Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is set to release on June 2nd, 2023. Recent trailers and posters tease representations of Spider-Man from across the franchise’s history, from that of Insomniac’s game to Spider-Man 2099. One variant of Spider-Man that may finally be getting the spotlight is a unique version of the character, whose premise is just as interesting as its development history.
This is Spider-Man Unlimited, a dystopian cyberpunk take on the friendly-neighborhood wall-crawler that premiered on Fox Kids in 1999. The story of Spider-Man Unlimited is one of legal constraints, poor timing, and creative passion. Here is a quick refresher on one of the more obscure corners of the Spider-Verse.
7 The Cartoon Was Created Due To Bankruptcy
With the success of Fox Kids’ Spider-Man, Fox and Marvel wanted to hold onto the show’s rights in order to be able to keep airing it. In order to do that, Fox wanted Marvel to create a new Spider-Man cartoon, which Saban, the company that brought the Power Rangers to U.S. audiences, would produce.
There was one problem with that: Marvel went bankrupt in 1996. After its restructuring, Marvel sold the film rights for Spider-Man to Sony in 1999, which would allow the company to use the storylines from the comics as inspiration for the film and its tie-in cartoon series. This meant that Saban would have to come up with unique stories for the new cartoon.
6 It Could Have Been Spider-Man 2099
Since Saban could not use the stories from the Spider-Man comics, they had to come up with other ideas. One that was briefly considered earlier on in the development process was to make a cartoon based on the Spider-Man 2099 comics, which would follow future Spider-Man, Miguel O’Hara, in Nueva York.
This idea was ultimately dropped. According to the Spider-Man Unlimited producer, Will Meugniot, the concept was toyed with “for a week or so.” A root cause for dropping it was that Batman Beyond had premiered in 1999 on Kids WB, which was already doing a future version of a popular superhero. While the Spider-Man 2099 cartoon had never come to pass, the Spider-Man Unlimited suit does bear a striking resemblance to that of O’Hara’s.
5 It is One Of The Darker Incarnations of Spider-Man
While the 90s Spider-Man cartoon is ripe with drama worthy of a soap opera, Spider-Man: Unlimited took things to much darker territory. The cartoon covers such topics as eugenics, class struggles, and torture.
The main villain of the series, the High Evolutionary, created sentient animal-human hybrids on Counter-Earth, which he claims are free from such flaws of humanity as war and greed. His new society ultimately ostracizes human beings, and he strikes at anyone who stands in the way of his vision. His chief scientist, Sir Ram, has conducted cruel experiments, including on an innocent child, transforming him into a living mummy.
4 Another Planet
The premise of Spider-Man Unlimited sees Spider-Man board a space shuttle on a mission to rescue astronaut John Jameson, son of J. Jonah Jameson, who is stranded on Counter-Earth. It is a planet that orbits the sun exactly parallel to Earth and has its own variations of Earth locations. It has its own New York City, complete with its own version of the Daily Bugle, the Daily Byte.
On this planet, there are also several parallels to Spider-Man’s classic rogues gallery. These include an alternate Green Goblin, who on Counter-Earth is a vigilante hero, and Electro, who is a humanoid electric eel.
3 Nanomachines, Son!
The modern film incarnation of Spider-Man, portrayed by Tom Holland in the MCU, has worn costumes based on Tony Stark’s technology, including being composed of microscopic robots. While this has been standard for Spider-Man recently, the concept was visited much earlier in Spider-Man Unlimited.
Peter Parker’s new, high-tech costume comes from a device worn on his wrist, which releases thousands of nanobots that he, as Peter Parker puts it, “discreetly borrowed” from Reed Richards of the Fantastic 4. The suit also has a couple of extra gadgets, including tracking devices, a stealth mode, and a sonic device for fending off the symbiotes Venom and Carnage.
2 Pokemon Killed It
While Spider-Man: Unlimited did get respectable viewership, it aired in the same time slot as Pokemon on Kids WB, which was a rating juggernaut. Fox Kids was also struggling to remain competitive, so the newly minted Vice President of Programming, Roland Poindexter, started shuffling the schedule frequently and putting more resources into shows that would capitalize on the "gotta catch 'em all" craze.
This resulted in Spider-Man Unlimited being put on hiatus for a year after only a few episodes aired. While the full season did get broadcasted a year later, the series was ultimately canceled.
1 It Ends On A Cliffhanger
Throughout the series, symbiotes Venom and Carnage plan on awakening an ancient entity called the Symbonic (check this) underneath the surface of Counter-Earth. The season finale sees the symbiotes setting their plan into motion, which will turn the planet into a symbiotic hive-mind.
Unfortunately, fans of Spider-Man Unlimited never got to see how this cliffhanger would be resolved, as the show would ultimately be canceled. A season 2 was in the works, which would have resolved the cliffhanger, expanded the world of Counter Earth, and finally got Peter Parker home. Hopefully, with Spider-Man Unlimited in Across the Spider-Verse, fans can get some much-needed closure.