Saturday Morning Cartoons #39: Neogenic Nightmare, Part 8

So this whole season we’ve been dreading Peter Parker’s possible mutation into a horrible genetic freak monster. Well, guess what kids? We finally made it to the fireworks factory! At the end of the last episode, Spider-Man mutated into a giant Man-Spider monster. Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher, had Spidey on his hit list because he believed that the Ol’ Webhead had kidnapped & tortured innocent college student Michael Morbius. What he didn’t know was the fact that thanks to stealing a sample of Peter Parker’s blood and screwing around with vampire bats, Morbius had turned himself into a living vampire. Morbius was the one causing all the trouble and Spidey was just trying to help. The stress of all this, combined with taking a serum that his buddy Dr. Mariah Crawford had cooked up to possibly slow or stop his mutation before it could tested has caused the proverbial shit to hit the fan. The look on Punisher’s face says it all.

Quickly realizing what’s happened and what he’s gotten himself into, Punisher hops into his sweet-ass tricked out battle van and hightails it out of there. Not yet ready to give up on his mission, Frank gets back together with his sidekick Microchip and begins putting together some heavy ordinance to take down the Man-Spider. After all, Spider-Man is now ten feet tall, has razor sharp claws, and can spit acid. Frank’s gonna need some bigger guns. Spider-Man…er, excuse me, Man-Spider also escapes but not before being spotted and making the nightly news with an amazingly accurate police sketch.

Meanwhile: Mary Jane and Aunt May are going to the police because Peter hasn’t been seen in a couple days, Dr. Crawford has called in the services of her boyfriend Kraven the Hunter to track down Man-Spider because she thinks she can help him, and Morbius is lamenting the fact the he can’t be with his girlfriend (Felicia Hardy) in his current state while she pines for him while holding what I can only assume must be the best picture she has of him.

That’s not creepy at all. 

 

When Punisher finally tracks down Spidey again, he almost gets the drop on him until Kraven shows up. While Punisher & Kraven tussle over who’s the better hunter, Spider-Man notices Morbius fly by, so he takes off after him. He manages to interrupt him attempting to feed off of Peter Parker’s academic rival Deb Whitman and Flash Thompson. Then, still trying to hang on to the bits of him that are still Peter Parker, he feels compelled to go to Mary Jane. But as you’d expect, she doesn’t receive him all that well. After all, she has no idea that this is Peter. Hurt, angry, and sad, Man-Spider goes after Punisher and lets him know that he’s had more than enough of all this “trying to kill him” bullshit.

He webs Punisher up and takes him to a secret underground lair. Punisher then gets unexpectedly rescued by Kraven, who gloats that he didn’t need a tracking device to find him. Man-Spider shows up and the two of them manage to subdue him. While Punisher is all set to deliver a killing blow, Dr. Crawford shows up and convinces him to give her a chance to save him. She administers a new serum that does the trick and Peter Parker is back to being an only slightly mutated human again. Lucky for him, Punisher had been hanging onto his mask as a trophy.

Spidey might be back to normal, but we’ve still got six episodes left of the “Neogenic Nightmare” season. Tune in next time, true believers!