The Spectacular Spider-Man Developer Says Season 3 Can’t Happen

The Spectacular Spider-Man developer Greg Weisman says there’s “no” possibility the well-remembered series returns for a third season. Weisman, who developed the animated series with Victor Cook, served as writer and story editor on the Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television production that aired 26 episodes across two seasons. When Sony returned the Spider-Man television rights to Marvel in 2009, Weisman told IGN it was in exchange for concessions on the live-action feature films. Because Sony still owned the now-discontinued Spectacular Spider-Man and its respective designs, Disney’s Marvel Animation started from scratch with an all-new animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man, on DisneyXD.

Asked on Twitter about a possible continuation of Spectacular Spider-Man, Weisman replied, “Sadly, no.” Responding to another user who inquired about there being “any possibility” of a third season, Weisman tweeted, “I don’t believe so. No.”

In 2012, ahead of the Ultimate Spider-Man reboot, Weisman explained that no “single company” canceled Spectacular Spider-Man. Instead, the fan-favorite show ended up in “a situation where no single company could proceed with it.”

Here’s what Weisman wrote about the two-season Spectacular Spider-Man during a 2012 Q&A:

• Sony had originally produced SpecSpidey as part of their overall entertainment license of the Spidey property (which of course included the extremely lucrative live action films).
• But in order to win some concession on those live action feature films, Sony returned the animation rights to the character back to Marvel.
• So now only Marvel could produce a Spider-Man cartoon. Sony no longer could, which meant SpecSpidey couldn’t continue at Sony.
• I have no idea whether Marvel was interested in continuing Spectacular Spider-Man or not. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that they would have liked to.
• They couldn’t.
• Why? Because Sony owned all the specific elements (designs, storyline, etc.) to the SpecSpidey VERSION of Spider-Man. So Marvel would have had to license all that BACK from Sony.
• You can imagine how unlikely THAT scenario was. Marvel finally gets the rights back to do an animated version of their marquee character, and then they have to pay Sony to do it instead of just starting from scratch. That was never going to happen.
• Of course, all this was complicated by the fact that Disney purchased Marvel, and Disney and Sony are direct competitors.
• And I’m sure Marvel was excited to put their own stamp on an animated Spider-Man. Who could blame them?
• So that was it. We were toast through no fault of our own. The folks at Marvel, Sony and even Disney all seemed to like our show, but the corporate mess made it impossible for us to continue.

Calling the situation a “bummer,” Weisman added, “It’s no single person or single company’s fault. It’s just how things shook out.”

Weisman on Bringing Back Spectacular Spider-Man

Weisman on Spectacular’s 26-Episode Run

Weisman on a Spectacular Spider-Man Revival

Weisman on Old Questions

Weisman on a Comic Book Continuation

Weisman on Future Plans