Spider-Man: The Animated Series (Season 03)

Doctor Strange

"You should take that act to Vegas. All he needs is a couple of tigers." - Spider-Man

Written by: John Semper and Mark Hoffmeier.

Family is a fundamental aspect of any iteration of the Spider-Man story and the season premiere of the third season brings this to the forefront. Mary Jane is kidnapped and Spider-Man is looking for her. After a season of sci-fi horror, we encounter the magic world of Doctor Strange, Wong, Baron Mordo, and Dormammu. This was a great change of pace for the series, an episode where Spider-Man's powers were pretty uneffective in combat. Mary Jane that assumes the protagonism here, dealing with her abusive father's past and being brainwashed because of that. It was a great character arc for Mary Jane to overcome by herself the mind control and break free of her past. This allowed her to be a protagonist and not just a damsel in distress. The episode also introduces Doctor Strange in great fashion, telling us about its story with Mordo through quick and productive flashbacks. The character added a lot to the episode, with Spider-Man's reactions to the world of magic being the humorous highlight here.

Make a Wish

"I am not your enemy, Peter Parker. You are." - Madame Web

Story by: John Semper.

Teleplay by: Mark Hoffmeier, Elliot S. Maggin, and Meg McLaughlin.

Make a Wish is a brilliant episode. It combines three of the best stories from Spider-Man into one and delivers the content in unforgettable fashion. We see Peter Parker giving up on being Spider-Man ("Spider-Man No More!"), Madame Web making her presence known and showing how important of a character it will be, the hero's origin story and a recollection of the classic The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man. This combination shows a powerful story where we are reminded that Peter Parker has personal misfortunes amid his heroism. It just shows that his struggles will never be over as long as he embraces his responsibilities. The only negative here for me are the dream sequences in the origin story. I was never a fan of the dream sequences and Peter showing up as an actual spider is more gross than entertaining. But even with that, this episode still ranks highly on my list of favorite episodes of the series. The story, the chemistry with Taina, Madame Web confronting Peter, Doctor Octopus gaining the upperhand and outsmarting the hero... Everything positive meshes so well that brings the episode into a different bracket of great episodes.

Attack of the Octobot

"I do know who I am now. And I'll be ready. And it's all because of the faith of a little girl that's more of a superhero than I'll ever be." - Spider-Man

Written by: Meg McLaughlin and John Semper.

Spider-Man loses his memory and begins an uneasy alliance with Dr. Octopus before Taina saves him. While a weird story, the emotional punches that shown in the relationship between Spider-Man and Taina makes this a sweet conclusion to the arc. The episode relies on Spider-Man being confused about his identity, both because of amnesia as well as because of his previous disappointments, which led the protagonist to abandon his superhero persona. This is a deep arc that resonates with Madame Web's talks about a bigger challenge coming for our hero and those moments are the heart of the episode. My least favorite aspect are the robberies with Dr. Octopus, but it is understandable why they are needed. Our glimpses on the cab drivers community helping our hero are a delight, though, showing how much of an impact Peter Parker has on the city. This episode is a nice collection of sweet moments, ending with a darker tone that only amplifies the meaning of all that we just witnessed.

Enter the Green Goblin

"Alright, Hobgo... You are not the Hobgoblin!" - Spider-Man

Story by: John Semper.

Teleplay by: Marty Isenberg and Robert N. Skir.

The third season of Spider-Man: TAS has every episode with the prefix The Sins of the Fathers. In the Season Premiere, it was Mary Jane that had to deal with the trauma that her father caused in her life. Here, we take a closer look at Harry, which brings us the debut of the Green Goblin. It is an interesting choice to have one of the main antagonists debut almost as an one-off, but this takes nothing from the episode. The Green Goblin establishes himself as a menace out of the gate kidnapping Oscorp's Board of Directors and Mary Jane. The insanity of the character is well displayed and the action sequences with Spider-Man are well crafted. It is interesting that everything is presented as the result of an accident and Norman Osborn returns to normal at the end of the episode. The Green Goblin has much more importance in future episodes and his introduction is just a small bit of much more evil things that will come from the character.