[8.4/10] Very nice lead-up to the show’s endgame. If anything, I’m most impressed at how well the series arc is coming together here. It felt like a lot of the Madame Webb stuff in Season 3 was a big nothing, full of cryptic hints that were never going to lead anywhere. The same seemed true of the fact that the Secret Wars were basically just another test, albeit one that provided an excuse for the show to gather a who’s who of Marvel heroes together.
But I like the explanation here. Webb and the Beyonder had to enlist Spidey’s help and train him, rather than just deal with the problem himself, because of a threat that would extend through different realities and because they themselves are weaker and limited outside of their home dimension. And they needed to use the Secret Wars to determine which version of Spider-Man was capable of leading because they needed one to be in charge of a whole team of Spider-Men.
This episode also does a nice job of introducing the world that Spidey is fighting in and the stakes. The introduction of Green Gobling and Hobgoblin terrorizing Jonah and Robbie is a nice setup, and the reveal that the uber-villain of this mini-arc is Spider-Carnage has the scariness that comes from a symbiote-based threat and the unnerving familiarity that comes from it being a version of Spider-Man himself.
We also meet a plethora of different Spider-Men, which is cool in and of itself. Most of them are, honestly, a bit corny and are barely introduced. The idea of a Spider-Man with Doc Ock’s robotic limbs, or neogenic six-armed Spidey mostly seem to exist to sell action figures.
But I’m glad that we get introduced to the Iron Spider, a mix of Peter Parker and Tony Stark, who used Peter’s scientific brilliance to make himself rich and fight crime with more technology. It’s not super subtle, but I appreciate at least some of the deftness the show displays when depicting Iron Spider as someone who’s never lost, and so is overconfident and not well-suited to be in this kind of fight, at least as a leader.
And I also appreciate the introduction of the Scarlet Spider. As the title suggests, comics fans weren’t necessarily crazy about Ben Reilly, but the show does a nice job of explaining the convoluted backstory of that part of the clone saga, and giving Ben something of a tragic backstory. His impact webbing gives him a unique battle ability, and the idea that Spider-Carnage is a version of Peter gone-mad, either from clone decay after further problems from the same scientist who cloned MJ, or just the existential difficulties that would come from realizing you’ve been duplicated (or are a duplicate), is a potent one.
The end of this one is a bit cheesy, with the schmuck bait that suggests Peter and Ben could possibly be killed, but hey, it’s neat to see Man-Spider again, and I’m on board to head to part two.
All-in-all, there’s a bit of table-setting here, but the whole Spider Wars thing is a cool setup, and there’s a lot of satisfying payoff to thing the show has been setting up as far back as Season 2. Excited to see how it ends!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-07-04T22:32:47Z
[8.4/10] Very nice lead-up to the show’s endgame. If anything, I’m most impressed at how well the series arc is coming together here. It felt like a lot of the Madame Webb stuff in Season 3 was a big nothing, full of cryptic hints that were never going to lead anywhere. The same seemed true of the fact that the Secret Wars were basically just another test, albeit one that provided an excuse for the show to gather a who’s who of Marvel heroes together.
But I like the explanation here. Webb and the Beyonder had to enlist Spidey’s help and train him, rather than just deal with the problem himself, because of a threat that would extend through different realities and because they themselves are weaker and limited outside of their home dimension. And they needed to use the Secret Wars to determine which version of Spider-Man was capable of leading because they needed one to be in charge of a whole team of Spider-Men.
This episode also does a nice job of introducing the world that Spidey is fighting in and the stakes. The introduction of Green Gobling and Hobgoblin terrorizing Jonah and Robbie is a nice setup, and the reveal that the uber-villain of this mini-arc is Spider-Carnage has the scariness that comes from a symbiote-based threat and the unnerving familiarity that comes from it being a version of Spider-Man himself.
We also meet a plethora of different Spider-Men, which is cool in and of itself. Most of them are, honestly, a bit corny and are barely introduced. The idea of a Spider-Man with Doc Ock’s robotic limbs, or neogenic six-armed Spidey mostly seem to exist to sell action figures.
But I’m glad that we get introduced to the Iron Spider, a mix of Peter Parker and Tony Stark, who used Peter’s scientific brilliance to make himself rich and fight crime with more technology. It’s not super subtle, but I appreciate at least some of the deftness the show displays when depicting Iron Spider as someone who’s never lost, and so is overconfident and not well-suited to be in this kind of fight, at least as a leader.
And I also appreciate the introduction of the Scarlet Spider. As the title suggests, comics fans weren’t necessarily crazy about Ben Reilly, but the show does a nice job of explaining the convoluted backstory of that part of the clone saga, and giving Ben something of a tragic backstory. His impact webbing gives him a unique battle ability, and the idea that Spider-Carnage is a version of Peter gone-mad, either from clone decay after further problems from the same scientist who cloned MJ, or just the existential difficulties that would come from realizing you’ve been duplicated (or are a duplicate), is a potent one.
The end of this one is a bit cheesy, with the schmuck bait that suggests Peter and Ben could possibly be killed, but hey, it’s neat to see Man-Spider again, and I’m on board to head to part two.
All-in-all, there’s a bit of table-setting here, but the whole Spider Wars thing is a cool setup, and there’s a lot of satisfying payoff to thing the show has been setting up as far back as Season 2. Excited to see how it ends!