Story Title: “Vampire at Large!” (also includes “–The Way it Began” and “The Curse and the Cure!”) Published: November 1971 Writer: Roy Thomas Artist: Gil Kane
The Background: After achieving incredible success with the Fantastic Four, Marvel editor and head writer Stan Lee created Peter Parker/Spider-Man, a teenage superhero who unexpectedly became one of Marvel’s best selling titles. Spider-Man’s popularity was such that he featured in a number of spin-offs, including Marvel Team-Up, which partnered him with other, less mainstream superheroes, and he quickly amassed one of the most colourful and memorable rogues galleries in all of comicdom. Doctor Michael Morbius was just one of these; the creation of writer Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, and billed as a “Living Vampire”, Morbius came into being thanks to the Comics Code Authority finally relaxing its ban on vampires and other supernatural beings in comic books, but was actually the product of science rather than magic. Morbius would go on to feature in a number of Marvel crossovers and stories, generally those involving supernatural characters such as Eric Brooks/Blade and the various Ghost Riders, but the only time I’ve ever encountered him is in his neutered depiction in the 1990’s Spider-Man cartoon. After years of stop/start efforts to make it onto the silver screen, Morbius inexplicably made his live-action debut recently, so I figured now is as good a time as any to revisit the Living Vampire’s debut and see if he’s really worth his own solo movie.
The Review: Before tackling “Vampire at Large!”, it’s probably best to also give a bit more background on Morbius and the events surrounding his introduction. The character actually appeared in “A Monster Called…Morbius!” (Thomas, et al, 1971), a story which opened with Spider-Man startled to find that his attempt to cure himself has resulted in him growing four additional arms! Struggling with the despair and horror of his newfound predicament, Peter makes a desperate call to Doctor Curt Connors/The Lizard and is invited to stay at the Connor’s Long Island beach house until he can find a solution. However, after working tirelessly for two days straight, Spider-Man is frustrated by failure, but has little time to dwell on his misery as he is attacked by a grotesque, pale figure garbed in an elaborate cape ensemble.
While trying to rid himself of his for extra arms, Spidey is attacked by first Morbius…and then the Lizard!
This previous story also details how this vampiric man known as Morbius was found adrift in the ocean and slaughtered the crew of a vessel under the darkness of night. Washing ashore, Morbius flees to Connor’s summerhouse to sleep in the belfry and avoid the draining influence of the daytime sun, but awakens to find the six-armed Spider-Man awaiting him. The Living Vampire isn’t one for villainous monologues; he simply attacks, surprising the wall-crawler with his deathly visage, his superhuman strength, and his sharp fangs. Fatigued after working without a break for two days, Spider-Man is in little condition to fight and is knocked unconscious following a massive blow. Morbius’s meal is interrupted, however, by the unexpected arrival of Dr. Connors; stunned by the vampire’s horrific appearance, Connors transforms into the Lizard and “Vampire at Large!” begins with Spider-Man being caught between a brutal throwdown between the two tortured monstrosities.
Dr. Connors struggles to maintain his humanity and help Spider-Man whip up a cure.
With Morbius desiring to feed on Spider-Man’s blood and the Lizard fixated on killing the wall-crawler, the two monsters are almost evenly matched in strength and ferocity; however, Morbius gains the upper hand by sending the Lizard flying into an electrical gizmo, which renders the reptilian unconscious and easy prey for the Living Vampire. Unable to see anyone, least of all a tragic soul like Dr. Connors, fall victim to such a fate, Spider-Man intervenes and tries to get answers from Morbius, but the enigmatic vampire chooses to fly out into the night, unaware that Spidey has tagged him with one of this spider tracers, and leaving him with the weakened Lizard. Although Connors briefly returns to a reptilian version of his human form, he finds himself trapped as the Lizard but retaining some semblance of his humanity thanks to the effects of Morbius’s bite. Spider-Man and the Lizard resolve to combine their resources and intelligence to help cure both of their conditions; the Lizard theorises that Morbius’s vampiric bite must have infected him with an enzyme, but time is against them as the Lizard grows wilder and more animalistic with every passing minute.
In trying to cure his mysterious fatal disease, Morbius becomes a Living Vampire craving human blood!
We then re-join Morbius in the throes of another soliloquy regarding the anguish he feels during the day time, the screams and accusations of his victims, and his need to sleep through the day to keep those nightmarish thoughts out and remain at full strength. As he sleeps, however, Morbius not only begs for forgiveness from his victims but dreams about how he came to be; it seems he was once Doctor Michael Morbius, a Nobel Prize winning scientist stricken by a facial deformity and ravaged by a rare disease that he hoped to cure by conducting research on vampire bats using experimental shock treatment. Desperate for a cure so that he can give his beloved Martine the life she deserves, Morbius has his friend and colleague Nikos help him by subjecting him to an untested dosage of electrical current while garbed in a special suit; however, Morbius emerges forever changed, transforming into a monstrous, man-made vampire during the night and he accidentally kills Nikos with his bare hands. Horrified by the monster he has become, Morbius attempts to lose himself in the ocean’s tumultuous waves, only for his survival instinct to kick in, forcing him to the surface…and to an undead life of feeding upon the blood of the living.
Although Spidey recovers the serum, Morbius is seemingly lost beneath the sea.
While Peter’s friends, family, and colleagues worry after him, Spider-Man and the unpredictable Lizard finally manage to track Morbius down and, conscious of time being against him, Spidey is able to finally render the Living Vampire unconscious so that the Lizard can extract the enzyme they need from Morbius’s blood. Without even waiting to test it, the Lizard injects the serum into himself and becomes Dr. Connors once more; however, Morbius suddenly awakens, catching Spidey off-guard and making off with the serum in order to drink it for himself. Dr. Connors finally recognises Morbius as Morbius (I mean…the clue’s in the name, right?) and Spider-Man is compelled to help him, sympathising and identifying with his horrific fate, but Morbius is so determined to escape and live free that he collides a bridge and appears to drown in the river. On the plus side, Spider-Man is able to snag the serum before Morbius disappears beneath the water and successfully rids himself of his additional limbs, but guilt over Morbius’s fate weighs heavily on the web-slinger’s mind.
The Summary: “Vampire at Large!” is a very different, and yet very familiar, Spider-Man story; of course you’ve got all the usual tropes you’d expect from a swingin’ Spidey tale set in the late seventies, but Peter’s usual depression, bad luck, and lamentations are made all the worse by the presence of his additional arms. Although Peter is cured of his four extra arms by the conclusion of the story (and you can bet such a plot point would be dragged out for months or even years today), it’s an entertaining and visually interesting sight to see Spider-Man swinging around with these four extra arms sticking out of his side, but they don’t really factor into the story that much beyond giving Peter something new to despair over and driving him to tirelessly find a cure for his condition. What I mean to say is that he doesn’t really get to use the extra arms in an interesting way; they’re simply a plot point, something to make him feel like a freak and an outcast and thus relate to the plight of the Lizard and the debuting Morbius even more.
Morbius’s superhuman strength and unending hunger make him a formidable foe.
I have to say that I wasn’t expecting the Lizard to show up in this story, but it does make sense that Spider-Man would turn to the one man who has experience in trying to cure a limb problem (even though Dr. Connors has been…less than successful in his attempts) and it’s a good job that he does go to Dr. Connors for help or else he would have been another of Morbius’s very victims. Morbius himself is, of course, the big star of the story; mysterious and enigmatic, Morbius makes a visual impression with his chalk-white skin, gruesome bat-like visage, and elaborate outfit that is like a superhero reimagining of Count Dracula’s regal attire. Able to fly at will, sporting superhuman strength, and driven by an overwhelming need to drink human blood, Morbius is a conflicted individual; he sought to cure himself of his fatal ailment, and instead became a monstrous creature of the night that laments having to prey upon his fellow man, and his condition, and yet is also motivated by an irresistible desire to survive at any cost. Initially, Morbius attacks with a silent, driven fury and, thanks to Spidey’s fatigue, easily overwhelms the web-slinger but, as the story progresses, he becomes much more loquacious and prone to the same soliloquies and grandiose boasting so closely associated with comic book villains.
All three struggle with their monstrous afflictions but only Morbius gives into it completely, to his undoing.
And yet, Morbius remains a tragic figure. There’s a definite theme in “Vampire at Large!” regarding humanity as each character has a monstrous condition that leaves them a freak of nature and a threat to their loved ones and fellow man: Peter is distraught that his four arms could shock his beloved Aunt May to death and spell the end of his secret identity and the few relationships he has left, Dr. Connors is continuously battling for control of his mind and body and against the animalistic urges of his scaly other half, and Morbius has seemingly given in to his gruesome urges. Indeed, he actively shuns the daylight not just because it weakens his vampiric abilities but also because he sees only the faces of those he has killed and is haunted by the screams of his victims. Initially, he is so horrified by his condition that he seeks to end his existence, but chastises himself for his short-sightedness, his survival instinct overriding his anguish, and is seemingly destroyed by his obsession with maintaining his freedom by the finale. Personally, I’ve never really been that big a fan of Morbius; he’s okay, but hardly a character I would deem to be a game-changer but his debut here was well handled as it was tied so closely with Spider-Man’s bizarre appendage predicament. He definitely had a mystery and aura around him, though his origins were ill-defined and vague compared to later iterations, and he had a striking appearance that set him apart from Spidey’s abundance of green-and-purple-garbed villains, but he’s definitely more at home in Marvel’s more supernatural and horror-themed books and, for me, little more than a footnote in Spider-Man’s history.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
What are your thoughts on Morbius’s debut? Are you a fan of the character and, if so, what are some of your favourite Morbius tales? Were you disappointed with how brief Peter’s struggles with his four extra limbs was or do you think it was a good idea to not drag the concept out too long? What did you think to Morbius’s depiction, origin, and powers? Do you think the Lizard was necessary to this story? Are you excited for Morbius’s live-action debut or, like me, do you consider it a waste of time and money? Sign up to leave your thoughts on Morbius below or comment on my social media, and be sure to check back in next Friday for my review of Morbius’s big-screen debut.
Released: 17 December 2021 Director: Jon Watts Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Budget: $200 million Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, and Benedict Cumberbatch
The Plot: After having his secret identity publicly outed, Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Holland) finds himself branded a murderer and requests Doctor Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) cast a spell to make everyone forget his identity. However, when the spell is corrupted, reality is fractured and Peter is beset by foes from across the multiverse seeking to avenge themselves against Spider-Man, no matter what world he’s from!
The Background: Following the massive success of the original Spider-Man trilogy (Raimi, 2000 to 2007) and the largely mediocre reception of the poorly-timed reboot films, Marvel Studios were finally able to achieve the impossible when they reached an agreement to include a new version of the iconic web-slinger in their interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Tom Holland took on the role of a young, fresh-faced take on the character and debuted in spectacular fashion in Captain America: Civil War(Russo and Russo, 2016) before spinning off (no pun intended) into the incredibly successfulSpider-Man: Homecoming (Watts, 2017). Spider-Man: Far From Home’s (ibid, 2019) impressive $1.132 million box office proved that the MCU could sustain the success it had amassed even after the cataclysmic events of Avengers: Endgame(Russo and Russo, 2019) but development of a third outing for the character was initially stalled when financial disputes threatened to see the character once again pulled from Marvel’s control. After these issues were resolved, and following a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, production finally got underway in late-2020 and, almost immediately, rumours began circulating regarding the possible return of actors from the previous Spider-Man franchises. These were only exacerbated when Benedict Cumberbatch was confirmed to reprise his role as Dr. Strange, a character who was already scheduled to have his own multiversal adventure, and when the long-awaited trailer was finally released following a leak, confirming that Alfred Molina would be returning as Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus thanks to digital de-aging. Finally, after months of speculation and wild fan rumours, the film’s final trailers confirmed that this story would tackle Spider-Man’s varied cinematic multiverse and the film received an official release date. Thanks to bringing together elements from across Spider-Man’s cinematic legacy, Spider-Man: No Way Home was met by unanimous praise; critics lauded the performances and heart of the film, in addition to atmosphere and chemistry between the actors, and the film made a mammoth $1.916 billion at the box office.
The Review: I feel it’s only fair to emphasise here that I simply cannot find the language to talk about this film without using spoilers. If the title and various warnings aren’t enough for you, then this text should be: here be spoilers, and I’m not planning on holding back as I feel the movie deserves to be discussed in detail and the only way to do that is to talk about spoilers. Also, I was initially torn when it came to this film; the build up to it saw some really toxic opinions and members of the fandom rear their ugly heads, and the marketing has been a bit all over the place. Sony showed a surprising amount of restraint with their trailers, and maybe held them off a little too long, but it definitely built up a great deal of hype and intrigue surrounding it and it felt good to be excited and curious about a movie for a change. Having said that, though…be better, people, come on. If you have a favourite Spider-Man, that’s great, but don’t rag on people for having a different opinion. Spider-Man is really lucky as he has had so many adaptations and so much representation, so many live-action portrayals, and all of them have been extremely accurate to the source material and exciting outings in their own right, so maybe just be thankful that the web-head gets so much love and is so popular rather than being ungrateful or attacking others for their opinions?
Jameson’s smear campaign spells personal trouble for Spider-Man and his friends.
Spider-Man: No Way Home picks up immediately where Spider-Man: Far From Home left off, with blustering, loud-mouthing online personality J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) gleefully broadcasting edited footage sent to him by Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) that not only implicates Peter as a murderer but also outs his secret identity to the entire world. Naturally, this sends New York City into a bit of an uproar and, pretty much immediately, both Spider-Man and his new girlfriend Michelle Jones-Watson/M. J. (Zendaya) are swamped by a mob that is split between worshipping and condemning Spider-Man, paparazzi looking to get a sound bite, and cops seeking to question Peter’s involvement in Beck’s death. Despite his best efforts to escape the chaos, and to break the news to his beloved Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and his begrudging friend and handler, Harold “Happy” Hogan (Jon Favreau), Peter and his friends and family are soon apprehended by the Department of Damage Control (DODC), which has now extended its scope into being a federal agency responsible for such matters. Although M. J. and May remain tight-lipped on the matter, Peter’s bungling but loyal friend Ned Leeds (Batalon) and Peter himself don’t exactly help his case, and Peter is left overwhelmed by the barrage of accusations and the public’s awareness of his true identity. Any legal ramifications concerning these matters are quickly swept under the table, however; although Happy and May recently ended their fling (much to Happy’s dismay), the Parkers are given sanctuary at Happy’s secure apartment and an especially good blind lawyer is able to ensure that the charges against Peter are dropped. However, public opinion remains divided; since the world considers Mysterio a hero, many people condemn Spider-Man (which isn’t helped by Jameson’s continuing smear campaign against Peter) and Peter is treated with both awe, fear, and adulation by his fellow pupils. Thankfully, he has M. J. and Ned there to support him through it; despite the revelation uprooting their lives and thrusting them into the spotlight as well, they remain his loyal and understanding companions, which is always sweet to see. While Peter appreciates this, and could probably have adjusted to the major changes in his life with their support, his guilt and shame are magnified when neither her, Ned, or M. J. are able to successfully get into college.
Peter turns to Dr. Strange for help, but muddles the spell and causes reality to fracture as a result.
Because of the media storm and controversy surrounding Peter, no college wants to risk being associated with any of them, and Peter is guilt-ridden at having cost his loved ones the chance of realising their dreams. Yet, even though this has happened, M. J. and Ned still take it on the chin and remain optimistic (or, at least, put on a brave face, in M. J.’s case) and neither of them blame Peter for this, but it does little to alleviate his guilt. Desperate for a solution, Peter seeks out the council of Dr. Strange (who, it is amusingly revealed, is no longer the Sorcerer Supreme thanks to being snapped away for five years; Wong (Benedict Wong) has assumed the position instead, which could potentially be explored to greater humourous effect in Strange’s upcoming movie). Although Wong cautions against it, Dr. Strange offers to cast a complicated and dangerous spell that will erase the knowledge of Peter’s secret identity from everyone in the world; however, Peter starts to panic mid-way through the spell and requests that May, M. J., Ned, and Happy be exempt from the erasure, which causes Strange to lose control of the spell and contain it within a jewel least it wreak havoc upon the world…and the multiverse. The relationship between Dr. Strange and Peter is notably different to what we saw between Peter and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr); Strange isn’t a mentor to Peter, he’s more like a work associate, and he’s willing to help the kid out because of his efforts at restoring half the population, but he’s easily frustrated by Peter’s naivety and ignorance, especially when it comes to the world of magic, and angered that Peter risked tampering with the fabric of reality before properly exploring all of the real-world options available to him or learning to adapt to the changes in his life.
Molina makes a triumphant return as the crazed Doc Ock, who’s intrigued by the MCU.
Determined to make up for this, Peter tracks down a college professor to plead M. J. and Ned’s case, only to suddenly be attacked by a face very familiar to us but completely alien to him as Dr. Octopus attacks the Queensboro Bridge in a confused rage, ranting at Peter and demanding to know what happened to his “machine”. Though confused by the villain’s sudden appearance, Spider-Man holds his own in impressive fashion thanks to the advanced technology and gadgets built into his Iron Spider costume, saving lives while fending off Doc Ock’s mechanical arms; his genius mind addled by the corrupting influence of his mechanical tentacles, Doc Ock is intrigued by the Iron Spider’s nanotechnology but startled to find a very different face behind the mask. His confusion soon turns to manic frustration when Peter is able to use the suit’s nanotech to take control of Doc Ock’s arms and render him helpless, and Octavius’s rage is only incensed further when he suddenly finds himself a prisoner in a dark catacomb beneath Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. Although dismissive of the idea of magic and vehemently rejecting the idea that he needs help or to be fixed, Doc Ock is intrigued to see the evidence of a multiverse surrounding him; not only has he met the MCU version of Peter and M. J., but he shares his prison with Doctor Curt Connors/The Lizard (Rhys Ifans), a monstrous creature Dr. Strange was able to subdue offscreen and who is very clearly from another reality. Ock’s curiosity is only piqued further when he and Peter catch a fleeting glimpse of another Spider-foe Octavius knows all-too-well, Doctor Norman Osbourn/The Green Goblin (Dafoe), before being imprisoned.
Peter finds a number of monstrous, and maniacal, villains have crossed over into the MCU.
Angered at the incursions that have slipped into their world because of Peter’s ignorance, Dr. Strange demands that he and his friends “Scooby-Doo this shit!” and round up the visitors so they can be sent home; he grants Peter a magically-charged gadget that allows him to shoot a web that instantly teleports the villains to the prison, and Peter is forced to turn his suit inside-out after it gets ruined by paint thrown by a mob. Although he initially heads out to track down the Green Goblin, Peter instead finds Max Dillon/Electro (Foxx), who draws power from electricity lines to regain his physical form and alter the nature of his powers. Disorientated at having being violently ripped from his reality, Electro lashes out in anger, and Peter is only saved by the timely intervention of Flint Marko/The Sandman (Thomas Hayden Church), who helps Peter subdue and capture Electro. However, upon realising that he’s trapped on another world, the Sandman also grows antagonistic and winds up confined as a result, and Peter learns from each of them the nature of their personalities, their worlds, and their fates: Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro are all fated to die in battle with Spider-Man, and returning them home would seal that fate, and that’s something Peter cannot, in good conscience, allow.
The Green Goblin quickly re-establishes himself as Peter’s greatest threat.
This brings him into conflict with Dr. Strange, who is determined to activate the jewel and send the visitors back home regardless since he’s weighing the fate and stability of the entire multiverse rather than the lives of a few villains. When Peter tries to take the jewel from him, a bit of a scuffle ensues in which we see Peter is able to control his body even while forced into his astral force thanks to this spider-sense, and his knowledge of geometry also allows him to figure out the mirror dimensions, web up Strange, and leave him stranded there while he works to cure the villains. While he has good intentions, and his friends and family support his efforts, and he is even able to convince the villains to trust him to help keep them alive, Peter underestimates the depths of Norman’s psychosis. Rendered a meek, bewildered scientist who is lost and in pain, Norman willingly works alongside Peter to help fix Doc Ock, returning the tentacled menace to his more good-natured self, but Norman’s dark half, the Green Goblin, soon resurfaces to throw Peter’s entire plan out the window. I got a real kick out of seeing Norman and Otto being familiar with each other, and the Lizard and Electro also having a familiarity with each other, it really helped to flesh out their respective worlds and deliver exposition regarding the characters to those who might not be familiar with them. While it’s disappointing that the Sandman was rendered entirely in his sand form for 90% of the movie, and the Lizard was basically a non-factor (there’s even a moment where he is simply confined to a van and forgotten about until the film’s big climax needs to happen), both Doc Ock and the Green Goblin play significant roles in the story. The Goblin wraps the remains of his God-awful suit in a tatter cloak and Dafoe’s demented facial expressions get to shine trough as he operates entirely unmasked throughout the film; he’s also far more vicious and deadly than ever before, cackling in Peter’s face and taunting him at every turn. While all of these returning actors slipped back into their roles perfectly (and even got a chance at redemption, in Electro’s case), Dafoe steals the show ones again as a maniacal and vicious villain who simply wants to cause Peter pain, no matter which Peter it is!
The Nitty-Gritty : When I first heard that Tom Holland’s third solo movie was going to delve into the multiverse, I have to admit that I was disappointed and annoyed; I enjoyed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Persichetti, Ramsey, and Rothman, 2018) but even with that film I questioned the logic of confusing matters with multidimensional shenanigans. The MCU definitely seems to be gearing towards exploring the multiverse, but I expected this to be confined to Dr. Strange’s solo films and worried that bringing in faces from the Sam Raimi and Marc Webb films would just be pandering and confusing. Not only that, but I’m of the firm belief that every role can be recast: Dafoe, Simmons, and Molina were all fantastic in their previous iterations but who’s to say that another actor wouldn’t be just as good, if not better? I expected this third Spider-Man movie would be the perfect excuse to finally bring the Sinister Six to life using the villains already established in the MCU: Adrian Toomes/The Vulture (Michael Keaton), Herman Schultz/The Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine), Mac Gargan/The Scorpion (Michael Mando), and even Mysterio (he was the master of illusions, after all) could all have returned and joined forces with two new villains (ideally an all-new Doc Ock) to collect a bounty on Spider-Man. Hell, I was more excited at the prospect of Charlie Cox returning as Matt Murdock/Daredevil or Spider-Man being forced to go on the run and teaming up with the Netflix Defenders than complicating things with multiverse hijinks, and I still maintain that it makes zero sense to have Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy) exist in a separate universe when it would have been far simpler to have him be based in San Francisco but still exist in the MCU (like how other MCU heroes and movies take place in different cities but those characters don’t have to be transported through time and space to interact).
Spider-Man butts heads with Dr. Strange regarding how to deal with the villains.
And yet….man, was it a thrill to see Alfred Molina return in the role! Bringing back these iconic actors in their most famous villain roles might be unapologetic fan service but it was fan service executed almost to perfection. I say “almost” as we were one villain short from an iteration of the Sinister Six; Eddie doesn’t show up into the mid-credits scene and he is teleported back where he came from without having any impact on the movie (though he does leave a part of himself behind…) and there was no secret sixth villain added to the roster. However, that’s not to say that the five villains we did get were disappointing…far from it! Since the MCU is different to where he came from, Electro is able to not only reconstitute his body, but also alters his powers; the addition of an Arc Reactor only pushes his powers even further, allowing him to resemble his traditional comic book appearance far closer than in his original iteration. The Sandman may be in sand form for the majority of the film, but he remains an emotionally conflicted character; at first, he helps Peter, and even tries to talk sense into some of the villains, but the idea of being kept from his home world and his daughter pushes him against the web-slinger out of pure self-preservation. This motivation is the driving force behind many of the villains, as they have either accepted their monstrous new powers or have no wish to be sent away to die. In the case of Doc Ock and the Lizard, this is due to technology or mutation clouding their judgement; when Peter repairs the inhibitor chip on Ock’s neck, he becomes much more agreeable and even helps Peter to hold off the villains in the finale, and when the Lizard ingests the cure and returns to his human form, he returns to his more docile personality.
Peter is devastated by loss and pushed to the edge by the Green Goblin.
The same is also true of the Green Goblin, however Norman’s psychosis is far more manipulative, calculating, and violent. He has no desire to return home to meet his end and absolutely brutalises Peter to keep him from trying to cure him; the Goblin quickly re-establishes himself as Peter’s most dangerous and notorious foe not only by swaying the other villains into turning on Peter, but delivering a massive beatdown on him that leaves him helpless to keep his Aunt May from harm. Although Peter manages to shield May from the Goblin’s pumpkin bomb, the glider blindsides her and leaves her with a fatal wound, and she tragically dies in his arms, leaving him heartbroken and with her final words of encouragement ringing in his ears: “With great power, there must also come great responsibility.” May’s death devastates Peter, and drives him into a quest for revenge against the Goblin; no longer merely satisfied to cure or help the villains, he wishes nothing less than the Goblin’s death at his hands, and it’s a true moment of despair for the young Avenger. No Way Home really puts Peter through the wringer, pushing his morals and optimistic outlook to breaking point, and really burdens him with the guilt of having indirectly caused his mother-figure’s death by trying to help the villains rather than allowing them to return home and potentially die as fated.
Spider-Man gets some unexpected help to fend off the combined threat of these multiversal villains.
Desperate to find Peter and give their support, M. J. and Ned mess about with one of Dr. Strange’s sling-rings and discover the presence of two more familiar faces who slipped through the dimensional barriers and are determined to help and let me tell you…I have never seen a cinema explode into rapturous applause before but my screening blew the roof off when Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire made their long-awaited, and long-rumoured, return to their famous roles. Both arrived due to Strange’s spell and have been trying to track down MCU-Peter, and both have arrived from later in their careers, finally giving us a coda to their stories: Webb-Peter reveals that he struggled to cope after failing to save Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and almost lost himself to his rage at one point, and that he has thrown himself into his duties as Spider-Man to cope. Raimi-Peter is noticeably older, but still in good shape, and, though haunted by his failures and losses, maintains that he and M. J. (Kirsten Dunst) found a way to carry on). The scenes with the three Peters are an obvious highlight and they share some fantastic line sand banter together; Webb-Peter is elated to have found “brothers” and they work together to synthesise cures for the villains based on their previous experiences and scientific acumen. They also share stories of their adventures and powers, with Webb-Peter and MCU-Peter both being astounded (and a little disturbed) by Raimi-Peter’s organic webbing, Raimi-Peter extending a much-needed pep talk to Webb-Peter, and both Webb- and Raimi-Peter being impressed by MCU-Peter’s space adventures. Seeing them work together, offering MCU-Peter support and understanding, is fantastic as Webb-Peter delivers an emotional soliloquy about his failures (and gets to make amends for it by catching M. J. in a truly emotional moment) and Raimi-Peter relates the messages passed on to him by his beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson), and MCU-Peter is even able to help them get past being solo heroes and work together using his experiences of teamwork as an Avenger.
The multiversal breach rages out of control, leading to Peter making a selfless sacrifice…
With three Spider-Man working together, the Lizard, the Sandman, and Electro are all subdued and returned to their human forms, presumably alleviating them of their madness and violent tendencies, in a mind-blowing final confrontation around the Statue of Liberty (which is being refurbished to hold Captain America’s shield aloft). Despite the best efforts of his alternative counterparts, though, MCU-Peter is driven into a rage and attacks the Green Goblin mercilessly and even prepares to deliver a fatal blow with his own glider, only for Raimi-Peter to intervene (and get stabbed in the back for his efforts). Ultimately, MCU-Peter delivers a cure, rather than a kill, to his newest foe and Norman is left an emotional and remorseful wreck, though this pales in comparison to the threat unleashed by one of his pumpkin bombs as Strange’s spell is blown free and miscellaneous, vaguely-defined villains and intruders from all across the multiverse threaten to converge on the MCU. Dr. Strange struggles to contain the spell and, determined to make amends for his previous mistake, MCU-Peter decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and has Strange cast a new spell that will make everyone, everywhere, forget all about Peter Parker. He thanks his counterparts for their help and bids an emotional farewell to M. J. and Ned, promising to find them and rekindle their friendship/relationship after the spell is cast, but hesitates upon seeing how happy and better off M. J. and Ned are without him in their lives. Ultimately, Peter chooses to leave them be and fashions a new, 100% comic accurate costume for himself using his counterparts’ suits as inspiration and finally gets his big, triumphant final swing as he begins a new life safe in the knowledge that no one knows his true identity any more…and that he’s not alone in the vast, dangerous multiverse.
The Summary: After viewing that first trailer and seeing Doc Ock show up once again, my mind was pretty much blown when it came to this movie. It raised so many questions, many of them being concerns that Tom’s third solo outing would get overwhelmed or bogged down by multiverse shenanigans and blatant fan service. Subsequent trailers helped shed a bit more light on the film, and I began to calm down a bit and predict that these returning characters wouldn’t be as integral to the narrative as many were making out. This turned out to be true, to a degree; the villains are definitely a big part of the film, but Spider-Man: No Way Home still does a fantastic job of focusing on Peter, his relationships, his growth, and his identity crisis. Could we have seen a grittier, more grounded film that dealt with him being on the run and learning to adapt to his tumultuous new public life? For sure, yes, and I would also argue that many of these villains could have been recast and reimagined as MCU characters and it would have worked just as well, but again there is such a thrill to be had at seeing these actors return to their iconic roles and, in many cases, reinvigorate their characters with the benefit of hindsight. I loved that Peter’s focus was on others the entire time; his selflessness is a driving force of his character, and every decision he makes is to try and benefit either his friends or family or to save lives. This is motivated by his guilt, of course, as they would only be in danger because of him, and he remains a flawed character trying to make amends for his mistakes, which is the quintessential essence of Spider-Man for me. More than any other Spider-Man, MCU-Peter tries to help even the most villainous characters rather than condemn them to death, it was truly heart-breaking to see him o devastated by Aunt May’s death that he was willing to cross that line. Of course, the undisputable highlight is seeing Tom Holland share the screen with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield; while it’s painfully obvious that all three actors weren’t on set or in the studio at the same time for every shot (whether due to Covid or scheduling), it’s still a blast to see them interacting, hearing those iconic themes, and seeing them in action. Once I accepted that No Way Home was going to be a multiverse adventure, my hope was that the film would go all-out to deliver on its potential…and I’m happy to say that it went above and beyond! Action-packed, emotional, and amusing throughout, Spider-Man: No Way Home may very well be in the top-tier of Spider-Man adventures and I am very excited to see where Peter’s journey takes him now that his status quo has been so dramatically changed.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Fantastic
Have you seen Spider-Man: No Way Home? Were you excited at the idea of iconic Spider-Man villains making their return or do you think that the multiverse stuff should stay in the Dr. Strange movies? What did you think to the way the film handled the public’s knowledge of Spider-Man’s identity and would you have preferred to see this explored a little more in-depth? Which of the returning villains was your favourite, and how excited were you to see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return (and Charlie Cox finally be incorporated into the movies)? Were you disappointed that we came so close to the Sinister Six and that Venom didn’t have a role in the film? Where do you see the MCU-Spider-Man’s story going from here? Whatever your thoughts on Spider-Man: No Way Home, leave a comment below.
In September 1961, DC Comics published a little story called “Flash of Two Worlds” (Fox, et al), a landmark story that featured in The Flash #123 and brought together two generations of the Flash: the Golden Age Jay Garrick and the Silver Age Barry Allen. In the process, DC Comics created the concept of the multiverse, the idea that DC Comics continuity was comprised of an infinite number of parallel universes that allowed any and all stories and characters to exist and, more importantly, interact and I’ve been celebrating this ground-breaking concept every Sunday of September!
Story Title: “The Battle of the Century!” (Includes four chapters: “A Dual of Titans”, “When Heroes Clash!”, “The Call of Battle!”, and “The Doomsday Decision”) Published: March 1976 Writer: Gerry Conway Artists: Ross Andru and Dick Giordano
The Background: Despite the fact that the two companies were both producing colourful, superpowered costumed heroes in a cut-throat industry, relations between DC Comics and Marvel Comics have been surprisingly collaborative and amicable over the years (they’ve certainly been more civil with each other than many of the toxic “fans” I see arguing on social media every day…) Sure, there’s been lawsuits and underhanded tactics from both companies, but not only were the legendary Stan Lee and the disreputable sham Bob Kane actually good friends but the two companies both borrowed from and inspired each other and they’ve even collaborated on numerous joint publications in the past. The idea of pitting Clark Kent/Superman against Peter Parker/Spider-Man was first suggested by author and literary agent David Obst, who pitched the idea to Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee and DC Comics editorial director Carmine Infantino as a live-action feature film. Writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru, two of the few who had worked on both characters in the past, were brought in to bring the concept to life, which was treated as more of a fantasy tale (despite the fact that DC had introduced the concept of the “Multiverse” over a decade previously). The comic, which generally sells for quite a high price these days, wouldn’t be the last time Superman and Spider-Man (or DC and Marvel, for that matter) crossed paths as the two would collaborate on a number of inter-company crossovers during the eighties and nineties.
The Review: Our story begins with just another normal, boring day in Metropolis as a gigantic mechanical construct is tearing its way through the city. Even Superman laments the frequency of such events but is unable to see who is controlling the robot thanks to it being lined with lead and is equally unable to stop it thanks to its incredible strength, an “inertia ray”, and gravity beams being emitted from its mechanical feet that crush Superman with “ten times the gravity of Krypton”. All of this means that Superman is smashed through the nearby buildings (which are, we later learn, conveniently empty despite the fact that the robot is rampaging through downtown Metropolis with reckless abandon and Superman even has to save innocent civilians from falling debris) and is unable to keep the robot from stealing a computer console from Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories (S.T.A.R. Labs). Indeed, Superman is so distracted with trying to retrieve this from the robot’s head that he completely misses that the mastermind directing the machine’s attack was none other than Lex Luthor himself!
Superman tracks Luthor down, gets his ass kicked again, and rescues Luthor from certain death.
Superman returns to his civilian life as Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet (owned by Galaxy Communications at the time), who avoids one of Steve Lombard’s mean and unprofessional pranks thanks to his super powers, gets chewed out by his boss, Morgan Edge, for not covering the attack (quite why Edge chooses to target Clark over Lois Lane or Lombard is beyond me), and realises from watching the footage back that he can track the robot’s obvious trail of destruction and gigantic footprints to Metropolis Bay There, beneath the water, he immediately discovers (and is attacked by) a walking undersea laboratory. Inside the lab, Superman confronts Luthor and after trying, and failing, to convince him to renounce his evil ways and rekindle heir former friendship, is attacked by a series of high-intensity laser beams. Though he’s able to dart through them, one blasts him into his eyes and, thanks to essentially being red sun radiation (which weakens Superman), dazes him and causes him to wreck Luthor’s lab. Luthor manages to spirit away the programming circuit he stole from S.T.A.R. Labs but ends up being apprehended by Superman after almost drowning to death.
Spider-Man almost immediately tracks Doc Ock down and puts him out for the count for the cops.
The story then switches to New York City right as Spider-Man is swinging in to take care of a handful of crooks who are in the middle of robbing the Metropolitan Museum. Of course Spidey easily trounces the crooks with his spider-powers but things quickly escalate when the mastermind behind the plan, Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, suddenly attacks with his mechanical limbs and, thanks to the element of surprise (and a good old whack to the back of the head), is able to temporarily knock Spider-Man unconscious and escape in his ridiculous looking “Flying Octopus” craft with boxes and boxes of loot. After fleeing from the police (who naturally assume Spider-Man to have been involved in the robbery), Spidey (as Peter Parker, obviously) presents the photographs of the entire event to his boss, J. Jonah Jameson, but earns the cantankerous editor’s wrath when Jameson prints the shots unseen and is left with nothing but a blurry, instinct picture on page one of his newspaper, the Daily Bugle. When his spider-sense suddenly alerts him to a passing blimp overhead, Peter ditches Mary Jane Watson and heads off to investigate as Spider-Man only to discover (after having to think on the fly thanks to his web fluid having run dry) that the blimp was disguising Doc Ock and his flying machine. The ensuing fight wrecks the blimp, causing it (and them) to crash into the Central Park reservoir and, with one swift punch to the jaw, Spidey successfully apprehends Doc Ock and heads off to try and smooth things over with Mary Jane.
Mere hours after being locked in an escape proof prison, Luthor escapes and takes Doc Ock with him.
As luck (or fate, or simple plot convenience) would have it, both Lex Luthor and Doc Ock end up being shipped off to “Federal Maximum-X Security Penitentiary Number One, the most “escape proof” prison in the world” out in New Mexico and the two immediately bond over their respective losses and enemies and agree to join forces upon escape. Though Doc Ock is sceptical of their chances, Luthor quickly uses a number of small, high-tech devices hidden under a layer of fake skin to disrupt the prison’s security cameras and guards and allow Doc Ock to regain control of his mechanical limbs and literally carry them both to safety within just a few hours of Luthor’s arrival, The story proper begins with Clark, Lois, and other members of the Daily Planet staff attending the world news conference in New York; as you might expect, Peter is also there and, after being berated by Jameson, snaps at his boss and quits his job, shocking (but also impressing) Mary Jane with his sudden outburst. Meanwhile, Clark is stunned to hear that Edge doesn’t want him covering the news conference and, again, alludes to his temptation to replace Clark with a more well-known newscaster. Frustrated that Clark is happy to roll over and allow himself to be forced out of the “biggest story of his career”, Lois storms off in anger at his cowardice and her inability to truly hate him since he’s so charming and likeable. In true Lois Lane fashion, she risks her life climbing up a scaffold to get some better pictures (because Jimmy Olsen couldn’t make the trip, apparently) and nearly falls to her death when she’s saved by Peter. They bond over their respective professional accomplishments, much to Mary Jane’s displeasure, but Peter is left flabbergasted when Superman suddenly swoops in and seemingly vaporises them both right before his eyes!
When reason doesn’t work, Superman nearly kills Spider-Man before the web-slinger calms down.
Clark also witnesses this event and is equally stunned and changes to Superman to investigate while Peter frantically switches to Spider-Man using the staircase (because, in a cute moment, the convention doesn’t have traditional phone booths). The two superheroes instantly run into each other in the skies above the building and come to blows (Superman having assumed, as many often do, that Spidey is connected to his doppelgänger). Although Superman immediately begins to be the voice of reason, Luthor and Doc Ock (who were behind the fake Superman; Luthor’s even still wearing the costume and has the lifelike mask nearby!) decide to escalate their conflict by surreptitiously blasting Spider-Man with red sun radiation to power him up for the fight. Thanks to the red sun radiation, his anger at being pushed around, and believing the Superman has captured or killed the woman he loves, Spider-Man attacks relentlessly; his strength knocks Superman off balance and his fury causes him to stubbornly refuse to listen to reason, all of which makes Superman mad enough to throw a killing blow at Spidey’s head. At the very last second, Superman is able to pull his punch but the resulting “wind-blast” sends Spider-Man flying through buildings and across the city. Disgusted at having nearly killed a man, Superman tries one more time to get Spidey to listen to reason and, when the red sun radiation wears off and amusingly leads to Spidey simply hurting his fists on Superman’s steel-hard body, Spider-Man finally relents. After comparing notes, they quickly bury their issues and agree to work together to uncover the truth about what happened but the proof of the pudding is clear: Spider-Man dominated the fight between the two and had Superman reeling throughout.
Lex Luthor and Doc Ock appropriate the Injustice Gang’s satellite to hold the world to ransom.
Following the “energy residue” of the imposter to the Penn Central railroad yard, Superman shows that he hasn’t quite shaken off the dickish ways of his sixties incarnation by allowing Spider-Man to go in first and run a gauntlet of traps and hazards before he (as in Superman) just ploughs right in there and they both confront the combined might and intelligence of Luthor and Doc Ock. Revealing that Lois and Mary Jane have simply been taken captive to lure the two heroes into a trap, the villains quickly vanish, having been mere projections all along (which you’d think Superman and Spider-Man would be able to register with their enhanced sense but apparently not…), and nearly manage to kill Spidey with a booby trapped computer console before Superman intervenes. Superman then rebuilds the wrecked computer at super speed and down to the smallest detail, apparently somehow managing to repair and restore the destroyed files that would have been on it in the process, which leads the two to Mount Kilimanjaro. There, a local nomadic Masai tribe lead them to another of Luthor’s secret bases. After battling and defeating a superpowered tribesman (who also wields a sword charged with red sun radiation), the two discover that Luthor and Doc Ock have headed to the upper atmosphere and the abandoned satellite headquarters of the Injustice Gang. There, Lois and Mary Jane are held hostage and are privy to the supervillains’ mad scheme: using the programming circuit he stole from S.T.A.R. Labs, Luthor is able to disrupt and hijack Comlab (a massive, missile-like communications tower in orbit) and cause it to fire a “high-intensity laser probe” into the Earth’s atmosphere and hold the world to ransom or face untold death and destruction from the violent storms the laser causes.
Thanks to Spidey, Otto turns on Luthor, Superman stops a deadly tidal wave, and the heroes triumph.
Superman and Spider-Man (piloting a shuttle of his own with surprising efficiency) head up to stop them but are immediately overwhelmed by Luthor’s lasers and captured. Although they catch their foes off-guard by feigning helplessness, Superman and Spider-Man are thrown off balance when Luthor suddenly shuts off the satellite’s artificial gravity (quite how this would affect Superman is beyond me…), which allows the villains to topple the costumed heroes with a humiliating ease. Quickly recovering, the two turn the tide when Superman is able to get close enough to Doc Ock to…remove his glasses! Distracted by recovering his comrade’s glasses, Luthor is unable to defend himself against Spider-Man, and Spidey is able to turn Doc Ock against Luthor by appealing to his greed because, after all, what use is money if Luthor plans to decimate the world? Although this is enough to disable to destructive laser and cause the two villains to come to blows, Superman must still take care of a gigantic tidal wave that threatens to engulf the entire United States! Of course, Superman is able to dispel the wave by flying at it at super speed and, with the villains subdued and the threat ended, Superman and Spider-Man part as allies and return to their respective lives, with both men able to win over (and back) their employers with their exclusive insight into this one of a kind team up.
The Summary: I grew up reading Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man stories from the 1970s so, for me, Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man feels like a very familiar and nostalgic little tale. The artwork and characterisations are representative of this era; both the main characters and their villains pop out nicely, with Luthor being more of the scheming supervillain rather than a manipulative businessman. While Spider-Man is just as troubled by his angst and anxieties and spouts the usual quips and puns that were “hip” at the time, Superman is far from an unstoppable demigod while still having one foot in the ridiculously overpowered nature of his Golden Age counterpart. If you’re a fan of Lois and Mary Jane then this isn’t the comic for you; the two barely factor into the plot at all and, arguably, could have been excised completely and the villains’ scheme would have carried on largely unchanged. Similarly, characters like Jameson, Morgan, and Lombard are mainly just there for comic relief or to flesh out and contrast the normal, everyday lives of our two heroes. This is a bit of a missed opportunity, in many ways, as we’re denied a meeting between Jameson and Clark’s usual boss, Perry White, or even a sub-plot where Lois and Mary Jane have to work together to either escape or help stop the villains. Maybe if the story hadn’t suddenly veered off to waste time on the Marais tribe or wasted pages recapping the origins and powers of the heroes and villains we could have seen more of these interactions or had Spider-Man visit Metropolis.
The fight between Superman and Spider-Man, brief as it is, is the main appeal of the comic.
Still, the comic is called Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man and we definitely do get that; the two fight for about twelve pages and it’s a fairly evenly matched affair thanks to Spidey being supped-up by Luthor’s special red sun ray. Superman, ever the Boy Scout, spends most of the fight reeling from Spidey’s surprising strength and trying to calm the web-slinger down and, every time he tries to fight back, Spider-Man is right there to shut him down and press the attack. In fact, Superman only throws one punch in the entire fight but it’s enough to send Spidey flying with “the force of a compact hurricane”. Interestingly, there’s a lot of subtext that can be gleaned from this bout; Spidey, representing Marvel Comics, is the young, hot-tempered upstart who hits first and asks questions later and Superman, representing DC Comics, is the older, more level-headed veteran who seeks to resolve conflict peacefully but will strike back if pushed too far. Naturally, the two pool their respective talents far more than they clash and, after resolving their issues, never come to blows or conflict again. I suppose it’s nice that there wasn’t a lame excuse for them to fight again, like hypnotism or whatever, but the actual inciting incident is pretty paper thin (even though he saw “Superman” vaporise Mary Jane and Lois, Peter knows Superman by reputation so you’d think he’d hesitate to suddenly think he’d gone rogue) and I would have liked to see a bit more of how their different approaches to situations clash. We only really got to see this once when they reached the rail yard and it seemed petty and mean on Superman’s part to send Spidey in alone when he (again, as in Superman) could just burst in there without issue. It’s a good job that the clash and interactions between the two heroes pays off as the supervillain team up is a bit lacklustre; Doc Ock is reduced to a mere common criminal and a henchman here, having no real agency and playing very little role in the story other than giving Luthor someone to talk and boast to and acting as Luthor’s muscle. It’s a shame as Doc Ock is one of Spidey’s most devious, intelligent, and imposing villains but he may as well not be in the story at all since everything (from the prison escape, to framing Superman, to the red sun ray, and the orbiting satellite/laser plot) is Luthor’s plan and Lex may as well have teamed up with Flint Marko/The Sandman for all the use Octavius’s arms and demented genius were.
Sadly, the potential of this team is never realised as Doc Ock is reduced to being Luthor’s henchman.
As a result, Luthor comes out of this looking like a scheming, diabolical madman who is happy to threaten and kill millions for a measly ten billion dollars; his genius allows him to create all kinds of fantastic technology and even duplicate red sun radiation to weaken Superman but, in the end, he’s undone because Spidey was able to manipulate Octavius to turn against him. Overall, it’s a decent enough story; well drawn and full of big, action-packed panels when the two heroes clash and take on their foes but the main appeal of Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man is, unsurprisingly, in seeing two of Marvel’s premier superheroes butting heads and joining forces. In that regard, the story works but just barely; it reads like a typical, run of the mill Superman story from the time just with a guest appearance by Spider-Man and some of his supporting characters. When the Marvel characters do appear, they’re written exactly as you’d expect from that era as well and no one side really looks better or dominates the other…unless you look at the subtext at work. Superman and Spider-Man appear to be evenly matched in their fight but Spider-Man is clearly the aggressor; Luthor outshines Doc Ock at every turn, relegating him to being a mere henchman, so I guess everything just about evens out on both sides but I can’t help but feel like the story was lacking a little. It would have been nice to see Spidey in Metropolis, more interactions between the two in and out of costume, and the two having to deal with their counterpart’s villains in a more interesting way than flailing around on a space station but there’s an appeal to Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, if only because of the comic’s rarity and the chance to see these two heroes, and worlds, collide for a change so it’s probably worth seeking out for the sheer spectacle of it if nothing else.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Have you ever read Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man? If so, what did you think to it? Do you own a copy of the original comic or do you remember reading it when it was first published? Were you also disappointed that the comic didn’t make better use of its concept, supporting characters, and villains or were you happy with the story we got? Which of the two heroes, and publishers, was/is your preference? Do you enjoy all comic books and superheroes equally or are you one of those toxic fans who actively hates other characters and companies? Would you like to see DC and Marvel collaborate again in the future and, if so, what stories would you like to see? Whatever your thoughts on Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, and comic book crossovers of this kind, drop a comment down below and check out my other multiverse reviews.
Easily Marvel Comics’ most recognisable and popular superhero, unsuspecting teenage nerd Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider and learned the true meaning of power and responsibility in Amazing Fantasy #15, which was first published in August 1962. Since then, the Amazing Spider-Man has featured in numerous cartoons, live-action movies, videogames, action figures, and countless comic book titles and, in celebration of his debut and his very own day of celebration, I’ve been dedicating every Wednesday to talk about everyone’s favourite web-head!
Released: 1991 Developer: Technopop Also Available For: Game Gear, Master System, and Mega-CD
The Background: Shortly after debuting in the pages of Amazing Fantasy, Peter Parker/Spider-Man graduated to his own solo title and quickly became Marvel’s most popular comic book character. Accordingly, Spider-Man was one of the first of Marvel’s superheroes to make the jump to videogames. In the early nineties, SEGA held the licensing rights to produce home console games based on Marvel Comics characters and one of the first, and most popular, of these was Spider-Man (also known as Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin), a game I first played on the Master System before switching to the 16-bit version after being won over by the superior graphics.
The Plot: Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, has planted a nuclear bomb in New York City that is set to explode in twenty-four hours, distributed the keys to disarming the bomb to some of Spider-Man’s most lethal foes, and has even framed Spidey for the crime! And, as if all that wasn’t bad enough, Eddie Brock/Venom is stalking the city, further stacking the odds against the web-slinger.
Gameplay: Spider-Man is a 2D, sidescrolling action/platformer with an emphasis on exploration and combat; given the nature of the plot, players have just twenty-four in-game hours to complete the game. Dawdle too long in the game’s locations and you’ll doom the entire city to destruction, which places a real anxiety into the gameplay which is, sadly, not reflected in the game’s mechanics.
Spidey’s webbing allows him to take out crooks and quickly traverse levels.
Obviously, you take control of Spider-Man, a clunky, stilted, and awkward character who displays all of Spidey’s trademark abilities: he can punch out goons with B, jump with C (be sure to hold the button for a higher jump), and cling to walls, ceilings, and backgrounds by pressing jump twice. He can also shoot webbing with A, which is perfect for taking out goons from a distance or up high as you can diagonally direct Spidey’s web; while you can’t shoot upwards, you can shoot a web out while jumping to swing along horizontally but, while this is great for covering large distances quickly, it’s not so great for the many instances of vertical movement.
Spidey’s webbing is super useful but you’ll need to earn cash from selling photos to refill it.
From the pause menu, you can select between two webs: a sticky web projectile and a web shield to help protect Spidey from damage. However, Spidey has a finite supply of webbing and, when he runs out, you’ll have to rely on your punches and jump kicks. After retrieving Parker’s camera from the Daily Bugle though, you can select his camera from the pause menu and take pictures of goons and bosses to earn cash and refill your webbing, but you only have a limited number of shots available so it’s best to save these for getting pictures of Spidey’s more recognisable enemies.
Control is sluggish and awkward, meaning Spidey lacks his trademark grace and agility.
Control is a major issue in Spider-Man; Spidey is slow moving, his punch doesn’t have a lot of reach, and not only is his hit box quite large but so are the ones of his enemies. You can get around this a bit with his webbing, jump kick, and crouching kick but, more often than not, you’ll clip through enemies and fly backwards when hit with attacks. However, the most frustrating thing about Spider-Man, and the game in general, is how janky the jumping and wall-climbing mechanics are; some levels, such as the city streets, easily allow you to climb walls in the backgrounds but others, like the caverns, don’t. In the warehouse and sewers, you’ll need to climb up vertical walls and ceilings to get through air vents and tunnels and navigate past crates and such, but you need to keep C held down to stay attached to the surface. Nowhere is the control more annoying than in the caverns level, a cramped and maze-like environment that restricts your movement and requires you to perform some tricky web-swings and jumps to progress, which can be frustrating to pull off as Spidey prefers to either just drop off ledges or bump his head on ceilings (or just get shot when he finally makes the jump).
Graphics and Sound: Spider-Man is a bright and relatively detailed videogame; it was, however, an early release for the Mega Drive so it’s not exactly making the most of the 16-bit machine’s “blast processing” power. Spider-Man and his recognisable villains all look pretty good, especially Venom and Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, but the regular goons and enemies leave a lot to be desired.
While sprites are colourful and detailed enough, the levels are noticeably lacking in detail.
Where the game’s graphics really fall flat, though, are in the environments; New York City looks pretty good and you can clamber up the sides of buildings, stop a random street mugging, and even encounter J. Jonah Jameson on the streets but the warehouse isn’t exactly exciting or impressive. Central Park is quite dynamic, with benches, trees, water fountains, and an intractable fire hydrant but, like all of the game’s locations, it’s surprising barren in the background and lacking in depth. The power station tries to make up for this but ends up being more of a mess of greys and yellows, though there are, occasionally, some interesting elements to some levels (debris floating in the polluted sewer water, for example).
A variety of cutscene styles are employed to tell the game’s story, though the music is pretty poor.
Spider-Man’s story is told through the use of various different types of cutscenes: one is simply the Kingpin making spurious claims through news reports, another is simply the Spider-Man sprite walking in a black void while text scrolls on screen, another uses comic book-like panels and text to show Spidey interrogating his foes, and another use in-game sprites and a bit of text. As you might expect, the comic book panels and sprite-based cutscenes are much more interesting to look at but, even for an early Mega Drive title, they’re very basic. The music is even worse, being bland and uninspiring and, overall, the graphics, music, and presentation were actually better on the Master System, which also featured additional characters and features.
Enemies and Bosses: While racing to confront his rogue’s gallery, Spidey comes up against a handful of hired goons; these guys will shoot at you with handguns from a distance and try to knife you when you get up close and, later, switch to using sniper rifles. You’ll also come up against such cliché enemies as bats, snakes, dogs, and rats and, in the first mission, will be attacked be one of New York’s finest as well. Levels also feature more formidable and elaborate enemies as well as alligators and “Mutant Jumpers” await you in the sewer, electrified bats fly at you at the power station, laser-firing turrets and ED-209-like robots patrol the caverns, and a giant ape will randomly show up in Central Park!
Ducking and using your webbing is the key to besting both Doc Ock and the Lizard.
The only way to disarm the Kingpin’s bomb is to retrieve five keys from some of Spidey’s most notorious foes; you’ll know when a boss or more powerful foe is near because Spidey’s spider-sense will go off and the music will change. The first you’ll battle (once getting past a rampant forklift truck) is Doc Ock, who awaits you in a dank warehouse and attacks you with his trademark arms. In the Master System version, you could web up his arms to hold his attacks at bay but, here, I found that didn’t seem to work so I just crouched under his attacks to get closer and attacked him that way. In the sewers, you’ll encounter Doctor Curt Connors/The Lizard, who scrambles about the place and whips at you with his tail; however, he also has a tendency to just crouch there looking scary so it’s pretty easy to fire webs at him and jump kick him into submission.
You’ll need to watch out for, and use, the environment to defeat Electro and the Sandman.
As you navigate through the power plant, you’ll be attacked by annoying bolts of electricity that, as you might expect, come from Max Dillon/Electro; Electro flies about the place on a cloud of lightning and shoots thunderbolts at you but his true threat comes from his ability to electrify the girders that you’ll no doubt be standing on so…make sure you’re not on them when that happens! Easily the most unique of the game’s bosses, though, is Flint Marko/The Sandman, who emerges from a sandpit in Central park, turns into sand to avoid your attacks, and attacks with extendable arms and by shooting sand-fists your way. He’s also invulnerable to your attacks so you need to turn around and web-swing back to the start of the level and use the fire hydrant to douse him in water and put an end to him.
Venom shows up more than once to constantly dog your progress and cause you grief.
One of the game’s more persistent bosses is Venom; Venom often shows up at the worst possible moments, such as during other boss fights and at the beginning of the street level (where you’ll also have to watch out for Jameson, who berates you and hurts you if you get too close). Each time you fight Venom, they bound overheard, fire webs at you, and punch you in the face but, generally, the best method of attack is to let them jump over your head, fire your own webs, and punch them whenever they come close. These fights get more difficult as the game progresses thanks to the presence of other enemies and bosses but, in the caverns, I found Venom got a bit stuck on a ledge just out of reach so I could just finish the level without fighting them.
After defeating Hobgoblin, you’ll battle basically every boss at once to get to the bomb!
The main enemy of the city level, though, is Jason Macendale, Jr/Hobgoblin, who flies around the rooftops of the city on his goblin glider and tosses a bunch of explosive pumpkin bombs down at you. Luckily, your diagonal webbing can make short work of Hobgoblin but his threat is magnified when you reach the Kingpin’s bomb, which is protected by all the bosses you’ve fought so far (with the odd exception of Doc Ock). Thus, you must battle the Lizard, Electro, Venom, and the Hobgoblin all at once, which is an impressive sight but extremely chaotic. It’s best to try and focus on one at a time, if possible, and take out guys like Hobgoblin and Electro because they can cause major headaches from the air.
If you’re able to keep M.J. from dying, you can batter the Kingpin into submission to win the day.
After defeating them all, you must select each of the five keys you’ve collected from the pause menu and insert them into the bomb in the correct order; each time you put a key in wrong, you’ll lose a chunk of time but, as long as you get it right and avoid a game over, you’ll be spared the constantly timer counting down. Next, you can pick up some health from the air vents and go one-on-one with a very squat and hunchback-looking Kingpin. This is easily the game’s toughest boss fight as the Kingpin deals massive damage with his big, meaty fists and it’s hard to tell when you’ve actually hit him. To make matters worse, Peter’s wife, Mary Jane Watson-Parker (who was kidnapped by Venom earlier in the game) is suspended over a fiery pit and you must web her chains to keep her from being lowered to her death. This is really tricky to do because your target is just off-screen and it’s hard to get the angle right to web her chains, to say nothing of the Kingpin’s persistent attacks. If M.J. is lowered into the pit, then it’s an instant game over…which is always fun.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: Scattered throughout many of the game’s levels, you’ll find little Spider-Man icons which, when collected, will refill your health. From the pause menu, you’ll also see a little head icon; this is Peter’s head and selecting it will instantly teleport you to Peter’s apartment, where his health bar will slowly refill at the cost of your precious time. This is somewhat pointless as, when you return to the game, you have to start the level from the beginning again but you may have to sacrifice time for health in the game’s tougher moments since you only get one life to finish the game. You can continue if you fail but, again, this will cost you precious time. Otherwise, that’s it; the only way to refill your webbing is to take pictures of Spidey’s famous foes and there are no temporary power-ups or abilities available throughout the game.
Additional Features: From the main “Options” menu, you can select from four different difficulty settings: Practice, Easy, Normal, and Nightmare. Be warned, however, as while these will, obviously make the game easier or harder depending on your choice, you can’t progress beyond the sewers if you play on “Easy”. From the same menu, you can also set your stamina level and the amount of web cartridges you carry, which can be beneficial to keeping you alive and in the fight on the game’s more challenging levels. Sadly, that’s technically as far as it goes; in the Master System version, you could perform a trick to have Spidey wear his black suit and even play a cheeky mini game but you can’t to that here so the only other benefit available to you are the cheats. While in the “Options” menu, place your cursor on the “Difficulty” option and hold Start on controller two; hold A, B, and C and controller one and press up/right and you’ll see a !!! icon appear in the menu. Once you start the game, if you pause the action and press A, you’ll completely refill your webbing; B will refill your health, C will grant you a few seconds of invincibility, and pressing A, B, and C will skip you ahead to the next level. This is useful to progress you through the game but means nothing if you screw up with the bomb or in the final battle as you’ll still fail the game if you don’t defuse the weapon or keep M.J. safe.
The Summary: I really enjoyed the Master System version of Spider-Man; I never finished it in the years when I owned it and stupidly sold it some time ago but it was bright and entertaining with some detailed sprites and backgrounds. As a result, I was really excited to play the Mega Drive version of the game, having been won over by screenshots of the game’s superior graphics. However, graphical superiority doesn’t actually translate into a better game; yes, Spidey and his villains look great but the game is a slow, plodding, awkward experience. Climbing walls and navigating through the game’s unfortunately cramped areas is a pain, the lack of viable health power-ups and extra web abilities is disappointing, and the challenge on offer is artificially high and ridiculously unfair at times. It’s a shame as it wouldn’t take much to make the game a bit more enjoyable; upping Spidey’s speed a bit and giving him a vertical web shot would have been a big help but, in the end, it’s a decent enough title but there are definitely better Spider-Man games to play on the 16-bit consoles.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Have you ever played the Mega Drive version of Spider-Man? If so, what did you think to it? How do you feel it holds up compared to the other versions of the game? How did you find the game’s controls and mechanics? Which of the bosses was your favourite? Did you ever defuse the Kingpin’s bomb and save M.J. or did you fail at the last hurdle? Which Spider-Man videogame is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment down below.
Easily Marvel Comics’ most recognisable and popular superhero, unsuspecting teenage nerd Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider and learned the true meaning of power and responsibility in Amazing Fantasy #15, which was first published in August 1962. Since then, the Amazing Spider-Man has featured in numerous cartoons, live-action movies, videogames, action figures, and countless comic book titles and, in celebration of his debut and his very own day of celebration, I’ve been dedicating every Wednesday to talk about everyone’s favourite web-head!
Released: 14 December 2018 Director: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing Budget: $90 million Stars: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Nicolas Cage, and Liev Schreiber
The Plot: After being bitten by a radioactive spider and gaining the proportionate strength and agility of the arachnid, Miles Morales (Moore) finds himself caught up in an elaborate plot by Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin (Schreiber) to cross dimensions. In the process, Miles is mentored by, and joins forces with, other incarnations of Spider-Man from across the multiverse while stull struggling to carve out his own identity in the role.
The Background: In 2011, writer Brian Michael Bendis decided to kill off Peter Parker/Spider-Man and replace him with a younger character in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man (2000 to 2011), Miles Morales, an African American youth of Puerto Rican descent, a decision which created much controversy at the time. Miles, however, soon became a popular character and appeared not just in cartoons and other merchandise but also the mainstream Marvel continuity (“Earth-616”). After the poor reception of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Webb, 2014) led to Spider-Man finally being incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Sony were determined to continue producing Spider-Man films and spin-offs separate from the MCU. Writers Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman chose to focus their efforts on Miles since he hadn’t yet featured in a film and, to further separate the project, it included not only Spider-People from across the multiverse but also a distinct and intricateanimation style that was as vital to the story as the music and dialogue. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse received unanimous praise upon release and made over $375 million at the box office, won numerous awards, and is highly regarded as one of the best and most unique Spider-Man movies ever made. Its massive success meant that both a sequel and a spin-off were soon announced and no doubt contributed heavily to Miles’ continued popularity.
The Review: First and foremost, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is Miles Morales’ story, even amidst all the chaos and multiverse madness permeating the plot; unlike the traditional Peter Parker, Miles’ parents are still alive and, while he struggles to adjust to boarding school and to make new friends, he’s nowhere near the social outcast Peter is often portrayed as during his teenage years. A big fan of music (though he is amusingly poor at reciting lyrics) and with an artistic flair, Miles is a slightly rebellious and resentful youth who struggles to live up to the expectations of his father, Jefferson Davis (Brian Tyree Henry), a police officer who regards Spider-Man (Chris Pine) as a menace and delights in embarrassing his son at his new school with typical dad humour. A somewhat streetwise kid who was a popular figure at his old school, Miles is largely an outsider at his more officious and pretentious boarding school; he’s uncomfortable in the mandatory uniform, feels like he doesn’t really fit in, and is intentionally trying to sabotage his future there so he can go back to his old school and his old friends. Believing that his father doesn’t really understand him or his dreams, Miles has a far closer relationship with his uncle, Aaron Davis (Ali), who encourages his penchant for street art and actually takes the time to connect with him on a more peer-to-peer level. To Jefferson’s chagrin, Miles idolises his uncle, who indirectly leads to him gaining his spider powers.
Miles’ struggles with his spider powers are directly paralleled to the onset of puberty.
Already somewhat uncomfortable in his new environment, Miles’ newfound spider powers (which are explicitly compared to the onset of puberty) only increase his agitation; he struggles to adapt to and master his abilities, gaining a far louder and more noticeable internal monologue and accidentally attaching himself to Gwen Stacy’s (Steinfeld) hair in an awkward attempt to flirt with her. Interestingly, Miles’ exploration of his abilities is a source of as much entertainment and amusement as it is an integral part of Miles’ character development; throughout the film, Miles struggles to master his powers, which seem to trigger unconsciously or involuntarily, and a massive part of Into the Spider-Verse revolves around Miles living up to the lofty expectations now placed upon him by his amazing new abilities.
In Miles’ world, Peter is a competent, renowned, and experienced superhero.
Miles lives in an alternative world that isn’t quite Earth-616 or the Ultimate universe; it’s one that draws inspiration from all over Spider-Man’s various adaptations and interpretations but one where Spider-Man is a renowned and experienced superhero. Carrying himself with the confidence of a veteran of many battles, life lessons, successes, and failures, this Spider-Man is, honestly, uncharacteristically competent in a lot of ways (he’s still married to Mary Jane Watson (Zoë Kravitz), has the full support of his beloved Aunt May Parker (Lily Tomlin), and even has a Spider-Cave full of different Spider-Suits, for God’s sake). During an intense battle with the monstrous and demonic Norman Osborn/Green Goblin (Jorma Taccone) and the slick and efficient Prowler, Peter is shocked to meet Miles, someone who shares his abilities, and vows to train him and give him the opportunities he never had when he was first starting out, such is his commitment to using great power with great responsibility.
Kingpin may look ridiculous but he’s a formidable threat who killed Peter with his bare hands!
Sadly, and unexpectedly, Peter is killed right before Miles’ eyes by the Kingpin; Fisk, who blames Spider-Man for exposing his criminal deeds to the world and thus driving away his wife and son, has built a gigantic Super-Collider which he plans to use to rip a hole between dimensions and retrieve his family from another time and place. When Peter costs him this opportunity, Fisk beats him to death in a brutal and surprising scene and spends the remainder of the movie desperately trying to track down and reacquire the USB flash drive that allows the collider to work. Like Green Goblin, Fisk is a comically exaggerated version of himself, even compared to the creative flair of some comic book artists, but as preposterously absurd as Kingpin looks, his threat has, arguably, never been more tangible and brutal than in Into the Spider-Verse. Exuding unmatched power, wealth, and authority, he commands some of Spider-Man’s most notorious foes with a cold menace and is more than happy to get his hands dirty in his desperate attempt to be reunited with his family.
Peter B is an out of shape, world-weary version of Spider-Man who’s far from his prime.
Shaken by Peter’s death, and overwhelmed by the immense responsibility now in his hands, Miles is shocked to meet an alternative version of Peter, Peter B. Parker (Johnson), who arrived during the brief period that the Super-Collider was active. Unlike his counterpart from Miles’ world, Peter B is an out of shape, jaded, wreck of a man who has lost his way, and everything near to him, and yet, despite his crushing losses, obvious depression, and having grown weary of the power and responsibility that comes from being Spider-Man, Peter B still continues to be Spider-Man and does his best to tutor Miles in coming to grips with his powers. He’s obviously not as effective or competent a mentor than his counterpart promised to be but he does what he can regardless and is fully willing to put his life on the line to allow his fellow Spider-People to return home.
Thanks to her friendship with Miles, Gwen learns to open herself up to others once again.
Speaking of which, Miles is also joined by a whole host of unexpected Spider-People; the first one he meets is Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy, although he is unaware of her true identity at the time. A vastly different version of the traditional Gwen, Spider-Woman gained her powers in Peter’s place in her world and is a tough, sarcastic character who, while having a soft spot for Miles, is reluctant to open herself up to him, or anyone else, for fear of losing them. In a film arguably crowded by Spider-People, Gwen stands out by being one of the more recognisable and fleshed out characters and is, basically, a tertiary protagonist as her growing friendship with Miles is a major part of her (and his) character development. Sadly, the same can’t really be said about the rest of the Spider-Crew; Peni Parker/SP//dr (Glenn) is perhaps the least developed and expendable of the group. While she is rendered in an outstanding anime aesthetic and has a heart-warming bond with her spider mech, she’s largely inconsequential to the story and could have been spliced out with any other version of Spider-Man. Spider-Noir (Cage) and Peter Porker/Spider-Ham (Mulaney) manage to stand out a little better thanks to being rendered in monochrome and talking like a thirties gangster or being a literal cartoon character, respectively, but we don’t really learn a great deal about them and they’re mainly there to emphasise that every universe has a Spider-Man and that Spidey’s legacy and ideals are carried by a variety of characters all throughout time and space, which all directly ties into Miles’ character arc of growing into, and finally accepting, his role as Spider-Man.
The Nitty-Gritty: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse immediately sets itself apart from other Spider-Man movies not just by focusing on Miles as its main character and its cross-dimensional subplot but also by virtue of being an animated movie. Truthfully, animation suits Spider-Man down to the ground as, often, some of the more exhilarating sequences in Spider-Man movies are the computer-generated fight scenes and web-slinging moments and Into the Spider-Verse definitely uses its medium to its full advantage, featuring a unique aesthetic, comic book-like sound effects for emphasis, and even varying the frame rate to emphasise the differences between the various Spider-People and Miles’ comparative inexperienced compared to them. Humour is an important element of the film; Into the Spider-Verse is full of amusing lines, sight gags, and comedic moments that come naturally and are incredibly amusing thanks to some effortless and believable line delivery from the likes of Moore, Pine, and Johnson (Spider-Man’s quips during tough situations and battles are a notable highlight). Characters have an easy banter and sass to them that allows even the least developed of them to appear far more nuanced in the short space of time they have to shine and humour is emphasised through Miles’ inexperience with his powers, wry commentary on his increasingly chaotic situation, and the frantic nature of the action scenes and character beats.
Action and fights are colourful and frantic, ensuring no two fights are the same.
Speaking of action, Into the Spider-Verse is crammed full of some of the most impressive, intense, and frenzied action scenes in any Spider-Man movie; the freedom offered by relying on animation allows for some of the most diverse and varied web-slinging as each Spider-Person swings, fights, and moves differently. The use of music and onomatopoeia emphasises the action, which is fast-paced, memorable, and impactful thanks to the film showcasing a wide variety of Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, which includes the likes of the Green Goblin, Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone (Marvin “Krondon” Jones III), and Mac Gargan/The Scorpion (Joaquín Cosio).
Though a vicious mercenary, Aaron’s hesitation to kill Miles costs him his life.
Apart from Fisk, though, the most prominent villains of the film are Doctor Olivia Octavius/Doctor Octopus (Kathryn Hahn) and the Prowler; while Doc Ock is a sadistic and formidable, half-crazed scientist, it is the Prowler who has the most emotional significance to both the plot and to Miles. Constantly accompanied by an ominous, animalistic theme, the Prowler is portrayed as Fisk’s top mercenary; a brutal and vicious, cat-like fighter in a sophisticated suit of armour, Prowler stops at nothing to hunt down Fisk’s missing USB drive. Miles is absolutely devastated to find that the one person he thought he could rely on in the whole world, his Uncle Aaron, turns out to be the Prowler and even more crushed when, upon discovering Miles’ identity, Aaron chooses to spare his nephew and is executed by the Kingpin as a result and dies in Miles’ arms while urging him to continue on as a hero.
Miles finally embraces his role as Spider-Man, defeats Kingpin, and returns his new friends home.
In the end, against all the odds and his own doubts and inexperience, Miles customises one of Peter’s suits (crafting an absolutely bad-ass variant in the process) and fully embraces his role as Spider-Man to confront the Kingpin and put an end to his destructive scheme. It’s a real coming of age moment for Miles, who previously could only look up in awe at Spider-Man’s legacy, and allows him to not only finally live up to the lofty expectations placed upon him by his father and the various Spider-People but also repair his relationship with his father (and his father’s opinion of Spider-Man) through his actions. With the Spider-People returned home, Miles becomes the one true Spider-Man of his world, gaining lifelong friends and a renewed sense of responsibility, confidence, and identity in the process. It’s a strikingly effective story largely thanks to how relatable and complex Miles is portrayed throughout the film, being a rebellious and well-meaning kid who is simply struggling to find his place in an ever-changing world.
The Summary: If I’m being completely honest, I’m not really a fan of how often a street-level superhero like Spider-Man gets caught up in multiversal misadventures and meets alternative versions of himself; just like how I’m often a bit perturbed by how often Bruce Wayne/Batman has to put up with the same events, I feel like Spider-Man works better as a more grounded hero who only occasionally dabbles in cosmic-level events. To that end, I feel like Into the Spider-Verse would have been just as appealing to me, if not more so, had the multiverse elements been dropped; Peter B could have just been the version of Spider-Man in Miles’ world, Gwen could have been the same or swapped out with Cindy Moon/Silk, and the other Spider-People could have been replaced by, say, Ben Reilly or Kaine Parker and the idea of a multiverse of Spider-Man could maybe have been saved for the next movie. However, having said that, that doesn’t mean I’m not a huge fan of Into the Spider-Verse as it is; make no mistakes about it, this is a fantastic movie from start to finish, with an extremely appealing aesthetic identity and some absolutely fantastic action. It also carries a very emotional heart to its story, which is one of identity, legacy, and expectation; a coming of age story that follows a young, emotional kid who is struggling to live up to the role his mentors expect of him, Into the Spider-Verse says a lot about not only the nature of Spider-Man but also the struggles of youth and puberty. I’m glad Into the Spider-Verse did so well and I’m genuinely looking forward to the sequel delivering more of the same high-octane action and heartfelt emotion, visual flair, as well as introducing more Spider-People and, hopefully, expanding upon the brief cameo from one of my favourite Spider-Man, Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac).
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Fantastic
What are your thoughts on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? Where does it rank among the various other Spider-Man movies for you and what did you think of the artistic style and focus on Miles Morales and the other Spider-People? Which of the alternative Spider-Man was your favourite? Would you have liked to see one, or more, get a bigger role and if so, which one? What other alterative version of Spider-Man would you like to see show up in the sequel? Are you a fan of Spider-Man always having adventures with alternate versions of himself or would you prefer to see him tackling more street-level threats? Are you a fan of Miles, and what did you think to Peter’s death both in Ultimate Spider-Man and in Into the Spider-Verse? Whatever your opinion on Into the Spider-Verse, go ahead and drop a reply down in the comments and be sure to check back in next Wednesday as Spider-Man Month continues!
Easily Marvel Comics’ most recognisable and popular superhero, unsuspecting teenage nerd Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider and learned the true meaning of power and responsibility in Amazing Fantasy #15, which was first published in August 1962. Since then, the Amazing Spider-Man has featured in numerous cartoons, live-action movies, videogames, action figures, and countless comic book titles and, in celebration of his debut and his very own day of celebration, I’ve been dedicating every Wednesday to talk about everyone’s favourite web-head!
Air Date: 14 September 1977 Network: CBS Stars: Nicholas Hammond, Lisa Eilbacher, Thayer David, David White, and Michael Pataki
The Background: Following his debut in the pages of Amazing Fantasy #5, Spider-Man soon graduated to his own solo comic series and, by the mid-1970s, had become an icon of mainstream pop culture thanks to numerous merchandise and adaptations in other media such as the 1960s cartoon. It was during this time that CBS bought the rights to produce a live-action show for prime-time television; however, rather than debuting as an episodic series, The Amazing Spider-Man first aired as a feature-length episode that served as a back-door pilot. The pilot actually received a theatrical release outside of the United States, though I only remember seeing it on TV here in the United Kingdom once as a kid; regardless, the pilot was a success and led to the commission of a thirteen episode series that aired between 1977 and 1979.
Spider-Man’s feature-length pilot led to a thirteen episode TV series.
Despite drawing favourable ratings during its airing, CBS were reluctant to continue the show as it was expensive to produce and underperformed with older audiences. As a result, the show was eventually cancelled and has never seen a re-release outside of a few VHS tapes back in the day. Although the series was lacking in any of Spider-Man’s recognisable rogues gallery, it’s rumoured that there were tentative plans to produce a crossover with the long-running Incredible Hulk series (1977 to 1982) but these, obviously, never came through. Today, the series is largely forgotten, having been long overshadowed by Spider-Man’s big budgetlive-action ventures but Peter’s likeness in the 1994 cartoon always reminded me of Hammond’s.
The Plot: When freelance photographer Peter Parker (Hammond) is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains the proportionate strength, speed, and agility of a spider, he adopts a crime-fighting persona dubbed Spider-Man to oppose the aspirations of the malicious Edward Byron (David), who plans to hold the city to ransom with his mind control technology.
The Review: After the introductory titles (which features both a glimpse of the spectacular stunt work that the pilot and series was known for and the show’s super funky seventies theme music), Spider-Man immediately introduces the central antagonistic force of the plot as a doctor and a lawyer are inexplicably compelled to walk out in the middle of their jobs and perform a bank robbery, with the only thing relating the two being mysterious pins attached to their suits.
Peter struggles to sell photos to, or get assignments from, the grouchy Jameson.
Next, we’re introduced to Peter Parker, a freelance photographer who suffers from allergies and is attempting to work his way through college by selling photographs to J. Jonah Jameson (White), to little avail. While Jameson is far less as explosive and grouchy than his usual iterations, he’s still volatile and a natural cynic at heart, especially when faced with the seeming randomness of the opening crime and the subsequent threat for further crimes to follow.
A lone spider is bathed in radiation during one of Peter’s experiments…
While Peter can’t catch a break with Jameson and is thus constantly low on cash, he’s intrigued by the threat of mass mind control that has been levied against the city and has far more luck in the field of science. Peter works in a laboratory alongside his friend and fellow student Dave (Larry Anderson) and the two of them are conducting experiments on radiation. However, while dealing with some radioactive waste, a lone spider is bathed in over 400 rads’ worth of radiation and, in its last desperate act, bites Peter’s hand.
Peter is exhilarated to find he can cling to walls and surfaces just like a spider!
I’m not entirely certain but I think this is the first time the spider bite was indirectly caused through Peter’s own actions and it’s an interesting change. Rather than going through any kind of adjustment period or troublesome transformation, Peter experiences the effects of the spider bite almost instantaneously, being aware of incoming danger thanks to his spider-sense and racing up a wall with ease and on pure instinct. It’s not until later, after a particularly gruelling night’s sleep, that Peter pieces together the fantastic event and realises that he has been genetically altered; this leads to a montage in which he explores the lengths of his new abilities on the outside of his Aunt May’s (Jeff Donnell) through the use of camera trickery.
After being dubbed “Spider-Man”, Peter throws together a costume to sell pictures to Jameson.
It’s not a great effect, and certainly nothing on the practical wire work seen later in the pilot, but it’s certainly ambitious for the time. Peter first puts his powers to good use while clambering up a wall in the city, which is startling enough to stop a purse snatcher (Barry Cutler) in his tracks. This leads to eyewitnesses dubbing him “Spider-Man”, which piques Jameson’s interest and, in that moment, gives Peter the inspiration to construct a colourful outfit and persona befitting of such a name and to explain Spider-Man’s logistics and capabilities to the pessimistic Jameson (and, in the process, the audience). While Peter acts on instinct to stop a criminal, his primary motivation for becoming Spider-Man is to sell Jameson pictures; there’s no Uncle Ben or lessons about power and responsibility here (which, I’m sure, today’s Spider-Man “fans” would throw a fit over!), just a regular kid trying to do the right thing and make some money out of little more than an ingrained sense of right or wrong.
Captain Barbara’s cantankerous, gruff demeanour was a real highlight for me.
In the course of the pilot, Peter runs afoul of the temperamental Captain Barbara (Pataki), a grouchy, cantankerous, and suspicious police captain who is kind of like the Jack McGee (Jack Colvin) of the show; perhaps because of his jaded nature, he is almost immediately suspicious of Peter and becomes even more so when Peter continues to show up at the scenes of the inexplicable crimes. Barbara is equally unimpressed with Spider-Man’s debut, believing (with little reason) that the wall-crawler is somehow involved in the mysterious events and voicing many of the more aggressive objections to the vigilante that are usually attributed to Jameson, who is skeptical of Spider-Man but never exhibits the hatred normally associated with the character.
Peter and Judy attend one of Byron’s aggressive seminars on the futility of life.
When covering the aftermath of another of the incidents in which Professor Noah Tyler (Ivor Francis) randomly committed a robbery and then crashed head-first into a wall, Peter meets his daughter, Judy (Lisa Eilbacher). Judy confides in Peter that her father has been attending a special group to teach people the “true meaning of themselves” through unusually aggressive lectures. This group, which is more like a cult or twisted church, is led by the pilot’s big bad, Edward Byron; Byron uses specialised radio signals to compel his victims to commit their crimes and is basically able to force anyone wearing one of his pins and subjected to his mind control device to follow his explicit instructions. Specifically, Byron has them commit robberies and then kill themselves and his end goal is extortion, as he threatens to kill several citizens unless he’s paid a ransom of $50 million. Byron exhibits a disdain for those in his group, and humanity in general, and believes himself to be above them both in terms of intelligence and stature; for all his grandiose speeches, though, he’s little more than a madman who wishes to exert and abuse his power and technology purely to satiate his greed.
Peter’s far from the hapless nerd from the comics and his ingenuity is heavily emphasised.
While Peter has some bad luck in the pilot, it’s generally more around trying to make money off the pugnacious Jameson and he’s far from the hapless, down on his luck nerd he is often pigeon-holed as. Instead, he’s a relatively well-adjusted young man who bonds with Judy extremely quickly and a central theme of the pilot is Peter’s intelligence and scientific acumen. Not only does he put together an impressive costume for himself but he quickly cobbles together his patented web-shooters and not only stumbles upon Byron’s hypnotic signal with his microwave emitter but also puts together a gadget to led him to the source of the signal.
Stuntman Fred Waugh took over once Peter donned the suit to perform the pilot’s dangerous stunts.
When in the costume, Spider-Man duties mostly fall to stuntman Fred Waugh, who adopts an agile grace and insectile posture that, possibly, was a conscious decision on Waugh’s part to emphasise the physicality of the character. The pilot features a number of complex and incredibly dangerous stunts achieved through the use of wire work, cables, rigging, and rotating sets; though you can make out some of the wires here and there, that doesn’t take away from the ambition of those involved and it’s because of this practical approach that, for the first time, we get to see a live-action Spider-Man literally climbing up the sides of buildings, leaping to ceilings and walls, and swinging across rooftops (something, even now, which is more likely to be achieved through CGI than traditional filmmaking techniques).
Spidey’s intelligence wins the day as much as his incredible strength and agility.
While these instances showcase Spider-Man’s agility, a protracted fight scene between the web-head and Byron’s three mind-controlled goons does a decent job of showing how formidable Spider-Man is (and, in a follow-up confrontation, his amazing recuperative powers); it’s not an especially thrilling fight scene as it’s a very slow and co-ordinated affair but, nevertheless, he’s easily able to outmanoeuvre and overpower the three. This also gets paid off at the conclusion of the pilot in one of my favourite scenes where Spidey, in the quest to bring Bryon to justice, makes friends with the three. Indeed, in the end, it’s not strength or agility that wins the day but a combination of luck (Peter’s control pin gets dislodged from his jacket) and intelligence as he not only discovers but also decodes Byron’s hypnotic microwave technology. This allows Spider-Man to tear down Byron’s control antenna and turn his technology against him, rendering him little more than a mindless puppet to face Barbara’s not-inconsiderable-wrath.
The Summary: I’m well aware that I’ve used the word “ambitious” a lot in this write-up but it’s the best word I can think of to describe Spider-Man; it’s impressive how much the filmmakers were able to pull off given the limitations of the seventies and I would argue that, despite a lack of recognisable characters and villains, Spider-Man is actually a far more accurate adaptation of the source material, in many ways, than The Incredible Hulk. They’re both relatively grounded and far more realistic takes on Marvel’s colourful heroes but Spider-Man features far more innovative special effects to bring the character to life.
Despite the lack of Uncle Ben and May’s reduced role, Peter still uses his abilities responsibly.
I have to say, even now, that the Spider-Man costume is pretty impressive; it’s kind of like an all-in-one body suit but the colours are suitably bright and vibrant and I love the simplicity of the design, which includes reflective lenses and, in time, mechanical web-shooters of Peter’s own design that allows him to swing between buildings and stop crooks with a variety of webbing. It’s rarely, if ever, Hammond in the suit but the plus side to that is that Spider-Man is pretty much always wearing his mask and fully capable of performing the pilot’s complex and ambitious stunts and fight scenes. Thanks to the alterations to the character’s origin, Uncle Ben is no longer a factor (he’s not even mentioned or even hinted at) and Aunt May has a much smaller, inconsequential role where she’s a doting matriarch rather than a decrepit, fragile figure (something subsequent live-action movies would emulate). Regardless, Peter is still compelled to use his powers for good (…and to make a little money at the same time) simply because he’s a good kid; he may lack the tragedy and pure motivation often associated with the character but he’s nonetheless as determined to help others.
I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for the pilot and I’ve love to see the show made more accessible.
Neither the Amazing Spider-Man or Incredible Hulk TV shows were on when I was a kid so the only exposure I had to either was in their feature-length spin-offs and, for the longest time, Spider-Man was about as good as you could get for a live-action adaptation of the character. I remember preferring the subsequent features that were produced some time after this and were comprised of combined episodes of the show but, revisiting this pilot episode after a good twenty years was an entertaining experience, to say the least. Sure, many of the effects haven’t aged too well and it’s disappointing that it doesn’t adhere more closely to the source material but I am very forgiving of this pilot and have a real fondness for it, and Hammond’s portrayal of the character, so I can only hope that, one day, the entire series gets a much-needed release on DVD so more people can experience this early and ambitious take on the character.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Have you ever seen Spider-Man or the Amazing Spider-Man TV show? What did you think of them at the time and how do you think they hold up today? What did you think to the show’s costume, stunt effects, and Hammond’s performance as Parker? Were you a fan of original characters like Captain Barbara and Edward Byron or would you have preferred to see more comic-accurate characters and villains in the show? Would you like to see a release of the series on home media or Disney+ or do you think it’s best to leave the show to obscurity? Whatever your thoughts on the seventies Spider-Man adaptation, go ahead and leave a comment below and be sure to check in again next Wednesday for more Spider-Man content!
Easily Marvel Comics’ most recognisable and popular superhero, unsuspecting teenage nerd Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider and learned the true meaning of power and responsibility in Amazing Fantasy #15, which was first published in August 1962. Since then, the Amazing Spider-Man has featured in numerous cartoons, live-action movies, videogames, action figures, and countless comic book titles and, in celebration of his debut and his very own day of celebration, I’ve been dedicating every Wednesday to talk about everyone’s favourite web-head!
Released: 1991 Developer: SEGA
The Background: Having achieved success with the creation of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics editor and head writer, the immortal Stan Lee, was searching for another title to match the success of Marvel’s first family. Inspired by a spider climbing up a wall, influenced by pulp vigilante the Spider, eager to capitalise on the surge in teenage demand for comic books, and working alongside artist Steve Ditko, Lee conceived of Spider-Man and was granted permission to feature the teenage superhero in the final issue of Amazing Fantasy. Marvel publisher Martin Goodman was shocked to find that Amazing Fantasy #15 was one of the publication’s highest-selling comics and a solo Spider-Man series soon followed, with Spidey quickly becoming Marvel’s most popular comic book character. Since then, Spider-Man has seen success in numerous other media; in 1967, he featured in a self-titled animated series, he famously appeared as a guest character on The Electric Company (1971 to 1977) and starred in his own live-action series in 1978, and heavily influenced my childhood through the fantasticSpider-Man cartoon (1994 to 1998) before eventually featuring in a numberof live-action films. Furthermore, Spider-Man has also featured in numerous videogames, the first of which was the aggravatingSpider-Man (Parker Brothers, 1982) for the Atari 2600. Before debuting in arcades, the majority of Spidey’s videogame efforts were sidescrolling action/platformers but this was the early nineties and button-mashing beat-‘em-ups were all the rage thanks to titles like Double Dragon (Technōs Japan, 1987), Final Fight(Capcom, 1989), and The Simpsons (Konami, 1991) so Spidey’s arcade debut naturally came in the form of a sidescrolling beat-‘em-up.
The Plot: Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime in New York City, has sent his minions out into the city to retrieve a mystical artefact and only Spider-Man and his allies (Prince Namor McKenzie/The Sub-Mariner, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, and Felicia Hardy/Black Cat) can hope to defeat some of Spidey’s most powerful and iconic villains and oppose the Kingpin’s plans for domination.
Gameplay: Spider-Man: The Video Game is a fairly standard sidescrolling beat-‘em-up in which players can pick from one of four characters (Spider-Man (obviously), Sub-Mariner, Hawkeye, and Black Cat) and make their way from the left side of the screen to the right beating up wave-upon-wave of nameless thugs. The game allows any player to select any character and allows for up to four players to play simultaneously, which is always an appreciated feature of such titles.
Each character is sluggish andgameplay is shaken up by some ugly platforming sections.
Upon selecting your character, you’re dropped into the streets of New York and quickly learn that the game is quite limited in terms of the moves available to you. Each character controls in exactly the same way, with a few subtle differences: Spidey and Black Cat can swing from webs/lines to attack enemies (if you can pull off the attack, which kind of requires a very specific combination of jumping and attacking) and each has a slightly different jumping attack (Namor dives fist-first down into enemies, for example) and melee attacks (Black Cat is much more about the fancy kicks than Hawkeye). While you can perform a signature special attack (shooting webs or arrows, for example) at the cost of some health points, each character is just as sluggish and apathetic as the next thanks to a lack of a dash function. However, after beating up a few thugs and taking out a sub-boss, the game suddenly shifts to an entirely different perspective; the camera zooms out and the game becomes more of an action/platformer as your character must scale a vertical and horizontal map taking out more goons as they go. In this zoomed out mode, your characters are no longer able to perform melee attacks and must rely on their projectile attacks: Spidey shoots webs, Hawkeye shoots arrows, Black Cat attacks with a grapple hook, and Namor….shoots lightning…? Spidey and Black Cat can also scale and climb walls to navigate these areas faster and Hawkeye and Namor can hang on to overhead platforms to shoot at enemies but it’s a bit weird that you’re not given full access to each character’s abilities in this mode.
Your health drains constantly and players are rated after each stage.
Unlike many videogames and beat-‘em-ups, inserting coins not only allows you to continue from death but also boosts your health, which is represented by a series of numbers under your character’s name. Your health numbers also double as a time limit as they’re constantly ticking down and this is quite a unique and clever way to get kids to waste their hard-earned pocket money as, while you can find health (in the form of hearts) strewn around the game’s stages at various points, you’ll quickly be pummelled into submission by the game’s enemies and forced to drop more coins to pump up your health and continue on a little further. Sadly, in a marketplace crowded by fantastic beat-‘em-ups, Spider-Man: The Video game fails to stand out in a lot of ways; you can attack and destroy parts of the environment but there’s not much motivation to do this as there are no weapons to find and use and no items to pick up to increase your score. Your score isn’t even displayed onscreen as you play, for God’s sake, which is really unusual, despite the fact that your progress is rated at the end of each stage. Instead, the game’s primary selling point appears to be exclusively the Spider-Man brand and the odd inclusion of action/platforming sections.
Graphics and Sound: For the most part, Spider-Man: The Video Game looks serviceable enough; sprites are large and colourful but, like the backgrounds, are a little lacking in variety and detail. None of the playable characters have an idle animation, which lets the game down somewhat, and Spider-Man, especially, just looks bored and depressed as he plods around at a sluggish speed. When the game zooms out for its platforming sections, sprites take on a largely pixelated appearance but the backgrounds become much bigger and more detailed. Stages initially seem quite short as you come up against your first sub-boss in almost no time at all and, after defeating them, you’re tasked with climbing up to the rooftops of New York’s skyscrapers and the stages really open up.
Platforming sections expand the game, with “Latvelia” being the most visually interesting.
As you attack enemies, and are attacked, big comic book-style sound effects appear onscreen (as is pretty standard for comic book beat-‘em-ups) but I found sprites go a bit transparent when they pass over other sprites and graphics (though this could be due to emulation issues rather than a flaw of the title itself). The game does feature some limited voice acting but, despite featuring a female voice (who just loves to cry out “Spider-Man!” every time you insert a coin), no female voice work accompanies Black Cat. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the male voice acting is the same for every character and hardly of a high standard and when you realise that Namor and Black Cat’s attacks are accompanied by some really weird sound effects that make them sound like they’re drowning or a robot, respectively. As you might expect, comic book-style cutscenes tell the game’s story; these take the form of still images with some accompanying text (though these don’t change depending on your character and mostly just feature Spidey by himself) and in-game cutscenes with some fitting word balloons. Finally, while the game’s stages are fairly standard (the streets, the rooftops, flying through the skies, construction sites and the like), they don’t really stand out much until you crash-land into the hellscape of “Latvelia” and the game suddenly busts out some decent fire effects. Finally, the game’s music, while interesting and serviceable enough, doesn’t really feel very unique to the Spider-Man brand or compared to other beat-‘em-ups.
Enemies and Bosses: The majority of the enemies you’ll encounter throughout your journey are literally nameless, faceless goons; weird kabuki-mask-wearing, purple-spandex-clad thugs are the order of the day here but they are soon joined by such cliché beat-‘em-up enemies as martial artists (who can duck your attacks), rotund enemies (who can belly flop you), and robots (which shoot projectiles). Spider-Man: The Video Game honestly doesn’t have much going for it in terms of enemy variety; you’ll fight the same enemies over and over and only encounter some weird and memorable foes with you reach “Latvelia” and encounter some weird ape-like monstrosities. However, Spider-Man: The Video Game is absolutely loaded with some of Spidey’s most iconic villains; after only a couple of minutes into the first stage, you’ll encounter Mac Gargan/Scorpion and, just as you’re getting into that fight, a massive containment unit opens up and Eddie Brock/Venomemerges.
You’ll face Spidey’s most iconic foes while swarms of enemies pile in on the action!
Although Scorpion soon runs off after a few hits, you’ll have to endure a handicap situation for a while as enemies spawn in, Venom teleports around the arena and chokes you with their goo, and Scorpion attacks you relentlessly. Once you whittle down Venom’s health, they use a mysterious artefact to grow to monstrous size and you’ll have to chase them to the rooftops for another encounter. This becomes the basic set-up for the majority of the game’s sub-bosses and bosses; you’ll fight them at one point and then have to give chase and battle them again in a slightly different situation after navigating the game’s zoomed out sections. You’ll battle Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard (who has a nasty tendency to chomp down on your crotch), Flint Marko/Sandman, and Venom in a pretty standard beat-‘em-up format where you’ll be confined to an arena and have to fend off waves of additional enemies. Each boss reappears for a rematch later in the game but the strategy remains largely the same; keep your distance and land attacks while dispatching their support and things only really get hairy when Venom spawns a bunch of symbiote clones to fight alongside them!
While Kingpin is a marginal threat, Electro and Doc Ock really get the shaft!
Boss battles are mixed up a bit when you take on Norman Osborn/Green Goblin and Jason Macendale/Hobgoblin; while you’ll battle the Green Goblin on the ground, dodging his weird glowing hand attack, these two bosses stand out by taking to their iconic gliders and rushing at you from the air while tossing pumpkin bombs at you. These can be troublesome encounters as it’s difficult to judge where the Goblins are positioned to land your attacks or to successfully hit them with your jump attacks. Plus, when you battle Hobgoblin, you’re limited to your zoom-out attacks and will have to blast him with your projectiles and destroy large cannons to make things easier. You’ll also do battle with the Kingpin in a standard beat-‘em-up encounter; Kingpin’s attacks are limited to headbutts, swipes, and a shoulder barge, making him little more than an inconvenience than a formidable boss fight even in his second phase. Still, at least he actually gets a proper boss fight; Max Dillon/Electro and perhaps Spidey’s most famous foe, Dr. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus are relegated to mere semi-sub-bosses who randomly appear as you’re navigating the game’s later platform stages and they’re little more than a joke as you can easily damage boost through their attacks and pummel them into submission.
Doctor Doom is the game’s final boss and takes numerous forms.
After defeating the Kingpin, though, Dr. Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom randomly appears to claim the mysterious artefact and reveal himself to be the game’s true big bad. When you reach Doom’s Castle, you’ll have to dodge mines and battle through the game’s previous sub-bosses and bosses to confront Doctor Doom…only to find you’ve battled a Doombot all along! However, when you finally do get your hands on the real Doctor Doom, the fight is still little more than a standard affair once you take out Doom’s nifty floating battle craft: Doom is fast and slippery but doesn’t attack with magical bolts until the final confrontation and even then he’s not much more of a threat than the likes of the Sandman or the Lizard.
Power-Ups and Bonuses: As mentioned, there’s pretty much nothing on offer to spice up your gameplay in Spider-Man: The Video Game. You can’t pick up and use weapons or power-ups and the only thing for you to pick up is hearts to increase your health, making gameplay decidedly more repetitive and monotonous compared to other beat-‘em-ups.
Additional Features: Again, there’s basically nothing here (as is pretty much the standard for most arcade games). However, the fact that you can select any character to play as and play with up to four players, each who accumulate their own separate score at the end of each stage, does add some replay value (if you have friends to play with, of course…)
The Summary: Spider-Man: The Video Game is a decent enough beat-‘em-up; it’s bright and colourful and includes all of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains but it doesn’t really offer a whole hell of a lot when it comes to gameplay or variety. Beat-‘em-ups are generally quite monotonous as a rule but they usually compensate for this with kick-ass music, detailed sprites, and some cool weapons and super moves; Spider-Man: The Video Game has none of these attributes, meaning it’s a step behind other arcade titles released at the same time and even ones released years prior. The game’s unique selling point of having action/platforming sections incorporated into the usual beat-‘em-up formula is interesting but its execution is flawed thanks to the graphics taking a hit. Throw in an odd assortment of playable characters (I get why Black Cat is there but why are Namor and Hawkeye here?), some repetitive boss battles, and disappointing use of some of Spidey’s more visually striking foes and you have a gameplay experience that is fun enough (and probably better alongside friends) but hardly worth choosing over the likes of Final Fight or even Double Dragon. Put it this way: X-Men(Konami, 1992) released the very next year and is everything Spider-Man: The Video Game wishes it could be; hell, even Captain America and the Avengers(Data East, 1991) offers more in terms of gameplay variety and character abilities despite being graphically less impressive and that’s really saying something.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Did you ever play Spider-Man: The Video Game out in the wild? Which character did you pick, or get lumbered with, and which did you think was the best or the worst? What did you think of the game’s unique incorporation of platforming elements and the way it handled Spidey’s villains? Which characters do you think would have been more suitable to play in place of Namor and Hawkeye? Which Spider-Man videogame, or arcade beat-’em-up, is your favourite? Whatever you think, feel free to drop a comment below and be sure to check out my other Spider-Man content.
Easily Marvel Comics’ most recognisable and popular superhero, unsuspecting teenage nerd Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider and learned the true meaning of power and responsibility in Amazing Fantasy #15, which was first published in August 1962. Since then, the Amazing Spider-Man has featured in numerous cartoons, live-action movies, videogames, action figures, and countless comic book titles and, in celebration of his debut and his very own day of celebration, I’ll be dedicating every Wednesday of August to talk about everyone’s favourite web-head!
Story Title: Spider-Man! Published: August 1962 Writer: Stan Lee Artist: Steve Ditko
The Background: The year was 1962 and Marvel Comics had seen incredible success with the Fantastic Four; wishing to capitalise on this, Marvel editor and head writer Stan Lee wanted to create a teenaged superhero for his younger readers to identify with. After being inspired by a fly climbing his office wall, Lee experimented with different insect names before settling on Spider-Man (eventually placing emphasis on the hyphen to avoid associations with Clark Kent/Superman) and, after being dissatisfied with Jack Kirby’s interpretation of his new young superhero, Lee turned to artist Steve Ditko to finalise Spider-Man’s costume and accessories.
Spider-Man was an incredible success and has gone on to become a mainstream pop culture icon.
Stan Lee purposely set out to make Spider-Man a troubled young teenager rather than a flawless character or the sidekick to an older hero, one who was constantly struggling with relatable issues such as money, love, and the health of his family. Despite the success of the Fantastic Four, Stan Lee also still needed the approval of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman, who disliked the character and the concept and only allowed Lee to feature Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy as the comic was scheduled to be cancelled with its fifteenth issue. Despite this, Amazing Fantasy #15 proved to be one of the company’s best selling titles and the character’s popularity led to him not only getting his own solo title, The Amazing Spider-Man, in 1963 barely a year after his debut but also catapulting Spider-Man into mainstream popularity that endures to this day.
The Review: “Spider-Man!” immediately begins with Stan Lee’s peerless narration setting up just how different the concept is and the art delivers on this promise by introducing us to Peter Parker, a bespectacled teenager who is the subject of much abuse and ridicule from his peers who ostracise him and see him as nothing more than a bookworm and a wallflower.
Peter has a loving home life and excels in his studies but is relentlessly teased at school.
Peter lives with his aged and doting Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who shower him with love and affection, and excels in his studies, particularly in science (which his aunt and uncle actively encourage), but is incredibly shy and awkward around his fellow students. When he ineptly attempts to ask Sally out, she rudely rebuffs him and his efforts to impress her, and the others, with an invitation to a science exhibit are drowned out by the braying taunting and arrogance of Flash Thompson, the most popular guy in school.
The dying radioactive spider bites Peter’s hand and he immediately feels its effects.
Though upset at the mockery of his classmates, Peter joins a number of other attendees in witnessing a demonstration of the latest in cutting edge atomic science, specifically the mysterious power of radioactive rays. As the head scientist begins the experiment, though, an unassuming spider, unseen and unnoticed by all, is bathed in a full blast of radiation and, with its dying breath, bites the back of Peter’s hand and immediately sends him a bit queasy (to the mockery of those in attendance because it’s not just teenagers who take the piss out of poor old Peter!)
Peter is startled to discover he has all the strength and abilities of a spider!
Distracted by the sudden charge of energy that flows through his body, Peter narrowly avoids being run down in the street but leaping up a nearby building! Astounded, Peter finds he can cling to the wall as easily as…well, a spider…and that he can crush a steel pipe as though it were mere paper! As if that wasn’t enough, he suddenly has superhuman dexterity and balance, which allows him to easily and fearlessly traverse a cable as effortlessly as a spider would crawl along a web.
Proto-Spidey easily overpowers and humiliates Crusher Hogan.
Excited at his newfound powers, Peter does the first thing anyone would in this situation and throws on a makeshift disguise to test his abilities in the ring against Crusher Hogan (and earn a cushy $100 in the process). Though initially dismissive of the proto-Spider-Man’s slight physical stature, Hogan is almost immediately left flustered and humbled when Peter effortlessly dodges his attack, hoists him up, and holds him precariously over the ring.
Peterputs his skills to use creating a spider-themed costume and accessories.
After the match, as Peter is counting his winnings, a television producer approaches him with an offer to appear on Ed Sullivan’s show. Overwhelmed at his incredible abilities and enthusiastic at appearing on television, Peter sets to work designing a colourful costume for himself; it’s not made clear why he choose red and black/blue but it certainly makes for a colourful, striking appearance. As if Peter’s sewing skills weren’t impressive enough, he also uses his scientific aptitude to construct a pair of mechanical web-shooters so that he can fire off webs just like a spider. Honestly, as much as I like Peter’s practical web-shooters, I always felt like the organic web-shooters made much more sense rather than him being “imparted” with the knowledge of how to make his own web-shooters because…you know, he gets a spider’s strength, speed, agility, well-clinging, and a version of their multiple eyes with the spider-sense but he can’t naturally produce webs?
Spider-Man revels in his newfound fame and refuses to stop a thief from escaping.
Anyway, Spider-Man makes his big television debut, wowing the audience with his many abilities; he becomes an immediate headline sensation and is suddenly inundated with offers for interviews, photo shoots, and even movies (imagine that!) However, as he is making his way back to the changing room, a security guard is in the process of chasing down a thief; Spider-Man allows the thief to escape unhindered to the elevator, rightfully but crucially stating that it’s not his job to stop criminals since he’s a performer, not a cop!
Peter is horrified to find his uncle dead and angrily confronts the man responsible.
Peter revels in his newfound fame but, one fateful evening (not that same evening, it’s interesting to note), he returns home to be told the news that his beloved Uncle Ben has been shot and killed by a house burglar! Overcome with grief and a burning desire for revenge, Peter races to his bedroom and pulls on his Spider-Man costume to confront the burglar after the cops tell him (Peter) where he’s holed up. Thanks to his web-slinging abilities, Spider-Man easily crosses town to reach the warehouse where the thief is hiding out and gets the drop on him.
Peter learns a harsh and humbling lesson to use his great powers selflessly.
Of course, Spider-Man is easily able to corner the thief, disable his gun with his webs, and knock him out with one right hook. However, Peter is devastated when he sees the face of his uncle’s killer and recognises him as the same thief he refused to stop a few days earlier! Peter leaves the thief in the custody of the police and wanders off into the night, distraught with grief and guilt at his selfish ways and learning, as the narrator sombrely informs us, the harsh lesson that “With great power there must also come — great responsibility!”
The Summary: “Spider-Man!” is a brilliant, almost timeless tale; of course, it’s obviously full of allusions and references to the time period it was created in but none of these elements really overwhelm the general pace, direction, and themes of the story. Spider-Man was the first superhero to be a normal, everyday, awkward teenager; shunned by his peers for being a bookworm, he’s far outside of the popular social circle yet, though he’s clearly affected and upset by the teasing he constantly endures, he never falls into angst or despair and, instead, revels in the love and affection his adoring aunt and uncle constantly show him.
After years of being bullied for being a wallflower, Peter revels in his newfound fame.
Upon being granted his amazing spider abilities, Peter is immediately fascinated and excited and jumps at the chance to flex his newfound muscles in the ring. Finally, after years of persecution for being a wallflower, he has the power to topple even large, muscular wrestlers like Crusher Hogan and quickly becomes a television sensation. It’s clear that Peter is both overwhelmed and enthusiastic by the fame (and, presumably, brief fortune) his celebrity status brings him; there’s a sense that all these opportunists and media moguls are simply using Spider-Man and taking advantage of him but Peter is too distracted by the applause and adulation to even care.
Spidey’s dramatic origin is easily one of the most iconic and memorable in all of comics.
So overcome by this admiration and fame is Peter that his selfish actions cause him to make one fateful error in letting a seemingly harmless thief escape punishment and, of course, pays for it when that same thief kills his beloved Uncle Ben. The sight of Peter staring at the face of his uncle’s killer and realising that he (Peter) could have easily stopped him is a haunting and enduring image, as is the valuable life lesson that would go on to not only define Spider-Man’s superhero career but also become largely synonymous with the character. This origin, one born out of pure, unadulterated grief, is perhaps second only to the traumatic murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne in its significance, iconography, and impact on both the character and the comics and subsequent media he appeared in and ensures that Spider-Man’s dramatic debut is both memorable and relatable since Peter’s actions, though selfish, were completely understandable and natural. He didn’t get his powers and immediately become a crimefighter; he used them for fortune and glory and who among us can say we wouldn’t do the same?
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
What are your thoughts on Spider-Man’s iconic debut? Were you a fan of the character at the time or were you introduced to him through some other means and, if so, what were they? How would you rank Spider-Man’s traumatic origin story and how important would you say it is to the character and the comics industry as a whole? What is your favourite Spider-Man storyline, costume, or character and why? Do you prefer mechanical or organic web-shooters? Why do you think Peter chose red and black/blue for his costume? How are you celebrating Spider-Man Day today? Whatever your thoughts on Spider-Man, leave a comment below and be sure to stick around for Spider-Man Month starting this Wednesday!
Story Title: “Venom” Published: May 1984 Writer: David Michelinie Artist: Todd McFarlane
The Background: In 1982, Marvel Comics’ editor-in-chief Jim Shooter took a liking to an illustration from reader Randy Schueller that depicted Spider-Man in a smooth, black outfit with a large red spider motif across the chest; after purchasing the concept for a mere $200, writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz conceived of the costume being a living organism and Spidey’s new black suit debuted without explanation in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 before Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 revealed that Spidey acquired the suit during the “Secret Wars” event. Over the next year or so, Spidey revelled in the costume’s unique and helpful ability to form both clothing and organic webbing until Doctor Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic revealed its true nature as a symbiotic lifeform. Out of fear, Spidey rejected the symbiote, using the cacophony of church bells to drive it from his body and began wearing a cloth version of his black suit. At the conclusion of Web of Spider-Man #24, though, a mysterious assailant attempted to push Peter in front of an oncoming train and a shadowy figure was clearly stalking him throughout 1988 before the symbiote, now known as Venom, made its full and dramatic reappearance. Since then, Venom has evolved from a gruesome, twisted killer into a violent anti-hero and a more morally righteous hero, with the symbiote jumping from numerous hosts and spawning a number of similarly-powered offspring. Acting as Spider-Man’s dark doppelgänger, Venom was an immediate favourite for me and many readers thanks to their knowledge of Spidey’s true identity, resistance to his spider-sense, and having all of Spidey’s powers (and more) but being far for vindictive, sadistic, and lacking Peter’s strong moral compass.
The Review: “Venom” opens with the startling image of Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Peter’s former fling turned wife, huddled in the corner of their apartment nearly out of her mind with fear. When Peter returns home, still garbed in his cloth black costume, initially Mary Jane recoils in horror before gratefully embracing Peter. Peter, though disturbed by Mary Jane’s condition and the fact that she was attacked in their apartment, is even more troubled by her description of her attacker and worries that the alien costume might have survived their dramatic break-up. Mary Jane, ever the feisty and capable woman, is largely back to her old self after a good night’s rest in a hotel and immediately makes arrangements for them to move so she can put the whole thing behind her.
The usually strong-willed and brazen Mary Jane is left a trembling wreck by Venom.
However, overcome with his characteristic worrisome nature, Peter retrieves a Sonic Blaster from the Fantastic Four (a formidable weapon against the symbiote, which is highly vulnerable to sonic waves and intense heat), but is too highly strung to notice a mysterious stranger stalking him or to properly socialise with his friends and family, despite Mary Jane’s best efforts to perk him up. It’s an extremely effective way to introduce Venom without even seeing them on-panel; although Venom doesn’t physically hurt or molest Mary Jane, their mere presence and alien nature are enough to reduce her to a shivering wreck. Her condition greatly disturbs Peter, who points out through his internal monologue what a strong, impendent, and capable woman Mary Jane usually is; she’s always been very brazen and outspoken so to see her reduced to little more than a frightened child is a chilling moment for him (and us, the reader). At their house-warming party, Peter suddenly leaves after spotting his alien costume swinging around town and is immediately blind-sided by a muscular doppelgänger of himself baring a horrific grin. Although the reader was introduced to Eddie Brock, a large, stone-faced, muscle-bound man who is in possession of the alien costume, earlier, we don’t actually learn who he is or any of his backstory until this moment. Previously, we saw that he lives in a rundown apartment full of weightlifting equipment and newspaper clippings of Spider-Man, openly converses to the symbiote (though it doesn’t answer him back), and that he religiously pumps iron to increase both his physical strength and the strength of the symbiote.
Brock was driven to the edge before bonding with the symbiote and becoming Venom.
Peter, however, recognises not only the symbiote but also Brock, who is revealed to have been a respected reporter whose reputation was tarnished when he was duped by a compulsive confessor. Because Spider-Man captured Stan Carter/The Sin-Eater, Brock’s big story was discredited and he blamed Spider-Man for the sudden downturn in his fortunes. Brock’s mania was so complete and had blinded him so completely that he was driven first to strenuous exercise and, finally, to suicide; however, right as Eddie was contemplating the worst sin imaginable to his Catholic upbringing, the symbiote found him and, joined in their hatred of Spider-Man, they formed a bond so complete that Venom was born.
Spidey’s mercy proves to be his downfall as Venom are easily able to overpower and defeat him.
Though Spidey tries to use Brock’s monologue to edge his way towards his Sonic Blaster, Venom easily overpowers him with their superior strength. Spidey is, however, able to knock Venom down with a massive girder and blast him with the Sonic Blaster; Spidey hesitates, though, when he realises that the two have formed an unbreakable symbiotic bond and that further exposure to the high-intensity sound waves could kill Brock and decides to regroup and think of a new plan. This is all the hesitation Venom needs to recover, though, and with one massive blow, they knock Spidey out. When he awakens some hours later, Spidey finds that he has been webbed up to a church bell by Venom’s far stronger and much thicker webbing. Brock, now garbed in a priest’s robe, revels in the delicious irony and fitting nature of Spidey’s impending death since Peter tried to use the same massive bells to destroy his “Other”. Like any good, overconfident villain, Venom leaves Spider-Man to his fate and, as such, misses their chance to keep Peter from using his sheer force of will and brute strength to keep himself from being pounded into mush and breaking free of Venom’s webbing.
Spidey outsmarts Venom by forcing them to expend their webbing and tire out.
Unable to match Venom’s strength and at a serious disadvantage since Venom doesn’t set off his spider-sense and appears to have all of his strengths and abilities, Spidey decides to outsmart Venom by forcing them to expend their webbing and tire themselves out, draining the symbiote’s energy and sending Brock crashing to the street below. The story ends with Brock, and the symbiote, being held captive at Four Freedoms Plaza, the high-tech home of the Fantastic Four; there, encased within a cylinder and rendered inert by a constant barrage of sonic waves, Venom’s threat is effectively neutralised. Upon safely returning to Mary Jane, Peter and his wife agree that it is no longer appropriate for him to wear the black costume given Venom’s sadistic nature and he finally returns to the classic red and blue for the first time in about four years.
The Summary: “Venom” is a really great introduction for one of Spider-Man’s most complex and vicious foes; this story took place during the much lauded Micheline/McFarlane pairing, which results in some absolutely fantastic and detailed artwork. McFarlane always drew a brilliant Spider-Man, emphasising the complexity of his webs, the inhuman positions and poses he would strike while web-slinging, and giving every character an edgy, nineties make-over to help them stand out a little more. Venom, in comparison, is far more subdued, visually, than he would later be, appearing as simply a jet-black, muscular version of Spider-Man with a demonic grin; it wouldn’t be until Mark Bagley came onto the title that Venom would take on some of their more recognisable characteristics, such as the writing tentacles, mass of teeth, and long, drooling tongue.
Brock is a hypocrticial, deluded, sadistic individual in his debut.
Still, Eddie Brock makes for a unique and interesting new addition to Spidey’s rogues gallery; Brock is one of a handful of Spidey’s villains who actually knows his secret identity and the only one (at the time) able to use that information to his full advantage thanks to his ability to circumvent Peter’s spider-sense and the many attributes of his alien costume. Brock is, of course, a complete madman here and in his early appearances; slighted by Spider-Man’s involvement, he blames all of his failings on Spidey rather than admit to being duped by a compulsive confessor. Eddie believes that Spider-Man is an evil and malevolent individual and that it is his sacred duty to put an end to his (Spidey’s) menace; his obsessive mania is so complete that he kills an innocent police officer and then justifies it as being necessary to his “righteous revenge”. He openly admits to being disgusted by innocent death but is all-too-happy to torment Mary Jane, stalk Peter, and attack Spider-Man with a maniacal glee.
Despite all their power, Venom are defeated quite easily through Spidey’s guile and cunning.
If there’s a downside to the story, it’s simply that Venom is defeated rather anti-climatically; the Sonic Blaster proves effective but Peter is too concerned with Brock’s well-being to press his advantage and, unable to match Venom’s brute strength (which is on par with Spidey’s and further augmented thanks to Brock’s intense physical training), Spidey simply has the symbiote exhaust itself and that’s it. However, Venom’s threat wouldn’t end here by a long shot and this is a simple way to leave the door open for their subsequent, far more impressive return and defeats. Furthermore, this tactic shows how blinded by his rage and spite Venom are and how adaptable and intelligent Peter can be; he doesn’t win through sheer mindless brute strength, as Venom are attempting to do, and must instead rely on his wiles and intelligence to overcome Venom’s very real and lethal threat.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Have you read “Venom”? Did you purchase a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man’s landmark 300th issue back in the day? What did you think to Venom’s introductory story; were you a fan of the concept and character or do you feel they are a product of a darker time in comics? What did you think to Spider-Man’s black costume and the revelation that it was an alien symbiote? What is your favourite Venom story? How are you celebrating Venom’s dramatic debut today? Whatever your thoughts on Venom, do please leave a comment below.
Story Title: The Punisher Strikes Twice! Published: February 1974 Writer: Gerry Conway Artists: Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia, and Dave Hunt
The Background: By February 1974, Marvel’s iconic web-slinger had become a mainstay of the publication since his 1962 debut in Amazing Fantasy #15. Having earned his own ongoing title, The Amazing Spider-Man, the following year and already running afoul of the likes of Doctor Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, Flint Marko/The Sandman, and, of course, Norman Osborn/Green Goblin, who had recently played a pivotal role in the death of Parker’s long-term girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. It’s into this tumultuous and emotional time of Spidey’s life that Gerry Conway and Ross Andru introduced not only the Jackal, a crazed scientist whose cloning technology would later result in one of Spider-Man’s most infamous storylines, but also the Punisher. Inspired byThe Executioner (Pendleton, et al, 1969 to present), designed by Gerry Conway, and named by Marvel mastermind Stan Lee, the Punisher was a hit with readers, despite being introduced in more of an antagonistic role, and began to appear in other Marvel comics, as well as his own self-titled series in 1986, with each subsequent appearance adding more layers and motivations to his character.
The Review: The Punisher, and the Jackal, are first seen in the Jackal’s hidden laboratory where the goblin-like villain expresses great admiration for the Punisher’s ability to shoot a stone statue of Spider-Man…as though destroying a static target is any indication of the Punisher’s prowess against a moving target, especially one as acrobatic as Spider-Man. The Punisher echoes these sentiments, stating that he’ll need his “Mechanic” to look over the Jackal’s concussion rifle before he takes on the real thing. While the Jackal also describes the Punisher as “[liking] the death – the killing – the joyful revenge”, Punisher rebukes this and claims that he only kills those who deserves to die….and that Spider-Man deserves such a fate.
Spider-Man is just as angst-ridden and burdened by guilt and responsibility as ever.
Speaking of Spider-Man, we join our heroic web-head in the midst of breaking up an armed robbery; it’s pretty standard fare for Spider-Man, showcasing his impressive agility, strength, and dexterity with his web-shooters as he stops the crooks and leaves them at the mercy of New York’s finest. Still, even with the prospect of earning some coin from his action-packed photographs of the bust, Spidey is tormented not only by the fact that the entire city is convinced that he killed Norman Osborn but also by the death of his beloved Gwen Stacey and the fact that he cannot bring himself to reveal Norman’s identity as the Green Goblin out of fear of devastating Norman’s son, Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborn (oblivious that Harry is already aware of this fact).
The Punisher lands the first strike against Spider-Man!
After flirting with J. Jonah Jameson’s secretary Betty Brant, Peter tries to sell his newest pictures to Jonah and is made aware of the Punisher’s one-man war against the mob. Chomping at the bit for a piece of “the most newsworthy thing to happen to New York since Boss Tweed”, Jonah orders Peter to bring him pictures of the Punisher yesterday! Switching to Spider-Man, Peter has barely enough time to worry about how he’s going to track the Punisher down when he is immediately fired upon by the skull-garbed mercenary! Saved by his patented spider-sense, Spider-Man confronts the Punisher on a rooftop where the hitman momentarily ensnares Spidey in a titanium alloy wire, brands Spidey a murderer, and expresses his hatred of criminals no matter what form they take.
The Punisher is angered and insulted by the Jackal’s interference.
Breaking free of his bonds, Spidey begins to pummel the Punisher but is attacked from behind by the Jackal; disorientated and stunned by the Jackal’s “negatively-charged electro-prods”, Spidey tumbles from the rooftop (much to the Punisher’s dismay) but manages to save himself on instinct. After recovering and returning to the scene of the battle, Spidey discovers a clue on the Punisher’s discarded weapon but returns home, exhausted, to repair his damaged costume and catch his breath, unaware that an increasingly paranoid and disturbed Harry is eavesdropping at his door. After a brief segue to Mary-Jane Watson (who is still in her annoying, flaky “party girl” mindset at this point), the story dramatically cuts to the Punisher swatting the Jackal and berating him for interfering in his battle against Spider-Man. Punisher is angered at being roped into the Jackal’s murderous ways as Frank desires the complete destruction of crime, not the deaths of innocents.
Spider-Man subdues the Punisher and reveals the truth of the Jackal’s deception.
Later that day, Spider-Man follows through on his clue and arrives at the Punisher’s armoury on to find his “Mechanic”, Reiss, dead on the floor. The Punisher manages to get the drop on him (no spider-sense to save Spidey this time) and immediately pins the crime on Spider-Man. Refusing to believe Spider-Man’s pleas of innocence and yet unable to counteract his superhuman speed, strength, or agility, the Punisher is eventually subdued and forced to listen to reason when Spidey shows him the all-too-familiar claw marks on Reiss’ body and reveals that the Punisher’s gun was labelled up specifically to incriminate him. Realising that he has been manipulated by the Jackal, the Punisher swears revenge and heads off into the night. Spider-Man beats a hasty retreat as the police arrive and the Jackal looks on, vowing to destroy them both and ending the issue on a cliff-hanger that would later lead to Spider-Man doubting his very identity!
The Summary: “The Punisher Strikes Twice!” is a fairly run-of-the-mill Spider-Man story, indicative of the story style of Marvel Comics back in the day; there’s a lot of extraneous dialogue, text boxes, and thought balloons that constantly keep the reader up to date with where we are and what characters (specifically Spider-Man) are thinking and feeling. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but it hasn’t aged well for me and I often find it a bit of a chore to read through some of the older Marvel stories because of their tendency to favour stilted writing, exposition-heavy dialogue, and antiquated narrative devices. Still, it’s quite a pivotal issue, introducing one of Spidey’s most nefarious foes in the Jackal and continuing his sense of guilt and dismay over the whole Gwen Stacey/Green Goblin/Harry Osborn saga. The Jackal isn’t much to shout about here in his debut, being little more than a monstrous ghoul who manipulates the Punisher into trying to kill Spider-Man presumably so that he can take over New York as the top crime boss. The issue does a decent job of establishing the Jackal as a manipulative asshole but we learn almost nothing about him beyond his desire to want Spider-Man dead; considering the Green Goblin has only just been taken off the board, it might have been a little too soon for another mysterious, imp-like puppet master enemy whose identity is a secret to crop up.
The Punisher is pretty durable and parts ways with Spidey on…partially amicable terms.
Yet, the issue is exciting and action-packed thanks not only to Marvel’s distinct, eye-catching colours and Spidey’s dynamic versatility when in action but also due to the inclusion of the Punisher. Introduced with a bang (despite how lame destroying a statue is…), the Punisher wastes no time trying to kill Spider-Man, believing him to be a murderer and little more than a masked criminal thanks, no doubt, the Jonah’s numerous news stories in the Daily Bugle and the city’s belief that he killed Norman (and, as I recall, Gwen and George Stacey as well). We don’t learn much about the Punisher in his debut appearance but we learn enough; he’s decked out in his iconic skull costume (which makes an immediate impression) and his aggressive, focused mindset separates him from the usual hired guns seen in Marvel Comics at the time (who were generally little more than just generic thugs with guns). As the issue progresses, we learn that the Punisher has a strict moral code (he is angered when the Jackal’s interference nearly causes Spider-Man’s death in a dishonourable way), an intense hatred of crime and criminals, and that he was a Marine for three years. The Punisher is also quite a sturdy and formidable opponent; not only is he a crack shot and loaded with little gadgets and tools to help give him the edge in battle but he’s also fast and strong enough to get the drop on Spider-Man, take blows from Spidey, and to cause the web-head pain when he lands a good, solid kick.
It’s a fairly standard Spider-Man story elevated by the debut of the Punisher.
In the end, he remains tight-lipped about his past and his exact motivations but is satisfied enough that Spidey isn’t the true enemy and returns to his endless war on crime maybe not on “friendly” terms with the web-head but certainly on far more amicable terms than they began at the issue’s start. Overall, it’s a pretty decent story; it’s standard sixties/seventies Spider-Man fare, with all the angst and action you can expect from this era of Marvel and Spider-Man, with the added bonus of a mysterious, intriguing new anti-hero at a time when violent anti-heroes weren’t as played out as they would come in later years. Thanks to Spidey’s endless internal monologue, it’s easy to pick up the issue and get right into the story and catch up with where the characters are and the art is both simple and yet beautifully detailed at the same time. Obviously, this was just the tip of the iceberg for the Punisher but Marvel certainly had a way with introducing dynamic, complex new characters as antagonists and then fleshing them out later on and I’d say they did just as good a job with the Punisher in his debut as they did with other characters who got a full-blown origin story in their first appearance.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Did you read “The Punisher Strikes Twice!” when it was first published? What did you think of the Punisher’s dramatic debut? What do you think of the Punisher as a character and which storyline of his do you think is the best, or the worst? How are you celebrating the Punisher’s debut this year? Whatever you think about the Punisher, drop a comment below.
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