Gifted teenager
Peter Parker is given superpowers when he is bitten by a radioactive spider during a school field trip to
Oscorp Industries. After the death of his
Uncle Ben by a
burglar that he hesitated to stop at a wrestling arena, Peter comes to his own terms of being the superhero Spider-Man. Sometime later, Peter begins learning how to balance his crime-fighting career with his new enrollment at Horizon High, a school for students with genius-level intellect run by headmaster
Max Modell. Joining Peter in his ordeals against
Norman Osborn,
Jackal, and numerous other villains are his classmates
Gwen Stacy,
Miles Morales (who develops powers similar to Peter's and becomes the Ultimate Spider-Man), and
Anya Corazon, as well as his best friend
Harry Osborn (who eventually becomes the superhero
Hobgoblin).[1]
Taking place a few months after the previous season, Peter navigates through his sophomore year while contending with Doctor Octopus' plot of becoming the
Superior Spider-Man by possessing his body. Convinced by Peter's memories of Uncle Ben into seeing the error of his ways, Otto Octavius eventually reverses the body-swap and works to restore Peter's relationships with his peers while reforming himself as an ally to Spider-Man. Towards the end of the season, Spider-Man and company discover the existence of a cult-like organization led by Adrian Toomes called themselves the Goblin Nation, armed with the same kind of Goblin technology used by Norman.[5]
During this season, Peter gains a career at the Daily Bugle, Anya becomes Spider-Girl alias when her Spider Powers from the "Spider-Island" incident resurface, Gwen becomes
Ghost-Spider after her Spider Powers are awakened by the Blood Gem relic, and Spider-Man forms a "Spider Team" with his inner circle.
Taking place two weeks after the previous season, Spider-Man uncovers two separate plots centered on Venom. The most prominent is helping Max Modell save the Earth from an invasion of
Klyntar summoned by Venom. The secondary plot is a conspiracy helmed by Dr. Connors to frame Max for Venom's actions. It is eventually discovered that Norman Osborn has been pulling the strings behind both Connors and Venom's actions following his near-death during the first season finale. Backed up by Hobgoblin, the Spider Team is able to expose Norman's conspiracy, resulting in Max regaining his job from Connors. Though they are able to permanently vanquish Venom and his fellow Klyntar, the Spider Team's victory comes at the cost of demolishing Horizon High. To keep the spirit of their former school alive, they convince Iron Man to help them fund a tech laboratory called Worldwide Engineering Brigade "W.E.B." at an abandoned warehouse, with Peter believing that a bright future is ahead of them.
During this season, Max admits to being aware of Spider-Man's identity since the downfall of the Goblin Nation, Gwen and Anya become aware of Spider-Man's identity and vice versa thanks to Connors' manipulations, Norman is temporarily resurrected as the Dark Goblin (a hybrid of Venom and Jackal's DNA inspired by the
Green Goblin) before being reverted moments later, and Peter befriends
Mary Jane Watson.
In Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout!, Spider-Man makes guest appearances in the episodes "Back in the New York Groove" and "Drive My Carnage", with Max Modell and Venom also appearing in the latter episode. Also in this episode, Spider-Man bonds with and becomes Venom.
In Avengers: Black Panther's Quest, Kraven the Hunter makes a guest appearance in the episode "T'Challa Royale", and Spider-Man and the Vulture later make guest appearances in the episode "The Vibranium Curtain, Part 2".
In October 2016, the series was announced by
Cort Lane, senior vice president of Marvel Animation, as a replacement for the series' predecessor, Ultimate Spider-Man, which ended its run in early January 2017. Spider-Man premiered on August 19, 2017, on
Disney XD.[1][2]
The show was renewed for a second season, which premiered on June 18, 2018.[46][47][48] The show was subtitled Spider-Man: Maximum Venom for its third season.[3] Production on "Maximum Venom" started from around February 2019 and ended in October 2019.[citation needed]
The show premiered on August 19, 2017, on
Disney XD in the United States.[1][2] It premiered on August 28 on
Disney XD in India, and had a simulcast premiere October 14 on
Disney Channel and
Disney XD in Southeast Asia.
The second season premiered June 18, 2018 in the United States, and concluded on December 1, 2019. The third season premiered on April 19, 2020,[4] and concluded on October 25, 2020.
Dave Trumbore of
Collider reviewed the series premiere, and praised the series for basing the story around Peter Parker's scientific genius, saying "it pays off in fantastic ways". Trumbore was positive about the
65-episode adaptation on the
39-episode prequel series animation saying he liked the new look, and also how strong the writing and performances are".[50]