Spider-Man Swings onto ‘X-Men ‘97’ — But This Isn’t Just Any Spider-Man

X-Men ’97 is a lot of things. It’s a blast of nostalgia, it’s a sobering metaphor for our current political climate, it’s the scariest cartoon on TV right now, and it is also the most complete presentation of a Marvel cinematic universe that has ever been seen on screen. After giving us Captain America and Hulk antagonist General Ross in last week’s episode, the first part of X-Men ’97’s three-part season finale “Tolerance is Extinction” included cameos from Cap villain Baron Zemo, Fantastic Four nemesis Doctor Doom, and — oh, this is the best one — Spider-Man. Y’know, of Spider-Man fame. SPOILERS ahead.

As mentioned, yes, this is just a cameo from our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It occurs during a montage depicting the effects of Magneto’s global EMP wave, which shorts out all the world’s electronics. It also disables all of Bastion’s Prime Sentinels, so that’s good. But there’s Spider-Man, swinging through New York City, taking in the chaos of Manhattan being plunged into total darkness.

Also seen in the montage are X-Men villains Silver Samurai in Japan and Omega Red, who was unconscious and under glass in Russia and is now very much awake. But hey — Spider-Man!

While this brief cameo is very much just a brief cameo, there is more going on here. This isn’t just Spider-Man. This is the Spider-Man that starred in the ’90s Spider-Man animated series! That’s right: the ’90s Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons existed in the same mini Marvel animated universe. They even crossed over a number of times.

The Spider-Man crossover episodes in question are Season 2, Episodes 4 and 5 — “The Mutant Agenda” and “Mutants’ Revenge.” And since X-Men ’97 is a continuation of the ’90s X-Men series, then this very Spider-Man has to be the same Spider-Man from the ’90s Spider-Man series.

Unless he’s a clone. We’re… not going to let our minds wander down that path. Lord.

Anyway — with the addition of Spider-Man to its growing list of cameos, X-Men ’97 has now touched upon pretty much every once disparate corner of the Marvel universe. We’ve seen an Avenger, a Fantastic Four villain, Hulk’s archenemy, and now Spider-Man himself. If Marvel Studios wants to introduce an entire animated universe into the mix, they very much can. X-Men ’97 has certainly been a big enough success to merit spinoffs. But for now we have to settle for just seeing our childhood Web-Head thwip and flip his way back onto our screens. Fingers crossed that the next time we see him, he says something and Christopher Daniel Barnes’ voice comes out.

New episodes of X-Men ’97 premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.