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Ultimate Spider-Man
#74 - "Nightmare on Christmas"
Original Airdate - December 3rd, 2014
Spider-Man sees what the world would be like without him when Nightmare takes the web-slinger on a journey through his past, present, and future.

Ultimate Spider-Man is produced by Marvel Animation and carries a TV-Y7-FV parental guideline.

This episode is weighed down by its premise. In this continuity, Spider-Man is beloved and widely praised by his fellow heroes and the general public. J. Jonah Jameson is literally one of the only people (other than supervillains) that just flat hates and fears him. The show also emphasizes Spider-Man much more than Peter Parker. Peter's troubles with money, high school, and caring for his aunt don't really exist for the most part. The show could have still done an arc about Spider-Man being neglected or ignored by his allies, with it all leading up to this story. Here, it just takes one instance of miscommunication and a JJJ broadcast to send Spidey into an existential crisis. I understand wanting to use the iconic "Spider-Man No More!" shot, but it has to be earned.

Having the Devil Imp transform into Nightmare was pretty clever I'll admit, but Nightmare was a pretty lackluster evil tempter after he revealed his true colors. I'm also not clear on how the Angel Conscience fits into things. He was trying to warn Spider-Man not to defeat the Goblin King, but what was Spidey supposed to do? Did the Angel represent another supernatural force? If so, who or what?

Still, the classic Amazing Spider-Man scene was really fun and it was nice to see The Enforcers in this show. Outside of this, the action sequences were nothing to write home about and the humor is still mostly miss. Not the weakest episode of the season, but nothing special either.