Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Fifty-Nine: The Return of Hydro-Man, Part 1

 The Return of Hydro-Man, Part 1

First Aired: October 24th, 1997

Synopsis: Mary Jane has a nightmare when Peter is driving the two of them to Niagra Falls for their delayed honeymoon. They get on their boat but are attacked by Hydro-Man out of nowhere, who captures Mary Jane and says he'll be taking her back to New York. Peter returns there himself but after hours of looking for her as Spider-Man is unsuccessful and reports what happened to Detective Terri Lee. He's feeling useless but gets an unexpected visit from Felicia Hardy, who gives him a pep talk and inspires him to keep looking. Unbeknownst to Peter, she too is going to look for Mary Jane as the Black Cat. As Spider-Man, Peter retrieves Mary Jane's jacket that she was wearing when Hydro-Man captured her from the police, and analyses it. From some of the residue on it from Hydro-Man, Peter works out that Mary Jane's being kept on an oil rig.

 

As Spider-Man, Peter steals a boat and heads out to the oil rig, narrowly missing Black Cat who sees him leave. He arrives on the rig and fights Hydro-Man, giving Mary Jane the opportunity to escape using the boat. Hydro-Man manages to bring the rig down and trap Spider-Man beneath it, but Spider-Man's saved by Black Cat, and the two return to shore. Mary Jane's not around, and they go looking for her, not knowing that she was arrested by the police since they think she stole the boat. Hydro-Man breaks into the police station and Mary Jane escapes in the confusion, ending up at a factory with a lot of chemicals. She creates a fire and adds some strontium nitrate to it, creating red-hued smoke which attracts Spider-Man and Black Cat's attention. The two heroes show up and fight Hydro-Man, but he once again Spider-Man is nearly defeated by Hydro-Man, who says he'll stick around to finish the job this time. However, Mary Jane unexpectedly creates water and sends Hydro-Man out of the factory before panicking and saying she doesn't know how she did it.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• There's no particular reason given for why Hydro-Man is back after evaporating in his previous appearance. It's not like it's a stretch to say that he was able to reform himself over time, and it's possible that an explanation will come up next episode, but still, it's a little odd that it's just brushed aside.
  
• Some people say that Spider-Man angsts a lot, and while I'd generally disagree with that statement, he has an incredible melodramatic line when talking to Felicia about Mary Jane: "All we can do is sit here...and feel the pain of losing her."
• When Mary Jane's captured by Hydro-Man, Spider-Man comments that with Hydro-Man's ability to move through water, they could be ages away. It takes him... let's say a bit under a day to return to Manhattan, search for her, and work out that she's on the oil rig. How long was she running away from Hydro-Man on it?!
  
• Black Cat says that she's back in America because Blade and Morbius were too obsessed with hunting down vampires, and that she wants to be with someone a bit more fun.
• When Mary Jane creates water at the end of the episode and blasts Hydro-Man with it, there's some recycled animation used. Unfortunately they made one of the worst choices for what to recycle - it's Hydro-Man appearing from the river and forming himself on a boat, but played in reverse while he cries out in anguish. It really sticks out.

Review: While I was pretty impressed with the first Hydro-Man appearance and the reinterpretation of the character, I was pretty okay with that being his sole appearance in the series. That's what I thought, at least, until I watched this episode, because man, Hydro-Man might be a bit one-note in his motivation and characterisation, but it's such a realistic portrayal of a creep that it totally manages to sell me on it. The fact that he's still got the same motivation and goal actually works in his favour, because it shows what a jerk he is and how he hasn't learned anything.

So yeah, Hydro-Man is an absolutely brilliant villain, which meant that there was a lot to enjoy here. Peter being so glum after failing to find Mary Jane is a little bit melodramatic and the pacing could probably be a bit snappier in those scenes, but it's great to see Black Cat return and immediately be flirty and interested with Spider-Man. The only other scene that leaps out to me as a bit stale is Mary Jane randomly wandering into a chemical warehouse (or factory? It's unclear), having a flashback to learning about strontium nitrate from Peter, and then after struggling to light a match, enacting her brilliant plan to...create red smoke and hope that Spider-Man sees it. But it's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

The revelation that Mary Jane has water powers is a bit odd, but the fact that it's treated as unnatural and a mystery by the characters means that it'll presumably be addressed next episode, which is excellent. Overall, I was very entertained by this episode, and I'm looking forwards to seeing what happens next in the story.