# Spider-Man in television
Spider-Man in television refers to the live-action and animated series adaptations of the [Marvel Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-comics) character [Spider-Man](https://www.edgepedia.org/spider-man), a history that runs from a 1967 cartoon through a 1970s CBS live-action drama, a Japanese tokusatsu version, several flagship animated series, and, most recently, parallel Disney+ and Sony-produced shows shaped by a split of television rights between Marvel's parent company Disney and [Sony Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First series | The original *Spider-Man* animated series debuted in 1967, barely half a decade after the character's first comic appearance[1](https://www.tvline.com/2150933/spider-man-best-animated-shows-ranked/) |
| First live action | Spider-Man's first live-action television appearance came in 1974 through the Spidey Super Stories segments on The Electric Company, followed by a CBS series starring Nicholas Hammond that debuted in 1977 with a TV movie before 13 episodes[2](https://comicbook.com/movies/list/every-live-action-spider-man-movie-tv-show-ranked-worst-to-best-including-spider-noir/) • [21](https://www.twomorrows.com/media/AgeofTVHeroesPreview.pdf) |
| Rights split | Sony holds the exclusive right to produce live-action Spider-Man television series and animated series with episodes longer than 44 minutes[3](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-spider-man-marvel-disney-or-sony/) |
| Disney's lane | Marvel Studios can use Spider-Man in half-hour animation, which enabled *Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man* and Spider-Man's role in *Marvel Zombies*[4](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/spider-man-is-the-reason-marvel-zombies-is-a-tv-show-and-not-a-movie-according-to-the-producer-we-had-to-take-our-big-epic-story-and-break-it-down-into-4-chapters/) |
| Biggest hit | *Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends* has reached nearly 1.3 billion hours streamed on Disney+ and is Marvel's most-watched TV series on the platform[5](https://press.disneyplus.com/news/disney-plus-marvels-spidey-and-his-amazing-friends-season-7-greenlight) |
| Series count | One retrospective ranking covers 14 Spider-Man TV shows[6](https://www.tvline.com/2227416/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked/) |
## The rights framework
Television adaptations of Spider-Man are governed by a divided rights structure. Under Sony's 1999 acquisition of the film rights, the agreement spanned both live-action and animated depictions of the character; as things now stand, Sony alone may create live-action Spider-Man TV shows and animated ones whose episodes run past 44 minutes[3](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-spider-man-marvel-disney-or-sony/). [Marvel Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/marvel-studios), owned by Disney since Disney's acquisition of Marvel, retains the ability to use the character in half-hour animation. Brad Winderbaum, Marvel's Head of Animation, described the arrangement directly: "Sony has [the] other rights. We can use Spider-Man in a half-hour animation, which is why we're able to make Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man as well"[4](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/spider-man-is-the-reason-marvel-zombies-is-a-tv-show-and-not-a-movie-according-to-the-producer-we-had-to-take-our-big-epic-story-and-break-it-down-into-4-chapters/).
This division has visible consequences. Because Marvel Studios holds only "certain rights" to Peter Parker, *Marvel Zombies*, originally conceived as a two-hour animated movie, was restructured into a four-episode limited series so that Spider-Man could appear without Sony's consent in a feature-film capacity[4](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/spider-man-is-the-reason-marvel-zombies-is-a-tv-show-and-not-a-movie-according-to-the-producer-we-had-to-take-our-big-epic-story-and-break-it-down-into-4-chapters/) • [7](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/disney-plus/marvel-zombies-review). Conversely, Sony leads the live-action *Spider-Noir* series, which falls entirely within its jurisdiction and premieres on MGM+ and Prime Video without being a Marvel Studios production or following the MCU's narrative constraints[8](https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/feature/why-both-sony-marvel-can-make-spider-man-tv-shows/).
## Early live action
**The CBS series.** Spider-Man's first live-action television appearances came in 1974, in [The Electric Company](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-electric-company)'s Spidey Super Stories segments, while his live-action series debut followed in 1977, when CBS launched a show starring [Nicholas Hammond](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicholas-hammond) with a TV movie before moving forward with 13 episodes; the longer the show ran, the more it tried to appeal to adults and shed its comic-book charm[2](https://comicbook.com/movies/list/every-live-action-spider-man-movie-tv-show-ranked-worst-to-best-including-spider-noir/) • [6](https://www.tvline.com/2227416/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked/) • [21](https://www.twomorrows.com/media/AgeofTVHeroesPreview.pdf). [Stan Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/stan-lee) criticized the result in an interview with the Television Academy Foundation: "With 'Spider-Man,' I felt the people who did the live-action series left out the very elements that made the comic book popular"[6](https://www.tvline.com/2227416/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked/).
**The Japanese version.** In 1978, Japan's Toei Company produced its own live-action *Spider-Man*, a tokusatsu (Japanese special-effects genre) take that departed almost entirely from the Marvel comics. Its Spider-Man piloted a giant robot called Leopardon, and although its fidelity to the comics is minimal, the series has acquired cult status among fans and is credited with influencing [Super Sentai](https://www.edgepedia.org/super-sentai)'s later use of giant robots, in the franchise that later gave rise to Power Rangers[9](https://as.com/meristation/series/como-y-donde-puedes-disfrutar-de-las-mejores-series-sobre-spider-man-r/) • [22](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/projects/project/images/JapaneseAnimationGuide.pdf).
## The animated eras
The original *Spider-Man* animated series arrived in 1967 with what TVLine calls its immortal theme song[1](https://www.tvline.com/2150933/spider-man-best-animated-shows-ranked/). The best-known classic, *Spider-Man* (1994), ran five seasons and streams on Disney+; it follows Peter Parker balancing the Daily Bugle, Mary Jane, and his secret identity, and features cameos from heroes including Daredevil, Punisher, Captain America, Doctor Strange, the X-Men, and the [Fantastic Four](https://www.edgepedia.org/fantastic-four)[10](https://www.disneyplus.com/explore/articles/spider-man-movies-shows) • [11](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/spider-man/). Rights agreements placed limits on the show's production: since the live-action and animation rights had been licensed separately to other studios during the 1980s and the start of the 1990s, the writers were barred from showing Spider-Man throwing punches at villains, from saying "kill," and from showing death on screen.[12](https://saturation.io/budgets/spider-man-1994)
Later animated series each repositioned the character. A half-hour animated show produced by Sony Pictures aired in the summer of 2003 on MTV in the United States[13](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/0402/04025064.pdf). *Ultimate Spider-Man* took a kid-friendly tone and made Peter Parker a [S.H.I.E.L.D.](https://www.edgepedia.org/s-h-i-e-l-d) trainee[14](https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked-list/). *Marvel's Spider-Man* (2017) took the wall-crawler back to basics, and *Spider-Man Unlimited* offered a dystopian, science-fiction refresh often compared to *Batman Beyond*[6](https://www.tvline.com/2227416/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked/) • [15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/marvel_s_spider_man/s01).
## The Disney+ era
**Spidey and His Amazing Friends.** The preschool series *Marvel's Spidey and his Amazing Friends* (2021) follows Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, and [Miles Morales](https://www.edgepedia.org/miles-morales) as Team Spidey, and has become the franchise's television powerhouse: nearly 1.3 billion hours streamed on Disney+ globally, Marvel's most-watched TV series on the platform, and the longest-running Spider-Man series overall. It was greenlit for a seventh season, with season 6 set for 2027 and season 7 for 2028[5](https://press.disneyplus.com/news/disney-plus-marvels-spidey-and-his-amazing-friends-season-7-greenlight). Nielsen notes that animated series of this kind generate high total viewing minutes because their large episode volume gives younger audiences more content to rewatch[16](https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2026/marvels-spider-man-a-franchise-that-reaches-every-generation/).
**Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.** This animated series places Peter Parker (voiced by [Hudson Thames](https://www.edgepedia.org/hudson-thames)) in an alternate origin story set in one of the MCU's timelines, and is not considered MCU canon[8](https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/feature/why-both-sony-marvel-can-make-spider-man-tv-shows/) • [17](https://www.gamesradar.com/mcu-timeline-marvel-movies-tv-shows/). Across 10 episodes it swaps Tony Stark for Norman Osborn as Peter's mentor, a change critics received as an excellent Spider-Man story despite changing almost everything but the basic formula[18](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man/critic-reviews/?season=season-1).
**Marvel Zombies.** The four-episode *Marvel Zombies* (2025), set in an alternate MCU reality overrun with zombies, includes Spider-Man in a reduced role, a direct product of the rights limits described above[4](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/spider-man-is-the-reason-marvel-zombies-is-a-tv-show-and-not-a-movie-according-to-the-producer-we-had-to-take-our-big-epic-story-and-break-it-down-into-4-chapters/) • [7](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/disney-plus/marvel-zombies-review).
## The live-action return: Spider-Noir
*Spider-Noir* reopened the door to live-action Spider-Man television. Produced by Sony, it stars [Nicolas Cage](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicolas-cage) as an aging private investigator in a 1930s-inspired reality; the character is [Ben Reilly](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-reilly), a private detective in 1933 New York who has hung up the suit after the death of his wife Ruby[8](https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/feature/why-both-sony-marvel-can-make-spider-man-tv-shows/) • [19](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/sci-fi-shows/spider-noir-review/). It premiered in its entirety on MGM+ in the United States on May 25, with a global drop on Prime Video two days later[19](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/sci-fi-shows/spider-noir-review/). The series earned a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, close to its critical score, and reviewers framed it as an antithesis to [Tom Holland](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-holland)'s Spider-Man and a sign of a less formula-driven era for superhero television[20](https://comicbook.com/movies/feature/nicolas-cages-spider-man-series-just-destroyed-sonys-spider-verse-trend/) • [19](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/sci-fi-shows/spider-noir-review/).
## Audience reach
Nielsen's analysis of U.S. viewing from January 1, 2023 through July 4, 2026 found that across TV and streaming, America's most-watched Spider-Man is animated: Miles Morales, the animated Spider-Man of the Spider-Verse films, leads total minutes viewed with just two movies, averaging over 6 billion minutes per film, roughly double any live-action Spider-Man[16](https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2026/marvels-spider-man-a-franchise-that-reaches-every-generation/). On television specifically, the animated preschool series dominates measured viewing, extending the character from Disney Jr. mornings to a noir for grown-ups[5](https://press.disneyplus.com/news/disney-plus-marvels-spidey-and-his-amazing-friends-season-7-greenlight) • [16](https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2026/marvels-spider-man-a-franchise-that-reaches-every-generation/).
## References
1. [5 Best Spider-Man Animated Shows, Ranked, TVLine](https://www.tvline.com/2150933/spider-man-best-animated-shows-ranked/)
2. [Every Live-Action Spider-Man Movie & TV Show Ranked Worst to Best (Including Spider-Noir), ComicBook.com](https://comicbook.com/movies/list/every-live-action-spider-man-movie-tv-show-ranked-worst-to-best-including-spider-noir/)
3. [Who Owns Spider-Man: Marvel, Disney, or Sony?, LegalClarity](https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-spider-man-marvel-disney-or-sony/)
4. [Spider-Man is the reason Marvel Zombies is a TV show and not a movie, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/spider-man-is-the-reason-marvel-zombies-is-a-tv-show-and-not-a-movie-according-to-the-producer-we-had-to-take-our-big-epic-story-and-break-it-down-into-4-chapters/)
5. [Marvel's Spidey And His Amazing Friends Renewed For Season 7, Disney Plus Press](https://press.disneyplus.com/news/disney-plus-marvels-spidey-and-his-amazing-friends-season-7-greenlight)
6. [All 14 Spider-Man TV Shows, Ranked, TVLine](https://www.tvline.com/2227416/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked/)
7. [Marvel Zombies review, TechRadar](https://www.techradar.com/streaming/disney-plus/marvel-zombies-review)
8. [Why Both Sony & Marvel Can Make Spider-Man TV Shows, ComicBook.com](https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/feature/why-both-sony-marvel-can-make-spider-man-tv-shows/)
9. [¿Cómo y dónde puedes disfrutar de las mejores series sobre Spider-Man?, AS Meristation](https://as.com/meristation/series/como-y-donde-puedes-disfrutar-de-las-mejores-series-sobre-spider-man-r/)
10. [Spider-Man Movies & Shows To Watch On Disney+, Disney+](https://www.disneyplus.com/explore/articles/spider-man-movies-shows)
11. [Spider-Man Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/spider-man/)
12. [Spider-Man (1994) Animated Series Budget & Production, Saturation.io](https://saturation.io/budgets/spider-man-1994)
13. [Marvel Entertainment SEC filing (2004)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/vprr/0402/04025064.pdf)
14. [Every Spider-Man TV Show Ranked, ComicBook.com](https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/spider-man-tv-shows-ranked-list/)
15. [Marvel's Spider-Man: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/marvel_s_spider_man/s01)
16. [Marvel's Spider-Man: A franchise that reaches every generation, Nielsen](https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2026/marvels-spider-man-a-franchise-that-reaches-every-generation/)
17. [Marvel timeline: The MCU movies and TV shows in chronological order, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/mcu-timeline-marvel-movies-tv-shows/)
18. [Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man/critic-reviews/?season=season-1)
19. [Spider-Noir review, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/sci-fi-shows/spider-noir-review/)
20. [Nicolas Cage's Spider-Man Series Just Destroyed Sony's Spider-Verse Trend, ComicBook.com](https://comicbook.com/movies/feature/nicolas-cages-spider-man-series-just-destroyed-sonys-spider-verse-trend/)
21. [twomorrows.com](https://www.twomorrows.com/media/AgeofTVHeroesPreview.pdf)
22. [mediag.bunka.go.jp](https://mediag.bunka.go.jp/projects/project/images/JapaneseAnimationGuide.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Adapted and franchise screen series › Comic-book and superhero television series › Marvel television series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license