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Ultimate Spider-Man
#61 - The Spider-Verse, Part One
Original Airdate - March 5th, 2015
When the Goblin opens portals to alternate worlds, Spider-Man must team up with alternative versions of Spider-Man to stop him, including a future version from the year 2099 (guest voice Freddy Rodriguez), and Spider-Girl (guest voice Olivia Holt), from a world where everyone's gender has been swapped!

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

And so begins Spider-Verse. Season three of Ultimate Spider-Man has started off great, and while this may be early to say, I think this season will finally be a season fans are proud of overall. This show has finally become the show I wanted to see since the beginning.

I thought this was a pretty great start to the crossover event. Following the Goblin through a portal, Spider-Man finds himself in the world of Marvel 2099! At first, I was turned off by the idea of a CG 2099, but it actually works. It's kind of a cross between Spider-Man: The New Animated Series and the Heroes United movies (and I mean that in the best way). After discovering Alchemax, the first alternate hero Spidey meets is Spider-Man 2099. Before I continue, I must say Spider-Man 2099 is easily my favorite alternate universe Spider-Man. I'm so glad he's finally in animation. I couldn't believe Iron Man 2099 beat Miguel to the punch. Miguel O'Hara looked pretty good, and he sounded like a cross between Dan Gilvezan's voice (Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions) and Christopher Daniel Barnes' voice (Spider-Man: Edge of Time). Christopher actually reprises his role as Electro in this episode. I don't quite understand Electro's inclusion, other than being a wink and nod to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 maybe.

Anyways, after showing off his speed and agility to take on Spidey, Miguel and Peter come to an understanding, all in time to take down the Goblin, who looks really ugly in CG (that's a good thing, since he's supposed to look gross). The music, here, sounded like something out of Tron. Drake Bell's voice keeps you connected to the USM world since everything else feels so different. (Plus, cutaway Spidey appears in CG!).

After that really cool adventure (did I mention Spider-Man 2099?!), the animation returns to normal as Peter meets his female counterpart Petra. Some fans complained about Mayday Parker's exclusion, but it might have been confusing to explain here. Olivia Holt works nicely here as Spider-Girl. It's interesting to see how this show tackled gender inequality by switching the roles. Men are looked down upon, while women stand strong. It really shows just how messed up our real world is. Norma Osborn (Norman Osborn's counterpart) appears, beautifully voiced by Hot in Cleveland star Wendie Malick. She sounds great here (though it also helps that I like her voice)! Appearing in a classic green and purple costume, the Goblin gives Norma some of his serum and juices her up. It's funny to see Spider-Man react to the classic pumpkin bombs for the first time, and being called adorable! There's even a reference to Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and the classic Spidey story "The Night Gwen Stacy Died."

All in all, this episode was an awesome start to an awesome crossover event. I'm glad this general storyline premise was brought to animation. Even though Spider-Man 2099 never got to say "What the shock?", this episode really clicked with me. Let's hope this stellar event keeps its momentum!