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Ultimate Spider-Man
#3 - Doomed
Original Airdate - April 8th, 2012
Spider-Man and his fellow teen super heroes have their first training session together. After some intense competition, they decide to venture to Latveria to capture the infamous super villain Doctor Doom, but their plan soon backfires.

Ultimate Spider-Man stars Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Chi McBride (Boston Public) as Nick Fury, Clark Gregg (Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers) as Agent Coulson, JK Simmons (Spider-Man) as J. Jonah Jameson, Steven Weber (Wings) as Norman Osborn, Greg Cipes (Teen Titans, Ben 10) as Danny Rand/Iron Fist, Ogie Banks as Luke Cage/Power Man, Caitlyn Taylor Love (I'm In The Band) as Ava Ayala/White Tiger, Logan Miller (I'm In The Band) as Sam Alexander/Nova, Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Doctor Octopus, Matt Lanter (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Harry Osborn/Flash Thompson, Tara Strong (The Fairly Odd Parents) as Mary-Jane Watson, Misty Lee (Batman: Arkham City) as Aunt May, and recurring guest star Stan Lee (Spider-Man) as Stan the Janitor.

Guest starring is Maurice LaMarche (Futurama) as Doctor Doom.

"Doomed" was written by Man of Action. Directed by Gary Hartle and Jeff Allen.

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

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Many a stone was cast - and nobody knows which was the first, and no man, woman, or child knows if there'll ever be a last - at the latest Spidey show, and most of those landed right on the spot. We're three episodes in, and all the flaws [well, what this author'd call flaws] are still present: there's the bland humor, there's the unoriginal writing, there's the poor-to-mediocre voice-acting, there are the cutaway gags in abundance of abundance, there's the breaking of the fourth wall which still stutters and falls down the same pit the rest of the aforementioned flaws do.

Where do I even start? Okay, let's go with the order above. The humor is, indeed, a la Generator Rex/Ben 10. Meaning non-existent and more often than not pitiful. The creative team can't make people laugh healthily to save their lives! Honestly, every time something visual would pop up, I desired to choke myself, and then come back to life and choke every single character on the show [I am aware of the bad joke; after all, it's cited and paraphrased from the very episode reviewed here.]. Which brings us to the writing. Well, Doomed gave Kumori the impression that the writers on their best day of writing this would still be less entertaining than the worst-written episodes of, let's say, Young Justice. And it's all because the focus is on the wrong things: why does White Tiger have to be such a stuck-up lady-dog? Why does Nova have to be that loud? And how come Luke Cage can't get any screentime/voicetime? Or Iron Fist, for that matter? And why must explosions and punches be the highlights [albeit poor ones] of the show, and not character development? And I can't help but think it's done on purpose; there they were, being eaten up by soccer-mom mode Fury, they all stepped up and took responsibility, and just when you think you have a wonderful, series-defining moment on the screen, Spidey says "Whoah" three times and ruins it. Oh, and the jetpack thing got old the minute it was done initially.

Now, I understand that the voice actress of miss Ayala is still seventeen, and I understand that Drake Bell was made to voice Peter as an ass sans the class, but what I don't get is why? Honestly, even children can't be that stupid to watch 22 minutes of BLOW! POW! KABLAM! and no emotion or chemistry between the characters doing the onomatopoeias.

But this episode, surprisingly, was not without good points. For instance, the crybaby gag was actually spot-on for a change. And the Doom-Fury-Spidey dinner could also pass as interesting. [And no, I did not like the Son of Coul/Fury bit regarding the school budget]. But what really shined - again, surprisingly - is Doom. Maurice LaMarche is a good VA, and despite the fact that his voice didn't fit with herr Victor in this author's opinion, he proved to be as much of a calculating genius as we remember him - and want...nay, NEED him - to be. His speech at the nigh-end of the episode was the pinnacle, the coup de grace, the zenith of Doomed, and something which still gives hope for good, I daresay excellent episodes in the near future.

Sadly, this was not one of them. Ultimate Spidey needs to find a solid ground to stand on, and soon.

Under and In.