Marvel just made a Spider-Man: The Animated Series revival even more possible

Like X-Men: The Animated Series before it, X-Men '97 is part of a wider Marvel universe. It has featured cameos from various non-mutant heroes and villains, most notably Spider-Man, specifically the version from 1994's Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

As of the episode "Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs," Spider-Man has appeared more frequently than any other plot-irrelevant character. Though the wall-crawler's role in X-Men '97 has been minimal thus far, the latest episode has reignited hope for a continuation of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Spider-Man Has Been a Recurring Character in X-Men '97

Spider-Man's first X-Men '97 appearance took place in the episode "Tolerance is Extinction: Part I." When Magneto created a worldwide electromagnetic pulse to disable Bastion's cyborgs, Spider-Man was among the many characters who reacted to the strange energy wave and the subsequent blackout.

He cameoed again in "Tolerance is Extinction: Part III," this time as his civilian identity. Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Flash Thompson could be seen watching a news broadcast of Asteroid M's descent towards Earth. Finally, "Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs" showed the shapeshifting hero Morph briefly transform into Spider-Man to dodge Omega Red's tentacle strikes.

While one or two cameos could easily be dismissed as mere Easter eggs, the repeated inclusion of Spider-Man over any other Marvel hero points towards something deeper. Additionally, "Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs" was the first time that X-Men '97 showed the web-slinger in combat, proving that he works well in the series' smooth animation style.

Marvel Dashed Fans' Hopes for a Spider-Man: The Animated Series Continuation

As soon as a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series was revealed, fans began to wonder if Spider-Man: The Animated Series could receive a similar treatment. This seemed unlikely for a few reasons. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was already in production by the time X-Men '97 premiered, and Disney would presumably view two animated series about the wall-crawler as redundant.

Brad Winderbaum -- the head of television and animation at Marvel Studios -- even told ScreenRant that X-Men '97 was the only '90s-era series that Marvel had planned. More recently, Marvel Comics published Spider-Man '94, which continued the story of Spider-Man: The Animated Series in print form.

This comic proved unpopular, mainly due to its art style and the choice to skip the storyline teased in the cartoon's 1998 cliffhanger finale, but it rendered the chances of a different Spider-Man: The Animated Series revival even slimmer. Despite that, X-Men '97 has made such a thing seem increasingly likely.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series Remains Popular 28 Years Later

Spider-Man: The Animated Series was an excellent cartoon, second only to The Spectacular Spider-Man in most fans' eyes. It currently boasts an impressive 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It also invented several concepts that were later adopted by the comics and other adaptations.

It was the first piece of Spider-Man media in which the Symbiote altered Peter's personality, and it was the earliest instance of what would come to be known as the Spider-Verse. The show deserves an X-Men '97-style continuation that remains faithful to the original while taking advantage of advancements in animation technology and the looser censorship of Disney+.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has already been renewed for a second and third season, but X-Men '97 was renewed for a third and fourth season. Once Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man runs its course, there is hope that cartoons about Spider-Man and the X-Men could air side by side once more, just as they did in the '90s.

Christopher Daniel Barnes, who portrayed Peter in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, still has a working relationship with Disney, as he voiced Prince Eric in the 2024 video game Disney Speedstorm. His return to the role of Spider-Man would simultaneously reward fans who watched Spider-Man: The Animated Series decades ago and pay off the many Spider-Man cameos across X-Men '97's first two seasons.