Ultimate Spider-Man Episode Eleven: Venomous

Venomous

First Aired: June 24th, 2012

Synopsis: Batroc the Leaper is brutally attacked by Venom, and Spider-Man is blamed for it. The next day Harry is tired and nervous but says that he doesn't know anything about what happened when Peter asks, so Peter follows him as Spider-Man on the Spider-Cycle. Harry goes to Oscorp and wants to talk to Norman, who has recognised Venom's handiwork, but when Norman doesn't listen Harry transforms into Venom. Spider-Man bursts in and saves Norman, but Harry escapes. Nick Fury calls in the team and tells them that they'll be taking down Venom, but since Peter doesn't want to hurt Harry and refuses to tell the team about his connection he's taken off the assignment. Nevertheless, Spider-Man waits outside an Oscorp lab, knowing that Harry will go there since Norman's there. He inevitably does, but as Spider-Man's trying to help Norman, the other superheroes appear and Spider-Man has to fight them so they don't hurt Harry. Venom ends up escaping, but not before White Tiger manages to get a sample of the symbiote.

The team, including Spider-Man, go to their empty school later that evening. They confront Spider-Man over what's going on, and he reluctantly admits that Venom is Harry. Fury chooses that moment to call them, and they don't share the information that Spidey gave them. White Tiger gives Spider-Man the sample she took and he works out that he can make an anti-venom with it. While he does so in the school's lab, Venom shows up, attracted to the sample, and the team fight him. Spider-Man eventually finishes his work and joins the fight, which ends up outside. Venom gets hit by lightning, as it's stormy, and Spider-Man manages to get him with the anti-venom, which destroys the symbiote and leaves just Harry. Afterwards, Norman visits Harry in hospital and is a prick to Spider-Man. He steals a sample of Harry's blood and takes it to Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man shows up on the SHIELD Helicarrier and thanks the team for standing by him, and they set a training program to attack him with robots.

Sam Alexander is Actually the Worst:

• When Nova is getting ready to go after Venom, he mockingly says, "Oh, Parker! We're going to kick butt on your secret playmate! Too bad you won't be around to watch!" I understand that they're all trusting Fury's orders and that's why they're going after Venom, but Nova's completely unsympathetic to whatever reason Spidey might want to keep his Venom knowledge secret and what relationship they might have, reveling in the thought of screwing over Spidey.
• Spider-Man says that he can make an anti-venom, to which Nova tries to quip, "Anti-Venom? How about an Uncle Venom while you're at it?!" It's not only a joke that's entirely dependent on pronunciation, it's fucking awful.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• At the time this episode aired, Anti-Venom was a relatively recent addition to Spider-Man's friends and foes (I believe that Eddie was cured when this episode aired, but I'd need to check exact dates to be sure). Possible foreshadowing?
• When the news about Batroc being beaten up airs, a headline down the bottom of the news says that Doctor Doom has been sued for malpractice. This is, of course, anti-Doom propaganda created by that jealous worm Richards!

Review: All of the ingredients for a good story are here, but they're not quite being mixed together properly. Spider-Man coming into conflict with his team is good, as is his deciding to trust them and them not betraying his trust. Harry losing control of the symbiote is the next logical step for the character, and Norman's getting some good moments in too, between admiring Venom and stealing Harry's blood. So what isn't working here?

For one thing, there's a few too many fights, and they're not all that exciting. Spider-Man fights Venom at Oscorp, fights Venom and his team at a different Oscorp building, and then the team fight him for what feels like forever at school. Did I mention that Venom gets hit by lightning? It gives us a chance to see Harry and he cries for help, but it doesn't really serve any other purpose. There's also a moment where we see that Spidey sabotaged his team's transport to give him a chance against Venom without them, but then they just show up anyway, the closest we get to an explanation being White Tiger sarcastically asking whether Spidey's surprised that they showed up so soon.

Then there's the ending. I get that it's supposed to be a comedy moment - Spidey can trust his team, but oh no, they're going to have him beaten up by robots - but it doesn't come across that way. It comes across as his team being dicks for no real reason, and it's a pity, because them understanding his dilemma with Harry and not betraying that trust was a really good character moment. I do like where the characters - namely, Harry and Norman - are at the end of this episode, but I'm not pleased with the execution that got them to that point.