SPIDER-MAN Episode 20 "Spider-Island Pt.2"
Spider-Man sticks to the side of a building amused that 90% of the people on Manhattan Island have acquired spider powers, and that they're perfectly fine with it and just continue on with their lives. One person he thinks won't be OK with the mass spider infection is his best friend Harry. Peter calls and leaves a message on Harry's phone. He sees a woman falling through the air and rushes to save her. Spider-Gwen swoops in and rescues her just before he gets there. The crowd thanks her and after some dispensed spider advice Gwen and Spidey meet up to talk on a rooftop. Gwen makes the rookie mistake of saying theres "no big problems" when BOOM! introducing Crossbones.
The villain Crossbones has attacked an armored truck in the street so Gwen and Spidey swing into action. Gwen rescues the driver while Spidey takes on the bad guy, with Crossbones getting the upper hand by tossing the ol' webhead high into the sky. Gwen swings in and boots Crossbones. She catches Spidey and the duo work together nicely to knock out the thief. In a funny moment a couple of police officers with spider powers quickly swing in and swing away with the comatose villain over the shoulder. Gwen finds a Vibranium container that Crossbones was going to steal and decides to take it to an expert back at Horizon High. All the while someone in stealth mode watches the pair from afar.
Inside a lab at Horizon High the two come upon Anya Corazon sticking to the ceiling. She is trying to get used to having spider powers and after a little spider advice Gwen shows her the Vibranium container. Anya tells them that it's some kind of micro encrypted key used by government installations. Then oddly Spidey reaches out and catches a little buzzing device. ZAP! All three are suddenly on the ground. Instead of the Predator I was hoping for we get to see Black Widow de-cloak in front of them. She takes the key and after some Tony Stark chit chat directed at Spider-Man KRAKABOOM! An explosion rocks the high school as a squad of Hydra agents appear. Black Widow is confident she take them when the leader tells her she's missing some intel. Some of the Hydra agents have been spider infected and crawl on the walls behind him. Uh oh!
Black Widow uses her blue glowy Stinger Sticks and in a nice little fight sequence takes it to the spider Hydra agents. Spidey and Gwen break out of the Widow's handcuffs and offer more spider advice to Anya as the action picks up. Widow loses the key in the fighting but Spidey gets it and runs up a wall to get away. The Hydra agents manage to get Black Widow to the ground but in a sudden reversal she mightily breaks free! Turns out she has spider powers too! Spidey offers to help her get used to her new powers, but woops she's already using them and kicking butt doing so. Spidey wants to hilariously call her Spider-Black Widow but Gwen shuts him down telling him its redundant.
Spider-Man tries to interrogate one of the Hydra henchmen but can't get anything until Black Widow comes and stands behind him. Then the guy starts to sing about how Crossbones wants the key to rob a Vibranium Vault. Widow gases the guy to sleep and allows Gwen and Spidey to join her in trying to get to the Vault before Hydra. Unfortunately at the Vault Hydra is already there. The trio sneak in and over hear a couple of the guards mention how the "Boss" isn't going to keep Crossbones around. Hmmmm. If he's not the Boss then who is? They all fail to see someone spider crawling on the ceiling in the background.
Turns out the hidden crawler is Crossbones with his own set of spider powers! The guards attack and in a fun fight sequence the trio takes it to the bad guys but Widow convinces them to follow her plan and takes a dive in the battle. Spidey with some funny bad acting "oh no, she..was..our..leader" goes along with it and the three get taken. Widow tells them to look at the bigger picture and go along with her plan because after all "you're new at this".
At the meeting site Crossbones reveals that he's working for none other than classic Marvel villain Arnim Zola. The tv faced scientist, as Spidey puts it, is trying to snatch up Vibranium for his weapons. Now that the trio know who the Boss is they bust out! The Hydra agents attack and in some more sweet comic book action they all battle each other with Widow and Crossbones going at it intensely. Spidey and Gwen take on the guards as Zola attacks. Gwen gets shot by a laser while web swinging so Spidey repays her from earlier by catching her in time. The group gets surrounded by Hydra and it looks grim for our heroes until THWACK! A web hits Arnim Zola. A group of spider powered citizens appear and help the heroes! They were all helped by Spider-Man in the past and they want to return the favor. Everyone starts battling again and the tide gets turned until Zola calls a retreat and Spidey uppercuts Crossbones, ending the fight.
Black Widow is impressed by Spider-Man and takes Crossbones away with her. She complements him and later he and Gwen discuss the whole city having spider powers. Spidey says now he thinks maybe it won't be so bad. They see a robber taking a little old lady's purse in an alley and Spidey lets Gwen take it solo. She webs up the bad guy and gives the purse back. Two police officers land and instantly carry away the thief. Gwen walks away but uh oh....she starts to not feel well....
I liked this episode but it was weird. They included big Marvel characters like Black Widow, Crossbones, and Arnim Zola in the middle of the Spider Island story, which in the comic books didn't happen. The mission could have been in its own episode as it did nothing to move the Spider Island story forward at all. Again I really enjoyed this Marvel action, it just seems like its a bit of unnecessary filler and could have been its own chapter.
