The Immortal Vampire
Synopsis: Spider-Man and Blade go to an electronics building where Morbius is, Spider-Man having worked out he'll be there since he took a chip out of the Neogenic Recombinator and Morbius needs a replacement. Morbius gets away with his chip, but in the process police officer Terri Lee gets involved and joins the team-up. Spider-Man tells the others that he needs more webbing and heads home, where he finds Morbius going through his room looking for more altered blood. Spidey lets him leave without confronting him, and is shortly afterwards called to the Daily Bugle where Morbius has also been. Jonah wants to fire Peter, but Peter convinces him that he can get a photo of the vampire responsible for the plasma sickness across the city, and also convinces Jonah to lend him a newsvan. Peter meets with Blade and tells him that Spider-Man sent him as part of his plan. Peter heads home with the van, where he's confronted by Mary Jane, who wants to salvage their relationship. Since Peter can sense Morbius nearby, he lies and tells her that he's into Felicia Hardy. She leaves, and once she has Morbius confronts Peter.
Morbius wants more altered blood, and Peter tells him there's some in the back of the van. When Morbius opens it up, a bulky vampire weapon of Blade's hits him. Morbius shakes it off and grabs Aunt May, who has just emerged from Peter's house, and tells Peter he wants a blood sample for real. When Peter meets with Blade as Spider-Man, the two get into a fight - Blade being angry for Spidey not being there for the fight, Spider-Man frustrated about Aunt May - and break off their alliance. Spider-Man waits at Felicia Hardy's for Morbius, figuring that Morbius will want to make her into a vampire, and follows Morbius to his base, an abandoned ship at the docks. Blade has also made it there, and they work together to get into the ship. Inside, Morbius is keen to convert Felicia, but she says she doesn't want to be a vampire, and makes Morbius realise what a monster he's become. Blade and Spider-Man make it inside then, and in the struggle Morbius is hit by the Neogenic Recombinator, which mutates him into a more bat-like creature. He flies off. Later, Blade heads off himself, but not before kissing Terri Lee, who laments that she's fallen in love with a vampire.
Subplots:
- While waiting for Morbius to capture Felicia, Spider-Man coincidentally sees Mary Jane and Harry Osborn on a date in the streets below, apparently now a couple.
- At the start of the episode, Spider-Man and Blade are tracking Morbius using Blade's vampire compass (which he also presumably uses to find Morbius at the docks), which is both brilliant and ridiculous. Never change, comics and comics-related media.
To be fair, there's some pretty good stuff in this episode. Peter having to break up with Mary Jane when she's going out of her way to be fair is classic Parker luck. Jonah confronting Peter is a fantastic natural consequence of Peter claiming he was on assignment (while in reality he was Man-Spider) a few episodes ago, since of course he knows that Peter wasn't. I was also a big fan of Felicia pointing out how much Morbius' motivations have decayed, given that it was something that was annoying me.
Unfortunately, though, there's still plenty of bad and mediocre in here. Blade's still angry and antagonistic towards Spider-Man, and I'm not quite sure where they're going with him and Terri Lee developing feelings for one another. He also goes from being convinced not to kill Morbius by Lee towards the end of the episode, only to try and kill Morbius about a minute later. When the hell did Morbius get the opportunity to set up a base in an abandoned ship, and while I can understand him wanting to make Felicia a vampire, why does he want to make everyone into vampires? This episode's just a bit too cluttered to be enjoyable. With the Morbius plot done with, and Spider-Man's mutation (mostly) being fixed, I hope that this season can pick up a bit and end on a high note.
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