Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Episode Seventeen: Spider-Man: Unmasked!

Spider-Man: Unmasked!

First Aired: September 17th, 1983

Synopsis: The gang are all hanging out at the beach when they hear a report about Sandman being on the loose. They briefly change into their alter egos to stop a shark attack, but when Spider-Man changes back to Peter Parker, he unknowingly reveals his identity to a hidden Sandman nearby. Sandman stalks Peter for a while, finding out about Aunt May, and when he later attacks an armoured truck, he taunts Spider-Man with knowledge of his secret identity when the hero tries to stop him. Shocked, Spider-Man is unable to stop Sandman, and after Sandman taunts him some more later, Peter declares that he'll quit being Spider-Man so that Aunt May will be safe. Firestar and secret government agent Iceman are unable to stop Sandman on their own, and so need Peter to return to being Spider-Man. Firestar works out an idea to let Peter resume being Spider-Man - he'll appear in person at the same time as someone wearing a Spider-Man costume, convincing Sandman that he's wrong.

To enact her plan, Angelica convinces Flash Thompson to accompany her to a fancy dress party in a Spider-Man costume, knowing that Sandman will be there to steal some jewels since he mentioned it previously. When Sandman cuts power to the party, Angelica as Firestar, Iceman, and a costume-less Peter Parker work together to make it seem as though the costumed Flash has spider powers and is attacking Sandman. Eventually, Peter reveals himself, making it seem as though Spider-Man and Peter Parker really are two different people. He soon changes to Spider-Man, and the three heroes fight Sandman, the conflict leading them to a construction site. The heroes manage to get Sandman into a cement mixer, turning him to stone and thus stopping him. In the aftermath, Flash Thompson is bragging about how much he helped Firestar and Iceman, but Iceman throws some sand at him, causing him to instinctively run and hide.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Rather randomly, this episode has two pieces of narration from a voice I'm 99% sure is Stan Lee. Is this the first time he did a voiceover for a Marvel adaptation?
• Throughout this series, it's been a recurring thing that in order for Iceman to be taken out of the fight, something hot will be directed his way, or he'll end up in a hot place, or whatever. This episode provides possibly the best example yet - during a fight with Sandman, he's knocked clean through a wall and into an oven full of bread.
• When Angelica suggests to Flash that he go to the party with her, we get a brief scene of them in a costume shop, with Flash trying on a cowboy costume. In the background are costumes of the Thing, Captain America, Black Panther, Iron Man, Elektra, Doctor Doom, Firebird, Daredevil, Dazzler, and Doctor Strange.

Review: Heroes having to hide their secret identity to protect their loved ones is one of those super hero tropes we all just kind of accept, and even today it's pretty rare that those identities are discovered by villains. Even then, it generally tends to be the A-List, notable villains who do it. This episode basically changes all of  those notions, revealing Peter's identity to Sandman through a random coincidence and with little fanfare. It works absolutely fantastically.

There's the minor niggle that Peter's spider-sense should have (could have?) warned him that Sandman was nearby, but honestly, that's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. I mentioned two episodes ago that when Peter felt like quitting then, it felt a bit weak. Here, he pretty much does go through with it, giving it so much more weight, and what's more, I can't say that I blame him. Even then, he's clearly conflicted about what he's doing. It's great stuff.

With all of that in mind, you'd think that having Peter show up in the same place as someone in a Spider-Man costume would be a weak ending to this, but, no, the Spider-Friends all make Flash look pretty convincingly as though he has powers. I was expecting them to just throw the two characters in a room and the problem would be solved, but, no, they have to work at their deception. Even after it's done, Sandman still isn't defeated, and there's quite a bit of fight left in him, which feels the way it should be. There's very little here that doesn't work; this gets a big recommendation from me.