Spectacular Spider-Man Episode Fifteen: Destructive Testing

Destructive Testing

First Aired: June 22nd, 2009

Synopsis: Somewhere in the savannas of Africa, Sergei Kravinoff uses his raw strength to subdue a crazed rhino before playing with his pet lion. His lover, Calypso, delivers him a package from their anonymous benefactor in New York which persuades him to travel there to hunt Spider-Man. In school, Peter finishes a test early and goes to finally have a proper talk with Gwen, but gets cold feet and instead tells her about how he's got his internship with Curt Connors back. He plans to go to the lab with her so they can properly discuss things on the way, but Liz Allan arrives and distracts Peter. At the lab later, Peter briefly meets Eddie's replacement, Debbie Whitman. Miles Warren, Connors' new co-worker, is interested in Connors' research on integrating lizard and human DNA, but Connors shuts him down and says that it was a dead end. Later, while swinging around as Spider-Man Peter realises that between Liz and Gwen he's in a love triangle, when he's suddenly attacked by Kravinoff. Kravinoff soon realises that he doesn't have to hold back against Spider-Man and fights viciously, but Spider-Man webs him up without too much difficulty. Kravinoff is freed by Calypso and gets his lion to follow the scent of Spider-Man from a scrap of torn fabric, which eventually leads him to Connors' lab.

The only person in the lab is Professor Warren, and after hearing about the genetically modified spiders that are there, Kravinoff assumes that Warren is Spider-Man's creator. Warren goes along with it and agrees to genetically modify Kravinoff in return for money. Later, Peter's photographing a football game when Flash is injured, causing Liz to divert her attention to him. As he's web-swinging home later as Spider-Man, Kravinoff attacks him, now genetically mutated into a sort of lion-human hybrid and calling himself Kraven the Hunter. Spider-Man gets a call from Liz in the middle of the fight, asking him to come to the hospital and wait for Flash to get out of surgery with her. The fight leads out of a museum and into Central Park, where Spider-Man's able to web up Kraven and punch him out, but the sound of drums distracts Spider-Man for a moment in which Kraven disappears. Heading to the hospital, Liz is initially happy to see Peter, but once Flash is out of surgery she once again focuses entirely on him. Elsewhere, Calypso and Kraven are contacted by their benefactor, the Master Planner, and asks how they'd feel about hunting in a pack.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• This version of Kraven the Hunter seems to be based on the Ultimate Universe version moreso than the classic version - both go down without too much issue, but then get genetically mutated and come back with a werewolf-esque appearance.
• Yes, Debbie Whitman is a character from the comics! She's fine, I guess? I haven't actually read much of the stuff where she and Peter dated.
  

Review: Let's be real here, Kraven isn't really that important to the plot here; he's mostly here to be set up for the future. The real drama and stakes here are in the love triangle between Peter, Liz, and Gwen, and honestly, I'm pretty invested in it. Peter delaying having a conversation with Gwen - especially given that Kraven's modifications apparently take place over several days - feels realistic, as does his realisation that hey, actually, maybe I'd rather be with Liz? Liz, in turn, is an enigma to Peter - she acts like she's interested in him, but keeps focusing her attention on Flash, sending him mixed messages (almost certainly without meaning to). It's genuinely hard to tell who he'll end up with, if indeed he will end up with either of them. For each woman, there's equal reason for Peter to get together with them as there is for him to screw the whole thing up.

The Kraven fights, while somewhat inconsequential as mentioned above, still manage to be thoroughly entertaining. It really feels like someone (the storyboarder? the script-writer?) has put some thought into how to make the fight visually interesting, as the fight switches between fisticuffs to Kraven using weapons and Spider-Man his webs, and everything in-between, even as the location keeps changing. Compare it to Spider-Man standing around and dodging traps last episode, and this feels much more dynamic and exciting.

Those are the main two plots here, but as always there's much more going on. Flash is told that he still needs to recover from his surgery, implying he might be taken off the football team temporarily. Miles Warren is interested in Connors' lizard research, and has been given a big hint as to how Spider-Man was created. And of course, there's the Master Planner plot, which is continuing from the momentum set up last episode. It's all thoroughly entertaining.