Characters that didn't appear in the animated Secret Wars

[The Overlord]

As you lot of the characters that appeared in the comic version of the secret Wars did notr appear in the animated Secret Wars in Spider-Man TAS.

Many characters were left out for different reasons:

THe Hulk and She-Hulk were going to be in the animated Secret Wars, but they didn't get in because the Hulk cartoon was still on UPN at the time and rights to Hulk weren't available.

The X-men were going to be on the Secret wars, but Fox didn't want to pay to have the Canadian VAs come to LA again. That's why Storm was used, her first VA, Iona Morris lived in LA.

Speaking of the X-Men, they also planned on using Magneto as one of the villains, until it was pointed out that would contradict his portrayal in X-Men TAS. So instead they planned on using Mr. Sinister instead, they even plotted an episode where: "Spider-Man and The X-Men would be infiltrating Sinister's base. During the episode, Spider-Man would come upon the Venom Symbiote temporarily using it." Again they decided not to do this because they didn't want to fly Chris Britton down to LA. I will never understand why they didn't just set up another recoding booth in Canada and record the voices for the X characters in Canada.

Anyway what characters do you think should have appeared in the Secret War episodes, that didn't. Personally I was a little disapointed on few villains there were, there were like 5 villains vs. 9 heroes and Symthe and Lizard switched sides half way through, making it 3 villains vs. 11 heroes. Frankly I always felt the villains needed a few more mebers to add to their ranks. I don't understand why they didn't use Mandarin, both of his VAs lived in LA at the time.

[ifthismeansevos]

Yeah I remember that problem with the number of villains. I don't know why they didn't ressurect Mysterio or something.

[Nightwing]

Very very very interesting! I may have memorized nearly everything SpidermanTAS but I was young when I did, so I never knew any of these more intricate and/or legal items.

I loved what was done with The Secret Wars, given what they had to work with. Still, at the same time, I think some sort of props to Spider-Woman might have been cool. I would have loved to meet her, and I have yet to do any extensive research on who she is.

Back in the day, as surely all of you know, during the comic book's secret wars, Spiderman's costume was destroyed in the fighting, and he used the symbiote to make a new one, but he modeled it after Spiderwoman, because he was so impressed with her.

[ifthismeansevos]

Uhh I didn't knew it.

[The Overlord]

Very very very interesting! I may have memorized nearly everything SpidermanTAS but I was young when I did, so I never knew any of these more intricate and/or legal items.

I loved what was done with The Secret Wars, given what they had to work with. Still, at the same time, I think some sort of props to Spider-Woman might have been cool. I would have loved to meet her, and I have yet to do any extensive research on who she is.


You gotta admit the villain to hero ratio was bad, near the end the heroes greatly outnumbered the villains, why their only 5 villains and why did they have it so 2 villains switched sides half way through?

[Nightwing]

You gotta admit the villain to hero ratio was bad, near the end the heroes greatly outnumbered the villains, why their only 5 villains and why did they have it so 2 villains switched sides half way through?

LOL! Yeah I forgot about that. I'm a bit of a boy scout (metaphore version, not an actual scout) so the way I saw that was, it just shows that good is stronger and evil's got nothin'. Smythe said it himself. Octavious and Red Skull would kill each other stupid until there'd e nothing left. How meaningless is that. :p

But that's a very valid point, and I noticed it too. The Lizard's only purpose, really, was just to provide Spiderman with someone he closely knows who he can talk to.....or be eaten by!!! Depending on your mood! :D

[Stu]

The Lizard was the apprant substitute for The Hulk. As far as the ratio goes, if you remember, the FF went on thier own in one mission and in the FF focused episode, Cap, Iron Man and Black Cat were fighting The Red Skull until Doom sent them all home.

But yeah, a few more villains would've been preferable. But even the comic had sucky villains in that version.

[Spider-Man]

The Lizard was the apprant substitute for The Hulk. As far as the ratio goes, if you remember, the FF went on thier own in one mission and in the FF focused episode, Cap, Iron Man and Black Cat were fighting The Red Skull until Doom sent them all home.
I don't mind that they had to substitute the Lizard for the Hulk. While seeing the Hulk would have been neat (I wonder what his design would have looked like) having the Lizard in there gave Spider-Man more of a stake in this with his friend's life. However there didn't really seem to be a threat in this arc. I think they did need to bring in just a few more villains to try and tip the scales.

[Bones Justice]

I was disappointed by the animated version of Secret Wars. I didn't mind the rosters they chose so much. But they changed the whole reason behind the war! I thought the original comic book series and it's sequel series were great but they totally skipped the idea for the animated series.

My only real complaint about the roster was Captain America. I really like the character but it doesn't make sense to include him and then make Spider-man the team's leader.

[Antiyonder]

Was Professor X to be included with the other X-Men, or was it just those who could participate in combat?

I wonder if there would have been a reference to the X-Men episode "Old Soldier" since Wolverine and Cap would be involved in the action.

[Nightwing]

Was Professor X to be included with the other X-Men, or was it just those who could participate in combat?


I don't think so, because the teleportation device that Spiderman used to bring other Marvel heroes to help him only had enough power for one more person, and he didn't want to leave the X-Men out. So he picked the one who seemed to be the most powerful in his eyes: Storm. That's what I would have done.

Another factor was the voice casting and who was located where. That would dictate who is available.

Come to think of it, Spiderman didn't really completely KNOW the X-Men, outside of working with them and realizing that they're good people. So at the time I don't think he fully understood the concept of how Xavior is their guiding light and inspiration. Also, he initially wanted Storm because he thought she would be at least some help in matching The Beyonder's power. Little did he know that not only would her powers be insufficient in matching The Beyonder's, but it wasn't the Beyonder who he should be angry with.

[Spider-Man]

I was disappointed by the animated version of Secret Wars. I didn't mind the rosters they chose so much. But they changed the whole reason behind the war! I thought the original comic book series and it's sequel series were great but they totally skipped the idea for the animated series.
What was the original reasoning behind the war?

I remember alot of people being upset that Spider-Man picked Storm from the X-Men instead of another character like Wolverine but Nightwing makes sense. Who would you rather have on your side? Someone who can control and manipulate the elements or a short hairy guy who's a good scrapper? As much as I like Wolverine the choice is a no-brainer.

[Bones Justice]

What was the original reasoning behind the war?


Since this is outside the main topic, I'm gonna spoiler it. I highly recommend reading Secret Wars and Secret Wars II to anyone that hasn't already. They were two great series.


The Beyonder was a near-omnipotent being that came from outside the regular universe. He (I use the term "he" loosely, since the Beyonder was basically a sentient universe of energy) could do anything. But he knew absolutely nothing about emotions. After a rift appeared between the two universes, the Beyonder saw his first glimpse of the Marvel universe. The Beyonder became curious. He created the battleworld, made up of pieces of planets across the galaxy (a suburb of Denver, CO, became part of battleworld). The Beyonder then collected two teams of combatants for battleworld -- those that fought for themselves and those that fought for others, though these distinctions were not made clear immediately. Magneto, who was considered a villain by most at the time, was sided with the heroes, because the Beyonder did not see the distinction. The Beyonder had only one decree -- "Slay your enemies, and I shall grant you all that you desire." The Beyonder, in effect, was trying to learn what motivated both groups. He was curious about emotions, especially desire. A great battle ensued.

In the sequel series, the Beyonder takes human form and comes to Earth. He has learned of desire but now wants to learn how to be satisfied. Again, he can have quite literally anything that he wants. Is that all that there is to being satisfied?

The animated version of Secret Wars was only about Spider-man proving his ability to lead. Rather tame in comparison to the original idea, in my opinion. Also, the Beyonder was some weak nobody that didn't matter all that much in the grand scheme of it. Madame Web wasn't even in the original story. But it didn't matter as much which heroes and villains were included (or not). The fact that they took a great idea and turned it into a simple test of leadership for Spider-man was a wasted opportunity.

[Antiyonder]

I don't think so, because the teleportation device that Spiderman used to bring other Marvel heroes to help him only had enough power for one more person, and he didn't want to leave the X-Men out. So he picked the one who seemed to be the most powerful in his eyes: Storm. That's what I would have done.

Another factor was the voice casting and who was located where. That would dictate who is available.

Come to think of it, Spiderman didn't really completely KNOW the X-Men, outside of working with them and realizing that they're good people. So at the time I don't think he fully understood the concept of how Xavior is their guiding light and inspiration. Also, he initially wanted Storm because he thought she would be at least some help in matching The Beyonder's power. Little did he know that not only would her powers be insufficient in matching The Beyonder's, but it wasn't the Beyonder who he should be angry with.

What I meant was that in the original draft Spidey summons the entire X-Men (Not just Storm), and they would have had a focus episode between Arrival and Gauntlet Of The Red Skull involving Mr. Sinister. What I was asking if Xavier would be counted among the X-Men. They could even have a subplot where he regains the use of his legs (Since during the original comic version he was in a cloned body which had fully functioning legs), kind off like The Thing switching between forms.

[Nightwing]

What I meant was that in the original draft Spidey summons the entire X-Men (Not just Storm), and they would have had a focus episode between Arrival and Gauntlet Of The Red Skull involving Mr. Sinister. What I was asking if Xavier would be counted among the X-Men. They could even have a subplot where he regains the use of his legs (Since during the original comic version he was in a cloned body which had fully functioning legs), kind off like The Thing switching between forms.


Ah. Sounds like a supurb amount of fun. But what I meant by what I said was how something like that wouldn't have happened because they just couldn't do it. They dove into some of our fellow Marvel friends but the focus of the animated wars was pretty much to introduce who The Beyonder and Madam Webb are and to get Spiderman's feet wet as a leader.

On that note, regarding the SpidermanTAS reasons for what was chosen to be done in the Animated Secret Wars, Xavior would probably make Peter's leader job easier cuz of all the creds he has. So that might defeat the purpose.

Maybe we should just do the whole thing again, with a more general Marvel theme instead of Spiderman, like how the SpidermanTAS one was. Animate the whole classic series, just as it was when it came out and set Marvel character history. I'd love to see that.