Spectacular Spider-Man Episode One: Survival of the Fittest

 Survival of the Fittest

First Aired: March 1st, 2008

Synopsis: Spider-Man defeats Flint Marko and Alex O'Hirn, two robbers working for a mysterious leader in the underworld called the Big Man. Knowing now that Spider-Man isn't just an urban legend, the Big Man authorises the Enforcers to stop him. The next day, Adrian Toomes bullies scientist Otto Octavius at Oscorp since he convinced him to show Norman Osborn his flight tech work, shortly before it was rejected and Oscorp announced their own flight tech, but Norman shows up and kicks Toomes out. At home, meanwhile, Peter is preparing for his school day when he hears Aunt May tell Anna Watson that they're low on money. When he goes to school, he catches up with his friends Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn, before asking out cheerleader Sally Avril, who rejects him. After science class, the science teacher tells Peter and Gwen that they've been given an internship to Curt Connors' lab, where they did an excursion the previous year and where Peter was bitten by the spider which gave him his powers. Before going to the internship, Peter hangs out at Harry's place, but Adrian Toomes, now the Vulture, shows up and kidnaps Norman.

 

Vulture wants Norman to admit that he stole his technology and publicly apologise, but Norman refuses. Spider-Man shows up and saves Norman, and so Vulture leaves. At Connors' lab later, Peter finds that his friend Eddie Brock is working there and meets both Connors and his wife Martha, but is dismayed when he discovers that he won't be paid for the work there. A copy of the Daily Bugle later hits him, and he's inspired to go to the newspaper and offer to take photos of Spider-Man, but J. Jonah Jameson dismisses him. Later that evening, Norman Osborn is attacked by Vulture again, but this time when Spider-Man goes to save him, the Enforcers show up in a helicopter and go after Spider-Man They manage to capture him in a net and he has to fight Fancy Dan and Ox, but manages to break free and save Norman from Vulture. With Montana still in the helicopter and chasing after him, Spider-Man uses one of Vulture's wings to damage the rear rotor of the helicopter, dealing with that issue, then rips out Vulture's power pack. Montana gets away, however. Returning home, Peter is told off by Aunt May for staying out so late, and told that he has to be home by ten in the future. In spite of what a bad day Peter had, he admits to himself that with Aunt May it's not as bad as it could be.

 

Miscellaneous Notes:

• The high school Peter goes to in this universe is called Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School, or M³. I'm like 90% sure that this isn't a real school.
• I completely forgot that in this series Ox of the Enforcers has a gigantic handlebar moustache. It's absolutely fantastic.
• The implication given here is that Peter has only been Spider-Man over the course of the summer holiday (it's the first day of school in this episode). The science teacher does say that the trip to Connors' lab was last year, but presumably he's talking in terms of school years, not calendar years.
• Eddie Brock being Peter's older friend here is presumably taken from the Ultimate Universe, where that was the case (their fathers worked together and that's how they knew each other)
• Sally, the girl Peter asks out, is a minor character from the comics. He also tried asking her out in Amazing Fantasy #15.
• Spider-Man's spider-sense is here depicted as wavy transparent lines coming from his head.
• In a brilliant bit of character design, Peter's civilian outfit here has him wearing a long-sleeved shirt under a blue one. The sleeves of the longer shirt form a pattern that isn't too dissimilar to web shooters, right where they go on his wrists.
• When Peter goes after Vulture from the Osborns', he takes off his shoes to be Spider-Man and leaves them on the roof (he does spend most of the remainder of the episode in socks, and he runs into Vulture during the second attack since he's returning to get them). It makes sense, but boy, Harry might have had some very disturbing thoughts if he found them...
• The Big Man, who sends the Enforcers after Spider-Man, was the identity of Frederick Foswell in the comics, a reporter for the Daily Bugle. While Peter's at the Daily Bugle, we do briefly see a reporter identified as Foswell. Hmmm...
• The science teacher tells Peter and Gwen that they've got an internship with Connors, which both are pleased by. Then he tells them that they're starting that afternoon. Gee, good thing they didn't have any existing plans for that afternoon!

Review: I know for a fact that this isn't even the best episode of the series, but man, there's so much here that it just absolutely gets. We've got a solid supporting cast introduced fairly organically, a classic villain in the form of the Vulture, and hints of a larger threat through the Enforcers and the Big Man. Actually, can I just talk about the Enforcers for a second? The fight between Spidey, Fancy Dan and Ox is probably the highlight of the episode - it's fluid, exciting, and none of what the villains do feels unrealistic or like they shouldn't be capable of it, while still feeling like a credible threat. That's not easy to pull off for them, but I'll be damned if it doesn't work.

Although the episode is juggling a lot - the Big Man focusing on Spider-Man, Peter's day at school and the internship, introducing the large supporting cast, and fighting the villains - it manages to balance it all pretty well. Some characters, like Jonah or Flash Thompson, don't get anything to do outside of their one scene, but it works well enough - we're introducing them here so that they can show up later in the show without it being abrupt. The choice of supporting characters is pretty good too - it's not like we've really focused on Gwen in a Spider-Man cartoon before, and some other small choices like making Randy Robertson one of Flash Thompson's friends includes them in the groups pretty organically. Admittedly, it doesn't feel like there's anyone here who didn't debut in the comics (look at all that capitalisation in the summary!), but is that really a bad thing?

If I had to find some flaws about the episode, the biggest would probably be the trip to the Daily Bugle - it's a funny subversion of what you expect to happen, but it does ultimately mostly kill time. (Though even then, it subtly introduces Frederick Foswell, and emphasises that Peter's having a bad day, so it's not entirely useless). Peter running around in socks also feels a bit weird, especially given that he shows up to his internship without shoes - surely he could have swung by the Osborns' to retrieve them, and called to say that he'd be late? Though he needs to return later so that he can be there when Vulture shows up so...I don't know, I feel like there could be a better way to do the shoe thing, even if it does make sense.

So, overall: pretty good! This is probably one of the show's weaker episodes from my terrible memory, and even then it does a good job of setting stuff up and keeping everything moving. I'm so glad this show exists.