- Title: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends – The Origin of the Spider-Friends
- wiki: link
Today’s Throwback Tuesday post takes us back to 80s Saturday morning cartoons and the world of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Looking for a new animated series featuring their most popular character, and looking to tap into the same audience who enjoyed Super-Friends, Marvel decided on a team-up show featuring Spider-Man (Dan Gilvezan), one of the original X-Men, and a new character created for the show (who would become popular enough to eventually be added to the main Marvel Comics Universe). Appearing later in the show’s run, and narrated by none other than Stan Lee himself, “The Origin of the Spider-Friends” explains how Spidey first teamed-up with Iceman (Frank Welker) and Firestar (Kathy Garver) to save Tony Stark (William Marshall) and defeat the Beetle (Christopher Collins).
Iceman’s simplified look worked well for the show, as did the mild tension between Peter and Bobby where Angelica was concerned. Obviously geared to a young audience, there are some goofier moments here as Angelica and Bobby use their powers on Peter in the Empire State University cafeteria and when Iceman gives Spider-Man the cold shoulder (literally). The episode makes the Beetle more formidable than usual (three super-heroes to take this guy down, even if he is super-charged by Stark’s power booster?), but does highlight how well the trio work as a team (while also explaining how they managed to pay for all the high-tech gadgetry in their secret headquarters). Although Tony Stark appears in multiple scenes, we only get a single cameo from Iron Man (who doesn’t interact with our heroes).
