was Pieman.
- In an episode of The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy Grim comments on his Spidey-Sense's. When told by Mandy that he doesn't have a Spidey-Sense, he proclaims "Well that complicates matters". The title of the episode Spidermandy is a spoof of Spider-Man
- Spider-man is a playable character in the video game Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.
- In the Wii video game, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, one of the playable bunny skins is wearing a Spider-Man costume.
- Spider-Man was mentioned on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! during a acting class.
- The quote "With great power comes great responsibility" was told to Corey in the film King's Ransom.
- Spider-Man was mentioned in the film The Honeymooners
- Spider-Man was mentioned on Everybody Loves Raymond about when they were talking about be biten by a spider.
- An epsidoe of Yes, Dear had Kim reasure Sammy that "Spider-Man wasn't real. Another episode had one of the kids nickname his robot dog "Spider-Man"
- In an episode of Still Standing the football team nicknamed Brian "Spidr-Man".
- An episode of Saturday Night Live had Willem Dafoe telling James Franco to kill Spider-Man. Another episode had a bartender talking about what he would say if he met Spider-Man
- People dressed as Spiderman (occasionally obese) have made comedic appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. On an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog mimiced Spider-Man's upside down kiss from the first film. Spider-Man can also be seen in the graphic for "Nerding It Up For Pierre" segments in Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
- In the MADtv skit Bowling for Christmas a kid mentions Spider-Man as a toy he wants for Christmas. In another episode a kid mentions Spider-Man as a possible role model.
- On The Venture Bros. Dean Venture wears Spider-Man pajamas. Another episode had one of the henchmen have a Spider-Man toy web shooter. Another episode shown that henchman 21 has a Spider-Man shirt in his cloest.
- In the Fairly Oddparents TV movie, "Abracatastrophe," one of Timmy's dreams is based on the blockbuster movie, Spider-Man. It is the scene where he fights the Green Goblin the first time.
- The fictional vampire execuitoner, Anita Blake, says in the first book introducing her that she "is just your friendly neighborhood animator." This first book was recently published into a comic produced by Marvel.
- People dressed as Spider-Man can be seen in the film Loveless in Los Angeles
- In the second episode of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series while climbing up a wall using ninja equipment, Mikey refers to Spider-Man by commenting that they should leave the wallcrawling to the dude in the blue and red tights and his brother Leo tells him that he's been reading too many comic books. In the episode "City at War Part One" Raphael says "Just your friendly neighborhood turtleman" a play on the line "Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man".
- In an episode of TMNT Fast Forward called "The Journal", Michaelangelo says that his "turtle senses" were tingleling. This is related to Spidey's "Spider Sense".
- An off color Spider-Man with no black lines on his costume appears in Family Guy in two episodes saving a character within the show stating that "everyone gets one". The episodes are "Let's Go to the Hop" and "Believe It Or Not, Joe's Walking On Air". In "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story" Peter Griffin dresses as Spider-Man and crawls across a clothes line while singing in the tune of the old Batman theme song. In the episode "McStroke" Peter says "With great mustache comes great responsibility" a spoof on Spider-Man's line "With great power comes great responsibility". Another episode had a fat guy dressed as Spider-Man give a kid with cancer a $50 gift certificate to Sears
- In The Simpsons Movie, Homer rescues and adopts a pig and names it Spider-Pig. He later calls it Hairy Plopper, a spoof of Harry Potter. Homer also ad-libbed the original Spider-Man theme: "Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does." With the success of the movie, the lyric became a popular chant among fans and audiences, to the point where official ringtones of the song were released.
- In an episode of That '70s Show Eric Forman wears gloves and says I wish these shot webs an obvious reference to Spider Man he also has Spider-Man bedsheets and a considerable amount of comic books, most of them bearing the Marvel Comics logo with the titular character on the covers, and in the episode when he fought a fan at the Packers game, he tells Red that he learned his moves from Spider-Man.
- In the television cartoon Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Peter Parker (Spider-Man's alter ego) makes a cameo in the episode Frightful. He is hired by Johnny Storm to take pictures of him saving people. His name is never said, and when he tries to introduce himself to the rest of the F4, Johnny interrupts him. He is only referred to as Photo or Camera Guy. Even though his name is never spoken, the fact that he is a teenage freelance photographer hired to take pictures of superheroes is the give away.
- In The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XVI episode "I've Grown a Costume on your Face" Sideshow Mel is wearing a Spider-Man costume.
- In The Simpsons episode "Homer vs. Dignity", Mr. Burns starts paying Homer for entertaining him. One of the pranks is where Homer buys and eats a rare Spider-Man comic in front of Comic Book Guy.
- British comedian Kenny Everett played Spider-Man in a handful of sketches on The Kenny Everett Television Show, often as a pastiche of Spider-Man's abilities and powers.
- Spider-Man is one of the many Marvel and DC Comics characters to be featured in I'm a Marvel, and I'm a DC, a popular series of videos on Youtube, created by Michael Agrusso, aka ItsJustSomeRandomGuy
- Also on YouTube, many brick-films have been made in the Super Hero's honor, including a few shows, most notably the one created by the user SM3VENOM, LEGO Spider-Man the Series.
- In the Fairly OddParents episode called "The Big Superhero Wish", Mr.Crocker becomes "Doctor Crocktopus" (a spoof of Doctor Octopus).
- In The Simpsons Game, the cutscene before the third level "Around the World in Eighty Bites", Comic Book Guy mentions "With Great Hunger comes Great Responsibility". This is a reference of Uncle Ben's "With Great Power comes Great Responsibility" statement.
- Also in The Simpsons Game, if in a level that has lots of grappling for Bart, he might say "I'm like Spider-Man in a Batman costume"!
- In the Simpsons episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", when Lisa is complaining to her friends about the things that Malibu Stacy says, one girl replies saying that her Malibu Stacy doll says some weird things. Her stacy says "My spider-sense is tingling!" and "Did anybody call for a web-slinger?".
- In an episode of Hannah Montana, Jackson is held hostage by an evil, baby sitter, who locks him in a closet, he then gets bitten by a spider, and believes he has super human strength, but then realised it was his own determination that did it, but toward the end of the episode he shoots webs and swings out of the door, and into his car
- In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Cookie Dough" Madam Fosters says Uncle Bens phrase "With great power comes great responsibility". Also after she said it she said "I just got it from a DVD, something actiony!" This 'DVD' could be Spider-Man 1
- In the Simpsons episode Midnight Towboy, Homer goes power mad when becomes a tow truck driver and Ned Flanders tries to tell him that "with great power comes great responsibility." Homer then says "Who said that? I'll kill them with my power!"
Parodies
- Spider-Man has been made into a short comic parody in the 1980s called, Peter Porker: The Spectacular Spider-Ham. All the characters are animals, such as, Peter Porker (a pig), J. Jonah Jackelope (a Jackelope), and Dr. Octopussycat (a cat - and spoof of the James Bond film Octopussy).
- A soft-core porn film starring Misty Mundae called Spiderbabe debuted after the release of the first Spiderman movie in 2002. It focused mainly on lesbian porn and aired on late-night lineups of HBO or Cinemax. The plot is loosely based on Mundae's character Patricia Porker. Several of the spider powers are altered, such as Patricia shooting webbing out of her vagina rather than her wrists. Her main enemy is an alter ego of a former teacher who alters her own DNA to become a lizard-like villain.
- Spitter-Man, a popular Moron Comics mascot from the comic The Annoying Spitter-Man, is a parody of Spider-Man.
- In The Simpsons Movie, Homer Simpson had a pig which he called "spider pig" who was a pig's version of Spiderman. It had it's own version of the song: "Spider pig, Spider Pig, Does Whatever a Spider Pig Does..."
References
- ^ Spider-Fan.org Book List
- ^ http://www.keefestudios.com/studio/romita/interview.htm
- ^ 'Spider-Man: The Musical,' music by U2 CNN.com
- ^ [1] TheBadandUgly.com
- ^ Cobb, Jocelyn (September 19, 1999). "Recalls 1921 climb of 'human spider'". The Chronicle.
- ^ "In Defense of Spider-Man". Retrieved 2006-10-01.
- ^ "Discogs: Spider-Man". Retrieved 2006-10-01.
- ^ clip of "Hanno ucciso l'uomo ragno" Hanno ucciso l'uomo ragno on Italian Wikipedia
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