5x13 Spider Wars (2): Farewell, Spider-Man

[9.5/10] This was a surprisingly satisfying series finale for Spider-Man: The Animated Series. It had the right mix of dimension-hopping adventures, something that feels true to the unabashedly comic book-y tone of the show, reflections on Peter Parker’s struggles as Spider-Man, which have been a consistent theme, and some of the light and winking humor and continuity nods that have also been trademarks of the series.

What I really enjoyed about this episode is the dimension-hopping and alternate Spider-Men weren’t just there for the sake of coolness or, god help us, even to sell toys. Both alternate Spider-Men who were the focus of this one were really interesting mirror images of Spider-Man.

For one thing, I love how in the Armored Spider-Man’s universe, it’s opposite-land because everything has gone right for that universe’s Peter. He’s uber-successful rather than poor. He’s beloved by the public rather than a city pariah. Hell, even J. Jonah Jameson and Anna Watson love the guy! The episode implies that all of this made Armored Spider-Man a little soft, or at least overconfident, in a way that makes him unsuited to handle real diversity. The subtext is that for all of our Peter’s struggles and hardships over the years, they’ve prepared him for these types of challenges in a way that pure success wouldn’t have.

I also like that Spider-Carnage is not just evil for the sake of evil. He is a dark reflection of Peter, one who is so tired of the slings and arrows that life has thrown at him, he’s not just ready to give up being Spider-Carnage, but he’s ready to destroy all of creation over it. It’s a story about a version of Peter Parker that’s pushed over the edge by the same trials and travails that have tested our Peter.

Plus, there’s all kinds of fun winks and nods in the midst of the dimension-hopping adventures. We get the first appearance of Gwen Stacy in this show in the Armored Spider-Man’s universe, and she’s a fun (albeit very temporary) addition. Pretty much all of the main cast makes a quick appearance here. And Kingpin gets the chance to vaguely heroic (a la his “There’s no profit in the apocalypse” mentality from “The Spot”) and committedly villainous again in multiple universes.

But the most powerful part of this finale is the climax, where Spider-Carnage has kidnapped Gwen Stacy, is prepared to unleash his dimension-destroying technology, and Peter realizes that there’s only way to talk him down.

I love love love the choice to use Uncle Ben here. For one thing, there’s such emotional resonance to the moment, since Uncle Ben has ascended to nigh-myth in the Spider-verse. If anything could get through to the decent young man within Spider-Carnage, it’s him. The voice actor who plays the role brings enough warmth and gravitas to earn the moment where Peter emerges from Carnage’s red viney cocoon, tears up as he’s unable to expel the evil inside of him, and instead apologizes for his misdeeds and destroys himself. It’s a potent moment, both for the impactful presence of Uncle Ben and for the echo of that famous “with great power” idea in heroic but tragic terms.
It’s also a triumph for our Spider-Man, and for the writers, because it’s a clever, rather than fisticuff-based solution to the problem. I’ve enjoyed many if not most of the episodes on this show, but too often, the solution to the villain of the week comes down to “reverse the polarity on some piece of technology” or “beat the bad guy up at the right moment” or even “catch a lucky break.”

But this is Peter Parker using both his wits and his knowledge of himself. It almost makes all of Madame Web’s cryptic philosophizing legitimate, as she’d encouraged him more than once to choose to solve problems with something other than his fists. Here, that sort of choice not only saves the universe, but reflects an understanding of self that has been the motivating force for Spider-Man in this show almost from the very beginning.

And hey, while we’re at it, why not throw in a little pure fanservice as a bit of dessert after some harrowing alternate universe excitement? Having Spider-Man meet Stan Lee is the real world, and thank him for making him a hero is a little cheesy, but it’s also fun, in the goofy way that this show has fun. Spider-Man telling his creator that for once, he likes himself and he likes his life, is the completion of an arc that the show has been chasing for five seasons now.

It’s a little too tidy -- and the line about everyone having to grow up sometime, even fictional characters, is hokey as all get out -- but it gives Spidey something that few comic book heroes get: an ending. The continuing nature of comic book stories means that the fight is never over, which means the challenges, personal or professional, can never end. But for a discrete television series, Spider-Man gets to triumph, gets become happy with himself, gets to earn a measure of more lasting happiness as he closes things out on The Animated Series.

So Madame Web whisks Peter away (but not before Stan Lee can describe the character voiced by his real life wife as an “exotic woman”) and promises to help him find Mary Jane, declaring that he deserves that much after all he’s been through. It’s a happy ending, one that promises Peter reunion with the woman he’s been separated from for two seasons now, whose absence has caused him the most pain and hardship in this show. One images he’ll be more than happy to see her.

So ends Spider-Man: The Animated Series, a show vacillated between being incredibly ambitious for a mid-nineties Saturday morning cartoon, with long-form character work, major arcs and continuity, and some complex emotional storytelling, and being stiff drek there to sell toys, with interminable overstuffed episodes, new robots and vehicles and suits, and rushed plot points.

But on balance, it’s a show that I quite enjoyed, in both the good and the bad. It was unabashed in its embrace of Spidey’s comic book roots, with all the colorful ridiculousness that implies, which made it fun even when it wasn’t always good. It took some big risks: effectively killing of Mary Jane, then killing off her clone, and centering major arcs around Peter’s self-identity.

This is the Spider-Man show I grew up with, so in many ways, this version of Peter will always be my Spider-Man. It was a treat to get to come back and revisit this show as an adult, to see the deeper things it was doing that I didn’t necessarily appreciate as a kid and be able to put the pieces together in a way that was more difficult in the era of scattered syndicated re-airing.

Kudos to John Semper Jr. and his team, not only for putting together this occasionally shaggy but consistently bold show, but for managing to end it in an amazingly satisfying fashion. Sling on, Spidey.