Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Thirty-Three: Bring on the Bad Guys, Part One

Bring on the Bad Guys, Part One

First Aired: July 30th, 2018

Synopsis: Horizon High's open house is coming up, and Peter hasn't yet made his project for it, a green energy amplifier. He buys cheap equipment for it but as he does so two out-of-town villains, Hippo and Panda-Mania, arrive and rob a bank. Spider-Man chases them on the subway, but they get away and head to a meeting of other villains where a bounty is placed on Spider-Man's head. Neither of them are keen to clash with Spider-Man again so quietly leave the meeting and head off to be tourists. Later, when Peter calls up Aunt May, she's interrupted when the villain Overdrive passes by her. Peter goes after Overdrive as Spider-Man, finding that he's controlling a bus using nanites, but Overdrive crashes the bus into a construction site then collapses it on Spider-Man.

Spider-Man survives by surrounding himself with a web cocoon, and then makes his way out of the rubble. He finds some of Overdrive's nanites and deduces that they only work on vehicles, then attaches them to Uncle Ben's old motorcycle and creates gear similar to Overdrive's. Spider-Man heads into the city where he finds Overdrive trying to find his body, and challenges him to a race. Overdrive accepts, but Spider-Man tricks him into absorbing some of the nanites on Uncle Ben's bike, which he'd reprogrammed. Overdrive crashes and is taken out, but in the aftermath Spider-Man is given a speeding ticket.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• On an electronic billboard J. Jonah Jameson calls out for police chief Watanabe to arrest Spider-Man. Watanabe is presumably a reference to Yuri Watanabe, a character in the comics who eventually became the new Wraith.
• Overdrive is briefly seen unmasked in this episode, and he's shown to be white. In the comics Overdrive is generally depicted as being darker skinned.
• Spider-Man challenges Overdrive to a race on DeFalco Parkway, presumably a reference to Tom DeFalco.

Review: If the fairly short synopsis didn't give it away, this episode is fairly simple - Spider-Man fights a duo of bad guys, then, due to a bounty on his head, fights another one. It's uncomplicated but it works; if the episode spent too long getting into the real meat of things and providing a complex plot then we wouldn't have room for the villains presented, and by presenting multiple villains we get a greater sense of how enticing the bounty on Spider-Man's head is. It also helps that the villains showcased are fairly lighthearted and fun; Hippo simply wants to go to a wax museum while in New York, while Overdrive more wants to have a good race than anything.

If I had to choose a flaw with the episode it'd probably be how isolated Peter is - aside from Aunt May we don't get any scenes of his supporting cast, so it feels like this episode could occur at virtually any point in the show's continuity. It'd be easy to integrate them, too - simply have a quick scene where Peter talks to them about his project for Horizon High's open house, and give a throwaway line or two about what they're doing.

The episode is thus overall fairly lighthearted, and whether it's too lighthearted or not will probably come down to your personal preference. Personally, I love Overdrive and so was happy enough seeing him that the episode was pretty decent for me, but I can see why people might not be satisfied with him. The promise of a bounty on Spider-Man's head by a mysterious figure also provides a bit of setup for the next few episodes, which is nice, and I think it's safe to say that Peter trying to get someone to buy his project at Horizon High's open house to compensate for losing his job will also be a running plot from here. Not bad at all, really.