Attack of the Synthezoids
First Aired: September 19th, 2015
Synopsis: After some strange dreams Spider-Man wakes up in an assimilation tube of Arnim Zola's, and after escaping, finds it missing when trying to explain what happened to his teammates. A synthezoid appears after they leave and he fights it, then goes to Nick Fury to warn him what's going on. Fury explains to Spider-Man that he's currently asleep undergoing a SHIELD test and that to wake up and pass the test he'll need to enter a large tube, but Spidey realises it's a trap. He fights Fury, who's a synthezoid, and is then contacted by Arnim Zola who explains that most people in the Triskelion have been replaced by synthezoids. The first group of heroes Spider-Man runs into turn out to be said synthezoids, but he soon finds Amadeus Cho and Iron Fist who are the real deal. While they go after Zola, who Amadeus can track, both Amadeus and Iron Fist are taken out by synthezoids.
Spider-Man runs into White Tiger, Venom, Cloak and Dagger, and Rhino, and they work together to fight synthezoids that are mashed up versions of heroes. As they continue fighting, however, White Tiger turns out to be a synthezoid which causes trust issues among everyone, with most heroes being suspicious of Rhino. Spider-Man convinces everyone to work together for now, but as they fight more synthezoids Dagger is dragged away by them. Once the synthezoids are defeated, Cloak's psychic link to Dagger informs the heroes that all of the replaced heroes are onboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, which is flying away now. The helicarrier fires missiles at the Triskelion, but Spider-Man climbs from the rubble and swears revenge on Zola.
Review: I wouldn't have picked Arnim Zola as a villain significant or deadly enough to get his own two-parter, especially given how recent his first appearance was, but you know what? I'll take him over this show's versions of Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin, both of whom I feel have thoroughly outstayed their welcomes by now. The synthezoids aren't the most exciting villains to face, but them being able to disguise themselves as heroes does add a nice tinge of paranoia to the episode (especially when White Tiger is revealed to be one, showing that they can be subtle when needed), and the mashed-up synthezoids have a nice, disgusting visual.
Less exciting in this episode is all of the fighting. Spider-Man fights a synthezoid, then he fights the Nick Fury synthezoid, then he fights a bunch of synthezoids disguised as heroes (and squirrels), then he fights some more synthezoids alongside Amadeus and Iron Fist...and we're not even halfway through the episode yet. While the heroes being captured and replaced is a good hook, the story never really progresses past that point, choosing instead to spend most of its time on synthezoid fights which get dreary after a while.
Don't get me wrong, there's some good moments here - everyone being suspicious of Rhino, a neat (and justified!) gag where it's implied Flash doesn't know what a washing machine is, the synthezoid Nick Fury trying to be subtle and convince Spider-Man that he's just dreaming. But the majority of the episode is just bland, and doesn't really excite me that much. Here's hoping that the second part will make the most of the setup given in this episode and give us a much stronger conclusion.
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