- Title: Spider-Man – The Spider Slayer
- wiki: link
Spidey Saturday takes us back to the 90s. The second episode of Marvel’s Spider-Man begins to flesh-out the cast of supporting and recurring characters including Norman Osborne (Neil Ross), and his silent partner the Kingpin (Roscoe Lee Browne), who hire Spencer Smythe (Edward Mulhare) and his son Alistair (Maxwell Caulfield) to build him technology to kill Spider-Man (Christopher Daniel Barnes). First, we see the Spider Seekers capable of tracking Spider-Man, and later we see Smythe’s more deadly creation, the Black Widow, in action.
The episode also gives us Felicia Hardy (Jennifer Hale) whose family gala Peter attends as the Daily Bugle’s photographer. Not taking kindly to Felicia’s interest in Peter, Felicia’s date Flash Thompson (Patrick Labyorteaux) plays a prank that backfires for everyone when the the Spider Seekers mistake Flash for Spider-Man. The show works in Eddie Brock (Hank Azaria) as well, unmasking the fake Spider-Man live on television, making J. Jonah Jameson (Edward Asner) look like a fool (and demolishing his apartment in the process). With his firing, Brock has one more reason to hate Spider-Man.
The Spider Slayers are a weak choice for such an early episode, especially as they will return in new form in the very next episode, but the story is structured in a way to bring in several extra characters playing into longer storylines. Felicia’s introduction is the real highlight of the episode as is the interaction between Peter and the Spider-Man he knows to be a fraud.
The climax of the episode features Spider-Man saving Flash from the Kingpin’s goons and fighting off the Black Widow. The apparent demise of the elder Smythe allows Kingpin to woo Alistair to his side in building new Spider Slayers to hunt down Spider-Man. As for Peter, while Aunt May (Linda Gary) and Felicia are both safe, the latter isn’t happy with Peter’s disappearing act (although she’s also equally furious with Flash Thompson’s prank) leaving Peter in the dog house with a would-be love interest (where the character has spent much of his time over the years).
