Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Sixty-Two: Secret Wars, Chapter 2: The Gauntlet of the Red Skull

 The Gauntlet of the Red Skull

First Aired: November 14th, 1997

Synopsis: On Earth, Morbius and Blade hunt Blade's mother alongside Black Cat, who unexpectedly disintegrates and appears on Battleworld, thanks to a machine operated by Iron Man and the Lizrd. She's confused until Spider-Man reveals that he asked them to do so. The remaining alien natives of the planet are planning an attack on the Red Skull's base and are eager to do so; although Spider-Man wants them to wait until his team are more prepared, he ends up agreeing to attack when they do. Black Cat is annoyed at Spider-Man for summoning her without her permission, and Spider-Man says that he did so because they work well together, to which Black Cat rebuts that he basically wanted her there to make him feel good. The heroes - minus Storm, who is with the alien rebels, and the Fantastic Four, who are attacking Doctor Doom's base - head off to meet up with the rebels, but a sandstorm causes their transport to break down, forcing them to walk. In the Red Skull's base, Smythe reveals a giant robot to Red Skull, and Red Skull in turn reveals that Doctor Octopus is working with them now after Doctor Doom annexed his kingdom. Smythe notes that both villains are planning on stabbing the other in the back.

 

Some more obstacles - a lava flow, quakes - cause issues for Spider-Man's team and nearly kill some of them on the way to Red Skull's base. Iron Man's suit is damaged to the point where he can't fly, and Black Cat gives her origin to Captain America, explaining that her powers are derived from the Super-Soldier Serum. The obstacles delay the heroes to the point that the rebels launch an attack on the Red Skull's base, shortly before the heroes attack from behind. They're able to get inside and take out Smythe; Doctor Octopus and the Red Skull flee but Black Cat goes after them on her own. Smythe assists the heroes as he just wants to get home, and manages to shut down the robots that are attacking the rebels. Black Cat catches up to Red Skull and is captured by Doctor Octopus, but Captain America and Spider-Man save her, at the cost of the villains escaping. Spider-Man apologises to Black Cat for bringing her there, but she says that he's a good leader and that she's glad to be there with him. Back on Earth, Morbius tells Blade that he has a spiritual link to Black Cat and knows that she'll be fine.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Captain America flirts with Black Cat while the heroes are making their way to the Red Skull's base. I don't think they'd make a good couple - definitely not as good as Cap and Diamondback - but it is a fun idea.
• Black Cat goes after the Red Skull because she says that she has to avenge her father. You know, her father, who was hired by the Red Skull when he was a kid but had no permanent damage from the affair, and who ended up being locked up by SHIELD for his own safety. Yeah, it didn't make sense to me, either.
• Smythe has some issues shutting down the robots attacking the rebels, explaining that "The Red Skull must have had Octavius install an encrypted code to deny entry to the self-destruct sequence!" Or, in normal-people talk, there's a password.

Review: Thankfully this episode is a decent step up from the last one, but even so I can't say that we've hit enjoyable territory. Spider-Man bringing Black Cat to Battleworld is an incredibly, incredibly selfish move, and she has every right to be angry at him for it. He doesn't even have a good excuse for it, and while she does forgive him by the end of it, her reason doesn't feel so much valid as it feels like the plot doesn't want Spider-Man to be guilty, so here we go. She really doesn't need to be in the plot - while I'm glad that the writers picked up that she and Cap have the same power source and had them discuss it, that's about the only real positive I can say of her being here, and it's not good enough to justify her presence.

There are some small moments like that sprinkled through the episode - Smythe picking up that Red Skull and Doctor Octopus will betray each other, siding with the heroes, and Cap and Iron Man working together smoothly - but a lot of what's here is bland at best. The trek to the Red Skull's base feels like a DM lazily rolling some random encounters, and for all the talk at the end about what a great leader Spider-Man is, it's hard to feel like he's earned the praise. Being a good leader doesn't mean "Keep pushing the team so you can achieve the goal," in spite of what the episode claims.

So yeah, even putting aside that this isn't feeling very much like a Spider-Man episode (do we even see him without his mask in this episode?), it's not even very enjoyable on its own merits. Thank god next episode is the final episode of this trilogy, because its welcome was overstayed last episode.