Partners
First Aired: May 3rd, 1997
Synopsis: Black Cat tries to break up a smuggling operation by herself, but ends up getting captured by Alistair Smythe. Smythe gets away with her, but before doing so reveals to the nearby Spider-Man that he's working for a new foe of Spider-Man's. That villain turns out to be Silvermane, who is still a young child thanks to the effects of the Tablet of Time, but is using Smythe to try and restore his age. Smythe reveals that he needs either Scorpion or Vulture to do so as they have been mutated by neogenics, and by using Black Cat as a hostage, he coerces Spider-Man into finding one of them for him. Unbeknownst to Spider-Man, Scorpion is currently holding Vulture prisoner, as he wants to create a laboratory which Vulture can use to return him to normal. He also has a girlfriend who wants to help him however she can.
Spider-Man gets Doctor Connors to put out a fake news story about neogenics, which draws out Scorpion. Spider-Man manages to defeat him and brings him to Alistair, but he himself gets captured, as Silvermane wants to swap ages with Spider-Man. Back at Scorpion's place, Scorpion's girlfriend frees Vulture so that he can save Scorpion. Vulture bursts into the warehouse they're all at and saves Spider-Man, then swaps ages with Silvermane himself, leaving him a young man and Silvermane aged again. He then escapes, while Scorpion fights Alistair Smythe, wanting the scientist to return him to normal. Smythe manages to lock Scorpion, Spider-Man, and Black Cat in the room with an unstable recombinator right before it explodes, but the heroes trick Scorpion into using his acid to get them out and escape the explosion. In the aftermath, Spider-Man admits to Black Cat that he was worried for her, and that they should work together as partners.
Subplots:
- At one point, Harry Osborn tells Peter that he really needs to talk to him and let out his emotions, but Peter's too busy doing Spider-Man stuff and brushes Harry off.
Review: The whole of this episode is definitely greater than its parts. Silvermane's status is weird, Alistair Smythe is a boring robot, Vulture's costume and youthful appearance are cringey, and while I like Scorpion's motivation, this version still isn't really scratching an itch I've got to see a really interesting version of the character. Together though, they manage to work together to make a surprisingly decent episode, like some sort of Captain Planet made of B- and C-Listers. Scorpion and Vulture's status quo is interesting, as is Vulture saving Scorpion (and Spider-Man in the process), and while Alistair working for Silvermane might be almost identical to him working for Kingpin, he himself notes that he isn't getting what he really wants, so we might see a new change for him next time.
Still, there is a weak link here, and I'm going to point to Silvermane. The episode seems to want to play him for humour, but he just comes off as weird and unsettling, so it's a bit jarring. I'm also not too keen on his plan being based around aging himself up; the way the process works (for both him and Vulture) is the sort of comic-book science that doesn't really work for him. Would anyone complain if we never saw Silvermane again?
Even in spite of that, the episode manages to be pretty competent and dynamic, adding in a few plot beats that I didn't see coming but which make sense. Most interesting is, of course, Spider-Man and Black Cat agreeing to work together - I'm wondering now whether we'll see him unmasking for her by the end of the season. I'm keen to see where they go next.
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