CHARACTERS · EPISODES · GUIDES · MEDIA · RELEASES · BACKSTAGE · FORUM

Ultimate Spider-Man
#24 - The Attack of the Beetle
Original Airdate - October 14th, 2012
Peter is horrified when Aunt May goes on a date with his principal and secret S.H.I.E.L.D. handler, Agent Phil Coulson. Things get even more complicated when the high tech assassin, The Beetle, returns.

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.

"The Attack of the Beetle" was written by Man of Action and Scott Mosier and directed by Jeff Allen.

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

Video Clips:

Images:

Pretty good episode. I liked the Beetle in his first appearance on the show, and his role here was pretty awesome as well. Plus Agent Coulson gets a lot of screen-time in this episode which was a very good thing. Coulson gets a chance to shine, and I hope this won't be the last time we see him in action. I liked how they revealed that Beetle is one of his old adversaries, and their fight scenes were great throughout the episode. Spider-Man doesn't get to do too much this time, which I didn't really mind seeing as how Coulson proved he can be a better main character. The interactions between Coulson and Spidey were pretty interesting to watch as well; I'm glad in the end Spidey realizes the fact that Agent Coulson is pretty awesome.

Unfortunately the episode does have a lot of flaws as well. For starters, I think they kind of overdid it with Spidey's "breaking the fourth wall" scenes - it was like he just wouldn't shut up, and pretty much every scene was ruined by him stopping to talk to the audience. Then there's the fact that once again the plot reminds me of a generic plot you'd expect to see in a sitcom (not unlike "Home Sick Hulk"), which really hurts the overall story. Another thing that kind of annoyed me was that once Beetle appeared on screen, Spidey had to stop and explain to viewers who he is, most likely for those who missed his debut episode ("Beetle Mania"); another reason why continuity should be acknowledged on this show. Other than that, I don't really have any complaints. As usual, most of the jokes weren't very funny but they weren't horrible either. The fight scenes continue to be one of this show's strong points, but they keep getting interrupted by some of the cutaway gags the show is filled with.

Overall though the episode is pretty good, but mostly thanks to Agent Coulson. Beetle was pretty awesome as well but I think I liked him more in his first appearance. Spidey's team-mates are absent once again and I honestly didn't miss them this time. Though it would have been nice if the entire team saw how good a fighter Coulson really is, if they don't already know. I'd like to see more of Coulson in action along the way, and more team-ups with Spidey. Hopefully when that happens the rest of Spidey's team will again be absent.