Spider-Man (1981) Episode Six: When Magneto Speaks...People Listen

When Magneto Speaks...People Listen

First Aired: October 17th, 1981

Synopsis: A blackout occurs all up the East Coast, in addition to a bunch of communication satellites disappearing. The next day, a mysterious silhouetted man calling himself Mr. M claims responsibility and says that he'll restore the electricity and satellites if he's paid $100,000,000 in gold. The government has three days to do so. When Peter Parker is at home that day, Aunt May mentions that a new satellite is launching that night. Peter figures that Mr. M will try to take this one out, and so he heads to the launch site as Spider-Man. While looking around the base, he finds Mr. M in the process of preparing to stop the satellite, as well as Mr. M's true identity: Magneto!

The two of them fight for a bit, but eventually Magneto is victorious. Due to the fight, however, the satellite is successful in launching, and angry with Spider-Man, Magneto lifts him into the air and places him on the nose of the rocket launching the satellite in a magnetic bubble as it flies into space. Spider-Man is able to use his webbing to control the satellite once it's in space, somehow, and he plots a course to Easter Island, which is apparently where Magneto's base is. Spider-Man reveals that he modified the microwave relay of the satellite while he was navigating back to Earth so that it could reflect Magneto's powers back at him, which ends up trapping Magneto in a magnetic bubble. Afterwards, he uses Magneto's magnetic magnifier to restore the missing satellites to space, but Magneto runs away in the confusion.

Webbing Does Not Work That Way:

• When Mr. M first announces himself on television, the picture briefly cuts out due to a damaged antennae. Spider-Man, of course, has the solution: a brand-new, webbing antennae to replace the old one!
• I mean, do I even need to mention the elaborate webbing Spider-Man whips up to control the flight of the satellite? It almost makes the webbing motorboat look sensible.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Throughout the episode, Magneto constantly refers to and uses his magnetic magnifier, a device which he claims "multiplies [his] magnetic powers a thousand times!" You can tell that this was written in the 1980s, probably using 1960s Magneto as a template, because if this was the 90s he'd be casually altering gravity, shooting bolts of magnetic energy, and much much more impressive things than the device allows him to do.

Review: If you're here hoping to see Magneto the noble demon, Magneto the well-intentioned extremist who just wants mutants to be safe, then get the hell out. This is Silver Age Magneto's territory, and he has no time for protecting mutants when there's money to gain. Throughout the whole thing, he's cackling and metaphorically twirling his moustache, with very little nuance to him.

I'd love to have a look at what the thought process in this was. The very same month this episode aired, Magneto was revealed to be a survivor of the Holocaust, and while I can't blame the writers for not knowing that, Magneto was being written as more sophisticated and with a hint of nobility to him for a little while now. (Side note: was Magneto chosen as a villain because X-Men comics were gaining in popularity?) Was Magneto written this way because the writers didn't know more about him, or did they intentionally dumb him down because, hey, it's a cartoon?

Unfortunately, while I'd love to enjoy silly, ranting Magneto, the episode is a bit lacking. The fights between Magneto and Spider-Man feel very lackluster, with the two of them mostly standing on opposite sides of a room and throwing things at each other, with none of the more creative uses of Magneto's powers, or Spider-Man's agility, being used. The scenes with Spider-Man in space are ridiculously silly (and confusing), and having Magneto's base randomly be on Easter Island comes entirely out of left-field. I want this to be an episode full of the fun sort of silly, but unfortunately most of it comes down to the stupid sort of silly.