Marvel Universe – 8/5/12

Ultimate Spider-man – “Snow Day”
Peter Parker is awoken by an emergency message from Nova, and stumbles into his costume.  When he opens the window, he’s pelted by the other team members with snow balls.  Since school’s closed because of a snow day, Agent Coulson wants the team to report for a special cold weather survival training.  Instead, they go to a tropical island that Nova found in S.H.I.E.L.D. database.  As they’re having fun in the water, they don’t see the Sandman on the beach.  They somewhat wonder why this place was in the database, but don’t put too much thought into it.  Peter’s Spider-sense tingles, but again, he doesn’t payy any attention to it.  When he loses a volleyball, Peter goes into the jungle to find it.  He comes running out when something scares him.  A kid named Sandy walks out with the ball, and says his family lives everywhere on the island.  The team gets into costume, and searches for Sandy.  During which, they run into Flint, who looks like an older version of Sandy.  Suddenly, ruins appear before them.  They decide to make a tactical retreat, but Sandy confronts them.  He moves their plane to the top of the ruins.  Sandy and Flint both attack them.  Sandy and Flint create a maze, and separates the team.  Whithin the maze, a third, older Sandman appears.  Power Man and Spider-man find some heiroglyphics that describe how Flint became Sandman, and was left on the island by Nick Fury.  They finally figure out that the boy was just an imaginary friend created by Flint.  The team is able to make it to the ship, but White Tiger can’t get it started.  Nova lifts the ship off of the ruins, until the engines are able to fire.  On their approach, Fury has other planes escort them to a different location, because he isn’t certain that Flint was left behind.  Spider-man starts emptying sand from his costume, and it turns out that Flint is on board with them.  He gets inside the controls, and shorts them out.  They are able to at least guide themselves to crash in a frozen over Hudson River.  Flint is making his way to the mainland, and the team is unable to stop him.  Spider-man gets the idea to have Nova super heat Flint and turns him into glass.  Fury moves Flint into a continuously moving containment chamber. 

Marvel Universe – 7/29/12

Ultimate Spider-man – “Beetle Mania”
The team fights an “improved” Trapster (bigger glue guns).  Working together, they easily trap the Trapster.  Nick Fury is impressed with the team, and gives them their first sanctioned S.H.I.E.L.D. mission.  It is to protect J. Jonah Jameson from the Beetle.  In his news segments, Jameson says he has been threatened for exposing the Beetle, and doesn’t want protection.  The team is on lookout at the Daily Bugle building, when Mary Jane calls Peter Parker and tells him that she is entering the Daily Bugle right now for an interview with Jameson.  Peter comes up on Mary Jane, and tries to convince her to not go in.  Failing, he says that he’s going in with her.  At the entrance of the building, Power Man and Iron Fist try to stop her, but she threatens them with an expose and enters anyway.  Those two are then taken out with a gas from a mini-beetle.  Inside, Nova tries to stop her from entering the elevator, but he’s tricked into letting her go.  He’s taken out with an electric shock, and the Beetle is in the building.  The elevator Peter and Mary Jane were in starts to fall, but the emergency brakes kick in.  White Tiger was responsible for this.  White Tiger is taken out by the Bettle.  Mary Jane forces open the elevator and takes the stairs.  Peter tries to contact White Tiger, but gets no response.  They get up to Jameson’s office, and Peter can’t get a hold of anyone.  Peter’s Spider-sense goes off, and he quickly shoves her into a different room.  This happens to be Jameson’s office, and she starts her interview.  Spider-man tries to figure out how Beetle will come in, when he’s surprised by Beetle coming by elevator.  They fight, causing lots of destruction, which goes mostly unnoticed by Jameson and Mary Jane.  Eventually, the rest of the team shows up.  Using the same strategy as earlier, they think they’ve captured the Beetle, but he breaks out, and gets into Jameson’s office.  Spider-man stops Beetle from blowing up Jameson, and they take Beetle out.  Turns out, Jameson wasn’t in his office, and was speaking by video. 

300 Word Rant – Missed opportunites with relaunches`

Let me just say that, generally, I don’t mind relaunches, reboots, retcons, etc.  It may be because I don’t have a good mind for continuity anyways, so I don’t exactly remember what they’re getting rid of and replacing.  So when things like the New 52 or Marvel Now happen, I don’t really mind.  I may poke fun at the marketing and hype behind it, but really, I don’t care.  You keep me entertained with your stories, and I will continue to give you my money.  But there is one thing about relaunches/reboots/alternate timelines that bugs the hell out of me, and that is missed opportunities.

For the best example I have, let me take you back many years.  I read friends’ copies of Ultimate Spider-man up until they stopped getting it.  Somewhere in the 120s, I think.  And the book entertained me, but there’s something that kept bugging me about it.  There was nothing that was really new about the book.  Sure, it claimed to have it’s own continuity, but it really didn’t.  It was still tied greatly to the Marvel-616 universe.  With the Ultimate line, we simply go a different version of characters and stories that had happened before.  That is until Spider-man started dating Kitty Pryde.

You have no idea how happy this made me.  Happier than a person should be about a fictional relationship between fictional characters.  It wasn’t just that Spider-man was specifically dating Kitty Pryde, it was that he/Peter Parker wasn’t dating Mary Jane.  I don’t have any problems with Mary Jane, but you can already find where that’s been done before.  This is a different universe that you are creating.  You don’t have to include Mary Jane in the damn thing, because you can do whatever the hell you want to.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

And yes, the Superman/Wonder Woman kiss is what brought this up.  I am not sad that we may not have a Superman/Lois Lane relationship because if I want that, I can go read back issues.

Marvel Universe – 7/22/12

Ultimate Spider-Man – “For Your Eye Only”
The show opens with a James Bond spoof, which transitioned to Spider-man goofing around the training room.  Nick Fury is upset that Spider-man isn’t taking things seriously, and Spider-man is being a jerk.  Spider-man arrives for another training mission on the Helicarrier the next day, only to find that Scorpio and the group The Zodiac have gained control of the Helicarrier.  Scorpio says Nick Fury is dead.  Spider-man is able to escape into the Helicarrier.  The Zodiac are downloading all of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files.  Nick Fury contacts Spider-man, but Spider-man is too excited and gets a little too loud.  This alerts the Zodiac to his location.  During the ensuing fight, Spider-man is able to abort their download.  He’s able to escape inside the vents again, and Nick Fury tells him where he is.  Spider-man fights off fights off some Zodiac members and finds Nick Fury about to be sliced by a laser (ala Goldfinger).  Fury and Spider-man arm themselves, and fight their way through the Zodiac members.  While Spider-man fights them on the deck, Nick Fury uses an invisible device, and takes control of Helicarrier.  He makes it dive and submerge.  Nick Fury and Scorpio fight, but it is revealed that Scorpio is Nick’s brother Max.  Scorpio escapes as Nick Fury deactivates the self-destruct sequence. 

Marvel Universe 7/15/12

Ultimate Spider-man – “Awesome”
Spider-man has been having a bad week, culminating in a fight with Juggernaut.  During which Luke Cage calls Spider-man to remind him about their science fair project that he keeps putting off being due tomorrow.  Peter tries to sneak inside his home after being beaten by Juggernaut for most of the night.  Luke calls him asking him about Juggernaut and the science fair.  Juggernaut is loose somewhere in the city, and Peter is in trouble because Aunt May sold his chemistry set.  On the way to school, Spider-man runs into Juggernaut again, but Juggernaut disappears during the fight.  Peter arrives at school, and is lectured by Luke about coming through when he said he would.  Spider-man goes to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to see if there is something he can borrow there.  After passing on Marvel artifacts, including Howard the Duck, he finds a grey “mood” brick.  He takes it.  Peter arrives with the brick.  Peter sets the brick on the table, and while Luke and himself celebrate, the brick sprouts legs and walks off.  Peter explains that he stole it from the Helicarrier, and Luke tells him that he needs to find a way to do everything in life.  The brick walks off and begins eating things and growing.  Coulson tells them that it is the Awesome Android, and it feeds on inorganic material.  The android grows too big for the school, and goes out on the street, looking for stuff to eat.  They stop the android from eating a train, and Juggernaut happened to be on it.  Juggernaut runs into the android, and is stopped.  The android eats him, which takes off his suit and helmet, and secretes Juggernaut.  Juggernaut has lost his powers (uhg) and is able to be taken out.  The android is now going berserk.  Through an accident, the team finds that the android shrinks when exposed to coldness.  Iron Fist was trying to distract the android, but he captures Nova and starts playing with him.  In the school, Luke Cage and Spider-man find Eva’s science project, which was about super-cooling carbon dioxide.  Luke Cage throws Spider-man into the androids mouth.  The android freezes and shrinks back down to a brick. 

Marvel Universe – 7/8/12

Ultimate Spider-Man – “Strange”
During school, Peter Parker falls asleep and has a dream that he has 8 limbs.  Iron Fist comes in and punches him through a wall.  Peter Parker wakes up to find that Danny Rand was in his mind, dream-walking, and woke them up.  They find that all of their classmates are asleep.  Spider-man and Iron Fist leave school to find the entire city is asleep.  Iron Fist explains that this have to be the work of some supernatural force.  Spider-man doubts the existence of magic, but Iron Fist leads him to the house of Doctor Strange.  Doctor Strange shows them Nightmare, the king of dreams.  Strange says that Nightmare has been trying to escape the dimension of dreams.  Spider-man is still skeptical of the supernatural.  Doctor Strange takes Spider-man and Iron Fist to the realm of dreams to fight Nightmare.  In the dream realm, Spider-man gets a peak at what the other members of the team are dreaming.  Spider-man agrees that there might be something to this magic thing.  Nightmare confronts them.  Nightmare sends his dreamons after the trio.  Everything Doctor Strange tries against Nightmare is failing.  Spider-man and Iron Fist get separated from Strange.  In Iron Fists nightmare, they encounter Shao Lao, and Iron Fist loses his mystical power.  Iron Fist doubts his abilities and if he deserves the power or not.  Spider-man gets knocked out of Iron Fist’s dream, and back to Doctor Strange.  Nightmare plays on Doctor Strange’s fear, and Strange has no mystical power.  Nightmare reminds Spider-man of Uncle Ben.  This backfires, because Spider-man is afraid of his failure with Uncle Ben, but rather is inspired by it.  Spider-man overcoming his Nightmare weakened Nightmare, and allowed Doctor Strange to break Nightmare’s hold on everyone.  Iron Fist overcomes his nightmare and rejoins them.  Doctor Strange is able to imprison Nightmare.  Spider-man and Iron Fist rush back to school. 

Top 5

 

Scootin’ Spidey is NOT one of the Top 5.

This month’s Top 5 will look at my top five Spider-Man costume redesigns. This is costumes other than the original recipe red & blue that first appeared back in 1962 and is still in use today. Not all of these costumes have been worn by the Peter Parker we’re all familiar with but they’ve been worn by someone somewhere/somewhen who called themselves Spider-Man.

 

 

Marvel Universe – 7/1/12

Ultimate Spider-man – “Me Time”
Spider-man fights Whirlwind, who is working for someone else, but Spider-man takes him out.  Nick Fury tells him that he still needs to work on limiting collateral damage.  Fury tells Spider-man to report back, but he refuses because he wants some me time.  Peter Parker gets home to find that Aunt May is gone for the weekend.  He goes a bit wild, but finds a mini-camera that belongs to S.H.I.E.L.D.  Spider-man confronts Fury about the camera.  Fury says that it’s standard protocol, and Spider-man signed off on it.  Fury says it is not to spy on him, but rather it’s to make sure his aunt is okay when he’s not there.  Spider-man turns in his S.H.I.E.L.D. watch and says he’s off for the weekend.  Dr. Octavious is studying Spider-man’s fight with Whirlwind.  Norman Osborn contacts him, and is displeased with his progress.  Oct says that he will bring in Spider-man himself.  Spider-man gets pulled off of a roller coaster by Doc Ock.  They fight throughout the amusement park, but eventually Doctor Octopus is able to subdue Spider-man.  Doc Ock reports to Norman that he has captured Spider-man.  Spider-man comes to, and easily escapes what was binding him.  They fight again in Doc Ock’s lab.  Spider-man beats Ock, and Osborn detonates Ock’s underwater lab.  Spider-man is finally able to contact Fury, and alerts him to his location.  Spider-man has to fight Ock again, and saves him from drowning.  Spider-man comes to and finds Fury standing beside him.  Spider-man apologizes for being selfish, and Dr. Conners says that Spider-man brought back an amazing piece of technology in Ock’s arm. 

Ultimate Spider-man – “Venom Attack”

Apparently, my DVR missed this episode when it initially aired on June 24th, but picked up a replay on Thursday.  Either way, here’s this episode.

Ultimate Spider-man – “Venomous”
Venom attacks a French burglar in a dark alley.  Peter Parker ignores a call from Nick Fury, only to go downstairs to learn that Spider-man brutally attacked someone last night.  Peter approaches Harry Osborn at school, asking him if he knows anything about the Venom attack.  Harry says that he doesn’t have anything to do with Venom.  Norman Osborn complains to Dr. Octavious that they both know it was Venom, and he wants Octavious to find where Venom was.  Harry approaches Norman, but Norman doesn’t have time for him.  Harry becomes angry, and transforms into Venom.  Spider-man bursts in.  Spider-man saves Norman, but Venom escapes.  On the Helicarrier, Spider-man lets slip that he knows who Venom is, but won’t reveal his info.  Spider-man wants to take Venom out alone, but Fury won’t allow it.  In fact, he takes Spider-man off the case because he’s keeping secrets.  Spider-man does his own thing though, and tracks down Venom at Oscorp towers.  His team also goes to take on Venom, but Spider-man set a web trap for them.  Venom and Spider-man burst into Oscorp labs.  Norman tells Spider-man not to hurt Venom because he is Harry.  Spider-man is surprised that Norman knows. 

Ultimate Spider-man – 6/17/12 – “Freaky”

This week, we only got a new episode of Ultimate Spider-man, titled “Freaky.”  Hell, there wasn’t even an Avengers re-run this week.  Just Ultimate Spider-man reruns.  With that this isn’t actually Marvel Universe.  It is, however, an Ultimate Father’s Day Marathon.  Now, you may be asking what Spider-man has to do with Father’s day, but clearly you’re not remembering the close relationship that Peter Parker has with his father.  Wait, Spider-man is an orphan you say?  Hmmm…guess he’s not the best thing to use for Father’s Day, but no one is really.

Spider-man comes across Mesmero, who is robbing a diamond store by controlling other people’s minds.  Mesmero tells the people to attack Spider-man.  Spider-man is able to get away from them when Wolverine shows up.  He demands to know what Spider-man has done to these people.  Wolverine gets attacked by people, becomes frustrated enough to attack them, but Spider-man stops him.  Wolverine opens up a fire hydrant and hits people with water.  This brings them back to their senses, during which they blame Spider-man.  Wolverine recognizes Mesmero’s scent, and grabs him.  Wolverine convinces Mesmero to release his hold.  Afterwords, Wolverine and Spider-man nearly come to blows after insulting each other, but Nick Fury gets in their way.  At school, the rest of the guys on the team try to let Peter show them his homework, but he lectures them.  While Peter is sitting in class, Mesmero switches Spider-man’s and Wolverine’s minds.  They both wake up and freak out.  (For the purpose of simplicity, I’ll refer to the characters by whose mind is doing what.  So, when I say Spider-man, know that it’s Spider-man in Wolverine’s body.)  Spider-man calls Wolverine, and tells him that they switched bodies.  Then Sabertooth attacks him.  Wolverine tells Spider-man to just run.  Spider-man tries to convince Sabertooth that he’s not really Wolverine but it doesn’t work.  Wolverine says that he’s coming to him, but Spider-man tells him to stay in school because he can’t afford to miss.  Eventually, Spider-man is able to escape.  In school, Wolverine is not getting along with Spider-man’s teammates, hits on Mary Jane, and beats up Flash.  Spider-man arrives at school, and Wolverine asks him what happened to Sabertooth.  Spider-man says he lost him, but Wolverine says that you don’t lose Sabertooth because he’s a tracker.  Sabertooth then shows up, finally realizing that they did in fact switch bodies.