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Ultimate Spider-Man
#64 - "The Spider-Verse, Part Four"
Original Airdate - March 26th, 2015
When the Goblin uses DNA from six alternative Spider-Men to grow his own powers, the original Spider-Man will need to assemble his alternative world counterparts to defeat him.

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

Returning to his universe, Spider-Man finds himself against the Goblin who uses the DNA of the other Spider-Men (and Girl and Ham) to become Spider-Goblin. I felt this transformation was a bit over the top. In this show, Norman Osborn has turned into the Goblin, Iron Patriot, Goblin-Venom, and now Spider-Goblin. What’s next, Goblin King? Now I have no idea why the Goblin went looking for Spider DNA anyways, but I assume he wanted to match Spidey in abilities so Spider-Man couldn’t beat him in a fight. (?) Alone against Spider-Goblin, Peter uses his environment in the downed Helicarrier to attack Goblin.

I really liked Goblin’s conversation with Spider-Man as he reveals to Peter that he knows his identity. I didn’t even remember the Goblin didn’t know Spider-Man’s secret identity until I remembered the Carnage episode. Anyways, the Goblin threatens to pay Aunt May and Harry a visit. It was nice to hear Aunt May mentioned though she’s never seen in this episode sadly. The fact that Goblin was planning to attack Harry was cool and twisted…until you find out the Goblin has pretty much lost the Norman Osborn part of his mind. That moment was good while it lasted. It’s sad that Mary Jane wasn’t mentioned. It just shows how unimportant she’s become in the show.

As the battle rages, Spidey asks Electro to send the other Spider-Men, so the whole gang comes together to defeat Spider-Goblin. At first, the heroes (unsurprisingly) bump into each other and argue (remind you of another team, perhaps?). Fortunately, they get their act together and take down Spider-Goblin. From there, Spidey electrocutes Spider-Goblin (with Electro’s help) and changes him, once again, to Norman Osborn. The ‘Web-Warriors’ admittedly made a good team (Spider-Man’s original team have no name, yet Spidey's new team and this team do… strange). Sadly, Spider-Ham felt very out of place in my opinion. Everyone was serious except for him.

After Norman is saved, Electro is unleashed from the Siege Perilous and changes the Helicarrier into some sort of mech. The heroes battle Electro in the streets leaving seven Spideys to figure out how to take down a giant mech. I have no idea why Electro became the ‘end boss’ or why he was in this story at all. Either way, I enjoyed his villainy here, and Peter showed his science smarts by ‘conducting’ a plan to ‘ground’ Electro (get it?). Following the fight, the heroes thank Spider-Man for putting his faith in them, as they, as a team, put their faith in him. Spider-Ham even calls Peter the Ultimate Spider-Man, which feels a little forced, but that’s a minor issue.

Returning to our regularly scheduled programming, the next day (assumingly), Norman has lost his memory of the past few years keeping Peter’s secret safe. Though it’s heavily hinted that he may still remember as he looks at a spider crawling on a web between some flowers. I’m not sure what else this show could do with the Goblin, so I can’t say I’m excited. He seems overused at times but we’ll see. Nick Fury congratulates Peter for saving the day, Spider-Man looks off into the blue sky, and states that any time or place “Spider-Man matters”.

I have some other moments I’d like to point out. Spider-Man 2099 looked pretty great in traditional animation. His blue webs also looked cool and ‘futuristic’. Spyder-Knight was pretty fun whenever he spoke. I was surprised Spider-Girl didn’t make a comment about why she was the only female Spidey out of the group. Spider-Ham kind of reminded me of Beast Boy from Teen Titans Go!. Spidey made an amusing kiss and run joke at the beginning of the episode. During the battle against Goblin, Peter said, “I’m Spider-Man” in a nasally kind of voice, which was also amusing to me. I found it interesting that each episode had a different writer like Eugene Son and Paul Dini. I wonder what other Spider-Men could have shown up. Classic 1967 Spider-Man? Superior Spider-Man? Spider-Man India? Scarlet Spider? The list goes on.

All in all, this was a solid end to the "Spider-Verse" saga, but not perfect (Spider-Goblin, really?). Either way, the episode had enough great moments to ignore the questionable ones. This story-arc won't satisfy everyone, and some folks might nitpick every issue, but I felt it was a strong example of how far this show has come. If the comic story is half as fun as this one, fans will be in for a treat. Marvel Animation did a great job bringing "Spider-Verse" to younger viewers who won't likely read the main comic event, fans uninterested in comic events, of fans overwhelmed by the wealth of "Spider-Verse" side stories to pick up. "New Warriors" was a great lead-in to this episode but it seems the next episode won't include any aftermath to this event. I wonder if the Web-Warriors will return for the big season finale. Hopefully the second half of this season will be as good (if not way better) than this 'ultimate' crossover spectacular!