Appearances
Featured Characters:
- Spider-Friends
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Main story and flashback)
- Iceman (Bobby Drake)
- Firestar (Angelica Jones)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Shocker (First appearance)
- The Burglar (Only in flashback) (Final appearance)
Other Characters:
- Uncle Ben (Only in flashback) (Final appearance)
- Radioactive Spider (Only in flashback)
- Maxwell Shiffman (Only in flashback)
- Baxter Bigelow (Only in flashback)
- Bernard O'Brien (Only in flashback)
- Flash Thompson (Only in flashback)
- Crusher Hogan (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Daily Bugle (Named only)
- Stan Lee (Named only)
Locations:
- Earth-8107
- New York City, New York State,
- Empire State University
- Queens
- Aunt May's House (Main story and flashback)
- Midtown High School (Only in flashback)
- New York City, New York State,
Items:
- Spider-Man's Web-Shooters (Main story and flashback)
- Shocker's Vibro-Shock Gauntlets (First appearance)
Synopsis
As Spider-Man tries to stop the Shocker from escaping an attempted robbery, Aunt May gets harmed in the effort. That night while May is in the hospital, Peter tells Bobby and Angelica how he feels responsible for the accident because Aunt May (who thinks Spider-Man is bad) was fleeing from him. He thinks he should give up being Spider-Man. But when asked why he became Spider-Man in the first place, Peter reaffirms his original principle for becoming a crime-fighter. So the Spider-Friends set out to stop the Shocker's crime spree. The villain seems unstoppable until Spidey realizes that the Shocker's power comes from his costume. The Spider-Friends destroy the costume and Spider-Man ends up saving the day, even in the opinion of Aunt May.
Notes
- PRODUCTION TITLE: Along came a Spider-Man!
- NBC wanted an episode dealing with Spider-Man's origin but did not want Uncle Ben's death included as part of it. Writer Donald F. Glut said that Stan Lee "stuck to his guns" and insisted that it be part of the episode. All finally agreed that it would be acceptable for Uncle Ben's death to be implied instead of stated.
- Anime fans will recognize 'Joe' from Gatchaman (wearing his familiar 'No. 2' t-shirt) during Peter's wrestling match. Also, note another fan wearing the 'Gatchaman' symbol on his shirt in the same crowd. This may be because Toei Animation animated this episode in Japan.
Trivia
- The flashbacks in this episode are set chronologically before the previous animated series. The previous series episode "The Return of the Kingpin" states that Spider-Man had been around for 10 years, which sets the flashbacks in this episode over a decade before Aunt May's injury.