Marvel's Spider Man Can't Stand Out
Marvel's Spider Man Can't Stand Out
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00:00 a Spider-Man cartoon ever because it's so hard to distinguish which one you're talking
00:04 about without just putting the year on it.
00:05 It's a show with no intro.
00:07 It's a show where the Green Goblin looks like this.
00:10 It's a show that's so unbothered by any sense of continuity that it simultaneously
00:14 exists in the same universe as the rest of these Marvel shows and Ultimate Spider-Man.
00:18 Somehow.
00:19 We'll get into that, it's weird.
00:21 And it's a show that is pretty universally hated by people on the internet for merely
00:25 existing.
00:26 I've been pretty neutral about it over the years because I simply hadn't watched more
00:29 than one episode of it.
00:31 I saw it, was unimpressed, and then didn't check back on it for like six years.
00:35 But since I've reviewed every other Spidey cartoon, I feel obligated to finally talk about
00:39 it because I hate to leave the job 90% finished and then quit.
00:43 So these are my thoughts as someone who didn't watch this show as it was coming out, but
00:47 found it years after it was already finished and over with.
00:50 Did it deserve the hate?
00:51 Is it really that bad?
00:53 Stick around and find out!
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02:36 After Ultimate Spider-Man broke 100 episodes and started to slow down because of waning
02:40 interest and possibly a DUI from the lead actor, Disney quickly shoved this show into
02:45 production to air within a year of Ultimate's cancellation.
02:48 At first, the marketing material and concept art made it really seem like this would be
02:52 a cool new look for Spidey.
02:54 It had that MCU influence, which was understandable with Homecoming releasing that same year,
02:59 but it also had such vibrant colors and such a cool look.
03:03 Then the show came out and looked nothing like that.
03:06 Instead of using the Ultimate comics as inspiration for some of its character designs and stories,
03:10 this series looked to the recent at-the-time mainline comics to include new additions to
03:15 Spidey lore like Max Modell, a school that was based on Horizon Labs, an arc based on
03:20 Spider-Island and Superior Spider-Man, and the addition of Miles Morales to give him
03:25 an amazing friend, rather than a team of mean-spirited assholes that he liked for no reason.
03:31 It didn't quite have the same limitations as Ultimate did with what it could and couldn't
03:35 do.
03:36 We were finally allowed to have more classic Spidey stuff too, like a proper black suit
03:40 Spider-Man to Eddie Brock Venom pipeline, or a tech-based Green Goblin.
03:45 But the execution of all of these things was lacking and left fans old and young pretty
03:49 cold on this show.
03:50 It made it to more episodes than spectacular, but it still didn't have the staying power
03:54 that Ultimate did.
03:56 Now everyone dunks on this show as the black sheep of Spidey cartoons, considering it's
04:00 the weakest in a pretty strong lineage dating back to the 1960s.
04:04 Firstly, now that it's over, the sense of hatred is harder to obtain because it's come
04:08 and gone.
04:09 I wasn't actively following it and being perplexed by its weirder choices like I was
04:13 with Ultimate Spider-Man.
04:14 I just heard bits and pieces or saw my friends posting clips to laugh at on Twitter early
04:19 on.
04:20 I must admit, the first 10 episodes are the worst slog, but once you get through that
04:25 it becomes a lot more watchable.
04:27 I can't tell if the show started to find its footing once Miles joined up or if I just
04:31 became desensitized to its weirdness, but it stopped being painful to watch.
04:36 At the very least his shoulders haven't been tampered with.
04:39 Take points off for that belt though-
04:40 AWW the season 3 costume, never mind.
04:43 Eugh, and those gloves.
04:45 Yeah, its animation is obviously extremely low budget for a show like this.
04:49 Everyone likes to talk about the lack of shading, the basic and undetailed backgrounds, but
04:54 for me the biggest offender on the visual front is the color palette.
04:58 I've never seen a show this aggressively dull looking except for the Guardians of the
05:03 Galaxy cartoon that this crossed over with.
05:06 Look at this scene during the daytime.
05:08 Why?
05:10 But that had more detailed backgrounds.
05:13 Spectacular Spider-Man's colors tended to get very muddy and brown, but this is a whole
05:17 new level.
05:18 It's so grey and unexciting to look at.
05:22 At least Ultimate Spider-Man for all its faults in writing had strong animation and pretty
05:26 decent fight scenes.
05:28 It had great character designs and a clear art direction that didn't feel limited by
05:32 money.
05:33 It had the sauce visually.
05:35 These character designs are so blocky and low effort.
05:38 It's trying to use the MCU aesthetic of panel lines and layers of fabric, but with no shading
05:43 or variation in colors, it's just random lines on a completely flat looking costume.
05:49 Captain America looks so naked without the letter that stands for France.
05:53 Let's play Greg Land's least favorite game.
05:57 Name that face!
05:59 Without hearing their voice or seeing their outfit, you need to be able to identify these
06:02 characters by name in under 10 seconds.
06:12 And one for the ladies!
06:13 You can play this game with spectacular Spider-Man, that's for sure.
06:25 On the exceedingly rare occasion that the backgrounds have some texture and the characters
06:29 have some lighting applied to them, it doesn't look too bad.
06:33 Kinda reminds me of the new Superman show.
06:35 But those situations don't happen nearly often enough to break up the monotony.
06:39 I'll give it credit for some occasionally decent animation on the fight choreography,
06:44 but the biggest hurdle of getting into this series above all others was the visuals being
06:48 so plain and bland.
06:50 The second biggest hurdle is the dialogue.
06:54 So that just happened.
06:55 I think the overall plots are actually fine.
06:59 Sometimes even outright good.
07:01 But these are conveyed with really shoddy scripts.
07:04 This is a Spider-Man that says "according to my calculations" and "carry the one"
07:09 out loud in conversations to sound more smart.
07:12 Okay, I understand the scientist aspect of Spider-Man can get underutilized by certain
07:26 adaptations but this is the clumsiest and most blunt way to handle it.
07:31 He has to remind you with the most awkward technobabble every chance that he can get
07:35 to the point he sounds like a bad fanfiction version of Donatello from Ninja Turtles instead
07:40 of Spider-Man.
07:41 Even the great power great responsibility dialogue is presented like a chemistry formula
07:47 and it just feels a bit forced.
07:50 But I also kind of appreciate the sincerity they come at it with.
07:54 The science jargon slows down around season 2 but never quite goes away.
07:58 Both Marvel's and Ultimate Spider-Man break my cardinal rule of writing Spider-Man quip
08:03 dialogue.
08:04 Spider-Man should be annoying and unfunny to the bad guys, not the audience.
08:09 I've noticed a lot of writers fail at writing these quips by resorting to Spidey rambling
08:14 a sort of meta self-examination of the quips and saying shit like "wow I just said a
08:19 cat pun and you're a cat" or "that joke sounded better in my head lmao"
08:25 That's impossible.
08:27 It's not impossible, it's cat...
08:29 Uh, cat...
08:30 I can't think of a good cat pun right now.
08:34 I was positive I'd run into you someday.
08:37 I just made that one up.
08:39 Science jokes are hilarious, don't you think?
08:42 I can't think of anything quippy!
08:49 Oh I thought of a quip- aww too late.
08:52 Now why would you want this Mr. Purrsnatcher?
08:55 It seriously doesn't match your look.
08:57 Banter!
08:58 That's something Spider-Man taught me.
09:00 And once he starts referencing the fact that he's making jokes, they stop being jokes
09:06 and are just discussions about jokes.
09:09 Since Spider-Man has verbally said "heh, get it?"
09:13 You have failed to write his quips and need to start over completely.
09:16 Looks like I have to clip your wings!
09:21 Get it?
09:22 It's a bird joke!
09:24 So this is your secret slide out?
09:27 Get it?
09:28 I can come up with names like that all day.
09:30 This place is a hive of criminal science.
09:33 Get it?
09:34 Hive?
09:35 Oh no one's ever around for the good ones.
09:37 They gotta stop asking people if they get things.
09:39 But then how do I know if they got it?
09:41 They'll laugh.
09:43 If you explain something humorous, it's not humorous.
09:46 But Xavier, these shows are for children and it could probably make an 8 year old laugh.
09:50 Yeah, it'd make an 8 year old laugh if I shoved your head into an elephant's ass and duct taped
09:54 around your neck and made it vacuum sealed.
09:56 Shut the hell up symmetrical double trunk human centiphant.
10:00 Is this bit too juvenile and unfunny for you?
10:02 Well the target audience for that joke is the 8-12 demographic and I wrote it to sell
10:06 toys so it's above all criticism.
10:08 Do you hear how you sound?
10:10 Being for kids is not an excuse for things to be lazy.
10:15 Let's address this since it was the most common response when I was talking about Ultimate
10:19 Spider-Man and it applies here too.
10:21 It would move me to tears if I still had tears to shed.
10:27 Just because it's aimed at kids doesn't mean it needs to be mindless, unfunny noise that
10:31 treats the audience like they're stupid.
10:34 The best media for kids is the stuff that treats them with dignity and respects them
10:37 enough to know that they can handle more mature themes if it's presented in the right way
10:41 and tries to open their minds to the worlds around them.
10:44 You can have children's media with deep, likable characters, character arcs with growth
10:49 and development, well-written comedy, mature concepts, unique art design, complex stories,
11:03 moral dilemmas, important life lessons, and real-world issues that are happening right
11:20 outside your window.
11:33 Or at the very least, interesting and well-thought-out worldbuilding in creative settings.
11:38 It's the best feeling when you can return to that same media as an adult and still find
11:42 it enjoyable or even appreciate it from a totally new perspective now that you're
11:46 older and viewing it from a different lens than you did as a child.
11:58 You're re-experiencing it as a whole new person now, so it's like learning to love
12:02 it all over again for the qualities it had that made it timeless.
12:28 Not every show needs to be like that, bro.
12:30 What, you mean good?
12:31 Well, no, but I expect them to at least try.
12:35 And you know, the MCU and Star Wars are meant for children, but we talk about those with
12:38 deadly levels of importance because they're live-action instead of animated.
12:43 Storytelling isn't given a free pass to be low-effort depending on its target audience.
12:47 I hold these more recent shows to much higher standards than the older ones because a precedent
12:52 has been set that these shows can and should be better.
12:55 If you know these series can have all these things, then why shouldn't they?
12:59 You're settling for less.
13:01 Shows aren't stupid and have no standards, they deserve good shows too.
13:05 You can't just wave off any legitimate criticism with that.
13:08 Plus, I was 13 when Ultimate Spider-Man came out.
13:11 I was in the target demographic.
13:14 It's not like I'm a 40-year-old man talking about why Blue's Clues is a poorly written
13:17 mystery plot.
13:19 That being said, this series doesn't piss me off nearly as bad.
13:22 But it also gets none of the same lame excuses and apologists as the one it replaced.
13:27 It's so hated across the board.
13:30 Probably because it's not quite old enough yet to be considered nostalgic for the people
13:33 who think every single piece of media they consumed when they were 5 years old is a masterpiece.
13:38 Once everyone who watched this show as a toddler turns like 16, we're going to see a major
13:42 switch up and a strong insistence that it was secretly underrated and the best Spidey
13:46 show of all time.
13:48 Ultimate Spider-Man feels like 104 episodes of someone smugly jingling keys in your face
13:53 expecting you to laugh and clap your hands.
13:56 Marvel's Spider-Man is at the very least trying.
14:00 It's not really succeeding, but I feel more sincerity from this show.
14:03 I don't feel like I'm being talked down to by this one.
14:08 Real talk though, Miles has all the best jokes in the show.
14:10 No one's coming after me!
14:12 New Spider-Man!
14:13 I have come for you!
14:17 Looks like that spider bite gave me great comic timing!
14:19 Oh, I can't.
14:20 I have a date later.
14:21 A date?
14:22 You?
14:23 Pfft, kidding.
14:24 I'm never doing anything.
14:30 Unlike its predecessor, this show has a great voice cast going for it.
14:33 We got the same Miles as the PS4 games, so he sounds good.
14:37 I like the tradition of having previous Spidey voice actors playing a villain in the new
14:41 show.
14:42 Oh, come on!
14:43 Nothing?
14:44 Really?
14:45 Do you know how long it took to perfect that entrance?
14:46 Showmanship's a dying art form.
14:47 And Josh Keaton's Norman Osborn works surprisingly well.
14:52 I am the general of this battalion, Otto.
14:55 Not you!
14:56 You were a mere doctor and take orders from me!
15:00 Now get my son to safety!
15:01 We also have all-time greats on the cast like Jason Spissak, Fred Tattashore, Greg Griffin,
15:06 Ben Diskin, my boy Yuri, John DiMaggio, and you know what?
15:11 You're all wrong about Robbie Damon.
15:12 I'm putting my foot down.
15:13 Robbie Damon is a great Spidey voice.
15:16 I know it seems like he's done some bad stuff, but people thought that about me too.
15:21 It's not about what other people have said about me.
15:23 It's about what I do.
15:24 All I'm saying is that I saw proof that he's not a complete bad guy.
15:28 That was enough for me.
15:30 Though my evidence for this is the Marvel anime Disc Wars and Future Avengers.
15:34 He was fantastic in both of those.
15:36 Yes, his performance isn't stellar in this show, but not many others are either.
15:42 Even though they're all great VAs.
15:44 This show just chooses the strangest takes to use.
15:47 I think it came down to messy voice direction because I know these guys are better than
15:51 this in other shows and games, but often deliver flat sounding performances in this series
15:56 in particular.
15:57 If Jim Cummings isn't blowing you away, then it has to be the direction.
16:01 Even still, this is a really strong cast for these characters, so I'd never say the voice
16:05 acting was a big drawback on this show, even if they do sound a little weird at times.
16:11 The Jackal is Professor Raymond Warren?
16:16 They changed Jackal's first name in this because this is the first thing he and Miles Morales
16:20 have been in at the same time.
16:22 Props for this being the only Spidey cartoon to use slide, that's appreciated.
16:26 Alright, I've heard it before, but it was a massive shock to just see how weird and
16:31 unsatisfying the choices for the villains were.
16:34 Yes, a considerable percentage of Spider-Man villains are mad scientists, like almost all
16:39 of them, but they're not also the same age as him.
16:44 So much of the show revolves around Horizon High and multiple other gifted science schools
16:49 that every major character is a student or teacher at one of these.
16:53 This has a really unfortunate effect of making Peter feel spectacularly unspecial in his
16:59 own show.
17:07 Every character is a wunderkind.
17:13 Every 15 year old is a scientific genius.
17:19 And not in unique ways where they all have specific fields of science they excel in.
17:31 Everyone seems exactly as smart as everyone else in any given scenario.
17:38 So Rhino, Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Y'Korra Zone are all students at Horizon
17:43 High.
17:44 The Venom symbiote is being studied for a student project at the school.
17:48 Sandman has a teenage scientist daughter that copied his powers.
18:00 Electro is a teenage scientist that built a super suit.
18:11 Hobie's teenage brother, a young scientist, built his Prowler gear.
18:15 At least we got Hobie as Prowler one last time before no adaptation ever does that again.
18:23 Maybe in Spider-Verse 3 he'll like become the new Prowler and give up on being Spider-Man
18:27 as like a wink and nod thing.
18:29 I dunno.
18:30 I don't think so.
18:31 Dr. Connors works at Horizon.
18:33 Doc Ock is a 19 year old teacher at Horizon High.
18:36 Jackal, Spencer Smythe, and Vulture are teachers at Norman Osborn's rival science school
18:42 where Harry Osborn attends after getting kicked out of Horizon.
18:45 Harry builds all of the Goblin tech himself.
18:48 Steel Spider and John Jameson are students at the Osborn Academy.
18:52 These science schools are so central in all the plots that Horizon decides to make Spider-Man
18:57 their official mascot because he's basically always on the campus stopping some run amok
19:03 experiment or another.
19:04 He's not so much New York superhero in this show as he is just Horizon High's superhero.
19:10 [clip]
19:29 And so every character in the side cast can whip up a chemical formula or a special machine
19:48 in no time at all to help Spidey beat the villains.
19:51 In fact a lot of the time they end up just doing that stuff for him while he's floundering
19:55 around helplessly and can't beat the villain on his own.
20:12 Peter is constantly being in your face about how much you love science yet is somehow the
20:16 least useful scientist in the show.
20:19 But that creates a problem where, you know, when every character has the same expertise,
20:25 the same level of intelligence, and the same career desires, a lot of them feel like pretty
20:29 much the same character.
20:31 Nothing really distinguishes Miles from Gwen or either of them from Peter or Anya.
20:36 I guess Anya is like just more angry?
20:39 And this is only worsened when all three of them get the same powers as Peter.
20:43 So Peter isn't special for being a science genius and he's definitely not special for
20:47 being a spidery superhero guy.
21:01 Stop shouting his name you dumb asshole!
21:06 Ten episodes in and Miles becomes the second Spider-Man.
21:10 This show cuts out the middle man and has Miles, Gwen, and Anya get powers likely within
21:15 a year of Peter.
21:17 So really the only thing he has over them is a few additional months of experience.
21:21 But they catch up to him so quickly that him being the first Spider-Person doesn't matter
21:25 soon enough.
21:26 They never really give Miles a superhero name either which is irritating.
21:34 It's just Spider-Man and the guy who was here too.
21:37 And that's just… that's just giving more fuel to the most annoying fucking people on
21:43 the internet.
21:44 The Disney+ subtitles call him Kid Arachnid and Spy D but neither of those are said in
21:50 the show itself.
21:51 The mentor and protege dynamic just can't work in this world so they don't even bother
21:56 with it.
21:57 We're all equals!
21:58 Except Miles and any other spider friends won't show up for multiple episodes in a
22:02 row so Peter can still have solo adventures.
22:05 Which just kind of begs the question some of the time why aren't they helping?
22:08 This show manages to also get Spider-Girl and Spider-Gwen in there by having them be
22:12 two of the millions of New Yorkers to get copies of Peter's powers in the form of
22:16 a virus during the Spider Island arc.
22:19 Gwen runs around without a mask and Spider-Gwen is just a name she gets from fans after being
22:24 seen rolling with Spidey on the news.
22:26 I'm not so sure why she became so noteworthy considering a few hours after that everyone
22:31 else got the same powers but they were trying to work in Spider-Gwen as a reasonable in-universe
22:37 name.
22:38 I feel like this character will never have the same upward momentum as Miles simply
22:41 because they can't come up with a satisfying name for her.
22:45 She's always going to be associated with a completely different character that's been
22:48 famously dead for half a century.
22:50 They still eventually steal Ghost Spider's name for her though which seems frivolous
22:54 since she was just wearing the same costume and puts on a mask now.
22:58 Like people know it's you!
23:00 You can't walk it back!
23:02 I don't know.
23:03 It just...
23:04 I don't think the writers even really thought about it or cared about it.
23:08 I really wish it could just be Peter and Miles.
23:11 Spider-Gwen as the third one at the most would be okay but four Spider-People is really pushing
23:17 it.
23:18 At the very least it's not as intrusive as the Spider-Team in Ultimate.
23:21 They don't overstay their welcome by being in every single episode.
23:25 After the initial awkward meandering of the first ten episodes the show starts to find
23:29 its groove with storylines.
23:31 It's got a bit of that traditional bad guy of the week stuff in there but it's also got
23:34 really lengthy serialized stories adapting recent comic arcs from Dan Slott's run on
23:39 the character.
23:40 The Spider-Island arc is kinda fun.
23:42 I don't know.
23:43 I liked it.
23:44 I liked seeing New Yorkers paying tribute to Spidey and helping him out.
23:46 And it was a fun excuse to get some no costume brawls for Peter since he could just pretend
23:51 to be infected like everyone else.
23:52 It was always cool seeing him in the Ultimate comics getting caught up in a fight at a time
23:56 where he couldn't put his costume on.
23:58 So you just see this tiny 15 year old using his Herculean strength to smash giant monsters
24:03 half to death and this is the only animated series to throw a bit of that in there.
24:08 At the very least this show has a marginally better Venom than the Ultimate Spider-Man
24:12 show did and does a legitimate attempt at Eddie's rivalry with Peter at the Bugle.
24:18 No Harry Venom, thank god.
24:20 Though Eddie's not a particularly fleshed out character before getting the suit.
24:24 It all happens pretty fast and much like the comics his motivation for hating Peter is
24:28 murky and works better if you just assume the symbiote is the driving force behind it.
24:33 Nobody's doing it like 90's Spider-Man!
24:36 I don't know what I'm gonna do Anna.
24:38 I had no idea it was so expensive.
24:41 The tuition bill, I knew it!
24:44 And job listings?
24:45 No Aunt May, this stops here.
24:47 I won't let you take an extra job just so that I can stay at Horizon.
24:51 This is unfortunately the worst version of this scene but it's still good that they
24:54 included it.
24:55 I like how Peter gets a job at the Bugle because he can't keep paying his tuition at Horizon.
25:00 Classes start Monday and if I can't get Spidey footage to sell to the Daily Bugle,
25:04 I can't afford tuition.
25:05 This is uncomfortable but I'm sure you know why I called you here.
25:09 I'll have my tuition money in soon, I promise.
25:11 I just need a couple more days.
25:14 Unfortunately I don't know how long I can keep your spot open here if we don't get
25:17 a payment.
25:18 It's something brought up in multiple episodes until he reluctantly settles on selling unflattering
25:23 videos of Spider-Man getting his butt handed to him so he can stay at the school.
25:27 But this arc ends when Eddie loses the suit and doesn't come back for the rest of the
25:30 show which is a giant bummer.
25:32 They dedicated so much time to Doc Ock and Harry Osborn but Eddie gets shafted so quickly
25:38 and it just feels like a giant missed opportunity.
25:41 Especially since the last season is so Venom-centric, it just feels weird that Eddie is not there
25:45 at all or even really talked about.
25:47 This show is doing that thing where Venom is the suit and not the combination of it
25:51 and someone else so the host becomes irrelevant as the series goes on.
25:55 Venom is just the goo.
25:58 Doesn't matter who's inside I guess.
26:00 Which I don't like.
26:01 There's also a 13 episode long arc about Peter being overwhelmed with so many super
26:06 villains and his homework that he doesn't sleep at all and is just completely exhausted
26:11 by the end.
26:12 And that leads into 6 more episodes of a superior Spider-Man adaptation that's…
26:17 actually not that bad.
26:29 Unlike the comic, it didn't overstay its welcome and it didn't last too long and
26:33 it didn't rely on all of Peter's closest friends being totally oblivious idiots.
26:38 The whole arc is about Miles knowing it's not Peter right away and trying to restore
26:42 the original Spidey's mind.
26:44 He's the one who gets the Avengers to run tests on Otto and just won't let it go.
26:49 He's basically the one that gets Peter in position to return to his body.
26:53 Though it still gives Otto that moment of self-sacrifice realizing he's not Spider-Man.
26:58 I wish the comics had Miles and Peter this tight.
27:00 They only talk to each other like once a year in passing which sucks.
27:04 I might actually like this version of Superior better than the book just because of the way
27:09 Brooklyn Spidey is utilized as such a key figure.
27:12 That's… fun and cool.
27:14 I like when he's important.
27:16 Then we get the rather disappointing Goblin War arc with no… well no goblin.
27:21 Not the correct one.
27:23 The weirdest part of this show is that Norman Osborn never officially becomes Green Goblin.
27:30 Harry becomes Hobgoblin and serves as a recurring ally for Spidey.
27:34 Norman steals his suit one time and then fake dies, then later becomes a symbiote-infused
27:39 Dark Goblin because Dan Slott storylines.
27:42 The Green Goblin in this show is actually the Vulture which… which is whatever.
27:47 Don't care for it.
27:49 But it does end on a very nice redemption arc for Doc Ock that ties the whole season
27:52 together in a nice bow.
27:53 I thought it was kinda ballsy to actually just kill him off.
27:58 And they commit to it, he's gone.
28:00 Season 3 is cut short at 12 episodes which just screams that this show was cancelled
28:05 abruptly, but they do throw in a time-tested classic invasion of the symbiote storyline.
28:11 I like that they use the Gwenom design.
28:13 Feels like a missed opportunity to not have Harry's Hobgoblin suit styled like Demogoblin
28:17 though.
28:18 Oh and they got J.M.
28:19 Dematis on some of it?
28:22 Demat- Dematite?
28:23 Dem- Demataus?
28:25 No wonder this episode has a better script than all the others.
28:28 It's like the only time May has some character development in the whole show and Spidey isn't
28:33 constantly being cringey.
28:35 And a Moon Knight crossover on top of it?
28:38 Very Web of Shadows, I dig that.
28:40 They also toss in a few symbiote characters that never really show up in adaptations like
28:44 Scream Mania and Scorn.
28:47 Though they're just space monsters for the purposes of the plot, which is a little disappointing.
28:51 The final episode uses a bit of inspiration from Donny Cade's Venom too, but not nearly
28:56 as developed.
28:57 This show has a real problem of throwing characters in there for the sake of just saying they
29:01 had them but not developing them at all or having them actually act like themselves.
29:06 Just "Hey we got Mania" kind of.
29:09 Not Andy Benton, just like the idea of Mania?
29:13 She's like Sonic but a symbiote, cause you know her fucking head can only exist in a
29:18 2D drawing and it would look weird in 3D.
29:21 There's a better overall attempt here at actual Peter Parker personal life centric storylines
29:26 than Ultimate.
29:27 He can't pay for school and he has money problems, his personal relationships are suffering as
29:32 a result of superhero stuff, you know that good stuff.
29:36 But both shows are burdened by the recent problem with Spidey media.
29:39 They don't know how to write a cast of characters without giving them all superpowers to keep
29:44 them relevant.
29:45 I think if they could get away with it, Marvel would give Aunt May superpowers and throw
29:49 her in a costume so they don't need to write things like "Oh she's dealing with the health
29:53 issues that one faces in the twilight years of their life and the financial difficulties
29:57 resulting from such" or "Oh she's depressed because her husband died in a home invasion."
30:01 They'd rather just put her in a big stupid robot suit and have her punching people.
30:06 I mean fuck, Mary Jane is like Ben 10 in the comics right now.
30:10 Even Liz Allen in this show is screwball, a young red haired YouTuber who can't get
30:15 people to watch her show unless she centers the videos on Spider-Man all the damn time.
30:20 I appreciate the relatability of that.
30:23 You'll never be her though!
30:24 There's also the weird matter of this show's placement in a shared Marvel animated Marvel
30:29 universe.
30:30 So Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble both had a backdoor pilot for Guardians of
30:34 the Galaxy, but their voices and designs in their final show looked a lot more like the
30:38 movie counterparts once it started in 2015.
30:42 Fair enough, we can excuse the change.
30:44 But then it ran alongside Ultimate and Avengers Assemble.
30:48 Avengers Assemble had multiple guest appearances by Ultimate Spider-Man and those versions
30:53 of them appear in his show.
30:55 "Okay, not for nothing, but I come from a team of heroes and Nova who are all teenagers
31:01 so I know a thing or three about infighting."
31:03 He's doing cutaways, talking about working for SHIELD and does the oh so hilarious monkey
31:08 sound effect.
31:11 That's him, that's Ultimate Spider-Man.
31:12 A connection is established, the Spider-Man of this universe is the Drake Bell one.
31:17 But then Avengers Assemble has a season 5 episode where Robbie Damon's Spidey shows
31:21 up instead.
31:23 Then the Guardians of the Galaxy series crosses over with his show.
31:27 So somehow both Spider-Men and both Guardians are canon to Avengers Assemble at the same
31:33 time?
31:34 What was going on over there?
31:35 That's like if Andrew Garfield showed up in the first Avengers as planned, then we
31:40 didn't see him for 4 years, then Civil War happened with Tom Holland and all the Avengers
31:45 just pretended to not notice.
31:47 The only answer I've really been given for how this works is that season 5 of Avengers
31:52 Assemble just takes place in another universe from the first 4 seasons.
31:57 Which is stupid.
31:58 And also season 1 of Avengers Assemble has flashbacks to Earth's Mightiest Heroes and
32:02 that's supposed to be in the universe with Spectacular Spider-Man.
32:06 So it's just a disaster.
32:08 The only host for Carnage in this universe is Thanos oddly enough.
32:12 For the Guardians of the Galaxy episode, Peter is rendered in an art style closer to Ultimate
32:16 Spider-Man so he's more tall and muscular.
32:18 It's just weird seeing this design look so much more manly.
32:23 His costume, the mask especially, looks almost exactly like Ultimate Spider-Man, just with
32:28 sleeves and a segmented belt.
32:30 They also use the comic black suit and venom design instead of the ones from this series.
32:35 But Max Modell shows up and he's completely on model of the main show's art style.
32:40 There was a really strange lack of cohesive art design and continuity around all of these
32:45 shows.
32:46 It just wasn't as tightly planned as the 90's MAU, the DCAU, the Yostiverse, or even
32:52 the actual MCU movies.
32:55 Which show was canon to which, which designs were used, it was all over the place, they
32:58 didn't really care.
33:00 Maybe they just didn't think it mattered, and I guess it doesn't if we're being honest.
33:04 But that shared universe stuff can be really fun to engage with when it's handled well
33:08 and it's odd to see an attempt at one that's so haphazardly done.
33:13 Especially under Marvel's banner.
33:19 A weird thing about doing Peter's origin in a heavily pre-established Marvel universe
33:23 instead of early on is that he's now in the same age bracket as all of the legacy characters
33:28 that ended up in the Champions, like Ironheart, Amadeus Hulk, and Ms. Marvel.
33:33 There's even a vague hint at him having a crush on Ms. Marvel and I guess I wouldn't
33:38 be totally opposed to these versions of the characters dating, but given the age difference
33:43 between their comic counterparts I see why it wasn't pursued.
33:47 Unlike no bitches McVagina repellent over here, and shockingly every other Spidey cartoon,
33:53 this guy actually ends up with Mary Jane at the end.
33:56 No cliffhangers or abandoned storylines or nothing.
33:59 Good for you, dork.
34:00 Oh wait, they never resolved the fact that Miles' dad off screen was transformed into
34:04 a sentient swarm of bees bent on murdering his son.
34:07 Oh well.
34:08 When I started watching Ultimate Spider-Man I went into it wanting to like it and defend
34:13 it, but ended up not enjoying major portions of it.
34:17 This show is the opposite.
34:18 I went in expecting to hate it and found that it wasn't as unpleasant a marathon as I prepared
34:23 for, but my overall opinion of both shows in the end despite their shortcomings is the
34:28 same, which is… eh, it's fine.
34:31 It's watchable.
34:33 I mostly didn't want to kill myself by the end of it.
34:36 Well not because of the show anyway.
34:38 Neither of them are as good as the shows preceding them.
34:41 Even at its worst I can't hate this show.
34:44 There's plenty of things wrong with it and I absolutely see why people don't vibe with
34:48 it.
34:49 I certainly don't love it or anything.
34:51 It doesn't get a rise out of me at all.
34:52 It's just like… fine most of the time.
34:55 When stuff about it sucks it's thankfully kind of inoffensive I guess.
34:58 I think I'm just so detached from it compared to Ultimate Spider-Man where I was watching
35:03 that one in bits and pieces as it came out and didn't like it as a kid and can still
35:08 be kinda harsh on it now.
35:10 But seeing this show for the first time over the course of like the last month before this
35:14 video drops, it's hard for me to feel strongly about it either way.
35:18 Maybe it's just cause I'm looking at it with the eyes of an adult instead of a kid
35:21 this time.
35:22 It's not an underrated overlooked hidden gem, but it's not a complete flaming disaster
35:27 that makes me angry whenever I think about it.
35:29 That's reserved for Pacific Rim Uprising, the worst movie ever made by humans.
35:34 Marvel's Spider-Man has a lot going against it, but I think in spite of it all, it's
35:40 perfectly serviceable.
35:42 It just doesn't excel at anything.
35:45 It's just another Spider-Man show.
35:48 Relatively unspecial and not as significant as its peers.
35:51 But then, I guess it goes to a school for really gifted Spidey shows.
35:55 It's hard to stand out when the competition is that fierce.
36:00 I always get mad at YouTube for not putting my videos in the subscription box because
36:04 people will comment "Finally, Xavier uploads again after all these years!" not knowing
36:09 three other videos came out within the last month already.
36:12 So maybe that stupid bell icon thing will help you remember I exist?
36:16 If you want other ways to support the channel, you can always go hit up that Patreon for
36:20 early videos and exclusive stuff because it's just a dollar.
36:23 I'm not kidding, it's only one dollar.
36:25 Isn't that cool?
36:27 If everyone who watched this video donated one dollar a month, I'd be able to afford
36:31 a house for myself.
36:32 So that would be really cool.
36:34 You can also check out our merch on TeePublic, or just buy some of my random stuff on eBay.
36:39 I have a pretty substantial collection of old toys that are still in the box in perfect
36:43 condition, so go take a look in case you find something you like.
36:46 And lastly, since this is a YouTube video and you probably play Fortnite, drop my creator
36:50 quote "XavierGM" next time you buy a silly dance or a cool character skin.
36:54 It really helps me out.
36:56 See you next time!
36:57 [music]