It's hard to believe it's been nearly 14 years since the movie Iron Man kicked off the global phenomenon that has since become known as The Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, a franchise that has turned a whole generation of movie goers into superhero fans.
Now with all the action transferred onto our television screens as well, with shows like Wandavision, Loki and Hawkeye the now predominant superhero genre is far from over and looks set to go from strength to strength.
But where did it all begin? Where did people like me, children of of the 70's and 80's get our superhero fix back in the day? Before the MCU (over)exposure?
Well of course it began with the comic books, but as classic superhero screen time goes, it was the Saturday morning cartoons that roused and maintained our interest and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was perhaps the best of them all.
Spider-Man first appeared in cartoon form back in 1967 with the now famous theme tune that boasted (rather inaccurately) how "Spider-Man, Spider-man, does whatever a Spider can" but it was a short lived project and apart from another short lived (and now extremely dated and cringeworthy) live action attempt in 1977 starring Nicholas Hammond the character was destined to remain comic book fodder indefinitely.
That was until the early 80's when thanks to Spidey co-creator Stan Lee and the newly found Marvel Productions there came a boom time for Superhero cartoons and Spider-Man was set to feature very highly in its plans. Two Spider-Man themed shows were rushed into production, almost simultaneously.
The first was 'Spider-Man' a solo series that pitted the webslinger up against many of the Supervillains on Marvel's roster. The other was this one 'Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends' which followed exactly the same premise.
Only two things differ between the two. Firstly Spider-Man/Peter Parker is voiced by a different actor in the latter series (otherwise he is identical) and in Amazing Friends and as the title suggests it gives Spidey two superhero friends to join forces with.
The first of these friends was Bobby Drake who was able to produce snow and ice from the molecules in the air and transform himself in to a human ice structure known as Iceman. Iceman was an old character originally featured in the X-men series of comic books dating back to 1963..only one year after Spider-Man's original debut. Iceman was the amiable and affable comic relief often the one with the one liner or gag to offer in any given situation and transported himself about everywhere on a self made ice slide which was pretty cool, but which seemed to disappear very quickly even as quickly as the next shot.
The other 'Amazing Friend' was Firestar/Angelica Jones. Where Iceman was all about the cold, Firestar generated her own inexhaustible supply of unlimited heat and fire, but to make her more than just the polar opposite of Iceman they made sure Firestar could fly as well.
Unlike Spider-Man and Iceman, Firestar was a brand new creation specifically invented for this show. She also had more than just a passing similarity to The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four series and that was by no means an accident.
The Human Torch, was set to be the third friend in this show, but it was decided at the last minute to leave the Johnny Storm character within the foursome to which he belonged, and so a brand new character was created along much the same lines..the main difference being that Firestar does not fully engulf herself in flames like Johnny Storm does.
When not out and about Superheroing, they all attend the nearby University and all have digs at Peter Parker's Aunt May's house. With one turn of a bust on the mantlepiece, their questionably rather spacious student digs transforms into a state of the high tech super hero base of operations which in one episode is explained as being a thank you gesture from none other than Tony Stark and he's not the only 'Avenger' they meet as the series progresses. There are a lot of crossover characters from other stories along the way.
This show really is the full package. Not only three great superhero's, but countless villains, humour, action and great GREAT music. What's not to like.
Spider-men will come and go, but this for me will always be my favourite 'incarnation' of the character. If such a word can be used for an animated drawing.
It's on Disney+ now which is the reason I've been able to revisit those long lost early 1980's Saturday mornings of my youth. Usually going back to things is a mistake. They are never quite as good as you remembered them to be. "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends' is an exception to that rule, it is every bit as good.. maybe better.
