Spider-Man (1967) Episode Thirty-Six: Thunder Rumble

Thunder Rumble

First Aired: December 28th, 1968

Synopsis: While a storm rages in New York City, two thugs rob a vault, confident that they won't be heard blowing it up thanks to the thunder. In space, on Mars, the Thunder God Volton comments that his storms are so powerful that they even reach Earth. He is told by Mars, the leader of the people on his planet, that Volton has the honour of going to Earth and conquering it. While Volton travels to Earth, Spider-Man tries stopping the two thugs, and ends up chasing one of them to Central Park. It's then that giant-sized Volton appears, and starts throwing lightning bolts around. Fortunately, Spider-Man is able to kick him in the stomach, which knocks him out.

Even more fortunately, some random teenagers Spider-Man knows show up in their cars, and say they'll help him. Spider-Man wraps up Volton in webbing, and then attaches the webs to their car. It's at this point that the escaping thug, Boomer, offers to free Volton, which he does. Volton throws a lightning bolt at Spider-Man, which sends him flying through the air. The god and the thug then rampage throughout the city. Jets and missiles are sent to stop them, but they can't manage to put a dent in the god, probably because they're not trying to kick him in the stomach. Spider-Man then reappears, having used his webbing to escape his lightning bolt. When Volton throws a lightning bolt at Spider-Man that can send Spider-Man off into infinity, Spider-Man dodges it so that it hits Volton himself. Spider-Man then punches out Boomer and heads off.

"Spidey Swinging to Pad the Episode" Montages: One, by my count.

Webbing Does Not Work That Way: Just look at this magnificent, gravity defying webbing. I wish there was a wider shot here.

 (It's hard to tell because it's a still image, but that webbing is suspending Spider-Man in mid-air without any sign of gravity pulling him down).

Miscellaneous Notes:

• At the start of the episode, we see Peter Parker driving on the Brooklyn Bridge. Just a few years after this episode aired, the 1970s started, a decade which will have one of the most iconic Spider-Man stories of all time take place on this very bridge, in the classic issue Amazing Spider-Man #190.
• Holy crap do these thugs love storms. Choosing one to use as cover for your robbery - a bit Silver Age logic, but sure, I can buy it. But then we get the absolutely fantastic line, "Our destinies and those storms are both guided by the same, fearsome hand!" Or they could be, y'know, storms.
• Volton is a bit of a mishmash of a few gods from mythology - he's got a hammer at his belt like Thor, conjures lightning bolts out of nowhere like Zeus, and his name evokes Vulcan. That's three pantheons in one!
• After sending Spider-Man off seemingly to be killed, what does this terrifying alien, this god among men, choose to do? He goes downtown and steals gold, of course. Sigh.

Review: This episode starts out pretty strongly, with the storms going on being a nice plot detail that isn't being thrown in our face. Peter Parker basically shrugs and goes, "Storms, am I right?", while the thugs are taking advantage of them in a way that stretches logic a bit but not to the point of ridiculousness. I was initially wondering whether this would be a low-key episode with Spider-Man simply stopping the thugs, but even when Voltan got involved, it actually worked quite well - by having him travel to Earth while the plot goes on, it sets up a nice, looming threat which the characters are all unaware of.

So of course the episode had to go and ruin it once he lands on Earth. Spider-Man taking him out with a single kick is pretty plot-convenient, but then we get all of Peter's teenage friends showing up in their cars in a plot point more deus ex machina than the literal god appearing in the middle of Spider-Man's fight. And Spider-Man's plan to stop Volton is to...web him to their cars for all eternity, apparently? After that, of course, the plot has to send Spider-Man offscreen while it pads itself out with the army fighting Volton, although to its credit it doesn't drag on for too long and does feel like a natural consequence of the events.

There's definitely a good episode in here somewhere, but I'm not sure what needs to be done to unearth it. Cut out Volton and have the episode be Spider-Man trying to stop the thugs? Have Volton as an ominous, approaching threat for longer before he comes onto the scene? Have Volton be less antagonistic, and instead make him a confused alien who doesn't understand Earth culture? I'm not sure what the answer is, but I think that any of them would be a bit of an improvement over what we got.