Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Fifty-Four: Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter One

 Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter One

First Aired: September 19th, 1997

Synopsis: A man goes to SHIELD headquarters, where Nick Fury says that he needs to stop May Parker. In Europe, an old man is hunted and captured by Silver Sable, and when the news gets to America, Robbie Robertson lets a mysterious figure know. For his part, when Kingpin hears about it he reveals that he's keen to capture the old man - a World War II scientist called Wolfgang Groitzig - and reassembles the Insidious Six to free Chameleon, replacing Mysterio with Vulture. In Queens, Peter finds his parents' old passports which shows they travelled all over the world, and is going to ask Aunt May about it when the man from the start of the episode, Keene Marlowe, shows up for a visit, claiming to be an old friend of Uncle Ben's. He looks around the house for a bit before returning to SHIELD, with Peter in costume as Spider-Man following him to the Helicarrier. While hiding in the Helicarrier's vents, Spider-Man overhears Nick Fury say that he can't let Richard and Mary Parker's names be cleared, as they're believed to be traitors.

 

The Insidious Five attack the Helicarrier and manage to get away with Chameleon, and although Spider-Man tries following him, they manage to shake him loose. Returning home, Peter discovers from May and Keene that his parents were American spies who went to Russia to capture Doctor Groitzig, who had supposedly created a doomsday device, but that shortly afterwards there was a plane crash and they died. Since Groitzig had never been found before now, it was believed that they were lying about why they were going to Russia and were traitors, but his appearance brings that into question. Peter wants to go to Russia to investigate, and tricks Jonah into letting him go there to investigate, and to his surprise, Robbie comes along too. Once they're there, Robbie sneaks out - followed by Spider-Man - and meets with a scientist, who fears he'll be targeted next. He's immediately proven correct as Silver Sable and the Wild Pack attack him and get away with him, knocking Spider-Man out in the process. To get rid of evidence of their presence, they leave a bomb in the building, right next to the still-unconscious Spider-Man and Robbie.

 

Subplots:

• While Peter's saying goodbye to Mary Jane at the airport, Robbie meets with a mysterious figure who gives him a gold ring with the Roman numeral VI on it.
  

Places That Spider-Man Will Chase Shocker To:

• The ground, which he's knocked to.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• I haven't mentioned this in any of the previous episodes with SHIELD, but they have some of the ugliest uniforms possible in this series - a gold eagle over a purple bodysuit. If the colours were more muted it could work but it just looks garish.
• Kingpin saying that Vulture is Mysterio's replacement implies that after the events of The Haunting of Mary Jane, Mysterio is well and truly dead.
  

Review: This kind of reminds me of The Cat - both episodes have a SHIELD-related mystery that involves a raid on the Helicarrier so that Chameleon can be freed, and both are more about setting up the next part of the story than telling a story with Spider-Man in it. Honestly, though? The Cat did it better, since it resolved most of its mysteries by the end of the episode and had some legitimately good twists that used the potential of the Marvel Universe to its fullest. Here, we're still in the dark about a lot of things, and while it should make me intrigued, the mysteries aren't compelling enough. Let's be honest, while Peter's parents being spies has a lot of untapped potential, is it a concept we really want to draw from?

Leaving aside the mysteries, there's not a whole lot to get excited about here. The Insidious Five attacking the Helicarrier could be a cool action sequence, but it really feels like it's killing time more than anything, and it doesn't feel like we really use the potential of any of the members. It's a bit of a giveaway that after they lose Spider-Man, he doesn't care enough about them to worry about it, instead going home to Aunt May. I'm glad that Silver Sable's looking like she'll get involved, but as much as I like the character, she doesn't really do a lot here - even her fight with Spider-Man is a bit bland and feels a bit contrived.

I will say that I'm intrigued about what's going on with Robbie. I have no idea who the mysterious figure he met with is, or what his stake in things could be. Given that he's meeting with another scientist, and Robbie's unlikely to be a villain (though boy would that ever be a twist), it raises questions about what the doomsday device is. Peter tricking Jonah into sending him to Russia by claiming that Spider-Man's there and might be conspiring with their government is hilarious, as is both Peter and Jonah exclaiming shock when Robbie says he believes Peter. These little things aren't enough to salvage the episode, but they do help keep some interest there.