- Title: Spider-Man – The Menace of Mysterio
- wiki: link
Spidey Saturday takes us back to the 90s New York City and an animated Wall-Crawler. Basing some of the events of the episode off of Amazing Spider-Man #13, “The Menace of Mysterio” introduces the character of Mysterio (Gregg Berger) framing Spider-Man (Christopher Daniel Barnes) for a series of robberies while setting up himself as the hero to take him down. Of course, J. Jonah Jameson (Edward Asner) is overjoyed with events until he discovers he’s been fooled again and Mysterio is nothing more but a special effect tech with a grudge against our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
The trope of Spider-Man being framed by a villain is a common one over the years. You can also see some of the ideas from the original comic used in Spider-Man: Far From Home. The episode feels a bit overpacked with elements, without giving them a chance to really breathe. Spider-Man’s fight with Mysterio at Wonder Studios also gets quite elaborate with a series of illusions and robotic monsters. Jameson’s arrival provides an opportunity for Mysterio to crow, despite that doing so ruins any hopes of his plans of smearing Spider-Man’s reputation succeeding.
The episode is also notable for shoehorning in Spidey’s origin story to an already plot-heavy episode as something of an afterthought. We get glimpses of Spider-Man’s short wrestling career along with the night he learned an important lesson about power and responsibility. In terms of ongoing storylines, the episode doesn’t include Eddie Brock (Hank Azaria), but we do get the return of Mary Jane Watson (Sara Ballantine) whose date Peter breaks while dealing with the Mysterio situation. The episode also introduces the character of Lieutenant Terri Lee (Dawnn Lewis) who begins to have second thoughts about Spider-Man despite the show Mysterio is putting on for the city.
