Spider-Man's 5 Best Animated Marvel Team-Ups, Ranked

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is here, and it's the best argument for the continued existence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in quite a while. The "Brand New Day" supporting cast is filled with characters from outside Spider-Man's own web, from Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to Frank Castle/the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) to Sadie Sink's mystery character. (We'll leave her identity undisclosed here, but rest assured it's a significant name.)

Yet somehow, all the cameos of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" hang together, servicing this movie instead of only serving as brand management. I'd argue it's the best showcase for how a comic book style-shared universe can unlock movie storytelling potential since 2012's "The Avengers." It's worth remembering that while superhero crossovers onscreen are old hat now, for us older Marvel fans who came of age either before or during the MCU's rise, seeing Spider-Man share the screen with the Avengers was a pipe dream. To see superheroes interact with each other outside of the comics, we had to turn to cartoons.

Most "Spider-Man" cartoons, from the 1990s series commonly called "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" to the 2012 "Ultimate Spider-Man" (produced in the shadow of the MCU), have not been shy about featuring other A-list Marvel heroes as guest stars. Here are the animated stories that executed it the best.

For starters, let's begin with the show built entirely around a team-up: the early 1980s cartoon "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends," those friends being Iceman/Bobby Drake (Frank Welker), an alum of the X-Men, and Firestar/Angelica Jones (Kathy Garver), an original creation for the series. Those two brought contrasting fire and ice powers, with Spider-Man (Dan Gilvezan) in the middle as the trio's leader.

"Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" enjoyed a fairly brief run at only 24 episodes. Even so, the show found time to feature the Amazing Friends teaming up with other Marvel heroes. The most ambitious example is definitely "7 Little Superheroes," in which the Chameleon (Hans Conried) lures the Amazing Friends, Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Shanna the She-Devil to a desert island in hopes of picking them off one by one.

Two episodes of "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" also featured Iceman and Firestar's old teammates, the X-Men. This was the post-1975 iteration of the team's first appearance in animation, all part of an ultimately unsuccessful set-up for an "X-Men" spin-off cartoon. This, though, would not be the last time that Spider-Man met the X-Men in animation.

Many know Blade, the vampire hunter from the live-action "Blade" films starring Wesley Snipes. I, though, first met him via his guest appearances on the 1990s "Spider-Man" cartoon. Blade (J.D. Hall) debuts in Season 2, helping Spider-Man (Christopher Daniel Barnes) battle Morbius the Living Vampire (Nick Jameson). But they butt heads because Spider-Man wants to cure Morbius of his vampirism, while Blade only wants to slay him.

The story arc has one of the most egregious cases of cartoon censorship in my knowledge. Throughout the episodes, every character refers to "blood" as "plasma." You'd think if saying the B-word was a no-go, then they just wouldn't put vampires in the show. But it was worth it, not just because the episodes were strong but because of the impact they left. According to "Spider-Man" story editor John Semper Jr., his push to include Blade in the series is what introduced the character to Executive Producer Avi Arad. This led to the first "Blade" movie, with his "Spider-Man" guest appearances being the primary source material.

"Spider-Man" introduced a mentor character for Blade: an older, human vampire hunter named Abraham Whistler. (Whistler, whose first name certainly evoked Abraham Van Helsing from "Dracula," was voiced by Malcolm McDowell.) In turn, the "Blade" movies featured Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson.

In its second season, the sadly-canceled "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" cartoon adapted the "Secret Invasion" comic story, where the shapeshifting alien Skrulls try to conquer Earth by abducting and replacing key individuals. One of these infiltrators is hidden among the Avengers themselves: a Skrull disguised as Captain America (Brian Bloom).

The real Cap returns and defeats the imposter in the wrap-up episode midway through the season, fittingly titled "Secret Invasion." But an enemy using Cap's face leaves him tarnished by the media. "Along Came A Spider" serves as an epilogue to the Skrull arc, showing Cap rebuilding his reputation and teaming up with another often-slandered superhero: Spider-Man.

The episode employs some Cap villains, Madame Hydra (Vanessa Marshall) and the Serpent Society, but brings in some classic Spidey supporting characters: Daily Bugle Publisher J. Jonah Jameson (voiced, of course, by J. K. Simmons), who is printing the negative coverage of Cap, editor Robbie Robertson (Troy Baker), and secretary Betty Brant (Grey DeLisle). Even though Spider-Man is the guest star, he gets the central character arc, with Cap teaching him that standing up for what's right is a better reward than any accolades.

While Marvel fans were happy to see the webhead appear on the show, "Along Came a Spider..." arrived with some controversy. Originally, Josh Keaton, voice of Peter Parker in the beloved "Spectacular Spider-Man" cartoon, was cast in the episode as Spider-Man. But for stronger synergy with the concurrent "Ultimate Spider-Man," Keaton was replaced with Drake Bell (who voiced Spider-Man on "Ultimate Spider-Man"). 

Still, this recast only diminishes the episode so much. Bell's performance as Spider-Man in "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" is indeed stronger than it was on "Ultimate Spider-Man," thanks to Spider-Man's more dignified characterization.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to cap off its current saga with "Avengers: Secret Wars," named for both the original 1984 miniseries (written by then Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, drawn by Bob Layton and Mike Zeck) as well as the 2015 reimagining by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic. Both see the heroes of the Marvel Universe displaced in another realm called Battleworld, as Doctor Doom wrestles away godly power from beings called the Beyonders.

But long before the Marvel Universe was even a glimmer in the mind's eye, before Hickman & Ribic redefined what the title "Secret Wars" means, "Spider-Man" adapted the story to animation for the penultimate arc of the series. Throughout its five seasons, Spider-Man frequently teamed up with other heroes. That culminated with him bringing together an army of superheroes, from the Fantastic Four to Iron Man, for "Secret Wars."

It's a somewhat abbreviated adaptation, only running three episodes compared to the twelve-issue comic, and with a shrunken cast: The Lizard (Joseph Campanella) takes the place of the Hulk as the scientist with a monstrous alter ego, the only X-Man who shows up is Storm (Iona Morris), etc. While more ambitious plans for this "Secret Wars" ended up on the cutting room floor, these episodes do a strong job of recentering the narrative around Spider-Man as leader of the heroic forces. Spider-Man's greatest lesson, "With power comes great responsibility," is even turned into the philosophical rebuttal to Doom's (Tom Kane) selfish clinging to godhood.

"Spider-Man" Season 2 is when the crossovers and guest appearances became a regular feature of the show. The most memorable of the entire series teamed up Spider-Man with the main cast of "X-Men."

"X-Men" and "Spider-Man" were undeniably the two most successful 1990s Marvel cartoons. They're the only ones that ran for longer than two seasons, and "X-Men" of course returned recently for the new millennium as "X-Men '97" (which even wrapped up a loose end from "Spider-Man"). Putting them together was a natural fit, even worth paying extra expenses. ("X-Men" was recorded in Canada, and the cast had to be flown into Los Angeles to appear on "Spider-Man.")

The episodes adapt the comic mini-series "Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda." Dr. Herbert Landon (David Warner) has created what he calls a "cure" for the X-gene. In reality, it's a lethal serum designed to kill mutants, but Landon doesn't want that hitting the public just yet. When Beast (George Buza) is abducted as a test subject for Landon, Spider-Man and Wolverine (Cal Dodd) team up to save him. Meanwhile, Spidey's foe the Hobgoblin (Mark Hamill) — who's been blackmailing Landon with the truth of his creation — hovers around the story as a wild card. Hamill's Hobgoblin always made "Spider-Man" episodes better, and this one is no exception.

Even with the extended running time of two episodes, there's a lot going on, which doesn't exactly help the nine-member ensemble of "X-Men." Wolverine and Beast get the lion's share of screentime with Spider-Man, while Rogue (Lenore Zann) gets some funny moments flirting with him, but the other X-Men largely fade into the background. Still, I can attest that, as a kid, there was nothing more thrilling than seeing Spider-Man share the screen with the X-Men.