[6.6/10] I don’t know why, but something about the appearance of Blade here confirms for me that, more than any of the other Spider-shows I’ve watched, Ultimate Spider-Man is the spiritual successor to the 1990s Spider-Man series that I grew up on. Something about the scope, and the guest appearances from across the Marvel universe, and spotlight episodes with different tones and adventures makes it seem the closest to its Millennial childhood predecessor.
And like that predecessor, it’s not necessarily good at telling Blade stories. Blade himself is pretty generic, disliking Spider-Man and revealing his daywalker credentials, but otherwise coming off like a pretty generic dude. The whole fight against shadow vampires and need to protect the macguffin du jour don’t do much to heighten the experience, and the jousting for leadership between Spidey and Blade does nothing for me.
Despite that, I kind of like Dracula as a baddie here. Sure, he’s basically another standard issue world-dominator wannabe, but between a unique look and a sort of weariness about the fact that he’s being challenged by these weak mortals makes him a little more interesting. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the bit where he’s hypnotizing the Shield Cadets, or that I’m enthused at the fact that Shield has enlisted some lawyer-safe versions of the Universal Monsters to help, but I’m more on board for Spidey vs. Dracula than I might have expected.
Overall, this one’s a bit underwhelming, but I do appreciate the show exploring all the different corners of the Marvel Universe.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-01-05T18:29:17Z
[6.6/10] I don’t know why, but something about the appearance of Blade here confirms for me that, more than any of the other Spider-shows I’ve watched, Ultimate Spider-Man is the spiritual successor to the 1990s Spider-Man series that I grew up on. Something about the scope, and the guest appearances from across the Marvel universe, and spotlight episodes with different tones and adventures makes it seem the closest to its Millennial childhood predecessor.
And like that predecessor, it’s not necessarily good at telling Blade stories. Blade himself is pretty generic, disliking Spider-Man and revealing his daywalker credentials, but otherwise coming off like a pretty generic dude. The whole fight against shadow vampires and need to protect the macguffin du jour don’t do much to heighten the experience, and the jousting for leadership between Spidey and Blade does nothing for me.
Despite that, I kind of like Dracula as a baddie here. Sure, he’s basically another standard issue world-dominator wannabe, but between a unique look and a sort of weariness about the fact that he’s being challenged by these weak mortals makes him a little more interesting. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the bit where he’s hypnotizing the Shield Cadets, or that I’m enthused at the fact that Shield has enlisted some lawyer-safe versions of the Universal Monsters to help, but I’m more on board for Spidey vs. Dracula than I might have expected.
Overall, this one’s a bit underwhelming, but I do appreciate the show exploring all the different corners of the Marvel Universe.