Spider-Man (1981) Episode Four: Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man

Curiosity Killed the Spider-Man

First Aired: October 3rd, 1981

Synopsis: Spider-Man is planning to meet Betty Brant at the Daily Bugle's New Years party, but when he sees the Black Cat breaking in he has to go in to stop her as she pickpockets the guests. Although he manages to capture her and carry her out of the party, she manages to escape. The next day, she returns to the Daily Bugle and tells J. Jonah Jameson to print an announcement that she'll steal the Maltese Mouse, a rare statue that's coming to America. When Peter Parker tries to stop her as Spider-Man, he's briefly waylaid by a decoy armoured truck, and has to quickly call up Betty Brant to postpone another date he has with her. He manages to make his way to the ship where the Black Cat is stealing the Mouse, and after an extended chase sequence, he manages to recover it from her, although she gets away. In the aftermath, he's offered a job to guard the Mouse when it appears on a host show that night.

That evening, Peter Parker appears in the audience of the talk show to take photos of it, but ends up slipping away and changing to Spider-Man when his spider-sense tingles. After talking to the host for a bit, Black Cat swings by and steals the Maltese Mouse. Spider-Man chases her outside and after another extended chase sequence which ends with them at a theme park, Spider-Man's able to capture her and retrieve the statue. After he takes her to the police, he returns to the studio audience as Peter Parker only to find that Betty Brant, who came with him and feels he stood her up, is asking Jonah to accompany her out of spite.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Between this episode and a brief flirt with Betty in Dr. Doom, Master of the World, it looks like she might be Peter's primary love interest in this series. At this point in the comics, she had been married to Ned Leeds for around five years, ever since Amazing Spider-Man #156.
• When Spider-Man goes into a phone booth to call Betty, he initially finds it occupied by an unnamed stranger who is clearly recognisable as Clark Kent. It's another unexpected reference to Superman, but by no means unappreciated.
• While chasing Black Cat, Spider-Man quips that "Not even OJ Simpson could outrun the ol' webslinger!" Not that OJ Simpson would have reason to run away from Spider-Man...right?

Review: When written well, Black Cat is easily one of the most fun of Spider-Man's supporting cast members, and one whom I appreciate seeing. It's easy to dismiss her as a Catwoman knockoff, but I feel that she's got enough distinctive attributes to her to stand on her own. This episode aired at a time when she was still more of a villain to Spider-Man - although Amazing Spider-Man #205 revealed that she had a crush on him, she didn't find out his identity until Spectacular Spider-Man #87, which is a few years down the line - so she's not in my favourite role for her. That being said, it doesn't detract from the episode.

The first thing I've got to say about this episode is that it manages to hold a pretty consistent tone throughout. The first three episodes of this show had generally strong plots that were often let down at the climax, or introduced weird plot elements for the sake of the plot. Here, minus one or two slightly goofy moments during the chase sequences, it feels pretty internally consistent and enjoyable. The chase sequences themselves are fairly entertaining, with Black Cat always managing to get the upper hand on Spider-Man in some way. To an extent, it almost makes the ending feel anticlimatic.

While there are definitely some flaws in this episode - when Spider-Man is on the talk show his quips aren't as funny as the audience seems to find them, for one - it's overall a fairly simple plot which manages to pull off what it sets out to do. As far as Black Cat's first animated outing goes, she comes across pretty strongly, both as an antagonist and a character. If the series keeps up this level of quality then I think we'll be in for a good run.