The Spectacular Adaptation
The Spectacular Spider-Man was a show released in the late 2000s, which takes place in Peter Parker’s sophomore year of high school. A lot of things were planned for Spectacular Spider-Man: such as it having five seasons and movies to cover his years in college, as well that this Spider-Man was meant to be the Spider-Man for generations to come. However, this didn’t happen. But, one thing that did happen was the Spectacular Spider-Man making people’s childhoods and the amount of love towards the show. Though there’s one thing that surpasses all of those. That being that Spectacular Spider-Man is the best adaptation of Spider-Man.
What makes this Spider-Man Spectacular, the best adaptation
From the very first episode of the show Peter Parker emphasizes him being Spider-Man for a year, he enjoys what he does and has fun doing it. Once school finally starts again for Peter’s sophomore year nothing starts off good, but when it’s time for Spider-Man he still does what he needs to do. This shows that he still remains a Spider-Man who still does good despite his non hero side not having it good. As well as Spider-Man still cracking jokes and being joyful even when others are in bad situations, even when Peter Parker is in a bad situation. Later on in the episode: the villain of this episode, the Vulture tries to kidnap Norman Osborn again and yet Spider-Man still tries to save the day again and this time Spider-Man finally wins.
One major thing that plays a role in later episodes is that Peter gets a curfew that he has to call Aunt May if it’s past ten. Now the reason I bring this up is that in the next episode, a new villain is made who is Electro. Electro was made due to an accident with eels in Dr. Connor’s lab, and he would later go back to his lab in hopes that Connors might be able to cure him. And what comes next is something that makes Spider-Man, Spider-Man. Because while Spider-Man is fighting Electro, he gets a phone call from Aunt May about the ten o’ clock curfew. Now instead of making his way back home like most people would, Spider-Man instead takes care of the situation with Electro first. Another episode is an even greater reason for this Spider-Man being the best adaptation for Spider-Man.
So what happens in this episode is that Dr. Connors turns into the Lizard DNA like every other universe with Spider-Man in it. It’s important to note that Peter had already been working for The Daily Bugle by now, people were trying to get pictures of Spider-Man for the Bugle for money they would receive. During a fight with Spider-Man, Spider-Man would have his camera set up for pictures of himself to receive the money and win the competition from The Daily Bugle. It turns out that he actually does win the competition, Peter actually wins the competition and was able to cure the Lizard. But, even though all these goods were happening, the pictures of Spider-Man he took turned out to cause Peter trouble.
You see, Dr. Connors and his family with Eddie Brock and Gwen would see the article The Daily Bugle posted about Spider-Man fighting the Lizard. While Eddie looked down to see who took the photos they would see that they were taken by Peter: the same Peter who left them because of his “curfew”, the same Peter who they thought to be scared to go because of what happened with Dr. Connors, and the same Peter who’s been working with them in the lab and gained their trust, took those pictures. Peter would lose the trust of them, but also get fired from the lab. Peter has the cure for himself to not be Spider-Man anymore, the same cure that turned the Lizard back into Dr. Connors. He does consider drinking it due to what the identity of Spider-Man has caused his personal life.
While considering drinking it he sees a picture of him and Uncle Ben together when he was young, and thinks to himself that he was able to save Dr. Connors and that his son was able to have a relationship with his dad because of what Spider-Man did. This has to be one of the greatest examples of the quote, “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”. Because instead of quitting his role of being Spider-Man, he still continues to be Spider-Man still. A lot of universe Spider-Man quits but later comes back to being Spider-Man. But see Spectacular Spider-Man keeps going and not being selfish of himself, only quitting because of how his life turned out to be. Spectacular Spider-Man keeps going to save those so they may not have a life like Peter’s.
Spider-Man could keep saving people, someone could not lose their uncle. Throughout the show Spider-Man would do the same as usual, fighting the villain and saving the city. In the last episodes of season one, Spider-Man would get the symbiote by trying to stop a robbery in Connor’s lab.The symbiote mostly affected Peter Parker, but when turning to Spider-Man’s side the symbiote has an effect by Spider-Man wanting to start working for Tombstone. The reason for this is because The Daily Bugle may not be able to give Peter enough money to take care of Aunt May’s bills.
Later on when Spider-Man gets rid of the symbiote he later goes back to Tombstone to quit the job with Tombstone. One of the most iconic comics of Spider-Man comes from this comic in which Spider-Man lifts up tons of metal to free himself. It’s such a powerful example of who Spider-Man is: because the context of this is that Spider-Man is trying to find a cure for Aunt May’s sickness, when trying to do this he thinks to himself who is it that is causing trouble now, why after everything he’s done to make the streets clear. After events take place Spider-Man gets stuck under tons of metal, and gets many thoughts. But in the end, he still lifts up the metal to escape.
The Spectacular Spider-Man adapts this comic but with minor changes. This takes place in the second season in episode four: the plot for this episode is that Doctor Octopus tries to get power over the city for his plan so he uses Captain Stacy to get this. In order for him to cooperate, he kidnaps Captain Stacy’s, Gwen Stacy, by having the Vulture kidnap her. Spider-Man comes to rescue her and stop Doctor Octopus’s plan. It goes good until, like the comics, Spider-Man gets stuck under tons of metal.
While under the metal he thinks of quitting and how he can’t even get out of the tons of metal, thinking that nobody can ask anymore of him. Until he hears Gwen, and thinks to himself that he can’t quit now with Gwen counting on him. And with that, Spider-Man lifts up the tons of metal saving both Gwen and Doctor Octopus. This scene is a great example of who Spider-Man is, because he still gives it his best to save those in need. To put other lives before his thoughts and even his life. Scenes like this are what make this Spider-Man Spectacular.
What makes this Peter both relatable and Spectacular
The beginning of The Spectacular Spider-Man Peter already isn’t having it good. For starters, it’s been a year since Uncle Ben’s death and it may have gotten better for him but for Aunt May it hasn’t. The bills haven’t been going well due and there’s a lack of money for her because of Uncle Ben’s death. Despite this he still gives the good vibe towards Aunt May, with that it could make Aunt May feel better seeing that he’s happy. When arriving at school Peter attempts to ask out a girl, but because of Peter’s reputation he of course gets rejected.
But the way he got rejected wasn’t a “I’m sorry, maybe we could be friends”, but a rejection of embarrassment, getting his food stolen and humiliated in front of everyone. But even with such embarrassment, both his best friends, Gwen and Harry, are there for him and comfort him. Which is relatable to us: because we have to have people both family and friends to comfort us, this teaches us that what we have like family and friends are enough to be there for us and comfort us. In this episode Peter gets a job at Connor’s lab, he arrives shoeless. He arrives shoeless because of the Vulture stealing Norman, so because of this he takes off his shoes to be in the Spider-Man suit. He wants something to go right when mostly everything goes wrong for him.
And well something good does happen. A newspaper gets in his face, it reads of Spider-Man striking again. There’s a catch though, there’s no picture of Spider-Man there, just a web of a spider. This seems amazing right? He’s Spider-Man and could get pictures of himself so easily. However, when arriving at The Daily Bugle, he gets kicked out due to Jameson’s rudeness.
On top of that Jameson takes Peter’s idea of taking pictures of Spider-Man and makes it a competition. Now what seemed to be a miracle turned out to go bad for himself, making him have another problem of having to compete with others just to take pictures of Spider-Man. With Spider-Man’s side he saves Norman again and finally defeats the Vulture. But when returning home he finds Aunt May still awake. Peter gets home and Aunt May has a talk with him: talking about how he needs to call when it’s 10:00 to let her know he’ll be home late, despite this something good happens to end the night peacefully. He eats Aunt May’s cream pie saying to himself that nothing can get better than this.
Which shows who Peter is as a person, someone who finds joy and comfort around loved ones like we do. An episode I talked about already in what makes this Spider-Man Spectacular and the best adaptation is when he fights the Lizard. When Dr. Connors turns into the Lizard everyone tries to help him, now we know that Peter is Spider-Man but the others don’t know. So when Peter “leaves” because of his ten o’ clock curfew, it makes him seem like he doesn’t care and maybe even scared like Dr. Connor’s wife suggests that maybe he’s scared. Peter never reveals his secret identity to anyone in The Spectacular Spider-Man, so no one knows why he really abandons importing things and ditches places. Peter sacrifices both his reputation to others by leaving something important and serious just so he could dress into the Spider-Man costume to help with the Lizard situation.
While Spider-Man sacrifices his life everyday not knowing if he’ll live through every trouble he faces. Of course Spider-Man saves the day but with Peter Parker, they found out it was him who took the pictures of Spider-Man fighting the Lizard while fighting The Daily Bugle. He gets fired from the Lab and also ruins his reputation with his close friends and the higher ups. But over time his reputation gets better. For example, he meets a girl named Liz and gets with her.
Now Liz isn’t like him, he isn’t all smart like him nor does he have the same potential as him. Liz is actually a popular girl and in the first season of the show is dating Flash Thompson (Peter’s bully). At first, their relationship is rocky, Liz ignores Peter while he’s supposed to tutor her. He abandons her so he could stop Electro, but Liz is just left surprised because he did that. Later on in the episode Liz goes to the Lab where Peter had worked. Liz feels bad for what she did by ignoring him and they have a moment together.
But when at school, Liz treats Peter badly by making it seem like she too is bothered by his presence when she’s not anymore. It shows just by who Peter is: Liz feels happy talking to him and likes who he is, but she hides it. This doesn’t last though because Liz spends time with Peter publicly. In one episode when the Doctor Octopus is born, Peter gets to spend tons of time with Liz at the carnival. They have fun together and enjoy their time together, yes Peter does have to leave to be Spider-Man in order to stop Doctor Octopus.
But Liz isn’t mad. It’s important to note that she’s still with Flash in this episode, but they do break up in this episode. It’s sad to the people in the show but it actually plants a seed to Peter and Liz’s growth in their relationship. They end up getting together in the same episode where Spider-Man lifts up the tons of metal I mentioned earlier. It’s a very good and shocking scene because: Peter was trying to talk to Gwen on the phone and Liz shows up to his house and asks him out as well as kiss him, at that exact moment Gwen got her phone back to talk to him.
Gwen, the person who’s liked Peter since the seventh grade, could’ve had the chance to date Peter at the exact moment if Liz hadn’t shown up. Liz understands Peter, she understands he has duties to do such as taking pictures for The Daily Bugle. She’s not upset that he has to leave her to take pictures for The Bugle, but she’s upset because of how Peter is with Gwen. Peter may have started dating Liz, but he’s always had feelings for Gwen. It’s obvious that he does have feelings for her, even Liz catches on to it too.
For instance, when it was Valentine’s Day the main cast all went to a diner: and Peter had gotten a call from The Bugle to take pictures of Spider-Man and the villains that were there, so he would leave and Liz would ask if he could stay, but he couldn’t and Liz leans in for a kiss but Peter doesn’t kiss her back and instead says bye to Gwen while having his hand on hers. Liz is hurt by this, and when Peter would later go to her house to apologize, Liz’s brother tells him to leave telling him she understands his job The Bugle and that she’s not mad at that. But she’s upset by what happened with Gwen, holding her hand and not even acknowledging Liz. Peter also isn’t able to make it to Liz’s play in their high school, Midtown High, because of his Spider-Man duties. Many watching this would assume that he’s able to make it, but he actually doesn’t get too.
The episode is both the final episode of the season and the series because of the show’s cancellation. Peter is on call with Liz and he’s apologizing to her about not making it to the play. But Aunt May comes to Peter and tells him he has to tell the truth to both Liz and Gwen. This is true because if he doesn’t he’ll just be stuck in the same situation. The Spectacular Spider-Man teaches us to tell the truth with this episode despite the bad that could happen. The bad thing that happens to Peter is that he breaks up with Liz because of him telling Gwen that he likes and her feeling the same way. That and the fact that they both agreed to break up with their partner so they could get together.
Liz is left sad about the situation and makes a scene out of them breaking up too. This is relatable to us because we all had to tell a truth that would hurt someone once before in our lives. Peter doesn’t end up with Gwen this season, and is left empty by it. Overall, this Peter isn’t just relatable because of all the pain he felt, but also relatable for the happiness he feels as well and what he does for others, putting others before himself.
The accuracy of The Spectacular Spider-Man
The Spectacular Spider-Man has to be one of the most comic accurate Spider-Man adaptations. Starting with the suit, it has one of the most comic accurate characteristics of the Spider-Man suit, which is the webwings on the armpits of the suit for him to glide. It’s definitely something that makes the suit stand out more than the others. The reason for this is because only two other Spider-Man suits have the webwings, that being the Spider-Man Homecoming suit along with the Insomniac Spider-Man 2 game. The Spectacular Spider-Man suit is faithful to the comic Spider-Man suit because of how similar they look, but only because they don’t change. Only the webbing pattern is changing. The Spectacular Spider-Man also is accurate with the web shooters.
For example, Spider-Man in the comics in the early runs was shown to constantly run out of web cartridges to shoot webs. Which is something that’s surprisingly not shown enough in Spider-Man adaptations. Spectacular Spider-Man also does many unique things with his webbing like Comic Spider-Man. For instance, Spider-Man makes a parachute with his webbing when falling down and uses his webbing to make a ball around himself which is something comic Spider-Man would do as well. Something a lot of people would miss out on is how the webshooters of Spider-Man in the Spectacular universe look exactly alike the webshooters in the 616 universe.
Which is a nice detail. The main storyline of The Spectacular Spider-Man also follows the comics, although they change some things up. However, it still remains a good story with well written characters. In the main comics, specifically the 616 comic universe. Peter gets bit by the radioactive spider in a science lab instead of Oscorp.
Peter in The Spectacular Spider-Man universe also doesn’t get bit by a spider in Oscorp but by a radioactive spider in the ESU lab. The Spectacular Spider-Man show also understands the symbiote. This is because in the comics when Spider-Man received the symbiote for the first time ever: he doesn’t get a change in mood because of the symbiote but because of Peter’s feelings towards the symbiote, almost like he’s worshipping the symbiote. The Spectacular Spider-Man understands that and it’s shown and made clear. Examples can be shown when Spider-Man returns to the lab while wearing the symbiote and decides not to give it and that maybe he was meant to get the suit because of the symbiote boosting his strength and abilities.
Spider-Man was gonna tell Captain Stacy that he had the symbiote but ultimately decided not to because they would take the symbiote away from him. When Peter loses Eddie as a friend he doesn’t remain sad for long because he acknowledges how he has the symbiote and doesn’t need Eddie. Speaking of the symbiote, The Spectacular Spider-Man symbiote suit also looks like the comic symbiote Spider-Man suit. Though, it doesn’t exactly like it to begin with. At first when Spider-Man gets the symbiote it doesn’t look exactly like a comic symbiote suit, instead as time goes on when Spider-Man has the symbiote more it takes over him more and more.
Until it looks like the comic version of the symbiote Spider-Man suit. The Spectacular Spider-Man also has references to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. The Spectacular Spider-Man references: Spider-Man stopping the train in Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man doing a stance on the train in Spider-Man 2, Peter changing into the Spider-Man suit while running in an alley way, and the scene of showing Peter’s veins changing with spiders in the veins.
Final Words
Overall, The Spectacular Spider-Man is the best adaptation of Spider-Man and Peter Parker by far and a beautiful written story that still remains faithful to the Spider-Man comics. I’m happy to say I grew up and that The Spectacular Spider-Man is my Spider-Man.
