Paul Soles, the first animated and original Spiderman voice actor has died at age 90, his manager confirmed on Facebook.

It’s difficult to imagine the ’60s animated Spiderman without thinking of some choice memes.

To further demonstrate my point, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former chief advisor Dominic Cummings referenced it recently in Parliament as a way of ‘pointing the finger’ at whoever was in charge of the coronavirus pandemic response.

https://twitter.com/AlbyEarley/status/1397501413438201857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1397501413438201857%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nme.com%2Fnews%2Fdominic-cummings-says-governments-response-to-covid-was-like-that-spider-man-meme-2949091

Here is the original meme.

https://twitter.com/jackrae1510/status/1397500298449637376?s=20

There is also the Spiderman desk meme, where it is implied that while everyone else is out working and being productive, there’s old Spidey sitting on his lonesome.

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Even the creators behind the PS4 game, Insomniac Games, referenced it in their launch.

I hope this start to this eulogy is not disrespectful in any way. Rather, it demonstrates the currency of the original animated Spiderman series 60 odd years after it first aired.

But let us return to the original animated series produced in the years 1967-1970. It was renowned for the iconic theme song, “Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can.” Academy Award winner Paul Francis Webster wrote the lyrics and composer Bob Harris made the score.

You know the one, it even got parodied as ‘Spider Pig’ in the Simpsons Movie. 

Stan Lee created it (of course) and Steve Ditko was the artist behind those iconic memes. It was the original iteration to come out of the comic, and since then we’ve had new Spiderman movies come out as frequently as Australia changes prime ministers.

The talk of the upcoming Spiderman 3 in the Tom Holland films has seen talk of an old nemesis returning, and there is speculation that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire may even cameo.

On to of that, Sony recently trolled fans desperate for new trailer footage by teasing them even further.

It’s easy to get caught up in the juggernaut that of the web-slinger. But as a final thank you and good night to the voice actor Paul Soles, we should list his other work. He was the voice of Hermey the elf in Rankin/Bass’ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and he was Rick Jones and Bruce Banner in The Marvel Super Heroes.

He even returned to the Hulk Universe in a cameo role in The Incredible Hulk (2008).

His manager Angela Wright paid tribute in the nicest way.

“Paul Soles was truly a Canadian treasure. He lived a long life with so many adventures along the way. RIP,” she wrote wrote.

Vale Paul. Thank you for starting out as the first Spiderman out of the comics, and for the memes.

You can read more about this topic over at the Film & TV Observer.

Check out ‘The Spiderman Theme Song’ from the 1967 show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQGDzBfQ900

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