SUPERHERO TOONIVERSE: What can you tell me about the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series??
CORT LANE: It is very much inspired by the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, but we didn’t just want to replicate those stories. We have new stories to tell and new characters to bring into that universe. But I will say that Brian Michael Bendis is involved with breaking the stories and the characters with us, and we’re also very lucky to have Mr. Paul Dini involved, so we have a lot of strength on this project. We want this to be the best and most dynamic and exciting Spidey series ever.
SUPERHERO TOONIVERSE: In your mind what is different about this show?
CORT LANE: It stands apart in that we’re very clear on delivering really great Spidey stories. If there’s continuity that works for kids and works for this universe that we’re creating here, that work from classic Spidey comics, that’s great, but we don’t have to be tied to continuity or ideas that don’t work. That’s one of the things that’s freeing about the Ultimate Spider-Man universe. Another thing that’s really sexy about the show is that because this is under Marvel’s domain, we are able to explore the link he has with the rest of the Marvel universe, so other Marvel heroes appear in it and are interacting with him. That kind of interaction has become a real cornerstone of the regular Marvel comics with Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man over the past few years, and that interaction is funny, it’s interesting, it creates conflict, humor, and we’re able to do that here. It reveals more about Spidey than focus on the other characters, but it’s also really great just to see that.
SUPERHERO TOONIVERSE: For the fans this must be great…
CORT LANE: We haven’t been able to do this in the movies or in the last two shows; kids have never seen Spidey interacting with these other characters. The license Sony had for animation was limited, but this is a MARVEL show. I agree with the fans, they were sad to see Spectacular Spider-Man end, they wanted it to continue – but it was sad for Marvel because it wasn’t our show. We had nothing to do with the decision not to move forward with more episodes.
SUPERHERO TOONIVERSE: It’s well known that to keep the live action franchise, there always has to be something happening in terms of production at Sony. But the cancellation of Spectacular Spider-Man seemed to clear the way for you guys to do this show.
CORT LANE: Since they weren’t doing anymore Spider-Man animations, we wanted it back and we wanted to be able to do something with it that we thought would be bigger, better and more fun to do.