User blog:ARTaylor/The Spider-Man Voice Controversy

IGN has noted a growing controversy regarding the appearance of Spider-Man on an episode of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. In the episode "Along Came a Spider", the Avengers meet with everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood webslinger. The episode has yet to air in the United States but has already aired in Australia.

Jesse Betteride, who started the Facebook group Keep Spectacular Spider-Man Alive, noticed that he was voiced by Drake Bell, star of Ultimate Spider-Man. However, the episode was produced long before Bell was cast in the role and in 2010 The Spectacular Spider-Man star Josh Keaton claimed he recorded for the series.

Keaton posted on Facebook, “Wow, so they redubbed my audio. I recorded a few Avengers eps as Spider-Man and was looking forward to seeing them. Typical Parker luck I guess.” He also stated that he only found out after hearing that the episode aired and that seeing the screenshot of the credits "took the wind out of my sails for a second." Keaton did note that this kind of thing has happened to him before, like in The Walt Disney Company's Hercules, and he has done it to other actors. He theorized that it was for brand consistency.

Spectacular fans have gotten upset as they wished to hear Keaton reprise the role once again. They noted that "brand consistency" does not extend to Iron Man who is currently voiced by four different actors on four, soon to be five, currently airing series. They also claim that there are more fans who would be upset at the change in actors than the there would be at the lack of consistency across series. They also note a report on Marvel TV News claiming that Avengers will not be renewed for a third season anyways and will be replaced by a Marvel produced series titled Avengers Assemble, making consistency between Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Ultimate a moot point anyways.

Keaton also revealed via email that he did audition for Ultimate but did not get the part.