Marvel's Spider-Man Episode Twenty-Nine: Rise Above it All

Rise Above it All

First Aired: July 2nd, 2018

Synopsis: Spider-Man is getting criticised by J. Jonah Jameson when he's seemingly attacked by a group of Vulture-like villains, only for them to create an air show and use Spider-Man within it. Afterwards they introduce themselves as Barkley Blitz and the Wake Riders, and extreme sports and stunt team. Suspicious of their technology, Spider-Man asks where they got it and Blitz says that he made it himself. They ask Spider-Man to do another stunt with him, and after seeing how much everyone likes him now that he's worked with the Wake Riders, he agrees. While Spider-Man's setting up a net to catch Blitz from a fall, he hears the sound of a break-in. He investigates it once the stunt is over and finds Vulture there, who claims that he's investigating things and that the Wake Riders were responsible for the break-in, and for plenty of others around the globe. Spider-Man's unsure whether or not to trust Vulture, but does agree to work with the Wake Riders on their next stunt.

Peter works out with Miles' help that the equipment that's been stolen, supposedly by the Wake Riders, could create a personal jet suit. When the next stunt is started Blitz breaks into a building and starts 3D-printing illegal polymer wings. Spider-Man catches him and a fight starts, which Vulture interrupts. He's brought a weapon which can shut down the suit, which apparently was stolen from his designs, but as the rest of the Wake Riders show up, Blitz surrenders. He tells Vulture that he respects him and his technology, and Vulture agrees to become the new leader of the Wake Riders, using the upgraded suit that Blitz has been working on. Miles shows up and helps Spider-Man fight the Wake Riders, but Vulture gets away. In the aftermath Spider-Man is accused of framing the Wake Riders for their crimes, who seem to get off scott-free. Spider-Man muses to Miles that being a superhero isn't about fame.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• The title of this episode, Rise Above it All, presumably comes from an oft-repeated phrase in the first issue of Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man series. It's pretty great in how overblown and overdone it is; while I do like McFarlane's art (but get it for people who aren't so big on it), his writing is, um...not the strongest I've read in comics.
• While the Wake Riders are original villains to this show's continuity, the basic idea has been done before in the comics with the Vulturions.
• We briefly see the police station that the Wake Riders have been taken to at the end of the episode, and its number is 616. Subtle.

Review: Yeah, so this episode isn't great. The biggest flaw is the Wake Riders' plan - at first I was wondering how they were making their money just doing stunts for free; stunts which don't seem to be recorded or advertised and only have a small amount of merchandise. Then it was revealed that their stunts are actually distractions for robberies. Hey, that makes sense! Then it's revealed that the robberies are so that they can get upgrades for more extreme stunts. What? There's a line about how competitive their line of work is, and how they need to keep up with the competition, but it's all still a very dramatic set of actions to undertake just for fame - which they apparently don't care about, since the Wake Riders will happily just let Vulture be their leader for...crimes? More stunts? Gyargh, none of this makes sense.

The highlight of this episode is definitely Vulture's characterisation when Spider-Man finds him seemingly performing a break-in - he talks about how he was led astray and stopped being able to tell right from wrong, and wants his name to be associated with his scientific achievements, not his crimes. It's a bit of nuance added to his characterisation, reminding us that the Vulture might be a criminal now, but he didn't set out to be one, and would undo his mistakes if he could. The only problem with it is that at the end of the episode, when the Wake Riders offer to make Vulture their leader, Spider-Man explicitly reminds Vulture of his earlier comments and he essentially says, "Yeah...but minions!"

Other issues I have with this episode are how much shilling the Wake Riders get (even Harry, in Europe, has heard of them! Miles says he's pretty much obsessed with them, which explains why they've never been mentioned by him before!) and this weak subplot about Miles trying to make money off Spider-Man's newfound popularity, which is trying to be played for humour but can't progress beyond, "Ha ha, Miles wants money!" The episode isn't offensively bad or anything, nor is it the weakest writing I've seen before, but it's definitely not good.