Ultimate Spider-Man Episode Sixty-Seven: Rampaging Rhino

Rampaging Rhino

First Aired: July 14th, 2015

Synopsis: Spider-Man talks to Doctor Connors and Agent Venom on the SHIELD Helicarrier and discovers that Rhino is there. It's been discovered that he can't return to normal again, which he's angry about, and he only gets angrier when he discovers that Venom is Flash Thompson, his former bully. Rhino breaks free and causes enough destruction that he, Venom, and Spider-Man end up falling from the helicarrier. After parachuting to safety Venom and Spider-Man try dealing with him, but Rhino soon goes on a rampage. Fury wants to send in more force and when Spidey and Venom still can't stop Rhino, Nick Fury does so, sending the Hulk in to stop Rhino. The Hulk and Rhino are both reckless enough that Spider-Man and Venom have to deal with their collateral damage. As the fight goes on Venom tries stopping them in an ice hockey rink they end up in, but he ends up electrocuting himself and having to be taken to Doctor Connors to recover.

While Spider-Man's on the helicarrier he grabs the latest Iron Spider outfit, the Iron Spider Hulkbuster, in the hopes that the added firepower will let him stop Hulk and Rhino. It's not enough, and Rhino runs into the tunnels as he continues his rampage. Spider-Man realises that he's been trying to stop Rhino with force rather than words, and empathises with him and convinces him to stop his rampage. Rhino is convinced that he can be a hero, which is a good thing as the tunnel walls have received damage from the fight and are about to flood. A fuel tanker is about to explode and Spider-Man suggests that they get out while they can, but Rhino instead risks his life to stop it, proving that he can be a hero. In the aftermath Rhino is given the opportunity to visit his home but refuses to do so until he can redeem himself. He apologises to Flash for being so aggressive to him, and Spider-Man convinces Nick Fury to give Rhino a chance. Fury agrees, and Rhino gets enrolled at SHIELD Academy.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• The Hulk and Rhino fighting is quite appropriate - although Rhino debuted in a Spider-Man comic and is thought of as a classic Spidey foe, for most of the 60s and 70s he fought the Hulk more than he did Spider-Man.

Review: Before watching, I thought I'd hate this episode - the title's bland and implies that the entire thing will just be Spider-Man and Venom fighting Rhino. But while there's a decent amount of bland fights here, what the episode is really about is shifting Rhino from the position of a villain to a hero. I'm not always a big fan of this as it can often feel a bit weak, or require characters to ignore serious crimes that villains have committed, but it works here - Rhino really is just a kid who lashed out at his tormentor in a bad way, so it does feel quite justified that when he's calmed down and his bully's admitted his mistakes he'd be ready to stop doing crimes.

Unfortunately, while I do think that where this episode ends up at is a good place, it is a bit of a rough path to get there. As mentioned there's some bland fights, along with some weird moments in there - the one that leaps out to me is when Spider-Man, in the Iron Spider Hulkbuster, gets his armour pierced by Rhino's horn and just sort of dangles there for a solid minute or so while Rhino runs around, before he can free himself. Spider-Man suddenly having the revelation that he should try appealing to Rhino with his words is also a weird moment, since up until then he'd mostly been trying to talk to Rhino - remember how he asked Fury for a chance to get through to Rhino?

In spite of those flaws though, I think there's enough good here that while I'd hesitate to call it one of the better episodes, it's an overall positive experience. The Iron Spider Hulkbuster is foreshadowed at the start of the episode when Spider-Man's doing some training, Flash is quite likable and mature, and look - it's Doctor Connors! We haven't seen him in a while! I doubt Rhino will get much of a starring role from here, but that's okay - it's nice to explore an aspect of this version that other versions don't really have, if only for one episode. And let's be real, even if he never shows up again, we've at least established that he doesn't have those godawful tank treads from his last appearance any more, and that's a happy ending which everyone benefits from.