Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Ten: The Alien Costume: Part 3

The Alien Costume, Part 3

First Aired: May 13th, 1995

Synopsis: Spider-Man sees Rhino on a rooftop and briefly gets into a fight with him and Shocker, who also appears, only for Eddie Brock, now bonded with the symbiote and calling himself Venom, to show up and defeat them. Venom reveals that he knows Spider-Man's identity, and gets into a fight with Spider-Man. During the fight, Spider-Man notes that Venom doesn't trigger his spider-sense. Eventually Venom ends up leaving, taunting Spider-Man that he doesn't know what he has planned for him. Spider-Man investigates Eddie's old apartment and finds an order for some dumbbells to his new apartment. He goes to the Daily Bugle and discovers that John Jameson has recovered from his coma and is going to be fine, but upon changing to Spider-Man outside the building, is confronted by Venom again. Venom webs up Spider-Man and then unmasks him in front of a crowd, but they're too high up for anyone to see his identity. Spider-Man manages to break free and swing away.

Venom starts showing up in Peter's civilian life, introducing himself to Mary Jane and Aunt May as a friend of Peter's. Peter ends up going to Venom's new apartment as Spider-Man, and taunts him into following him. Their fight leads them onto a train, which takes them to where a space probe, named after John Jameson, is being launched. Upon the space probe starting to take off, the noise and vibrations weaken the symbiote enough for it to fall off Eddie's body. Spider-Man webs it to the probe so that it'll be launched back into space. In the aftermath, Peter goes on a date with Mary Jane, and the two look out at the stars. Mary Jane muses on what life might be out there, to which Peter imagines Venom.

Places That Spider-Man Will Chase Shocker To:

• The other side of the rooftop, I guess

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Near the start of the episode, Eddie says, "We're poison to you, Spider-Man! That's why we call ourselves...Venom!" I'm fairly sure that that's the exact same thing he said in the comics as a justification for his name
• When Shocker aims his gauntlets at Spider-Man, he threateningly says, "This time, it's maximum voltage at minimum range!" As any Spider-Fan knows, Shocker's gauntlets don't actually utilise voltage - they fire vibrational waves.
• The place Eddie buys his gym equipment from is called Atlas Equipment Rental, which I assume is a reference to Marvel Comics being called Atlas Comics throughout most of the 1950s.

Review: This episode is mostly all fighting, all the time, and while a lot of the time I'd hold that against an episode, this episode really manages to make it work. Firstly, because it knows to break up the fighting so that it doesn't get too monotonous, and secondly, because it really works to sell the threat of Venom as someone who is breaking all of the rules. Norman Osborn might know Spider-Man's identity, but half the time he's either forgotten it or is content to let Peter go about his daily life. Here, Eddie's forcibly inserting himself into Peter's life, and there's the sense that this whole thing is just a game to him for now - he's not even serious yet.

After an entire episode of mostly fighting, the episode manages to stick the landing, too. For most of the episode Spider-Man's fighting is mostly in reaction to Venom, but when the time comes for him to get serious, the plan to use the vibrations from the space probe is an excellent one. I was honestly expecting him to be trying some sort of plan to get Venom struck on board the probe, but abusing the sound it creates is much more clever, and you can't deny that it works.

Probably the only criticism I'd have is that we're left hanging with Eddie - I'd assume that he remembers Peter's identity and could still leak that, even without the symbiote, but maybe the show is going with the idea that only the symbiote knows it? If so, it'd be good to have a bit more clarity with that, and what sort of assurance Peter has otherwise that makes him confident that Eddie's not a threat. Other than that though, this episode does a fantastic job at showcasing Venom and what makes him an effective villain. It's not just him being a dark reflection of Spider-Man - it's him being willing to do whatever he wants to if it means that Peter will suffer.