The 10 things that suck about Ultimate Spider-man Tv series

The 10 things that suck about Ultimate Spider-man Tv series

Debuted on April 1st, The Ultimate spider-man TV series was met with a negative to mixed reception. After 4 episodes now, the show has still not found a solid ground, and with many flaws, more and more viewers are dropping the show.

Editorial Opinion
By strugler - Apr 16, 2012 05:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features



Debuted on April 1st, The Ultimate spider-man TV series was met with a negative to mixed reception. The show revolves around Spider-man who is offered, by Nick Fury, to be a part of a SHIELD team of young super heroes consisting of Nova, Iron Fist, Power Man, and White tiger (who are all turned into a teenage version of themselves). Unlike previous Spidey shows, this one was made almost 100% by Marvel,and has a multitude of industry writers and producers, ranging from Paul Dini to Michael Bendis, giving fans such high hopes for the series.

After 4 episodes now, the show has still not found a solid ground, and with many flaws, more and more viewers are dropping the show. To sum up the things that are wrong with Ultimate Spider-man, i made a list of what i think is wrong with the currently airing series:

1- Too many breaking the 4th wall jokes: A characteristic that is more associated with the character Deadpool, and while it can be accepted for Spider-man as well, the constant over-use of such jokes is killing the action. In fact, so many times these wall-breaking jokes are forced within action-heavy sequences, thus killing the momentum of one of the few things that work in Ultimate Spider-man.

2- WAY TOO MANY humor: Humor and Spidey go along very well. However, when most of the jokes are juvenile and not funny, the humor ends up making the show intolerable, especially that it feels forced and, most of the time, out of its place.



3- The Spider-Cycle and SHIELD gadgets: Spider-man has a SHIELD built super Motorcycle, that sticks to wall and shoots web. Need i say more? A motor cycle works for Batman, Captain America or even wolverine, but for Spider-man, a hero who can shoots web and web swing through the city, giving him a "high tech" Motor cycle just feels out of place and weak. We understand this was done in order to sell Toys but it is just one unnecessary, out of context accessory. It also seems Spider-man will be using gadgets given to him by SHIELD, as seen currently, where he uses the SHIELD high tech web shooters, instead of his, home made, classic shooters. Again, this kind of changes takes away from who Spider-man is.



4- Spidey in a team of teeangers before he even fight any real spidey villain: At the beginning of the show, it has been explained that Peter Parker has been Spider-man for a year, before he joins the SHIELD teen heroes. However it was later shown that Spidey has yet to even fight any villain from his rogue gallery. And being the first Spider-man show made entirely by Marvel, fans really expected a series that will focus solely on Spider-man and Peter Parker as he grows up and learns from his mistakes and learns about power and responsibility, not been a part of teenage Avangers wannabes. Having these teenage heroes as guest characters would have worked way better for the show.

5- Nova is SO OBNOXIOUS: The teen version of Nova is really annoying, poorly written, and made a jerk. If Marvel is trying to promote Sam Alexander's Nova this way, then i will not be surprised if people will drop the Nova comics as well.

6- There is almost no drama at all in this show: Why i can tolerate most of the silliness and unfunny jokes, one thing that is holding this show from been a good series is its lack of Drama. Ultimate Spider-man does not have any! How are we supposed to feel attached to these characters if all they do is make unfunny jokes(Spider-man), act like a jerk(Nova), say the same sexist remarks over and over again(White Tiger), or Just not do anything and just stand there(Luke Cage).

7- The show has almost No continuity: Each episode is a single story, you can watch everything out of order and still get the show. While this might not be a big issue for some viewers, i believe what makes a show or even a comics series succeed is some continuity. Seeing the characters evolve and grow up through the episodes is what makes the viewers feel attached to a show. Granted some shows were great without a heavy continuity(I am looking at you Bat-Man The Animated Series) however most fan-favorites shows have some continuity in them (The 90's version of X-men and Spider-man cartoons, the spectacular spider-man, the current Young Justice and others)

8- Too much explaining: Peter needs to take us from our hands and over-explain every single detail. While this usually is okay during the first 1 or 2 episodes, it is just getting repetitive and kills the show's momentum (when there is one)

9- Making old heroes teenagers: De-aging popular characters was something i always hated. First of all it never feels right. Second it changes the character beyond recognition, removing important part of the hero's identity (Luke cage for example). And also, are you telling me the nova corps chose this obnoxious punk to be the new nova?



10- Not only are those teenage heroes been forced on us when pete is spidey, they had to cram them into his school life as well. So now, somehow these 4 kids are in the same school as Spidey, and i must add that everyone knows(Thanks to the frightful four in episode 1) that Spidey goes to midtown High, and now just after these 4, out of nowhere, kids showed up, Spidey is now shown with 4 new other heroes. Yeah, i am pretty sure High school kids are pretty smart to deduce that these 4 new teenagers are the new superheroes that now fight alongside the web-head.


While the article gives the impression that i hate this show, the fact of the matter is i don't(Not entirely at least). I want this show to succeed but there are so many things that are keeping it from being a good series. every step into the right direction is followed by 5 steps in the wrong one.

Granted, the show has some good things such as the fluid animation, that character design and most of the voice actors are spot on. And with Season 2 now ordered and in the works, i am hoping that the show runners fix these mistakes and make this show what it should have been, an Ultimate spider-man series.
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Kalel219
Kalel219 - 4/16/2012, 6:57 AM
I disagree with you on alot of points sorry to say.

2 - I find the humor to be great, its the first take on Spider-man to actally make me laugh out loud

3 - He used the bike for 1 episode. 1

4 - He can't learn how to be Spider-man with a bunch of young heros also trying to learn to be the best they can?

6 - Paul Dini has already confirmed the show will get darker and have more drama as it goes along

7 - There's been 4 episodes, clearly continuity is going to build as the show does.

9 - I don't see this as a problem but that's just me. I can understand some fans being annoyed by it but i see it as a non issue

I myself love the show. It's not for everyone clearly, but it's nice to see a spider-man cartoon that's NOT straight by the book like TSSM was
TomSummers
TomSummers - 4/16/2012, 7:49 AM
The show doesn't even need to get darker and more serious. The show just needs a proper balance and better characterization. Like, what happened to "With great power comes great responsibility."? It's like they took the one line, every Spider-Man fan knows, and threw it out the window. He's juvenile, he's petty, he makes bad calls and constantly endangers his surroundings. It's the first time I actually agree with JJJ, in that Spidey is a menace, with his reckless act.

Also this show tries to be Scott Pilgrim, Teen Titans and Batman Brave & the Bold and that just doesn't work. Even Teen Titans, which was completely crazy, yet I totally enjoyed, knew when to be funny and when not. When Slade kicked the crap out of Robin, you didn't get a 4th wall scene or a short break, because Robin told a joke and they had to show us what it looks like. Like telling Slade he's a Clown, and immediately you get a scene with a Slade wearing Clown make-up and a red nose, getting a pie thrown in his face. You just don't break the tension like that. Also, not every joke needs to be visually shown.

I mean seriously, was I supposed to care that Harry got blasted or Peter forgot to buy the cake, for the anniversary of Ben's death, or not? Because it's hard to care when a couple seconds later the unfunny gags start rolling again.

There are supposedly all these great writers on the show, but so far everything might have as well been written by a 4th grader. These guys are either severely underused, or they just treat the show as an easy paycheck. Honestly, I can't wait to see Spider-Man appearing in "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes", at least then I'll get to see a proper Spider-Man in action again.
BigK1337
BigK1337 - 4/16/2012, 8:30 AM
Only points I will agree to on the article is point 1, 2, 5, and 8.
Everything else, well, I kind of find some of those things to work pretty well.

Like for example the motorcycle, they pretty much did a good job explaining the purpose of it right after Spiderman points out the pointlessness of it to him.
The whole team of young super heroes premise is nostalgically similar to another Spiderman show.
And continuity, it is only 4 episodes and the shows that Joe Kelly was on doesn't have much continuity from the beginning (Ben 10 and Generator Rex) to begin with.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 4/16/2012, 10:00 AM
this show isn't a bad as i thought it would be. but it's still not good.
MidNightWind
MidNightWind - 4/16/2012, 10:52 AM
I'm trying to watch and enjoy it but I just can't get get use to the fact they cancelled a perfectly good spider-man show just to show something like this. we could've done the gwen stacy storyline or see carnage or better yet see how Peter and Mary jane's relationship bloosom after gwen's death (if it ever happens) but I don't think we'll ever see that. but who knows, if Futurama and Bevis and Butt-head can come back after a long hiatus then maybe, just maybe Spectacular can come back.
Spidey91
Spidey91 - 4/16/2012, 10:52 AM
I want to support this show,it's Spidey after all...but there are things that are starting to piss me off,like the stupid cut-away gags in the middle of an action scene,don't interrupt the f*cking action scenes! especially when it's one of the stronger points of the series: the action is pretty awesome thanks to the also incredible animation.

c'mon,Paul Dini! I expect more from the guy who gave us the Justice League cartoon.
why can't they apply what works on Avengers EMH to Spidey?
I know this show still has potential,the last episode ("Venom") proved that,I just hope it doesn't take until the season finale to get really good.
superotherside
superotherside - 4/16/2012, 12:06 PM
I agree. Fix those mistakes and they'll have a great show though. I don't think the mistakes are unfixable perhaps. If they keep this up though I just want them to say this was another out of continuity show (like Iron Man Armored Adventures) and then give us the Spider-man Show we want. :)
Kissarmy
Kissarmy - 4/16/2012, 1:37 PM
everyone needs to back off alittle, i actually like how marvel is retelling the story of spiderman. if you want the same spiderman show we been seeing for more then 2 decades then go on [frick]ing netflix.
TomSummers
TomSummers - 4/16/2012, 1:47 PM
There's nothing wrong with doing a retelling or putting a new spin on things. This is just the wrong way to do it. I want them to focus on the story, even if it is completely different from anything what we've known so far. But right now, the show's story telling and pacing is it's weakest link. All we get are gags, gags, gags, gags, oh look! a dramatic moment! oh... another stupid gag and the drama is gone...

Here's a fantastic quote that perfectly highlights what's wrong with Ultimate Spider-Man.

"I can say the biggest difference between this show [YOUNG JUSTICE] and "ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN" is showcased in one detail; this show expects their audience to know who H.G. Welles is, while "USM" assumes kids have never done anything but play video games in their room or watch MTV."
Kalel219
Kalel219 - 4/16/2012, 6:13 PM
Just stick with TSSM really, this Spider-man cartoon isn't for your tastes
KoonEl
KoonEl - 4/16/2012, 6:20 PM
Spectacular had way more heart to it. Fans say they like Marvel because their characters are like us and go through similar problems. I hated the animation style of Spectacular, but the story was way better IMO. I'm still going to watch this for a while, and see if it gets better.
marvelguy
marvelguy - 4/16/2012, 11:57 PM
Mostly agree. "Spectacular" was fun, exciting, and had just enough drama to make it Spider-Man. It felt more like the "Ultimate" book than this show.

It is too video game oriented, the heroes are too childish, there's no leader, there's no sense of the great power/responsibility mantra, and the characters are just not likable.
I agree that they may be able to fix it. Are they able to retcon it by season two? You know season one is most likely in the can.
CaptainAmerica31
CaptainAmerica31 - 4/17/2012, 6:50 AM
So did Sony make spectacular spider-man?
CraptainAmerica
CraptainAmerica - 4/17/2012, 3:58 PM
Fair points. Don't agree with all of them but fair points none the less. I don't have a problem with it...

...but I will if EMH gets canned in favour of an Avengers programme to fit in with this Ultimate Spidey universe!
sianirudh94
sianirudh94 - 4/18/2012, 7:22 PM
I totally agree with you. Humor is great and all and works fine with a Spider-man show but just as the action picks up and starts to get good, it stops while we watch Spidey talk to you about something we just didn't need to know. Like in the Venom fight, the animation was awesome and then Spidey had to kill it with the fourth wall breaking. They just need to figure out when to use it best and when to just keep it aside because honestly, I'm starting to feel Spidey and Nova should just stop talking. Can't judge too much since its only been 4 episodes but I do hope they improve on the little tidbits here and there.
spideysense
spideysense - 4/24/2012, 9:04 AM
I gave this show 3 episodes to draw me in...and I actually fell asleep in the 3rd. I don't like the dynamic between Spidey and the team...well let me rephrase... I don't like that he is on a team period. Spidey is supposed to be a lone hero dealing with his abilities and responsibilities as a hero, and the show should center around that. Team ups and cameos would be cool every now and then, but it seems like Marvel is just trying to cram stuff into this show to sell more merch.
eagle1980
eagle1980 - 5/31/2012, 2:15 PM
The show sucks its awful its like disney and marvel produced some hated lovechild and then forced it on the world. Its aimed at kids of like 5 its a steaming pile manure. Seriously Avengers EMH is great but this is just sad I swear there is no humour hear at all and if your laughing at it you must be like 4. Seriously this is abysmal. I actually remember when cartoons where able to relate to people of all ages and this is the pap we get seriously This treats the viewers like kids they should have more respect for the audience than that. At least with EMH you can watch it with your kids this is just sad. Personally I think LEOB is an Idiot if he thinks cancelling EMH would curry favour with the viewers. Seriously the people who came up with this show must think the viewers are complete Idot's unable to remember one week to the next.
n3rdyone
n3rdyone - 9/25/2013, 9:58 AM
Peter Parker is a fourth-wall shattering tool? A kid-friendly Carnage? Harry Osborn is Venom? The Green Goblin is an ogre, but still has a glider? This show has taken way too many liberties with the continuities of Mainstream and Ultimate Marvel. They have yet to even reference anything from Ultimate (Gwen Stacy, Eddie Brock, the Venom Cancer thing,) and seems content to go George Lucas on this beloved character. There are several things that are missing as well.

1)The relationship between Peter Parker and Norman Osborn. Whether it be the nemesis bond from the Mainstream, or the domination paternal delusion from the Ultimate(my favorite), it isn't addressed at all. Also, the Goblin should have fire powers, as I've always preferred the ultimate version, and he should have the personality of Slade(Deathstroke) from Teen Titans, with maybe just a dash more delusion and madness.

2)Eddie Brock and the Venom saga. Their should be some reference to a childhood friend and an "accident" that killed both their families.

3)Uncle Ben. He's so far only been barely mentioned, there haven't been any flashbacks or anything of the like. He's one of the most important characters, arguably the most important supporting character, but nothing! That's just disrespectful.

4)Gwen Stacy. Whether she be a first love, a tragic loss, the other woman, or even just a punk/goth housemate, she's very important to the story.

5)A MJ romance that isn't just referenced in flashback.

6)"Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!" Seriously, say it already!

7)The relationship between Nick Fury and Peter Parker. Seriously, less superior officer, more ersatz godfather!
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