Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Nine: The Alien Costume: Part 2

The Alien Costume, Part 2

First Aired: May 6th, 1995

Synopsis: Spider-Man is being hunted by some people who manage to gain the upper hand when they start using sonic weaponry on him. He's only able to escape when his new suit acts on its own and gets him to safety. Spider-Man later goes to Doctor Connors, and with a bit of difficulty is able to get him to cut off some of the suit. Connors then confirms Spider-Man's suspicions: it's alive. Worse, it's a symbiote and wants to bond completely with him. Spider-Man leaves in spite of Connors' protests that he needs to get rid of the suit. Meanwhile, John Jameson wakes up from the coma he's in and says that Rhino stole the Promethium X from the space shuttle, proving that Eddie Brock faked his photos of Spider-Man stealing it. Jonah fires him and publicly retracts the reward for capturing Spider-Man. With the news of Eddie being fired, Kingpin realises that there's someone who could trace the Promethium X to him, and sends Shocker after Eddie.

Shocker appears at Eddie's apartment, which he's been evicted from, at the same time as Spider-Man's inside finding the original photos of the space shuttle crash. Spider-Man saves Eddie from him, and follows Shocker to Alistair Smythe, managing to retrieve the Promethium X in the process. In retaliation, John Jameson is kidnapped, and Spider-Man has to trade the Promethium X back for his safety. The trade turns into a fight between Spider-Man and Shocker, with Eddie Brock as a wild card in the fight. Spider-Man webs up Eddie and nearly pushes Shocker off the top of the church they're fighting in, before realising that the symbiote's influencing him again. It then acts on its own and pushes Shocker off, and while Spider-Man's able to save him, he realises that Connors is right and he needs to get rid of the suit. The church bell begins ringing, and Spider-Man realises that the suit is vulnerable to sonics. It leaves Spider-Man's body and slithers through a crack in the floor. Back at Kingpin's, Alistair tries demonstrating the Promethium X, but discovers that it has a short half-life and has turned into lead. Unbeknownst to everyone, the symbiote finds its way to Eddie Brock, who vows revenge on Spider-Man.

The Best Voice Acting, Ever: Right here

Places That Spider-Man Will Chase Shocker To:

• Alistair Smythe's hideout
• The top of the church they fight in
• The Ends of the Earth

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Spider-Man losing the symbiote at the church is taken from Web of Spider-Man #1. It shows up in most adaptations of the black suit story, and really, can you blame writers? It's damn iconic and looks damn good.
• When Spider-Man chases Shocker to Alistair Smythe's hideout, he's temporarily unsure of where he's gone, before saying, "You can confuse my eyes...but not my spider-sense!" I mean, sure, I guess you can use your spider-sense like that if you want.

Review: After a really strong start to this arc last episode, this one feels like a bit of a step down - although by no means is it a bad episode. While we've got some good follow-up on most of the threads from last episode, some of them have fizzled out a little. Eddie Brock faking the photos of Spider-Man feels like it should be a much bigger part of the episode, but it's really just another plot thread in an episode already full of them. I'm not even sure whether Spider-Man stealing the real photos will end up being relevant. The Promethium X turning to lead after being such a major MacGuffin feels a bit disappointing, too - how cool would it be if Kingpin had this major new power source, all to himself? Instead, the reveal of it feels almost like a comics code-authorised ending, as though the bad guys are never allowed to win.

Still, those flaws aside, the episode manages to be pretty solid otherwise. Shocker is one of my favourite B-List Spider-Man villains, and I absolutely love the voice they've given him in this episode. Speaking of him, the climax of the episode, with Spider-Man threatening to push him off the edge of the church, relenting, only for the symbiote to do it anyway had me genuinely shocked (no pun intended). I was genuinely expecting him to die, or at least be injured, and it was a fantastic moment to spur Spider-Man into getting rid of the symbiote once and for all.

Lastly, the teasing of Venom is, let's face it, what we've all been waiting for. As cool as the black suit looks on Spider-Man and as satisfying as it is for Spider-Man to get a power boost, Venom wears it a lot better than Spider-Man does. After the ending, I'm really keen to see a good bit of fisticuffs between the two. Overall, while the episode does feel a little unsatisfying in parts, it's still a really good follow-up to the previous one. Here's hoping that the last episode manages to continue this trend.