Okay, now this show is Grade A Fomage. It consisted of Spiderman, Firestar and Iceman fighting crime. On to the Good stuff.

Swarm:
This is the least belivable cartoon I have ever seen. First the Villian is a Humanoid shape comprosed entirely of swarming bees, and thus is named Swarm. That's right, it's important that he maintains a human shape. And what is his evil plan? To use radiation to turn us into bees. The Farmer who first encounters him grows compound eyes, wings and some kind of back things, I have no idea about that. He also starts chanting "Swarm is my master, swarm!, swarm!, swarm!" Because Bee people automatically wonder how they can fit into the hive mind. Next, this evil Swarm uses his radiation to create large car sized bees. Then, he uses the radiation on the hive which causes it to grow to three stories. Now, I can suspend disbelief a lot, but I refuse to accept that radiation can cause a beehive to grow several hundred feet. The bees are sent out to gather humans to turn them into bee people. Spider man et al eventually stop him by stealing the meteor, and blasting it into space with a rocket they found in the Planetarium, which causes everything to return to normal (?)

Just for the record, Matt, Swarm was a character who originated in the comics. His first appearance was in Champions #14. He apparently "died" in the following issue. However, Swarm next appeared in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #36. I think he appeared in another issue or two of PP, TSSM, but I can't be sure off hand.

And, yeah, he was a silly villain. One of the dumbest, in concept, really. To defeat him, you don't need to call Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four or the Avengers. Just call Orkin's.

Ditto for Electro.

All you have to do is get Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. I mean, what kind of villain is one whose weakness is a bucket of water?

Yeah, well, at least Electro tends to be a more credible opponent until you dump the bucket of water on him. But Swarm? He's a skeleton animated by a colony of killer bees. If you have to send a superhero after him, send the Human Torch. He could burn Swarm and his bees away. (IIRC, amongst the Champions, Ghost Rider was the most effective against him. Though Iceman and Hercules each and/or both should've slaughtered Swarm, too.)

Or that really obscure super-hero duo, No-Pest Strip Man and his trusty sidekick, Swatter.

IIRC, they did fight Swarm in Marvel Super Feature #23. Surprisingly, Swarm beats the cr4p out of them. As a matter of fact, I think No-Pest Strip died in that issue. Swatter has since taken over that identity and has vowed vengeance against Swarm. Look for a reluctant team up between Spider-Man and No-Pest Strip Man II later this year. Kevin Smith will be writing it.

This show was very important. It had a flashback to Iceman's orgins and it revealed that Jean Grey's original name was "Miracle Girl." They rip on Wolverine's outfit in the film (But have an elderly Jewish man in a silly hat and cape and call him the villian?) but not miracle girl? Of course, this was back before beast was blue, and the X-men just looked like the Fantastic four if they hung out with Dr. Hawkings and Bird Man.

"Miracle Girl"? Not according to the comics. Her original superhero(ine) codename was Marvel Girl. And at the time this series debuted (late 70s, IIRC) the Beast had been blue-furred for years. The fur was added in Amazing Adventures #11, published in 1972, I do believe.

If I'm reading this correctly, Matt is talking about Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the Saturday morning cartoon, correct? If so, then here's somebody who remembers it well.
Basically, it was my big intro to the world of the Marvel mutant superheroes, so I admit to being probably much more dazzled by this show than it deserved. (Specially when after a few years they started including a Hulk story in the package too.)

Anyhow, the above is necessary to explain why the ep with Iceman's flashback has remained fairly vividly in my mind after all these years - and I'm almost certain that Jean Grey is in fact called 'Marvel Girl' there, as in the comics.

Don't remember Swarm the buzzy skeleton at all, though. He does sound seriously dumb...but then again I've been watching the DVD of Challenge of the Superfriends with the small nephew, and compared to some of the stuff the Legion of Doom comes up with, Swarm's plan is practically authorised by Hawking. (I have always wondered, offhand, where comic writers would have found ideas without radiation to kick around? )

I kinda avoided that series. I dunno. I guess I was too much a purist for it to work for me. It contradicted much of the established Marvel continuity. But I can't imagine the cartoon changing Jean Grey's codename like that.

I have two original cels from that show! One of Spiderman and one of Iceman.

More than likely I misheard Miracle for Marvel. Still, a goofy name.

But the Superfriends villians had the moral end of solving the "food shortage". So we were told...

"More than likely I misheard Miracle for Marvel. Still, a goofy name." - Matt Pesti

No arguments here. It's probably why it didn't really survive in the '70s and '80s. Y'know, why they ditched it as soon as they could.

"But the Superfriends villians had the moral end of solving the "food shortage". So we were told..."

"The Superfriends?" You mean, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman teamed up with Spider-Man, Firestar and Iceman and I missed it?

Didn't Marvel eventually make Firestar an official part of the Marvel Universe? I know there a very non-canon Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends comic book series. But did they make her a part of the mainstream Marvel U?

I also heard from Xavier "Your mutant powers are controled by your mind" All this time, I was wondering why spider man wasn't considered a mutant. Of course, why Human Torch is a hero and Firestar is a public menace is still lost on me.

That kinda gets into why I wish they'd retire the whole "Mutant Menace" angle. I mean, let's face it, if in reality, mutants were so feared and oppressed and hated, no one and I mean, no one would ever admit to being a mutant. Anyone with any kind of superpowers would claim to have gotten those powers through some kind of agency that has nothing to do with mutation.

Moreover, you're right. Why isn't Spider-Man thought to be a mutant? Sure, there was an issue of the 1960s X-Men where the X-Men thought Spidey might be a mutant. They then determined that he wasn't. But how would the general public know that the Webslinger isn't a mutie? They have no way of knowing. And if J. Jonah Jameson really wants to smear the Wallcrawler, why not claim that ol' Webhead is a mutant in a Daily Bugle editorial?

Of course, Stan has always been fairly arbitrary as to why certain heroes are perceived as menaces to society and others are not. Why are the Hulk, X-Men, and Spider-Man menaces, but the Thing, Iron Man and Daredevil aren't?

Hey, now there's an idea for a superhero! A mutant who gets zapped with Radiation and has both Mutant Powers and Radioactive powers. Now that would confound Cererbro to no end. Although an X-man with more than one Power might break the rules or something.

They had one great episode where Dracula (not the real Marvel Drac, just a Universal Import) comes to New York to find a bride at a College Dance, and picks Firestar. He has a Wolfman fly his bat winged plane back to his castle in Romania, to which Spidey and Iceman hang on to. They then defeat the nightstalker, and fly back to New York to catch the end of the dance. Now, most dances go from 7-12. Is that really a good timeframe for two transatlantic fights?

I remember watching this show, back in the day.