The Familiar Faces Behind The Recognizable Voices of the 90s Spider-Man Cartoon
Spider-Man is getting all sorts of attention lately thanks to No Way Home, which is fantastic! The more Spider-Man the better! A good way to get your Spidey fix is to go back and watch the animated series from the 1990s. It is currently available on Disney+ and features a couple storylines that have already made it to the big screen! Even cooler is you’ll probably get a sneak peek at some of the stories yet to come!
While you’re watching, you’ll probably start to think to yourself how a bunch of the voices sound familiar. Well, you’re not hearing things. A lot of the voice talent that was featured on the show, went on to do some other well known things! And usually if someone already voiced a character within other Marvel animated series (X-Men, Iron Man, etc), they would also voice them in crossovers. It is also worth mentioning that the theme song was done by Aerosmith's lead guitarist, Joe Perry!
Christopher Daniel Barnes
Starting at the top with Spider-Man/Peter Parker himself is Christopher Daniel Barnes. You’ve probably heard him before if you’ve ever seen The Little Mermaid. He was the voice of Prince Eric! And you may have seen his face before if you have seen The Brady Bunch movies from the mid 90s where he played the eldest Brady boy, Greg. He’s been in and has voiced several other things over the years.
Ed Asner
Probably the most legendary and iconic name on this list belongs to who lent their voice to be J. Jonah Jameson and that is Ed Asner. He has 410 acting credits listed on his IMDB page including countless other cartoon voices that you’ve heard over the years. Not to mention all of his in front of the camera acting credits. Ed passed away in August of 2021 at 91 years old.
Mark Hamill
With only 8 episodes of the show under his belt, I think we all might be able to recognize who the voice behind Hobgoblin is. But if you couldn’t, it is none other than Mark Hamill. You can definitely hear where he pulled inspiration for his Joker that would premier just a couple years later.
Majel Barrett
If you’re a fan of Star Trek, then you definitely know who Majel Barrett was. On Spidey, she was the voice of Mary Jane’s aunt, Anna Watson. But she appeared in countless Star Trek related things over the years (sometimes just her voice), and her first appearance on television dates all the back to 1957.
Nick Jameson
Michael Morbius is a name you might hear a lot of in the coming months. Jared Leto will play the character in the movie, but Nick Jameson was his voice on the series. With 247 credits on his acting list , with most being voice-acting (a lot of Star Wars video games), you may recognize his face if you watched the series 24.
Maxwell Caulfield
You might recognize the voice of Alistair Smythe (aka Spider-Slayer), Maxwell Caulfield from a few things. Most notably is Michael from Grease 2 or Rex Manning from Empire Records. Oh, Rexy...
Roscoe Lee Browne
The voice behind Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, belonged to legendary actor Roscoe Lee Browne. You’ve definitely heard his voice before on shows like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (animated) and Foofur. You’ve heard him in movies like Treasure Planet and Oliver & Company. And you may have seen him on shows like 227, The Cosby Show, and A Different World. He was definitely one of those actors that when you saw him, you knew you’ve seen him in a hundred other things before. Roscoe Lee Browne passed away in 2007.
Rodney Saulsberry & Alfonso Ribeiro
Rodney Saulsberry is the voice behind Robbie Robertson (a character we may not see in the MCU since it is a very different version of the Daily Bugle). Saulsberry has appeared in just about every iconic tv series from the 1980s, and went on to be in several episodes of a couple different soap operas. You may not recognize him, but your grandma might. Robbie Robertson’s son, Randy, appears in two episodes. He was voiced by the very recognizable Alfonso Ribeiro!
Rob Paulsen & Jim Cummings
Veteran voice actors Rob Paulsen (The Animaniacs and so much more) and Jim Cummings (his voice has been in every Disney thing since the mid-90s) check in playing the roles of Hydro-Man and Shocker respectively.
Martin Landau
Legendary actor Martin Landau provided the voice for Scorpion for 5 episodes.
James Avery
James Avery (Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince) provided the voice of War Machine for 2 episodes. Check out his IMDB page for a fun look at a bunch of cartoons you had no idea he provided the voice for, including Rhodie for an Iron Man animated series!
One and Dones
Rue McClanahan (Blanche from the Golden Girls), Telma Hopkins (Aunt Rachel from Family Matters), Sandra Bernhard (What hasn’t she been on?), George Takei (Star Trek) voiced Wong and John Vernon (he was in Killer Klowns From Outer Space and several other things you’d probably recognize him from) provided the voice for Dr. Strange, and even Stan Lee are among those who only voiced a character in one episode of the show. Stan being the only person to voice himself.
With so many talented actors, I'm bound to have unintentionally glossed over one that might’ve meant something to you. Be sure to check out the show's IMDB page for the full cast list and let me know who you spotted that should’ve made my list. I encourage everyone to go back and watch Spider-Man: The Animated Series on Disney+. It just might give you a sneak peek of some things to come in the future to the MCU!