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Q: I found some super old episodes of "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends," and I recognize the voice of the narrator. Who is the man behind the scenes?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

That voice you recognize was a guy by the name of Stan Lee. Apart from being the narrator on this early-'80s animated series, he's had roles in a number of different Marvel properties throughout the years, such as a helpful truck driver in the first "Thor" movie (2011) and a bartender in "Ant-Man" (2015). Oh, and he also basically built Marvel Comics.

Lee was the creative head of Marvel when it was at its most innovative and influential. Along with co-writers/artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he created the major characters we all know, including Spider-Man.

So who else was better suited to do voice-over for the activities of the famed web-slinger in "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends?" The job required a fair bit of Marvel knowledge, since it incorporated a number of characters from across the company's universe.

It's one of the many Spider-Man cartoons produced over the years, but unlike most of those, which just borrowed characters and stories born in the comics pages, it actually created a new character who was then used in comics as well: Firestar.

Spider-Man's two "amazing friends" in this series were Iceman and Firestar. Iceman was a character from the X-Men comics, but Firestar was made specifically for the show -- reportedly because they couldn't get the rights to their first choice, the Human Torch (who had similar powers but whose rights were bound up in the larger Fantastic Four property).

Despite these humble origins, Firestar (Angelica Jones to her non-mutant friends) was later used in the comic books, even going on to join the X-Men like her old partner.

 

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