[7.7/10] Easily the best of the Secret Wars arc. To be honest, this was more of a Fantastic 4 episode than a Spider-Man episode, but I didn’t really mind. The idea of Ben Grimm as the fulcrum between the good guys and the bad guys, with Reed Richards feeling the guilt of turning him into The Thing, and Dr. Doom earning his loyalty through curing him, makes for a nice push and pull that complicates the show’s good vs. evil dynamic.
I also really enjoyed the use of Doom as the negative image of Spider-Man’s “with great power comes great responsibility” ethos. I loved the moment where Doom asks the group if they’d give up their powers, and Spider-Man can honestly say yes. In many ways, being Spider-Man has been a curse as much as it’s been a blessing, since his Uncle Ben-instilled sense of moral responsibility means he has to put himself in harm's way and lose people he loves in the process. Doom wants power for power sake, and sees it as a reason for people to fete him, rather than for him to genuinely serve the people.
I actually really like Doom as a villain here. He’s more complicated than the average baddie, seeing himself as a savior to these people and genuinely making a utopia (albeit one built on complete control) rather than the hellscapes that other bad guys have created. There’s some very shallow fascism commentary there, but the idea that something beautiful can be tainted because it’s built under the auspices of an autocratic regime is a legitimate one that works in this context. Doom’s own desire to make New Latveria a genuinely great place to be, but at the cost of him being the unquestion ruler with exacting justice, makes him a novel antagonist.
Of course, it quickly devolves into psychic nightmare creatures and threats to kill the good guys. When he steals the Beyonder’s powers, things get a little out of whack, but I appreciate the poetry of Ben Grimm seeing the harm that the man who saved him is doing, and using the same power-separator ray to rob Doom of the Beyonder’s powers.
I’ll admit, I’m not crazy about the ending, where Beyonder admits he was just going along with Doom taking his powers as part of the experiment, and that this whole thing was just another test for even bigger showdown, but that’s the sort of Trek-ian moral that feels appropriate for an arc that feels indebted to The Original Series.
Overall, this is a fine conclusion to this big team-up, that reduces most of the cast to extras, but tells a good story with the characters the episode focuses on.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-07-04T15:44:52Z
[7.7/10] Easily the best of the Secret Wars arc. To be honest, this was more of a Fantastic 4 episode than a Spider-Man episode, but I didn’t really mind. The idea of Ben Grimm as the fulcrum between the good guys and the bad guys, with Reed Richards feeling the guilt of turning him into The Thing, and Dr. Doom earning his loyalty through curing him, makes for a nice push and pull that complicates the show’s good vs. evil dynamic.
I also really enjoyed the use of Doom as the negative image of Spider-Man’s “with great power comes great responsibility” ethos. I loved the moment where Doom asks the group if they’d give up their powers, and Spider-Man can honestly say yes. In many ways, being Spider-Man has been a curse as much as it’s been a blessing, since his Uncle Ben-instilled sense of moral responsibility means he has to put himself in harm's way and lose people he loves in the process. Doom wants power for power sake, and sees it as a reason for people to fete him, rather than for him to genuinely serve the people.
I actually really like Doom as a villain here. He’s more complicated than the average baddie, seeing himself as a savior to these people and genuinely making a utopia (albeit one built on complete control) rather than the hellscapes that other bad guys have created. There’s some very shallow fascism commentary there, but the idea that something beautiful can be tainted because it’s built under the auspices of an autocratic regime is a legitimate one that works in this context. Doom’s own desire to make New Latveria a genuinely great place to be, but at the cost of him being the unquestion ruler with exacting justice, makes him a novel antagonist.
Of course, it quickly devolves into psychic nightmare creatures and threats to kill the good guys. When he steals the Beyonder’s powers, things get a little out of whack, but I appreciate the poetry of Ben Grimm seeing the harm that the man who saved him is doing, and using the same power-separator ray to rob Doom of the Beyonder’s powers.
I’ll admit, I’m not crazy about the ending, where Beyonder admits he was just going along with Doom taking his powers as part of the experiment, and that this whole thing was just another test for even bigger showdown, but that’s the sort of Trek-ian moral that feels appropriate for an arc that feels indebted to The Original Series.
Overall, this is a fine conclusion to this big team-up, that reduces most of the cast to extras, but tells a good story with the characters the episode focuses on.