The Prowler
First Aired: August 2nd, 1997
Synopsis: Returning home to his new apartment after an evening of Spider-Man, Peter is attacked by the Prowler, who unmasks and reveals that he's Hobie Brown, who Peter doesn't recognise. Hobie soliloquises about his life, explaining that he'd been a petty crook working for a crime boss named Iceberg when he'd decided to start taking some of the loot for himself, but was caught and subsequently kicked out of the gang. Obsessed with power and not wanting to resort to an ordinary life, Hobie tried stealing from Mary Jane when he saw her and Peter finishing inspecting their new apartment, but Spider-Man stopped him shortly afterwards. Hobie was taken to prison where he saved Richard Fisk's life, resulting in the Kingpin freeing him and granting him the Prowler suit in return. As the Prowler, Hobie went after Iceberg and managed to take over his gang, but the suit then started short-circuiting. Kingpin contacted Hobie and revealed that Hobie wouldn't be able to remove the suit, and that he'd have to work for him or else the suit would repeatedly jolt him.
Hobie then went to his girlfriend for help, but as he'd rejected her suggestion of a normal life, she wanted nothing to do with him and started seeing someone else. Hobie has now come to Peter, as he knows that Peter and Spider-Man are partners, and he wants Spider-Man's help in stopping Kingpin. Peter helps fix the suit up a bit, then as Spider-Man goes with Hobie to confront the Kingpin. Spider-Man manages to get access to a computer that lets him control the Prowler suit and disarm it, and the two manage to get out by threatening to use the electronics in the suit to blow up Kingpin's base if they're not let out. Hobie realises that power doesn't matter, and resolves to try and win back his ex-girlfriend. Peter, for his part, goes to see Mary Jane, and says that he's pretty confident that everything will work out fine for them.
Miscellaneous Notes:- Unlike in the comics, this version of the Prowler costume is a bit snazzier - among other things, it lets Hobie fly
Review: Let's face it, Hobie Brown is a D-Lister through and through, but in spite of that and his decreasing screentime in the wake of Aaron Davis, I still kind of like him. His powers are a little underwhelming and it's frequently difficult to find a reason for him to antagonise Spider-Man, but still, he's a good guy who tries to do the right thing. With that in mind: who the hell is this loser claiming to be Hobie Brown? He's a jerk who only cares about power, is sloppily retconned into the show in one episode, and spends more than half the episode waxing poetic about his backstory.
About half the problems with this episode could have been fixed if Hobie's history had been something unfolding over this season, but instead we have to waste a bunch of time listening to this bore (including a very egregious fight with Spider-Man when he first goes after Iceberg). Between Eddie Brock, Spider-Man's mutating problems, and Morbius' early appearances, it's not like the show doesn't know how to seed a future plot, either - this is just lazy writing.
These issues could be fixed if there was more here, but Hobie is undoubtedly the protagonist here and so we don't really get more than an introduction, history, and arc for him. There's that bit at the end where Peter basically says hey to Mary Jane, but that's hardly anything to write home about. I guess the moral that power isn't everything is fine, but really, who watching this - even as a kid - had that as a philosophy? I have no idea why this episode exists, and I really can't say that there's much reason to watch it.
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