Spectacular Spider-Man Episode Six: The Invisible Hand

The Invisible Hand

First Aired: April 12th, 2008

Synopsis: Alex O'Hirn undergoes a procedure overseen by Otto Octavius, becoming the supervillain Rhino in the process. He heads off to look for Spider-Man. At the Daily Bugle, Peter tries asking Betty Brant to be his date to the Fall Formal once more, and she eventually says that she'll think about it, which he's incredibly excited by. When he mentions it to Aunt May she heads to the Daily Bugle and asks Betty out for coffee. At school, Peter makes a bet with Flash that he'll show up to the formal with a date, but receives a text from Betty saying that she's having coffee with Aunt May. He heads to the Daily Bugle, worried about what the outcome will be, but finds Rhino there, asking for Peter Parker so that he can track down Spider-Man. Peter changes to Spider-Man and starts fighting him, but finds that nothing injures him. He manages to get Rhino to crash through a wall of the Daily Bugle and fall to the ground, but Rhino is predictably unharmed. Spider-Man web swings away, hoping to lead Rhino away from civilians and the police officers that have shown up.

As Spider-Man continues leading Rhino away, Rhino briefly stops to cool himself down with the water from a fire hydrant. Their fight leads them into an athletics store, and Rhino once again stops for a drink, giving Spider-Man an idea. He leads Rhino into the sewers and tricks Rhino into damaging pipes full of steam, which causes Rhino to overheat - as his whole skin is covered with his suit, he can't perspire properly and overheats. Rhino is delirious as a result, and Spider-Man questions him about the Big Man, discovering that his name is Mr. Lincoln. When he returns to the Daily Bugle, Betty has finished her talk with Aunt May and decided not to be Peter's date to the Fall Formal. Hoping to salvage something out of the day, Peter asks reporter Frederick Foswell whether he knows of a Mr. Lincoln, and discovers that he's referring to L. Thompson Lincoln. Upon confronting him as Spider-Man, Lincoln explains that he prefers to be called Tombstone, and that when Spider-Man's fighting villains it makes criminals confident enough to commit crimes, since he's distracted. He offers Spider-Man a job and to look the other way, but when Spider-Man refuses, he calls the cops on Spider-Man. Returning home, Peter discovers that Aunt May has arranged for him to take Mary Jane Watson to the Fall Formal, and when she arrives, she tells him that he's hit the jackpot.

 

Subplots:

• Eddie Brock asks Gwen to the Fall Formal. Harry Osborn confirms that he's going there with Glory Grant.
• Norman Osborn tells Hammerhead that he'd rather take a break from creating villains, but Hammerhead isn't keen on the idea. He's also dismissive to Harry, who walks away ominously afterwards.
  

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Peter greeting Mary Jane at the door to discover that she's beautiful, and her response of "Face it, tiger; you just hit the jackpot" is taken directly from her first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #42.
• Norman tells Octavius that "You owe me a success. No more flukes like the Sandman," which is a bit of an odd line. The implication seems to be that Octavius attempted to create more people with Sandman's abilities and failed, but that feels like a big plot point to have occurred off-screen.
• Betty Brant mentions here that she's four years older than this version of Peter.

Review: Where to even begin with this episode? The introduction of Mary Jane is fantastic; while I can't say that I'm surprised by the homage to the comics or Peter taking her to the Fall Formal, the execution is brilliant, with Aunt May setting everything up so that Peter has no choice but to take her. I've got mixed feelings on a lot of versions of Aunt May, but this diabolical mastermind? She...actually might be my favourite version? Overall I'm really enjoying the Fall Formal subplot; it's had a good amount of buildup by now, and I'm keen to see it next episode. Peter changing to Spider-Man - implicitly in the middle of a school day, no less - to try and stop Aunt May from meeting Betty is such a teenage thing to do, too. We've gotten some good drama out of the whole thing.

The fight with Rhino is also brilliant, and while Spidey recovers from what should be bone-shattering attacks a bit too easily for my liking, the fight overall is still enjoyable. In case you didn't notice, this is the first episode not to split the fight with the villain into two scenes, and it works wonders for the pacing. Rhino having difficulties with overheating is also a, dare I say, fucking fantastic idea. Similar to Peter getting called out for seemingly running off to take photos a few episodes ago, it's just a very organic idea that works really well.

Finally, there's the reveal of Tombstone as the Big Man. The first time I watched this show, I was convinced that it would be Frederick Foswell, as in the comics, but honestly, this is a much, much smarter idea. Sure, Tombstone is reinvented a little bit, and there's definitely a bit of Kingpin in him, but it creates a good twist, breathes a bit more complexity and depth into an existing character, and gives the writers room to be flexible. Spoiler alert: this is probably the best version of Tombstone I've seen.

With all of that in mind, is it any wonder that I'd consider this to be the best episode so far? Subplots are being advanced, mysteries are being solved, and there's a good balance of things happening in both Peter and Spidey's lives. It's great stuff.