There was an interesting shot included in the season finale of X-Men 97 last year: what appeared to be the Fox Kids version of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson watching that day’s developing news on a store window display TV. When asked if that was them, the showrunners confirmed “sure was.” The next question had to be, “Was that the version of them before the series finale or after it?”
Because you see, Fox Kids’ Spider-Man series ended on a cliffhanger. In the show’s final episodes that aired in 1998, Spidey revealed his secret identity to MJ and then married her — only to discover she was a clone and the real deal had been kidnapped to another dimension. Ain’t that always the way? Now here they were together again, but under what circumstances?
The answer from the X-Men 97 people was “after the finale.” Which means we find out he rescued her, but also means the entire thing was resolved offscreen and we’d never see it. Unless…was there a 1994 Spider-Man continuation in the works? “No,” Disney+ said.
Marvel Comics has come to the rescue. Presenting Spider-Man 94, a four-issue series picking up where the cartoon left off, resolving the cliffhanger properly, and continuing events a bit beyond that for good measure. They won’t tell us yet how Spidey rescues MJ, but they will say when they come back, two “iconic” villains who never got to appear on the cartoon will be waiting for him, designed like they theoretically would be on a show that ran next to Eek The Cat and Bobby’s World.
The issues will be written by longtime Marvel scribe J.M. Matteis and drawn by artist Jim Towe. “The 1990s Spider-Man animated series has become a beloved part of Spidey lore—it was the introduction to Peter Parker and his universe for an entire generation—and I’m delighted to be diving back into that universe,” says DeMatteis. “We’re treating this as the next season of the show, which means introducing new villains, new challenges, new adventures for Peter—while doing our best to remain true to the creative spirit that John Semper and company established with the original show.”
Its worth pointing out, though, that Semper’s absence from this book was not his decision. For some unexplained reason Marvel never contacted the original showrunner of the animated series for input. “Yes, it would have been nice (some might even say, respectful) if Marvel had reached out to me at some point as a courtesy,” John stated on Twitter with a hint of saltiness. “But I have long ago abandoned all expectation that Marvel would acknowledge any of my contributions to the Marvel universe.”
So this will be a finale, just not a “Word OF God” finale. Why, who knows. The first issue of Spider-Man 94 swings into comics shops September 3.
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