Wow, I just watched Subtext. While it's not technically as great an episode as Gangland, I found it in some ways to be even more impressive. It's even tighter and will probably hold up to scrutiny a lot better. It was hands down Kevin Alteri's best episode, and given the way he's handled action-packed episodes this season, that's saying a hell of a lot. Molten Man makes his debut. Obviously. With this being his first animated appearance ever, he can definitely be considered Spider-Man's most neglected classic villain over the years. Can his Spectacular iteration possibly make up for that? Does it ever.
Details on Mark's character were only vaguely alluded to in previous episodes, but we can now confirm what I previously suspected: this version of Mark Allan is a combination of Mark Raxton and Bennett Brant (Betty's brother from an early ASM story) from the comics. I'd go as far as to say that neither character was particularly strong in the comics, but here their traits are tied together so seamlessly that I'd dare to call both character fragments a single great idea that tragically, due to some cosmic interference, never came together in Stan Lee's eccentric imagination.
In the comics, Mark Raxton was a greedy, profit-driven scientist who got his just desserts in a random lab accident. As much as I would've liked to see Spencer Smythe somehow involved in this incident as he was in the comics, the way Mark Allen's fate was portrayed here was much harsher. It was his own undoing, and cannot be pinned on something as contrived as a lab accident. Combining his negative traits with those of Bennett Brant did soften the resulting character somewhat, but also introduced a new hint of depth and significance beyond simply being the brother of Peter Parker's first girlfriend.
I initially thought that skipping Bennett Brant's somewhat notable story in the comics was an obvious way of avoiding a character death in the series. But now I've come to believe that death was all too cheap a fate for Bennett to face for his gambling problem. This notion was further driven home by the fact that this episode marked the first time we've seen characters killed on-screen in this series. (It was a bit ambiguous, but there's no way that those thugs survived that pumpkin bomb explosion.) Unlike Bennett, Mark pays a much more direct and tragic price for his bad habits, with Blackie Gaxton subjecting him to a questionable experiment. Heck, I'm almost tempted to say that being injected with an experimental substance can be seen as a more realistic fate in Bennett/Mark's predicament, flamboyant super powers aside.
This experiment, of course, was performed by Norman Osborn's new mad scientist for hire... whom I don't think I even need to bother identifying. You should have all figured that out by now. But needless to say, things do not go well for Mark. He has become a truly tragic character, and the frantic action and carnage that inevitably ensues around him only drive this home further. With Liz and MJ caught in the middle of it all, it's amazing just how personal the whole situation feels, but at the same time the character connections and motivations are so well established and laid-out that none of it ever feels like a coincidence.
And Green Goblin? Devious in more ways than ever, thanks quite a bit to how much time he spends doing things besides flying on his glider. But if they're still trying to lead the audience to believe that there's even a remote possibility that Harry is the Green Goblin, this episode certainly didn't do a very good job. But I can't say I'm too concerned about that.
I've been waiting for this episode for a long time, and it definitely surpassed my expectations. I think virtually the only criticism I can think of is that everyone was able to recognize Mark's voice beneath Molten Man's fiery exterior, yet none of these people can recognize Peter's voice behind Spider-Man's mask.
