Episode #35 - The Ultimate Slayer
Original Airdate October 5, 1996

Worried that Kingpin is going to eliminate him after the botched framing of Peter Parker, Alistair Smythe arranges a meeting with Spider-Man to give him information about Kingpin. However, when Spidey arrives, he discovers Smythe has been turned into a cyborg. Part man, part machine, he is now the ultimate spider-slayer!

Credits
Story By: John Semper
Written By: Mark Hoffmeier and Doug Booth
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS)
Guest Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man/Peter Parker, Neil Ross as Norman Osborn, David Warner as Herbert Landon, Edward Mulhare as Alyster Smythe and Roscoe Lee Brown as The Kingpin

Review: A fine episode, with some great plot twists for both the heroes and the villains. The revelation that Harry and MJ are engaged, and finally, seeing Smythe become the cyborg. This was one change everyone knew was coming, as Smythe's cyborg action figure was in the first wave (which actually probably confused the hell out of the little kids!)

The story actually had some build up to it, with Smythe’s blunder causing Fisk’s son, Richard to be locked up, as seen in the previous episode guest starring Daredevil. It also brought in Herbert Landon to replace Smythe. This was one thing I never liked, as Landon isn’t that really an interesting character, and lacked the chemistry that Smythe had with Kingpin. I always thought the pairing of Smythe and Kingpin was genius. It probably helped that I love the way Roscoe Lee Brown pronounces Smythe. He had great delivery everytime!

Unfortunatly, after this episode, Smythe would become rather redundant. His claims of finding a way to rejuvenite his Father became laughable after his next few appearances, as he was simply another supervillain working for whoever, much like Doc Ock became. I'm in the camp that thinks this episode would have been a great send off for Smythe.

One of my main beefs with the episode is Madame Web. Once again, Spidey is made to look like a clueless amateur so the woman can show her arrogance again. Her inclusion her was pointless, and Spidey could’ve easily figured it out by himself. A small but annoying slip up in an otherwise great episode.