[Peter] So you wanna learn to be Spider-Man.

[Miles] Can you teach me? Yes, I can.

How many more Spider People are there?

[Spider-Man Noir] Hey, fellas.

Hello!

This could literally not get any weirder.

It can get weirder!

Hey, man, I'm Kevin Smith and I am here today

to talk about every iconic version of Spider-Man

that has ever been on film or television.

[upbeat music]

The Amazing Spider-Man is Nicholas Hammond

in the first live action version that we Americans saw.

At the same time, there was another Spider-Man

live action happening over in Japan in 1978.

[dramatic music]

But the one that we saw with Nicholas Hammond

was very special because it was the first time

you got to see Spider-Man in real life,

plus he was played by a kid

who was one of the original family members

in The Sound of Music.

[So Long, Farewell]

So that made it cool for your mom.

So you'd be like, I'm watching Spider-Man,

she'd be like, this is ridiculous.

And you'd be like, that boy was in The Sound of Music.

And since my mother loved Julie Andrews

in The Sound of Music, she was like,

then I approve of this Spider-Man.

And we got to watch it, but it didn't last very long.

It was fun watching him climb up a building

and getting pulled up a rope and he would just do this.

He didn't quite wall-crawl.

[Narrator] No one can do what he can do when

Spider-Man strikes back.

Spider-Man Strikes Back comes out circa, I think, 1978,

so it predates The Empire Strikes Back.

It's the best thing we could say

about Spider-Man Strikes Back is somewhere

George Lucas was flipping through a TV guide going,

Strikes Back, there it is.

Star Wars 2, what was I thinking?

And suddenly, he had a new name for his movie.

But the movie itself, Spider-Man Strikes Back,

not very memorable.

There's no scene where somebody's like, I am your father,

you know, and it's Mysterio or something.

No, it's nothing more than a title.

Then of course,

it all wraps up with Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge,

which, I was out by then.

I didn't see that one, man.

And I think by that point, I was headed toward the age of

being interested in girls and I knew that an interest

in Spider-Man wasn't gonna get me where I needed to be,

so I let it go at that point.

I didn't see it.

[Spider-Man theme song]

Long before Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire

was the guy, whoever it was, who played Spider-Man

in the Electric Company's Spider-Man shorts.

They depicted Spider-Man as being mute,

which really made an impact on me.

Later on, I played Silent Bob

and he's based on this version of Spider-Man.

He would have word balloons that popped over his head

and you would see what he was thinking.

But sometimes, they used it to communicate with other people

in the scene, it was very confusing.

What happened!

It was like, wait, are they reading his thoughts?

But the idea was it was supposed to be a word balloon.

They didn't let the guy actually speak.

But it had a killer theme song.

Even before...

Well, Spider-Man's always had a good theme song.

Like, of course, in the cartoon, we had Spider-Man,

Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can.

But in the Electric Company version,

it was Spider-Man, where you coming from, Spider-Man,

nobody knows who are.

Like, it was pretty mysterious for a kid,

you know, that was watching a program

that wasn't quite Sesame Street.

Then there was the Spider-Man cartoon most people know

because it has the amazing theme song, Spider-Man...

[Spider-Man theme song]

♪ Does whatever a spider can ♪

♪ Spins a web any size ♪

♪ Catches thieves just like mice ♪

♪ Look out ♪

♪ Here comes the Spider-Man ♪

Limited animation from back in the day.

But you know, it definitely established in animation

the formula going forward.

Peter Parker has a secret identity.

He's Spider-Man, he can't let Aunt May know about it.

He's got a girlfriend, Mary Jane.

All that stuff was in the mix in there.

And they also introduced his rogue's gallery of villains.

Spider-Man got one of the most colorful

rogue's gallery in all of comics.

Like, there's Batman, of course,

then shoulder to shoulder with him is Spider-Man

because he's got so many.

He's got Green Goblin.

He's got Hobgoblin, he's got all the goblins.

He's got Mysterio, he's got Sandman.

He's got Vulture, the list goes on and on.

In the early '80s,

before Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,

it was just Spider-Man

and Doctor Doom featured prominently in it.

Which, Doctor Doom, more of a Fantastic Four villain.

You know, Spider-Man, way out-gunned fighting Doctor Doom.

But it was Saturday morning.

I remember in the credits, there would be like, Big Ben!

They showed you, like, London, as if kids would be like,

oh, Spidey's gone international.

But they figured out, you know, we can make this way better.

And they turned Spider-Man into

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, which added

Bobby Drake as Iceman and Angelica Jones as Firestar

and they would live together

'cause they were going to Empire State University,

and Aunt May lived with them.

She still didn't know that they were all heroes and stuff.

And they had a room where things would flip

and suddenly, you know, the control board would come up.

Little base, their own little Spider Cave.

That was really great and I always loved it

'cause that's Stan Lee's voice in it.

Stan Lee was the narrator of that show.

[Narrator] Face front, heroes!

This is Stan Lee!

And he would bring you into the story.

And then at commercial breaks, he'd be, oh no,

what's gonna happen next?

So he became a part of that series.

As warmly as I remember Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,

I think it has everything to do with the fact that

Stan was, like, the omniscient narrator of that show.

[upbeat music]

Spider-Man: The Animated Series,

I always think of as Spider-Man, the toy show,

'cause that was back in the day where KB, the toy store,

was selling tons of Spider-Man toys.

Toy Biz, the company that had bought Marvel later on,

made a bunch of toys based on that line,

based on the X-Men cartoon

and based on Spider-Man: The Animated Series,

including, like, Smythe, the Spider Slayer and stuff.

What I remember most about that series

was the end, oddly enough.

[explosion]

I don't believe what you're telling me!

In your reality, I'm a character in fiction?

The last episode, Spider-Man crosses into our dimension

and meets his creator, Stan Lee.

Spider-Man?

Uh, Pam, hold my calls for a while.

So Stan has a voice in it and it's really special because

Madame Web is a character in it as well.

And Madame Web was voiced by Stan's wife, Joan Lee,

so they got to act together in the series finale

of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Then, it was also just cool to see

all of the villains represented.

Spider-Man's always made for a great cartoon

because his rogue's gallery's so colorful to look at

and it was no exception when they did

Spider-Man: The Animated Series in 1990.

They used every, every villain from every nook and cranny

that Spider-Man even crossed over with

and also brought in heroes as well.

There was Spider-Man Unlimited in 1999

and it was false advertising.

Didn't live up to its name.

It was quite limited and it was gone.

Before you knew it, it was over.

Didn't have the staying power

of some of the earlier versions of Spider-Man.

So in 2003, they do a Spider-Man, high-tech, man.

Like, with 3D animation.

Looks incredible.

And of course, it has all the earmarks,

of the trappings of the Spider-Man story that we love.

But you know, it was next generation.

It took it into the third dimension

because Spider-Man can't be held by two simple dimensions.

So there are three Spider-Man cartoons

that have come out in the recent years

that I have not caught up on.

Your honor.

[Kevin] The Spectacular Spider-Man.

I bite!

Then there's Ultimate Spider-Man.

And then in 2017, Spider-Man.

And I know my friend Scott Mosier wrote scripts

for one of them.

I think he did that for Ultimate Spider-Man

or something like that.

But no, I stopped watching the Spider-Man cartoons

'cause they started making Spider-Man live action movies.

Suddenly, you didn't have to just look at animation.

Suddenly, you could see Spider-Man in real life

and it wasn't the guy that I grew up watching on TV.

You are amazing.

[rock music]

I wasn't wowed about the Sam Raimi Spider-Man.

It came out, it was definitely groundbreaking.

I loved the trailer

when they first started showing Spider-Man

swinging through the chasms of New York.

Like, it looked really convincing.

But then when I saw the movie itself,

I was a little put-off because there's a big scene

between the two, the hero and the villain,

Spider-Man and Green Goblin.

And both of them are wearing these masks from head to toe,

so you can't even see their faces.

So at a certain point, it kinda looked like Power Rangers,

just people talking to each other like a couple of C-3POs,

nobody's face, which I thought was so silly because

Willem Defoe played the Green Goblin, played Norman Osbourn,

has one of the most expressive faces in the business,

so they could've just painted it green

and suddenly, they would've been there,

but instead they put him, Sam Raimi put him in a helmet.

I was happy that we had a Spider-Man movie,

but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Spider-Man 2, the one that Raimi did afterwards,

I absolutely loved with Dr. Otto.

And that's probably one of the greatest Spider...

One removed, one of the greatest superheroes movies

ever made and that one really touched me.

It has a moment where Mary Jane says to Peter Parker...

[Mary Jane] Isn't it about time somebody saved your life?

Really human moment

'cause that's who you gotta remember is the...

That's the epicenter of your story.

Yes, Spider-Man's impressive and he can swing

and do this [bleep].

But it's a story of Peter Parker.

It's a story of somebody incredibly mild-mannered

who, when he has the mask off, you know,

is kind of milquetoast and isn't the guy who, you know,

is the center of attention in the room.

But when he puts on the mask, he can be this guy,

create this character of Spider-Man

and he's engaging and quippy and funny.

Here's your change!

So I thought Tobey Maguire was a good Peter Parker,

but his Spider-Man didn't play like my Spider-Man.

My Spider-Man was always cracking wise

and his Spider-Man didn't really crack wise.

So I guess you can't you really blame that on him.

But his Peter Parker was pretty altruistic.

He came across that way, so I liked him.

And then the third one...

[ominous music]

Spider-Man 3 is when he's groovin'

down the streets of New York and dancin'

and doing this stuff.

And you know, that one was a little tough.

Also had a Venom that didn't look very Venom, man.

Topher Grace playing Venom is like...

Hey Parker.

He's kind of small.

So that movie, like, you know, it did well.

It made money at the box office,

but for me, it didn't capture my imagination.

I love they had the black suit in it,

the symbiote suit, don't get me wrong.

But Spider-Man 2 was the high watermark

of the Raimi trilogy for my money.

That being said, I'm sure Sam Raimi's like,

nothing you ever did was good.

So I won't judge his [beep].

[dramatic music]

[Officer] Freeze!

Down on the ground!

The Amazing Spider-Man,

the one that came after the first reboot, very controversial

because we were just finished watching Spider-Man

and then all of a sudden, Sony was like,

hey, it's happening again,

different Spider-Man, different director,

all new characters and stuff playing...

All new actors and actresses

playing the same old characters.

So it was controversial because it was a reboot

so close to the one that had just concluded

and folks didn't know what to think.

But when it came out, I enjoyed it, man.

I enjoyed that first Amazing Spider-Man movie.

I thought it was the reverse of Tobey Maguire.

Plain face, as the folks have called Tobey Maguire,

he was a great Peter Parker,

whereas Andrew Garfield, I think, was a great Spider-Man.

He was quippy and funny when he was in the suit.

No one seems to grasp the concept of the mask.

I bought it, he felt like the comic book page Spider-Man.

But his Peter Parker was way too hot.

I would've [beep] this Peter Parker,

you know what I'm saying?

And like, he was attractive and happening and with it,

no glasses and stuff.

So that was kind of a departure

from the Peter Parker that I was familiar with.

So that's the one thing I didn't like too much

about Amazing Spider-Man, man.

Give me the...

Peter Parker can't be too cool for school.

This is my path.

Then they made a sequel.

Had Electro in it.

And oh my lord, the whole thing went off the rails.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 has got Jamie Foxx, like...

I had a friend once.

It didn't work out.

Acting in a way that

led you to believe he'd never read a comic book in his life.

Like, he was like, this is what a bad guy sounds like.

And then there was another villain too.

Oh, they had the Hobgoblin/Green Goblin combo in there.

Yeah, it was kind of misguided and you know,

it made a bunch of money, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Weren't my cup of web.

Weren't my cup of web fluid, there you go.

Web fluid sounds way [beep] dirtier than I meant it, sorry.

[dramatic music]

[Tony] Nice shot, kid.

Thanks, well, I could've stuck the landing

a little better.

It's just the new suit.

Tom Holland, his first appearance as Spider-Man

in Civil War

is when we, the Spider-Man fans, finally go,

there it is, there he is.

Not only are they showing Spider-Man as a young boy

in a high school, he looks like he should be in high school.

Tobey Maguire looked like he was 40 in Spider-Man,

you know what I'm saying?

Like, he reminded me of when I saw Grease as a kid

and all the kids in high school looked like they were 30.

So when I got to high school and I looked like a kid,

I was like, what the fuck happened?

Why don't we all look like Grease?

'Cause they were all adults playing those roles.

Same thing in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man.

Tobey Maguire, I thought, was a little too old for it,

whereas Tom Holland is just right, man.

The one thing that Tom Holland brings to it, though,

nobody else ever thought to bring to that character was

he plays it with a Queens accent.

Yeah, and with pickles

and can you squish it down real flat, thanks.

How adorable is that?

So he sounds like a kid from New York, for heaven's sakes.

Every other incarnation of Spider-Man,

all the animated series, all the live actions,

even the video games,

nobody bothered to give him a New York accent.

So I thought that was ingenious.

And then I just buy him.

I believe his performance, I believed his excitement

at being involved with the Avengers,

being called in for this little mission and whatnot.

So yeah, he was a revelation.

And right then and there, I was like,

this is my cinematic Spider-Man.

[Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones]

Oh, finally.

One of the things I loved about Spider-Man: Homecoming was

they didn't show us Uncle Ben getting killed again.

Like, they didn't bother with that stuff

'cause you know, they figured the audience knows it, man.

They've seen it in the Raimi Spider-Mans,

they've seen it in the Amazing Spider-Man's two movies.

So we don't have to hit them with this, like,

with great power comes great responsibility

part of the parable.

They hit the ground running, man.

We all know that something bad happened to Peter

in order for him to become the man he is today.

And that's the beauty of Spider-Man.

Like Stan Lee would always say,

Spider-Man's not like Batman or Superman.

Superman, you know who he is.

You know, he's a middle-aged white guy.

Batman, because he's wearing a cowl, this part's cut out,

you know exactly who he is.

He's a rich guy, white rich guy.

Stan Lee said that even though, of course,

Peter Parker was a white guy from Queens,

white kid from Queens,

he said the real charm of that character, they realized,

was Spider-Man was covered from head to toe,

so once he's in the costume, you don't know who he is,

you don't know what he is.

You don't know if he's a boy, a girl,

you don't know what race, creed, or color, or anything

that character is.

So any kid reading that book can see themselves

as the character.

It's kinda ingenious, kinda wonderful.

But that character means so much to so many people

'cause you can see yourself in it.

And the beauty of that character is

he's a boy, completely out-gunned.

He's a child, completely out-gunned and out-classed,

but still, he wants to do the right thing.

You know, and most kids, if you got that power

when you were a kid, you'd be like,

oh my god, I'm gonna get rich.

Which is what he tries to do in the beginning,

but then, realizes, of course, as we know,

with great power comes great responsibility,

and turns it around.

And he becomes one of the most relatable superheroes

that ever existed.

This is a guy who's late for his rent,

who's always kinda getting into trouble

when he's not wearing the suit,

and can pull himself out of it just like that

if he would just lean into being Spider-Man for profit,

but won't do 'cause he's a hero.

[Miles Voiceover] My name is Miles Morales.

I'm the one and only Spider-Man.

At least that's what I thought.

We've seen various incarnations

of the Peter Parker character

and we know he's a white kid.

But thanks to Miles Morales,

who's a character who's introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man,

like years back, and now,

is in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,

you finally get the idea of that writ large.

It ain't just some white guy swinging through Manhattan.

Now, it's an African-American Latino kid, Miles Morales.

That's what they do with the Spider-Verse characters is,

all the elements that you're familiar with

have been slightly remixed in this different planet

or different universe where Spider-Man is not Peter Parker,

but instead, he's this.

And so for years, there were a bunch of us

who love the character who were like,

when they gonna put him in a movie?

And you know, there's been no sign of...

Since showing up in a live action movie

except in Spider-Man: Homecoming,

the Prowler referenced to having a nephew

and everybody who knows comics knows

the Prowler's nephew is Miles Morales.

Miles got bit by a radioactive spider

that come home in a bag,

that the Prowler, his uncle, had brought home and stuff,

as Norman Osbourn was trying to repeat

the same process that created

Peter Parker's Spider-Man with...

He was trying to duplicate him,

but Miles wound up getting bit.

He didn't want no kid to get bit and stuff.

And thus, the adventure begins.

My name is Peter Porker.

[Spider-Ham theme song]

Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham,

I remember buying that comic when I was a kid.

And you know, his character has been around

as the animal version of some of the Marvel heroes

and whatnot in that universe.

But you never imagine you'd see it beyond the page.

But we live in such a golden era right now

where somebody's like, let's whip

Spider-Ham into this movie as well.

Do animals talk in this dimension?

'Cause I don't wanna freak him out.

Pretty astounding that we get to see that

in my lifetime before I die, a cinematic Spider-Ham.

Hey guys.

Wanda?

It's Gwen, actually.

So Gwen Stacy, in one version of the Spider-Verse stories,

it's Gwen Stacy who gets bit by a radioactive spider,

not Peter Parker.

Peter winds up taking an elixir

that turns him into a lizard and stuff.

And then when he changes back,

he dies in Spider Gwen's arms,

which is fitting because Gwen Stacy dies over and over again

in Spider-Man's arms, in the classic telling of the story.

She's thrown from the bridge by the Green Goblin,

Spider-Man tries to save her,

but she snaps her neck in the process.

So Spider Gwen, having Peter Parker die in her arms,

is only fair and fitting and whatnot.

And then her character kinda got to go off

and have her own adventure, kinda remixed.

Hey fellas.

Spider-Man Noir is kind of like the idea of...

The Marvel noir universe was, you know,

what would Marvel have been like in the '30s?

So they, you know, tell a darker, older version of it,

not quite as brightly lit or superheroic

as you're used to with comic book stories.

A little on the darker side.

It's pretty genius they got Nic Cage to do his voice

in that movie.

And then Penny Parker is from a futuristic version

of Spider-Man, where her dad built this giant suit,

this robot thing.

It's like kind of a giant robot,

like Evangelion or something like that.

And

he gets killed and she has to take on the Spider

and so it's a different take on it.

And so Peter Parker got Penny Parker.

She's a little Japanese girl who controls this machine

that is their version of Spider-Man.

It's a kinda cool thing about the concept

is you can do it a bunch of different ways.

You know, we all know what Spider-Man looks like

and what the concept is.

But like, you know, you can go over to Turkey

and see their version of Spider-Man, he's a villain.

The Turkish Spider-Man was a bad guy,

fighting Captain America.

Some versions of Spider-Man, he could shoot lasers,

you know, whenever they bootleg him and do him overseas.

The Japanese Spider-Man was a motorcycle racer

who was doing it to avenge his brother's death.

You know, so it's a character that can translate

into any culture 'cause that captures our imagination.

This, flip, flip.

I'm gonna hit you with a bunch of web and capture people.

It's kinda cool visual and stuff.

But what makes that character transcend

and why it can go through so many different cultures

is because at the end of the day,

that's who I think most people feel they would be

in a world of superpowers.

You know, we'd all like to believe that we're Wonder Woman

or Superman or something like that.

But chances are, we'd probably be fumbling through it

and figuring it out, you know, with a heart of gold

like Peter Parker.

[funky music]

Well, Stan, we all have to grow up sometime, I suppose.

Even us characters of fiction.

Spider-Man.

It's time to go.