It was first announced in early 2012,[3][4] and debuted alongside the second season of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as part of the Marvel Universe programming block on April 1, 2012.

During the first season, corrupt industrialist Norman Osborn targets Spider-Man in hopes of collecting his DNA to create a spider-soldier army.

In the two-part season finale, Doctor Octopus takes revenge on Norman for his treatment of him and transforms him into the Green Goblin.

In the season premiere, after learning that Spider-Man gained his powers from one of Oscorp's genetically altered spiders, Doctor Octopus creates serums with animal DNA in hopes of re-creating the process.

Later, Doctor Octopus controls the Lizard so that he can join him, Electro, Rhino, Kraven the Hunter, and Beetle as a member of the Sinister Six.

During the season, Spider-Man learns more about his teammates' origins: White Tiger became White Tiger after her father Hector was killed by Kraven, Nova is an orphan who was raised by the Guardians of the Galaxy, Danny Rand became Iron Fist after training in K'un-L'un and left it to further his training, and Luke Cage received his powers from a version of the Super-Soldier Formula developed by his parents.

The New Warriors battle the Thunderbolts, during which Green Goblin escapes with the Siege Perilous and travels the multiverse to collect DNA from Spider-Man's counterparts.

In the fourth season, Doctor Octopus allies with Zola and Hydra and forms a new iteration of the Sinister Six consisting of Kraven the Hunter, Ultimate Green Goblin, Rhino, Hydro-Man, and Electro.

After reassembling the Siege Perilous, Miles moves to the main universe and lets his version of Gwen Stacy replace him.

[11] The series is adapted from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, which was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis.

[51] Actor J. K. Simmons reprises his role as J. Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi's live-action Spider-Man film trilogy for the series.

On hand at the New York City party at Midtown Comics Downtown in Manhattan were Marvel creative officer Joe Quesada, writer/producer Joe Kelly and Chris Eliopoulos, who wrote the first issue of the tie-in comic book, while the Los Angeles party at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood was attended by Marvel Head of Television Jeph Loeb, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle, voice actors Clark Gregg and Misty Lee, and creative consultant Paul Dini, who wrote the series pilot.

[59][60][61] A comic book series that ties in with the show called Ultimate Spider-Man Adventures debuted on April 25, 2012.

Brian Lowry of Variety criticized the series, suggesting that the source material was "strained through the juvenile, rapid-fire-joke filter of Family Guy", and called the show a "high-profile misfire" that didn't "bode well for Marvel's efforts to straddle the line of catering to kids without dumbing down venerable properties that plenty of adults know and love.

Club gave the pilot a "C" ranking, writing that the first episode "feels rather lame and perfunctory, with wackiness dialed up to 11 in an effort to distract from how fundamentally bland it is.

[77] Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the show a 4 out of 5 stars, noting the abundance of action and humor afforded by the series' premise, and opining that the lessons that Parker learns about growth and responsibility under the guidance of his mentor and friends would at least make lasting impressions on young viewers.