Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the six hundred and fifth week of examinations of comic book legends and whether they are true or false.
Here's Part 1 of this week's Comic Book Legends Revealed! Let's continue!
COMIC LEGEND:
"Spider-Man Unlimited" was originally going to be a "Spider-Man 2099" cartoon
STATUS:
False Enough for a False
A while back, I did a legend about how Will Meugniot was forced to scrap his original idea for a "Spider-Man" cartoon series due to the then-recently signed deal by Sony to make a "Spider-Man" film.
Reader James wrote in to say:
That doesn’t make much sense. If the rights were with Sony and not Fox, then Unlimited shouldn’t have been able to use Peter Parker! Though apparently Unlimited was originally supposed to be Spider-Man 2099, which is a different character.
First off, James, how it worked was that both Sony and Fox has the right to do stories starring Peter Parker, Sony's deal just allowed them access to the stories from the main Spider-Man title. It's the difference between being allowed to use a character and being allowed to tell stories based on stories that that character starred in. Fox could use Peter Parker, but they couldn't have him in stories based on his comic book adventures, since Sony had the right to mine those stories for their animated series (which was scheduled to be released to tie-in with the film).
Secondly, as to the whole "Spider-Man 2099" aspect of things.
"Spider-Man Unlimited" was not originally designed as a "Spider-Man 2099" series.
The show's creator, Will Meugniot, clearly delineated the process he took in creating "Spider-Man Unlimited." Here is his original proposal.
When he had to revamp the show, they did briefly consider using "Spider-Man 2099," but they never actually went through with the idea.
Meugniot actually replied to a commenter asking, "Did the idea to use Spider-Man 2099 for this series ever cross your mind?"
with "Actually, Spider-Man 2099 was seriously considered, but Batman Beyond was already in the works, and had covered that territory pretty well."
"Batman Beyond" debuted the same year as "Spider-Man Unlimited."
So I think it's fair enough to give this one a false!
Thanks for the suggestion, James! And thanks, as always, to Will Meugniot, who is so helpfully open with his career. You rock, Will!
Check out my latest TV Legends Revealed at CBR: Was "Frosty the Snowman" not actually a Christmas story until it was made into a famous animated TV special?
Check back tomorrow for part 3 of this week's legends!
And remember, if you have a legend that you're curious about, drop me a line at either brianc@cbr.com or cronb01@aol.com!