World Ultimate Spider-Man animated series discussion thread

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

thank you... I agree...

 

[Sebastos]

Clancy Brown as Taskmaster for the win!

Hope we see more of him, seems like we will.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

So I finally watched this, and Badroc giving Spider-Man this much trouble deserves the emotion, after he defeated him earlier he should be easier
Ayala acts like the annoying big sister

"Flash is Spider-Man" Living Brain issue anyone?

thank you... I agree...

WHAT?

I want the better less goofy more badass design, with a awesome voice actor for the role
The end

Clancy is awesome, but I always had Cummings in my mind voicing the design used

 

[Dread]

This weekend, Disney XD may as well have been named Iron Fist Network, as the immortal weapon from K'un L'un will naturally get to be featured in both of Marvel's animated offerings, "AVENGERS: EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES" and this underwhelming enterprise. Episode 6, "WHY I HATE GYM" introduces the villain Taskmaster to Marvel Animation, after increased appearances in the comics and being one of the fighters in ULTIMATE MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 3. Last week I professed supreme irritation that Taskmaster's debut would be in a series as trite as "ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN", but having seen the actual episode, I do have to call a spade a spade. This episode's not bad. And by not bad I mean it actually hits the average marker. It's grade C, middle of the road, 5 out of 10, 2 stars out of 4. And THAT makes it the BEST episode of the show's history thus far. Go low expectations, eh?

The plot is simple, as most tend to be on this show.

Spoiler

Dr. Octopus, who is still working for OsCorp, wants Spider-Man apprehended so he can continue to perform experiments on him to mass produce his powers for Osborn. Quite why he needs to do this when he already got Spidey's DNA in "VENOM" I don't know, unless Ock in this show was so dumb he didn't create multiple cultures of that blood sample instead of wasting all of it to create Venom. At any rate, he hires Taskmaster to do this task since Ock believes Spider-Man is a student at Midtown High as well as is supplied with SHIELD weapons. Taskmaster is played by Clancy Brown and as usual he does a solid job playing a villain. Meanwhile, Spidey is busy fighting Batroc The Leaper (who lives up to every French stereotype possible aside for wearing a baret and surrendering), and getting a lecture on the importance of training from the overachieving White Tiger. By this point I would like to mention that in six episodes, Venom was the only villain who has appeared who is actually a Spider-Man villain, which is low even for "SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS" standards (where the first few episodes at least featured Green Goblin and Kraven). To this end, Taskmaster poses as Midtown High's sub gym teacher, Mr. Yeager, and holds athletic try-outs to determine which of the students has the moves to be Spider-Man. Naturally, Taskmaster in this show has photographic reflexes, and can copy any action he sees once; the animation for showing this involves showing a lot of numbers and diagrams, which reminds me of how Amadeus Cho's power is supposed to work. Because Peter deliberately messes up in gym class to throw off suspicion - a feat he has to freeze the show and explain to the audience for a couple of minutes as if we're dullards - Taskmaster winds up suspecting Spidey as Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson or Daniel Rand. He thus orders the trio to appear on a Saturday, during which he turns Principle Coulson's SHIELD security against him to lay his trap. White Tiger is irritated about not making the cut and wants to attend anyway, but gets a clue something it up by the electric fence.

While the episode is no masterpiece, it's a decent affair. Taskmaster naturally proves able to overwhelm Rand by copying his moves as well as being able to spank Spidey and Tiger, despite all the training of the latter. As a twist, he sees potential in Spider-Man and offers his past as a former SHIELD agent, warning Spidey that Fury will ultimately betray him once he's no longer useful. Naturally, Spidey refuses Taskmaster's job offer and instead comes up with his own plan to confuse and overwhelm the copycat artist. The awkward lesson is that it's okay to ditch training and practice if one happens to be a prodigy who often gets lucky and has friends to bail him out, but by this stage Spider-Man isn't here to be a moral paragon, but to be the goofy slapstick hero who always wins. In fairness, stressing imagination and creativity in a crisis isn't a bad lesson I suppose. The action's not bad and Taskmaster's original outfit is well designed and animated.

Where the episode fails is where it always fails; some of the dumb jokes and the reality bending "chibi" antics. For the most part Taskmaster is treated as threatening, aside for one sequence. We get the return of the dumb Spider-Devil/Angel bit, and more of Peter's lectures to the audience which he (and by he, I mean the producers) assume are so dumb they can't even wipe their rear ends without a tutorial. This episode happened to have far less of these moments than previous episodes, which ends up being a boon despite itself. Batroc in the beginning was annoying, but he's often played for laughs even in the comics. This episode actually allowed many of the moments to speak for themselves and stand on their own without bombarding the viewer as much as in prior episodes. Imagine that.

Easily the most successful episode of the season thus far - in that it hits the mark of mediocrity. If I were an optimist, at this rate I might assume episode #8, nearly a third of the way into the season, might actually be good. I'm not, however. It is easier to stick around for a show like this when it manages to hit a grade of "Meh" instead of "UGH!", although mediocrity as a peak will naturally spark apathy. Spider-Man himself is displayed in his most annoying animated incarnation ever, but let's end this review on a positive note. While the episode wasn't good, it was the first that wasn't bad. "USM" needs all the ones it can get.

 

[Panthro]

How much you want to bet that the little bit of progress made between Spidey & White Tiger here will be forgotten by the next episode?

 

[Dread]

How much you want to bet that the little bit of progress made between Spidey & White Tiger here will be forgotten by the next episode?

You mean much like that lesson Spidey and Nova learned about responsibility?

 

[SpaceWay2009]

lol I guess this show is going for the episodic route, instead of continuity. lol

 

[Sebastos]

It was great to see Batroc the Leaper, oui oui!

 

[Sebastos]

 

[mehrabix]

How much you want to bet that the little bit of progress made between Spidey & White Tiger here will be forgotten by the next episode?

what progress?! because I didn't notice any

 

[mehrabix]

I believe every Spidey fan agrees that this is not a Spider-Man cartoon. I mean, yes it is called Ultimate “Spider-Man” but it has nothing in common with the character that I love more than anything in the world. So this week I tried to watch it as an animation aficionado and not the huge Spider-man fan that I am. In other words, I just wanted to be entertained but once the episode was over I realized the show isn’t even a decent “action cartoon” because 1- I don’t find the characters to be the least bit interesting and I am unable to care about any of them 2- the action scenes are not entertaining and the fight chorography is done maladroitly 3- the jokes are so unfunny they are pathetic 4- there is absolutely no character development. Worse, there is no dynamic between the characters 5- the voice acting is mediocre and none of the voices stand out as being even remotely memorable 6- some of the scenes are confusing and I think poor editing or storyboarding is to blame 7- the plots seem be very thin and yawn-inducing and it seems the writers cannot come up with interesting or original ideas for the show 8- the animation isn’t really as great as some people claim it is. It is flashy and all that but nothing ground-braking

 

[Panthro]

what progress?! because I didn't notice any

So far they've mostly just annoyed each other playing the roles of young slacker hero & overachieving alpha female (some may view this as a surrogate sibling rivalry but your mileage may vary); in the end of this ep White Tiger/Ava was willing to admit that Spider-Man/Peter's knack for improv proved useful and was even willing to help him crack jokes on Coulson. In any other series this might count as "bonding" (and I use that term loosely) but given the nature of this series I imagine they'll be back at square one.

You mean much like that lesson Spidey and Nova learned about responsibility?

Exactly.

 

[BadLuckExpert]

This episode is fairly good. Especially because they showed us why Peter always act like a nerd in school when he got powers, I find that part quite.. hero-ey. And also, am I the only one who see a Spidey X White Tiger pairing in this episode?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

The way panels move mixed with wall breaking, it reminds me of the classic Ninja Turtles cartoon, which is a sad thing, that show is terrible

Spoiler

By this point I would like to mention that in six episodes, Venom was the only villain who has appeared who is actually a Spider-Man villain, which is low even for "SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS" standards (where the first few episodes at least featured Green Goblin and Kraven).

Since you said "made an appearance" and not "faced by Spidey", this show beat Spider-Friends cause it has 2 Osborn's (don't know how they'll build Harry to be Venom (check credits in episode 4)), and Ock

lol I guess this show is going for the episodic route, instead of continuity. lol

Not a bad thing, the best Batman show has it more episodic, and with the inconsistencies we noted here, it's for the best not to have it continuity tight

 

[strugler]

Another review of last sunday's episode, giving it a 6.5/10 and calling it th best episode of a mediocre show:

http://tinyurl.com/6o2tkxl

 

[macattack]

This is a repost of something I made on Toonzone (and on the other USM thread) but felt it was relevant to post here.

I've been giving some thought towards USM's squad lineup. As the series has progressed it's become apparent that the team, in terms of personality and powers, is pretty flawed. Nearly all of the characters are bruisers other than Spider-Man and Nova. They just go up and clock you in the face. I also wanted to avoid what Medinnus likes to call "infantilizing" by taking an adult Marvel superhero and making him/her a teenager, or using racelifting or just making a brand-new character to get the desired diversity. At the same time, certain parameters need to be set. You need marketability, you need some ethnic diversity, and you need at least CONNECTIONS to bigger names for some (thus serving your corporate interests). So this is how I probably would've done it. I'm not saying the six characters I chose would've been on the team from the start but they probably would've joined up within the first six or seven episodes.

I tried my best. I did tweak some personalities to a degree from the comics to help give them more unique-ness, to really lend different moods to the team.

Spider-Man's team:

1. Rebecca "Rikki" Barnes (has gone by "Nomad" and "Bucky")

She is a Jeph Loeb creation so I'm really shocked she has had no role in USM. She is Bucky Barnes' granddaughter from an alternate universe, though since this is USM you don't need to play the "AU" angle. She has obvious connections to Captain America and you can definitely try to give her a "the newest soldier in the family" feel with her because of this connection to Captain America and Bucky Barnes. You could say that Rikki would have been training to become a SHIELD agent and lead a squad her entire life. She is Caucasian and a redhead which would likely cause some fireworks between Peter and MJ. XD

The dynamics between her and Spider-Man are obvious. Rikki would be hostile but would try to be professional about it until Spider-Man screws up. Rikki's attitude is understandable to a degree. She has spent her whole life training for this and she has to be second-in-command to a punk kid in spandex? Or is she being slighted because she has no superpowers and Spider-Man does? Of course she would be pissed off! But the very reason she's not in command is this immaturity. Look at how Captain America has calmly let Iron Man lead the Avengers in EMH while still trying to get the confidence of his teammates, Captain America may still take charge in EMH because of that (well, once he gets away from the Skrulls XD). Rikki is going to need to learn that she isn't entitled to this and learn humility. At the same time she is dutiful to a degree and if Flash picks on Peter Rikki would probably be the one to stop Flash or even give Flash a taste of his own medicine.

You can either call her "Nomad" or "Bucky". If you use "Bucky" you can probably get this exchange:

PETER: Bucky? You seriously call yourself Bucky? I can see why you're not in charge, the best superhero name you can come up with is Bucky?

RIKKI: *"anime twitching" face*

But Nomad would probably be better overall, less prone to cheap jokes and more badass-sounding. Though maybe Rikki would have gone by Bucky initially and then realized the flaws of such a name. XD

She has no powers and she needs SHIELD gadgetry (such as her vibranium coat) in order to survive some fights. In combat, she uses her excellent hand-to-hand and weapons skills to beat foes. You can use her as the team's "sniper" if you need to, and if you need to show off SHIELD toys to sell she's an ideal candidate because she needs them.

2. Laura Kinney (X-23)

Yeah, I know. Censorship. She can't use her claws unless the target is well-armored, invulnerable or a machine. Though when three of your first six episodes feature Doombots, The Living Laser, and Venom, X-23 might use her claws more than you might think (though she wouldn't be particularly effective against Venom or Laser). However, you can use this to your advantage. X-23's past is as an assassin (a term you can still use in children's animation) and she is trying to move on from that. If she thinks about going for the kill on a target you can go for the poignancy of her trying to become a better, more heroic person. Plus, after being an assassin in her childhood, you can get some great mileage out of X-23 being a total fish out of water in a public high school, and use this for both comedic and poignant effect.

The reason for using X-23 is obvious. She has the Wolverine connection going on. Wolverine is popular. X-23 would be like having Wolverine in the show to a degree without it being Wolverine. Her personality wouldn't be like Wolverine's, though. She would likely be the strong, silent type in the field but be oddly shy and reserved in school, though with an undercurrent of anger and rebellion underneath. She is trying to get better but her own instincts and past life are hindering her. Perhaps she would take a liking to Spider-Man, though. After all, Spider-Man is a likable-enough guy when he isn't being a jerk. Though when he is a jerk, X-23 would want to dopeslap him or kick his ass because, well, she is Wolverine's clone after all. XD So guess . . . love/hate?

X-23 is fast, sleek, and stealthy, capable of catching a lot of people off guard, and potentially she can take just as much punishment as Wolverine. Plus, if you're creative enough, there's enough enemies in the Marvel Universe out there that would be targets (or provide targets) for X-23 to claw up.


3. Ejijah Bradley "Patriot"

The strong, semi-silent type. Like Rikki he also has a Captain America connection, his grandfather fought with Steve Rogers. Unlike Rikki though, Elijah does have some powers at his disposal, he shares Captain America's powerset, and he does use a few weapons, namely a triangular version of Captain America's shield and some throwing stars shaped like those in the American flag. He is also African-American which helps adding the ethnic diversity.

Personality-wise, I think Elijah would present himself as being on Rikki's side a lot. Perhaps they're childhood friends, maybe even a developing romantic couple. At the same time Elijah has a more mature personality than any of the other characters. He's dealt with some serious crap in the past but he grew up from it rather than becoming more introverted or angry. He demands respect without actually demanding it. And he is capable of making quick, sharp judgments in the field, showing a capacity for strategizing and leadership he doesn't even know he has. Maybe if the team gets bigger and we get "Alpha" and "Beta" squads he would wind up leading one.

Like I mentioned, he has Captain America's powers. That comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses and you can use him the way Captain America is used in EMH. Like Rikki, he would need SHIELD's toys to a degree, at least to get around. Patriot and Nomad using SHIELD vehicles to dispense justice probably would provide some epic moments.

4. Michiko "Mickey" Musashi (aka "Turbo")

Here's your third and last girl on the team. She's a normal girl, until she puts her suit on. Then she can do some serious stuff. You have a colossal moveset with her, and her suit is connected with both Nova and aliens so you can bring those potential angles in eventually. Perhaps she would be the most outspoken and extroverted, and be really likable and fun to have around. She dyes her hair a lot, sometime with just highlights, or maybe all the way or in layers. She's brand-new at the superhero thing and still finds it a game of sorts where she can just don a suit and kick serious ass. However, when she's separated from the suit when stuff starts going down, she's more nervous and tentative (and who wouldn't?). Her greatest fear is losing the suit. She is Japanese-American.

After serious Rikki and Elijah and the dour Laura, you need someone who would be just as much fun as Spider-Man to keep the mood light. She would be that girl. She would be the team member who takes a liking to Spider-Man from the get-go, be the one who has the most fun, but also is the one who has the most to learn about responsibility. Despite all of her power she isn't responsible with it and can be way too lax and overconfident, making situations worse (heck, she'd probably set up the Doom episode by deciding she'll go an kick Doom's ass and everybody has to go bail her out). She needs to learn how to, well, not do that. You can use this for both dramatic and comedic instances pretty easily.

Turbo's powers are vast. Flight. Energy disruption. Air blasts. Super strength. This myriad assembly can lend to a lot of creativity in using her.

5. William "Billy" Kaplan ("Wiccan")

He's the most "emo" of the group. He was the kid bullied the most in grade school and he absolutely does not stand for it (and thus needs to be held back while someone less "emotional" like Rikki or Elijah would handle the situation). He's a mutant and like X-23 has wound up on the team to try to get his life and his powers in order. Like Turbo he is a bit reckless, but not for the same reasons. He is driven by this relentless desire for acceptance, not only because he is a mutant, but he's linked to the controversial Scarlet Witch who is the woman who granted him his powers. In fact, he looks up to her, he considers her his favorite Avengers and wants to fight at her side someday. At the same time, though, he spends a lot of his time alone or in thought, sort of like X-23 but it isn't because of shyness, it's because he doesn't feel like he really belongs. He is Caucasian and dark-haired.

I think he would probably be more accepting of Spider-Man, though not as openly friendly as Turbo would be. He's more insular and more of a loner, and not exactly the biggest team player. He'll follow instructions no matter what his reluctance though because he wants to become an Avenger, and he knows he needs to obey orders to do that. He does not trust Rikki or Elijah at all, because they're the most "normal" of the group and so are the ones most likely to fear him or despise him. The only reason Turbo has won him over is because she's just so bright and outgoing that Wiccan can't help but like her. Perhaps his most kindred spirit is X-23.

His power set is also diverse. Spell-casting. Flight. Astral projection. Teleportation. Lightning and force fields and potentially even reality alteration. You can see how this guy can come in handy in virtually any situation.

6. Victor Alvarez ("Power Man")

Who needs to de-age Luke Cage and Iron Fist when you got this guy? He can do all of the things Luke Cage and Iron Fist can do, thanks to the bonus of chi manipulation. He can potentially weaken foes by drawing chi away from them and drawing strength to himself, making him both a strategic asset as well as a bruiser. Perhaps like Turbo he'd also be new at the hero thing, but unlike Turbo who'd be light-hearted about it all, because of his ability to draw chi away from people, including enemies, Victor would probably be the cocky one. Though when he does encounter enemies he can't do this too (like, say, Doctor Doom or Venom) he might panic because his advantage is gone, while he isn't ordinary his ability to change the playing field is being ripped away from him. He is Afro-Dominican.

He'd probably be the one who comes up with the most half-cocked type of plans and probably inspire Turbo into doing something reckless, that is, if he doesn't do it himself. While he can be likable he'd probably drive everyone crazy, even Spider-Man himself. Like Turbo he has the most to learn about responsibility though he needs that lesson in a different way than Turbo does. He needs to learn how to react when things don't go his way, and how to become a true team player.

He can do nearly all of the same things Luke Cage and Iron Fist can do. If you wanted to you could probably even tweak his moveset so he is a literal merger of the two characters.

Potential future characters: Firestar (the Liz Allen version) and the Lyra She-Hulk for the girls, and Mettle and Iron Lad for the boys. All four characters would bring their own distinct dynamics to the team and provide distinct and unique perspectives and personalities.

So . . . what do you think? Four guys, three girls, with potential for expansion for two more girls and two more guys down the line as we progress through the show. And for an even dozen characters there's always Shadowcat ready and waiting too.

Off-topic, I'd also have killed the very, very bad background music. I'd have gone with Hiroyuki Sawano, personally. He has English fluency, and can do all kinds of music if you listen to his Blue Exorcist, Sengoku Basara, and Guilty Crown work. The doink-y comedy music? Yep. Rock out? Yup. The dramatic Hans Zimmer-esque compositions that Marvel movies are fond of? He can do those big time. He should've been the guy. t:

 

[webfluid.co.uk]

I like to think i am a spider fan through and through and have watched (endured) some pretty poor material over the years cartoon wise and in some cases comic books. i tried my hardest to watch this new animated series as i think it is my duty as i have a spider orientated website.
struggled with it , really, really struggled with it i know there are kids on this site so i shall choose my words, it is total crap and that is putting it mildly. i watched the first 2 episodes thinking oh well it is for kids. But it is just utter crap that bears no relation to anything spiderman, looks like it was put together by aliens and i can't believe brian bends puts his name on the credits. Sure hope the new film does not destroy the character anymore.

 

[Panthro]

This episode is fairly good. Especially because they showed us why Peter always act like a nerd in school when he got powers, I find that part quite.. hero-ey. And also, am I the only one who see a Spidey X White Tiger pairing in this episode?

In any other series my genre paranoia might agree, in any other series my genre paranoia would probably suspect a White Tiger/Spidey/MJ triangle, but somehow I don't see them going that route (though I'm sure the good people at You-Tube will be churning out Spidey/White Tiger vids & coining annoying shipper nicknames for them, regardless of whether or not there are plans for a ship), not because no such pairing exists in the comics (yet) since it's fairly common for superhero cartoons & movies to cook up pairings that never existed in the comics (pre-Black Cat Felicia Hardy dating Moebius the vampire in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, Kitty Pryde dating a heavily re-imagined version of Avalanche in X-Men Evolution, Wally "Kid Flash" West & Artemis 'Tigress' Crock on Young Justice, John Stewart Green Lantern having an on again/off again love/hate thing with Shayera "Hawkgirl" Hol in the DCAU Justice League/JLU, etc.). No, I don't see them going that route because they probably figure that's not what their target audience, i.e. a bunch of hyper toy happy video game loving little kids, would rather see big explosions & little pink Spidey-devils arguing with little blue Spidey-angels mixed up with a lot of 4th Wall Breaking humor, than become invested in the soap operatic drama of "Will Spidey hook up with White Tiger or not?"

But hey I could be wrong, given how often Spidey's personal life plays into his stories. I don't see it happening given the tone of the show but to quote "Batman Begins" Jim Gordon: "I've been wrong before."

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Another review of last sunday's episode, giving it a 6.5/10 and calling it th best episode of a mediocre show:

http://tinyurl.com/6o2tkxl

I guess the high ratings that show receives is the same kind of rating I used to give Spider-Friends as a kid, from that kind of people

 

[socool]

Preview for episode 7:

http://television.cosmicbooknews.com/content/disney-xds-ultimate-spider-man-episode-7-preview-clip

Would ya look at that. Still no Spider-man characters.

 

[TheWallCrawler]

It almost feels like this show's purpose is to advertise The Avengers...

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Preview for episode 7:

http://television.cosmicbooknews.com/content/disney-xds-ultimate-spider-man-episode-7-preview-clip

Would ya look at that. Still no Spider-man characters.

What about Spider-Man, Peter, Flash, Jonah, May, Harry, MJ, Norman, & Octavius?
I think here we'll have Electro

 

[socool]

What about Spider-Man, Peter, Flash, Jonah, May, Harry, MJ, Norman, & Octavius?
I think here we'll have Electro

It's not a definite if any of those characters will be in the episode, but I meant the clip shows that the main focus of the episode has nothing to do with any other Spider-Man characters.

And that wasn't Electro, that was the Living Taser...WHOSE BASICALLY JUST ELECTRO! (Why the hell didn't they just use him?)

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

And that wasn't Electro, that was the Living Taser...WHOSE BASICALLY JUST ELECTRO! (Why the hell didn't they just use him?)

That's Zzsax, actually, a Hulk villain.

 

[socool]

That's Zzsax, actually, a Hulk villain.

Didn't he call him the Tazer?

EDIT: Nevermind. I'm ******ed.