The Doomsday Weapon has been revealed, and the entire world is at the brink of destruction? Can the Amazing Arachnid hope to change the fate of the nation?
Credits
Written By: John Semper
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
THE PLOT: Red Skull reveals that his son Reinhold was the intended Doomsday Weapon all along, giving him supernatural electric powers and donning him the moniker “Electro”. Reinhold proceeds to turn on his father and utterly decimates everyone with his powers, to the point where even S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed. In the battle, Mary Jane is electrocuted.
LONG STORY SHORT: Spider-Man and Captain America figure out how to stop Electro, and Cap and Red Skull go back into the time loop. Spider-Man goads Electro into disrupting the time loop as well, causing him to vanish. The remaining American Warriors are once again vaunted as heroes, and Peter returns to Mary Jane promising to never give up being Spider-Man.
MY THOUGHTS: Right at the start, this is a hard nut to crack conceptually because the entire crux of this massive five part epic rests at the feet of the idea that not only is Electro the Red Skull’s son in this show, but he’s the most powerful villain Spidey’s gone up against since Dormmamu.
So how exactly does that work?
The technology and science used to power the Six American Warriors was based off of bits and pieces from Project: REBIRTH which gave us Captain America. The reason given why the Six’s powers kept fading was because the process was incomplete and unstable. By that logic, one was ascertain that science had no yet caught up with the formula that gave Steve Rogers his powers. So how exactly could the German scientists have done this little hush-hush venture, kept it THIS secret for over 50 years, and have it completely work once the science has been applied?
It’s not exactly a plot hole, but I have a big problem grasping this conceit. For all intents and purposes, the German scientists were able to create a God with their technology. After the scientists were assumed to be dead, S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded the American Six and went about their business, with any knowledge about Project: REBIRTH being attributed to John Hardesky’s memory. Why didn’t anyone else try to pick up on this? Study at the least, replicate it at the most. We see Electro’s power in full force throughout this entire episode, pretty much taking out the Kingpin for the remainder of the series and even destroying the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. The latter is no small feat, but the fact that all of this was a result of planning to give to one person…I really have trouble accepting. I know it’s a flip on the Captain America origin, and Nazis in fiction always seem to want to do this, but…it’s weird to me.
For the episode itself, it was about as good as it could have been given the situation the Electro reveal was. A lot of this was fighting, but there were some nice character bits interspersed as well. One thing at the beginning that I mentioned earlier, Kingpin is electrocuted and sent to the hospital in an ambulance. Is there anything prevent him from being arrested, or at least questioned as to what he was doing at the battle? Then again, the Insidious Six disband again and aren’t seen by anyone once the authorities arrive. I suppose Fisk never really does get arrested or charged in his criminal affairs, which is kind of interesting. At the same time, he was very loose with maintaining his secret identity in this arc, so several people should report him.
Something that I had a big, BIG problem with (and I’m sure you will too) in the last episode was Spider-Man saying he’d take the heroes from the Golden Age over the modern day heroes any day of the week. Umm…what? The guy who’s life was saved by the likes of the X-Men, Blade, Doctor Strange, and ESPECIALLY Daredevil has the gump to say that out loud? COME ON PETER! Matt Murdock and Daredevil saved your hide from being in prison! Daredevil saved you from asphyxiating in Richard Fisk’s closet! Mary Jane is alive(-ish) because of these so-called modern day heroes. Get your priorities straight man.
Not only that, but in this episode Cap looks around town, New York specifically, and says “It looks like this world is in serious need of heroes!” or something to that galling effect. I can tell that Semper had a blast writing these guys, but this was just obnoxious. Why take the time to slander characters you used in your own show in the past if you’re laying on thick a subtext that they aren’t as good as heroes used to be? I know they want to big up the old guard, but don’t do it at the expense of the new guard. The worst way to compliment someone or something is by insulting someone/thing else. That’s just petty, and I got rather tired of it in these last 2 episodes.
For the positives, I thought Semper really captured the essence of all the players in the arena. While that may sound like hollow praise, everyone was played to their strengths, including Mary Jane. She may have relegated to “damsel-in-distress” mode, but only technically. It did show a maturity of the character that she ran to help out her husband when he was battling for his life. It’s something that was brought up in “The Lizard King”, and it serves as a nice theme of the episode. It’s all about the price of heroics and how it can never be simple, but one must never give up when it gets tough. Cap’s speech to Spider-Man perfectly encapsulated that and it was very well told in an episode where a dude in a starfish cowl wrecks the planet DBZ-style.
Another part of the show I liked was that it was very much like “Day of the Chameleon” where you had Spider-Man and the Chameleon battling with S.H.I.E.L.D. caught in the middle. I kind of marked out when the Helicarrier showed up in plain sight to stop Electro, and it was slightly reminiscent to the coming of the New Gods in Superman: the animated series which was airing around that time. Electro taking S.H.I.E.L.D. down however brought back my troubles with him being this insanely powerful. For those who have not listened to the Amazing Spider-Man Classics Podcast, in episode (I believe) 9 we discuss Electro’s abilites and how weird it is that he got his abilites by basically getting electrocuted. That alone has always been odd for me personally, but I attach myself to that sort of design for his powers. Seeing him take out S.H.I.E.L.D. was almost too much for me, though it was a cool scene. It just reiterated the question of why nobody knew about this type of crazy power.
The absolute WORST thing about this whole episode was the fact that two key scenes were shown completely in reversed order. The scene where Cap and Spidey reach the Skull’s hideout and are ambushed by the Skull and Chameleon is shown AFTER we see a scene of the two crippled on the floor in a random room with Skull and Chameleon standing triumphantly over them. It’s as bad as the show ever gets in animation, and severely hurts whatever pristine sense of dignity the arc had at that point. Having not really been familiar with this arc as I have the other episodes, I did hear about this going in and thought that an entire act was shown out of order. But although it’s not as bad as that, it’s still pretty stinking awful.
Overall, this episode was serviceable as a finale, though I wish it were a bit more epic. For the arc itself, it was definitely comparable to the better sprawling aspects of seasons 2, 3 and 4. The writing was grander, and you saw underlying themes that carried from episode to episode. It felt big, and it was big. Some nuance was definitely lost once the American Six came into action, but the inclusion of Silver Sable, the Wildpack and the Insidious Six made it seem important. It also went back to Spider-Man at the end. People had complaints about him jobbing earlier in the arc, but he manages to save the world on his own at the end of part five. That’s pretty hefty stuff.
I must say however, that I cannot WAIT for the next two episodes. Oh yes…you know which ones I’m referring to.
3/5 “MARY JAAANE!!!”s
Best Quote Contender-
Spider-Man: “No! Cap don’t do it! I can’t defeat Electro without you!”
Captain America: “You can do it Spider-Man! You’re a hero! First! Last! Always! Fight on Spider-Man! Fight On!”
All images taken from marvel.toonzone.net and drg4.wariocompany.com respectively.
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@#15: Here you go…
Unable to change the ending to the series finale link:
http://drg4.wariocompany.com/eSp65.html
Link to mention of the Rose:
http://drg4.wariocompany.com/eSp52.html
Trivia about Secret Wars (just added in as a fun bonus):
http://drg4.wariocompany.com/eSp61.html
Model sheet for Betty Brant:
http://drg4.wariocompany.com/supbettybrant.html
The other info, unfortunately, can’t be linked because the site I read it from no longer exists. I found mentions of it on an old translated interview from some website (wish I could remember the name of it), but it closed a few years back. I hope that helped, though.
This was still enjoyable, with all the flaws mentioned. The one I really have a problem with is why the Red Skull didn’t turn himself into Electro if he wanted all the power, and Kingpin trying to bear hug a man with electric powers wasn’t a very smart thing to do, although I loved his reaction to Electro : “You mean to tell me, the dooomsday weapon is another neanderthal in a costume?” Also, the whole episode seems rushed to me. I remember I used to love this finale to the Forgotten Warriors Arc when I was a kid. I still like it but now I see it could’ve been better.
Ah, talk about the 6th season the show never had. A shame TAS and Spec Spidey had to end with us hoping for more, although the big story was wrapped up nicely in the final episode of TAS.
@14: I know that but my point was that the show wasn’t ended “before it’s time” because it got more than some cartoons could only hope for and it finished off its big story that it was building since season 3. Sempar even admited in interviews that he didn’t know, with saving all of reality, meeting his creator, and admitting that he actually likes his life with all the ups and downs it has, what could possibly top that for Spidey in his stories. So I take the series ending where it did as a “high note” where if it had continued it would’ve turned into a Jump the Shark moment.
Also I’ve read the “Carnage as Jack the Ripper” plot they were planning but I’ve never heard of all the other stuff you mentioned after that. Can you link me to the source of where you got that info?
@#13 – Actually, according to John Semper, the crew thought that show was supposed to be renewed for another season or two, despite the initial 65-episode order. That’s why they left the show open-ended in the series finale. But the head of the Fox Kids network, Margaret Loesch (I hope I spelled her name right), hated Avi Arad and wanted to put him out of business. Once the show had made all 65 episodes, she closed down the Marvel Films Animation studio that produced the series to make sure no more new episodes could be made and Semper and Co. were unable to change the ending so that Spider-Man would’ve found the real Mary Jane in time. It also didn’t help that Avi Arad and John Semper did not get along, which is probably why we’ve never heard “Spider-Man” and “John Semper” together in the same sentence since the Fox Kids series ended. Plans for a sixth season reportedly included Spider-Man and Madame Web travelling through different dimensions until they find the real Mary Jane in Colonial England and Carnage is impersonating Jack the Ripper in that time period (Um… what?), Ned Leeds was to be framed by Richard Fisk (who was to return and become the Rose) for some reason, the Sandman was to make his debut, Betty Brant was supposed to debut, the Max Dillon Electro was rumored to be introduced, and the Beetle would have made an appearance. I assume that Marvel could then use the Hulk on the show then, since his UPN animated series was cancelled. Alas, the sixth season never happened and instead we got “Spider-Man Unlimited”, which had nowhere near the staying power or fanbase that “Spider-Man: T.A.S.” had. A shame, really.
@ 11: I’d say 65 episodes is not “before its time” for any show. It was time enough to finish off the Madam Web story arc that had been building for seasons. Landon, imo, wouldn’t have gotten any closure anyway based on how little they did with his character they probably weren’t thinking of him as anything more than “Kingpin’s new right hand in SCIENCE!”
As for Kingpin’s place after this episode: it wouldn’t surprise me if they had things with the Kingpin put back to status quo if they had gotten another season. It didn’t seem like they were thinking about the incriminating nature of his activities in these episodes so they probably weren’t going to use it as part of his downfall (if were ever going to do a story like that).
#10 Well spotted there. I just thought of something else: when the SHIELD Helicarrier goes down, we see all the personnel parachuting to safety, but what about all the prisoners, including Felicia Hardy’s father, John Hardesky? Are we meant to assume they were just left to die when the Helicarrier crashed into the river and exploded? Damn, the more you look at this episode, the more plot holes and logic failures you find. There are so many damn holes, in fact, that I’m starting to wonder if the Spot has returned from the vortex.
I think you guys forget that the plug was pulled from this show before its time. Of course there is no closure for anything.
Here are some other flaws that were overlooked:
1.) Never mind the fact that the five elderly members of the Six American Warriors took down the Doomsday Robots from Red Skull’s complex. Did you guys notice that in the middle of the fight, when S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up and Fury orders Electro to surrender, everyone stops and looks at S.H.I.E.L.D. during the fight. Even the robots! Why would ROBOTS stop during a fight with the super heroes? They shouldn’t have been distracted. They should’ve kept fighting while the American Six were too stupid to pay attention and were looking skyward at the helicarrier. Don’t believe me? See for yourself here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfEKsVwG0Yc&feature=related
At 1:56, the robots are just staring, standing around and doing nothing. Pretty much like the Insidious Six in this episode, unfortunately. 🙁
2.) Captain America says that the Red Skull would never allow anyone to become more powerful than he was. Uh… So why did the Skull turn his own son into Electro rather than let him become more powerful? Yeah, he built the vortex as a way to threaten Electro if he got out of hand, but even so, why not have the Skull let his son take over as the Red Skull like he was and have the original Skull become Electro? Plus, he seemed pretty confident he’d be fine, saying to Electro that “the risk was quite minimal”. You want something done right, Skull, do it yourself! I am still trying to figure out why Red Skull didn’t hop into his own creation. Oh, wait, yes, I do. He’s a smart man. He knew he could’ve died, so he let HIS OWN SON get inside to become Electro, the ultimate weapon, instead. Yeah, why would he turn on you for that, Skull?
3.) So the only way to keep Electro in line is with the vortex? The one you can easily destroy the controls to and unplug, like Spidey does when Electro’s caught in the vortex’s beams? What if the complex was destroyed after they all got out rathen than at the episode’s end? You’d have no way of “controlling” or “threatening” Electro then, would you, Skull? Moron.
LOL Landon IMO was an effing tool. David Warner’s voice was wasted on him, though he did help to make the character entertaining. It still puzzles me tha Kingpin even hired him after Smythe left in the first place since Fisk found out that Landon had lied to him. I think if he were to give Landon any substantial power, it would be the kind where essentially it would amount to nothing and Landon would either be under the illusion that he’s in power or that it would be straight up payback for jerking around in the Mutant Agenda/Revenge.
@ #7. Ooops, sorry dude, typo. Hey, here’s a thought: say Kingpin achieved world domination. Who would he choose as his Chief Minister for SCIENCE!: Doc Ock or Landon? The thought of Landon in that position is actually quite chilling if you think about it. As you’ve pointed out before, there wasn’t really any mention after his first appearance in “The Mutant Agenda/Mutants’ Revenge” that Landon is/was a vindictive, genocidal bigot where mutants are concerned. If put in that position, do you think he’d persuade Fisk to give him the freedom to go back to his original goals? Or would Kingpin prefer not to let that happen as long as he felt mutants could be used/controlled to suit him, ie super-troops like he originally wanted Landon to develop for him. It’s worth mentioning that after “Six Forgotten Warriors , Part 4” we never see Landon again, and so we never get any real closure for him, unfortunately, which is too bad, but the possibilities are still quite interesting to speculate about…
Haha, I appreciate your sentiment. And I understand your gripes.
1) I understasnd the jobbing Kingpin went in the episode, but as awesome as he was, I didn’t miss him for the rest of the season. I would chalk that up to overexposure but personally I wasn’t bothered. I explained in an earlier review about how I felt his world domination plans made sense for the character (as opposed to immortality) but it’s just a difference of opinion.
2)Mary Jane already showed she had balls back in “Hydro Man”, and in “The Lizard King” but I felt her actions here, dumb as they were demonstrated her character’s maturity latent in her personality. Perhaps I should have phrased it better, but it made me like her more.
3) Yeah…I agree that sucked. Not disagreeing there.
The only thing I have to correct you on is my name. It’s Donovan. 😉
I must say with all due respect that I feel you’re being rather generous with your rating, Dominic. I feel the need to point out some flaws in this episode that neither you or Stuart have pointed out.
1. The Kingpin’s exit. He witnesses a being of obviously vast superhuman power (and the name “ELECTRO!” should indicate what his powerset is) who tossed Spider-Man, Silver Sable, and Captain America across a room with the merest of gestures. Like a dumbass, he tries to take said being down… by bearhugging him, and to no-one’s surprise but his own, he gets electrocuted. The last we see of him is his stepping into an ambulance with an aside from Spidey about how they’ll take him somewhere to recuperate, and that’s it.
I’m sorry? THAT’S IT?! One of my favourite parts of the show is how the Kingpin has been built up as Spidey’s main nemesis through the past four seasons, a constant looming presence in the life of Peter Parker, the nemesis whom Spidey didn’t even know existed until he royally screwed with Peter Parker’s life by framing him for treason, revealing himself in the process, turning their conflict into a real grudge match, and this – THIS – is his send-off?! Yes I know we have a Kingpin appearance in the two-part series finale later, but that’s not “our” Kingpin, at the risk of spoiling for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. It’s a serious anti-climax. Not only that, but the idea that Fisk would try his hand at world domination is simply ludicrous. Yes, he’s obsessed with power and control, and as we’ve seen throughout past episodes, this is ultimately why his wife has left him, and his son ended up rotting in prison. After those events it’s easy to see him throwing himself more and more into his “business”, as it’s all he has left. But ultimately I see Fisk as being more rational and down-to-earth. He’s power-hungry to the point of obsession, yes, but not to the point of wanting to rule the world. And also, as you’ve pointed out, he’s been remarkably careless with his identity this arc; last episode he briefly held Robbie hostage without even attempting to conceal himself, and he personally accompanied the Six to the Doomsday complex. Just how the hell is he going to explain to the authorities what he, a prominent and well-known figure in New York City, was doing at the site of what was obviously both a previously well-hidden Doomsday base, and a major superhuman mass brawl? Especially when you have multiple witnesses including Keene Marlowe, who of course is a highly-placed and legendary SHIELD/US govt agent? Best hope your high-priced legal team can talk you out of this one, Kingy. Ugh. Just ugh.
2. Again, respectfully, how do you figure that Mary Jane show “maturity of character”? Yes, it is only naturally right that she fears for her husband whilst he’s fighting for his life and the fate of the world on live TV. But she goes and does the most downright stupid thing you could imagine; she runs right into the middle of a massive battle between multiple superhumans, the dominator of which is a high-octane electricity-wielder, distracting not just her husband, but all the other heroes (none of whom know who she is, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t need some civilian running right into the middle of a battle for the fate of the world), and then like Kingpin before her, she gets electrocuted. Wow. Didn’t see that coming. And then as she’s loaded into the ambulance, Spidey makes me slam my head against my desk by whining about how it’s his fault. Jesus, man, not everything revolves around you. And I should point out that the whole series, fond of it as I am, is rife with characters just failing logic epically.
3. The augmentation Kragoff goes through to become Electro? That can’t have taken more than a minute. How do you explain WWII-era SCIENCE! being so advanced as to turn a normal human into a massively-powerful superbeing so fast? Just how?
This arc started off so promising, but it just degenerated into an utter mess. As I’ve said, I felt your rating was overly-generous. I give it – 5 out of 5. I couldn’t rate it any lower if Howard Mackie had written it.
I think the difference between this and Spec is that here Electro’s character has been fundamentally changed so much that it’s essentially it’s an entirely new character. Him not being Max Dillon is not the problem but him being Red Skull’s son and a Nazi super weapon does change the character too much that all there is left is the costume and electric powers (although very different electric powers).
Shocker in Spec is still basically Shocker but he’s now Montana, Montana is basically the same he just puts on a costume in order to put him on an even footing with Spider-Man. They’re still identifiable as the characters even if they’ve been merged into one, whereas Electro in the 90s show wasn’t Electro from the comics at all.
@#3 – Yeah, I did find the Montana as Shocker aspect stupid. It also led to that weird upgraded version of the Enforcers with Ox and Fancy Dan as Ricochet. Ugh. But having Montana as Shocker and the reveal of Uncle Ben’s killer were the only flaws I found with “The Spectacular Spider-Man”. God, I miss that show. 🙁
Besides, I have a soft spot for Electro. Yeah, he has a yellow electrified starfish for a mask, but he’s always been one of my favorite Spidey villains. Sure, they didn’t do a whole lot of him as Max Dillon on “Spectacular”, but they did a good job with him on all previous Spider-Man cartoons he was on. Seeing him as Kragov, the Red Skull’s son, was just… eh, there are no words to describe how stupid that is.
I don’t get why people bank so much importance on whether Electro is Max Dillon or not. He is not that interesting a character. Did people also find Montana as Shocker in SpecSpidey to be stupid?
Also, I think a recent Web of Spider-man issue had Magneto approach Electro. He said that getting electrocuted didn’t give him his powers but unlocked his mutant abilities.
^^^ 0_0
German Electro is a no no IMO.
I applaud you for giving this, and the previous 4 episodes, any grade higher than a 0. The “Six Forgotten Warriors” are some of my top worst episodes this show ever did, and the next two I consider to be THE worst, so good luck reviewing that. Here are my top 5 reasons that this episode is the worst of all the “SFW” episodes:
5.) Whatever happened to giving the proof to clear your parents’ name, Pete? The last they’re mentioned is by Landon when he finds out about the Doomsday complex! Spidey never gets physical proof and we never get a newspaper headline or something saying “Parkers Names Cleared!” I much prefer the comic book version of Peter Parker’s parents from the “Amazing” annual.
4.) S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed. Nice in theory, but that was one of the cooler places on this show and having them try to destroy Electro with energy beams was just sad. Because…
3.) Electro is too powerful. As you mentioned, Electro is mad into a god, which is as weird as saying he’s the Russian chief of police who’s actually the German-born son of Red Skull. Also, NOBODY THINKS TO USE WATER TO STOP ELECTRO! It’s been done before. A lot of times. Water and electricity don’t mix. Just get a fire hose and spray him to weaken him, Spidey! When Black Marvel or whoever asked, “What could be more powerful than Electro, THE ultimate WEAPON?”, I cringed. More on Electro in a minute.
2.) The Insidious Six did absolutely nada. What was the point of having them back? Shocker spoke only in one part of these episodes, Vulture cuts Spidey’s web mid-swing every other time, Doc Ock is just one of Kingpin’s many colorful costumed henchman instead of the Six’s rightful founder/leader and credible threat, the Scorpion pops up AGAIN and gets on your nerves, etc. All they did was get beaten up by senior citizen super heroes whose powers give out every other minute and get captured too easily, like Spidey, by Kragov. Ugh! Next time, have the Six unite just to destroy Spidey, NOT to steal six statue keys.
1.) Electro’s defeat. I’m quoting this from my Villains section bio on Electro from my Fox Spidey Fan Site (found here http://foxspideyfansite.yolasite.com/villains.php):
“If you saw the Best and Worst section of this web site, you’ll know that I really, REALLY hated this incarnation of Electro. Gone is American lineman Max Dillon, who turns to a life of crime after being struck by lightning while working on a power line. Here, we get made-for-TV character Rheinholt Kragov, the son of the original Red Skull. And believe me, it’s just plain weird to say that Electro is the son of the Red Skull on this show, especially since Kragov isn’t an interesting character or credible threat before he gains his powers. Also, with no disrespect to voice actor Phil Proctor, but the voice of Kragov/Electro was just lousy, with a cringe-worthy accent and annoying villainous laugh. Sure, when he became Electro, Kragov managed to toss the American AND Insidious Six team members around in an electric tornado, electrocuted the Kingpin bad enough to send him into an ambulance to get medical attention, and destroyed the S.H.I.E.L.D. base as mentioned. But so what? Not only do we get a lone appearance by Electro on this show, it’s not even Max Dillon! It’s a made for TV character. Sure, Jim Cameron’s planned “Spider-Man” film kept the Sandman and Electro from appearing on the show until the movie went into limbo, but why have him be the Red Skull’s son? Also, I hated that S.H.I.E.L.D. was destroyed. It was one of the cooler locations on “Spider-Man”. And no offense, but the Kragov Electro is not only an egomaniac, he’s also just plain dumb. Here’s my proof: He is TRICKED into defeat by Spider-Man when he destroys the vortex’s controls and then he’s trapped in the vortex forever? And he destroys the controls simply because he wanted to prove to Spider-Man that he was more powerful than the vortex? WHAT?!? I waited four parts of a mediocre storyline to see Electro vanish in the very episode he made his debut in? Anyone with the god-like electrical powers that Electro possessed wouldn’t bother destroying a control panel of the vortex just to prove a point when he was just about to have TOTAL CONTROL OVER THE ENTIRE WORLD TURNED OVER TO HIM!!! You’ve GOT to be kidding me! Also, not once does anyone ever think of using water as a means to slow down or defeat Electro. It worked in the comic books. A lot. So why didn’t anyone think to break out a fire hose to spray Electro, or get Electro alone and set off some sprinklers to get him with? The Kragov Electro is easily the worst original character that this TV series had introduced, and personally, I’ll remain forever disappointed that we didn’t get the REAL Electro on this show.”
Well, that’s my two cents on this episode. I think I’ll do full reviews of all 65 Spidey episodes myself one time, but it’ll take time to do. Again, nice review, and job well done, Donovan. Have a great day, everybody. 😀