Ultimate Spider-Man Episode Thirteen: Strange

Strange

First Aired: July 8th, 2012

Synopsis: Spider-Man prepares for school and finds himself having six arms and that Aunt May has a spider head, but Iron Fist appears and snaps him out of the nightmare that it is. Everyone else in the city is asleep, and Iron Fist tells Spider-Man that it's a magical problem, which Spider-Man is sceptical about. Iron Fist directs Spider-Man to Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, where they meet said doctor. Doctor Strange reveals that the extradimensional being Nightmare is behind everyone's sleep, and that he's trying to gain power to escape his own dimension. Strange takes Iron Fist and Spider-Man to another dimension so that they can fight Nightmare, who appears but is too strong for Doctor Strange to defeat. Strange warns the heroes that Nightmare is too powerful, and that they need to weaken him before he attacks them by preying on their fears.

Iron Fist wanders off and ends up in a nightmare where he's fighting the dragon Shou Lao the Undying, in a recreation of how he got his powers. He fears that he's not worthy of those powers, and when Spider-Man starts encouraging him, Nightmare brings Spidey back to Doctor Strange's side. Strange's spells start to fail him, as he fears his magic not working I guess, and Spider-Man is taken to his own fears - a memory of Uncle Ben. Nightmare expects this to cripple Spider-Man but Spider-Man reveals that he thinks about his failure every day and it's only strengthened him. Spider-Man realises that Nightmare is weakened when people face their fears, and Doctor Strange manages to get his magic back. Strange uses a spell to allow Spider-Man to tell all of the sleeping people that nightmares aren't to be feared, which weakens Nightmare enough for the heroes to defeat him. With the threat gone, Iron Fist and Spider-Man head back to class, where Spider-Man terrifies Nova with his fear, discovered through his dreams - rabbits.

Sam Alexander is Actually the Worst:

• After everyone wakes up at the end, Luke and White Tiger are discussing how they can't remember falling asleep or waking up. This is legitimate cause to be worried, but Nova, of course, simply says "I don't know what you guys are worried about! We took a little nap!"
• Shortly afterwards, Sam, Luke, and Ava find Danny and Peter asleep in a classroom. Without any hesitation, Nova declares that he's going to write doofus on Peter's forehead.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Iron Fist says to Doctor Strange that "it was your training that saved me," so I guess he was Doctor Strange's apprentice or something in this universe?
• The Doctor Strange from Seven Little Superheroes might have been the lamest version of Doctor Strange, but at least he dressed pretty well. This version of Doctor Strange wears this drab black costume, and he looks like he's been taking fashion advice from Matthew Patel ("pirates are in this year!")
• When fighting Nightmare, Doctor Strange conjures up the Crimson Chains of Cyttorak, as opposed to the Crimson Bands he normally uses in the comics.

Review: What, exactly, is this episode striving to be? Is it a chance for Iron Fist and Spider-Man to bond, and for Spider-Man (and the audience) to learn more about his teammate? Is it an introduction for Doctor Strange, so that he can be used in future episodes? Is it a chance to add a new villain to Spidey's rogues gallery? If the aim is for any of these, then I don't think it's done a good job of it. We get some hints as to Iron Fist's origin, but I can't say that I feel he and Spider-Man are better friends at the end of it than they were at the start. We learn nothing about Doctor Strange - what his limits are, or what his role in the world is. As for Nightmare...does anyone really want this guy to come back? He's the most generic of generic doomsday villains, speaking in a deep, distorted voice that I'm sure I've heard used in parodies before.

I can almost understand Spider-Man not believing in magic, but then what does he think happened back in Field Trip? Why does Iron Fist wander off into a dream after being explicitly told not to by Doctor Strange? Why is it implied that Doctor Strange loses his powers because Spider-Man doesn't believe in magic, and why does he get them back when Spider-Man reveals that you can overcome a nightmare by facing your fears? Surely he didn't need that piece of advice from Spidey, right?

The episode is overall more boring than horrible, but boring is still a long way from a recommendation. The one good thing I sort of want to say about it is that the message of facing your fears isn't a bad one, but even then the execution is pretty bad. In a vacuum the message is fine, but from the context of the episode it really feels like they're trying to sincerely inform us that, no, really, guys, nightmares can't hurt you. Which isn't wrong, but I think I learned that back when I was eight or so.