Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom "Amazing Friends, Parts 1-2" Talkback (Spoilers)

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RoyalRubble

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Catch a new hour-long episode of Marvel's Spider-Man, tonight starting at 9:00PM ET on Disney XD! The episodes will also be available on DisneyNOW before their debut on TV.

smv.jpg
Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom "Amazing Friends, Part 1"
Episode Debut - May 17th, 2020

When toddler Groot lands on Earth looking for Spider-Man, our hero has to team up with Ironheart to not only decode the alien’s important message, but to keep him out of the evil clutches of AIM.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom "Amazing Friends, Part 2"
Episode Debut - May 17th, 2020

Spider-Man and Ironheart are forced to team-up with Amadeus Cho (the Totally Awesome Hulk) in order to save the kidnapped toddler Groot from AIM island before Baron Mordo can use Groot’s alien biology, combined with ancient spells, to create an army of mystical monsters loyal to him.

*Felicia Day (“The Guild”) stars as Mary Jane Watson, Sofia Wylie (Disney+’s “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”) guest stars as Ironheart/Riri Williams and Leonard Roberts (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) guest stars as Baron Mordo.

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M.O.D.O.K.

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This was an okay special. I'll admit, I'm not huge on the guest heroes often, so I wasn't super invested. The plot barely advancing didn't help things.

I liked Riri and she made a much better impression than when she debuted in the comics. She's more humble and the Eve Ewing/Kevin Libranda armor is so much better. I didn't care about Amadeus Cho as the Hulk, though. He was kind of annoying. I liked that they got a child as Toddler Groot, but again, I wasn't invested in this plot. I liked the premise of Mordo and AIM working together, though.

MJ was cute and fun, despite the little we got of her. I think they nailed her personality more than the last cartoon did. I hope we get more of her soon.
 

Roxas_Sora

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MJ was cute and fun, despite the little we got of her. I think they nailed her personality more than the last cartoon did. I hope we get more of her soon.

You and me both hope it, pal. The problem with the last cartoon is that they didn't use her very often. And they didn't even give us enough time of her as Spider-Woman at the last season. I would have loved to see her traveling through the Spider-Verse and meet her Noir's counterpart.
 

Frontier

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So Miles is back. I figured he and the girls would be back in the plot sooner then later, but not this quick. They even act like he's been gone longer then it feels like in the show. Which I guess isn't a bad thing, because Miles could definitely use as much spotlight on this show as he can get :sweat:.

MJ finally makes her long-awaited debut...only to end up being in the special for five minutes. Pretty much all of her lines and scenes were featured in promotional material for the special, and while I'm sure she'll play more of a role in the plot moving forward, it's a little disappointing to not see her get to do much or interact with Peter for more then a few seconds after spending so long being kept out of the show :(.

That being said, I like her design, Felicia Day sounds solid, and she seems to have the potential to be a good take on MJ...she just needs more then a few seconds of screentime and dialogue to get that across ;).

Oh, and I guess they're officially retconning that Peter and Mary Jane apparently knew each other from back in season 1, unless they've both just forgotten about it o_O.

Y'know, it's kind of weird to see Peter immediately blushing over a girl after two seasons of him not being interested in girls or romance at all (beyond some teasing with Ms. Marvel). It's like the producers finally got permission to do some romance, only have 12 episodes to do it, and need to hit the ground running. In-universe I have to wonder if MJ is just that cute (compared to Gwen or Anya) or if Peter has a thing for green-eyed redheads :p?

With Guardians over, it's nice to hear Will Friedle as Star-Lord again. They didn't even redesign him much :D.

Look at them using Miles to make fun of the fact that nobody on this show has a life outside of being a Superhero. A "date?" As if :rolleyes2:.

Ironheart was an interesting mix of her comic incarnations. She had the faceplate, chest logo, and Stark AI of her volume 1 incarnation, while the overall armor design of her second volume. She's also a lot less standoffish compared to her initial comics or Marvel Rising persona, although they acknowledge that she's usually one to go her own way whether people like it or not. I thought the show had a solid take on her and this was one of Sofia Wylie's strongest performance as Riri :).

"Avenger Internships?" Is that this show's equivalent to "Avenger sidekicks?" Has Ms. Marvel retroactively been an intern this whole time? Who else is an intern :oops:?

"I don't have a lot of friends without powers." The show actually brings it up! Isn't that a weird thing for Peter Parker to say? That list gets even shorter if you try and list all his friends who aren't scientists. No wonder MJ barely got any screentime in this episode :sad:.

I never thought about the fact that Peter and Riri both have dead parents as part of their backstory. I guess that's the kind of thing that's interesting to see when character cross generations in an adaption like this :anime:.

Leonard Roberts takes over as black Baron Mordo from Phil LaMaar (because it wouldn't be a Marvel cartoon without some casting inconsistency), and while I don't think he brought anything to the table that LaMaar couldn't, he did a good job of capturing Mordo's arrogance and righteous indignation :evil:.

Strange and Mordo are both sporting more MCU-inspired looks, although I kind of preferred their old animated designs. Their MCU looks are a little too plain-looking in animation in my opinion :quinn:.

I love how Riri recaps the plot at the beginning of the second half as if this wasn't just individual episodes grouped together into one-hour specials :harley: .

Amadeus Cho turning up as the Totally Awesome Hulk felt kind of random. Like, I get promoting Ironheart, but Cho hasn't been a Hulk in the comics for a while now, and it would probably be jarring for anyone watching Ultimate Spider-Man to see him go from Iron Spider to a Hulk without any real background or setup (and that's the most exposure the general audience is likely to have of him prior to this). I guess the characterization was on-point as Cho comes off as this super-smart and arrogant kid who overcompensates as a hero because of it, and Ki Hong Lee (surprised they never advertised him) delivered a strong performance :cool:.

Scientist Supreme looks way better here then she did in season 2 :elle:.

So Peter gets to pal around with Miles' friends, while Miles gets to be the one who really interacts with Dr. Strange, who is usually more associated with Peter? I guess that's fair :confused:?

The evil Groots were defeated...by ice cream? Kind of an embarassing way for your plan to get foiled, Mordo :(.

I forget, did Peter go "We Are Venom" in the Guardians team-up episode? Because Peter didn't start calling the Symbiote Venom until after when that episode is placed chronologically, so I'm not sure how Star-Lord would know that :scratchy:.

(Was that ship supposed to be The Milano? It looked nothing like it).

Wait, The Avengers are in space? Where the Symbiote Invasion is coming from? Don't tell me The Avengers are going to return to Earth infected and it'll be up to Spidey, the Spiders, and the Interns to stop them :eek:?
 

Fone Bone

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Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom "Amazing Friends"

For a Venom season, that had very little to do with Venom.

As obnoxious as the Totally Awesome Hulk is, he's nowhere near as annoying and reprehensible as the Amadeus Cho from Ultimate Spider-Man. Just so you know, Cho. Actual smart people don't go around telling people how smart they are. Either that is a character failing or a writing one. I hope it's the former.

So who are the six people on Earth smarter than him?

I love Spidey asking if he could put down that he makes funny quips and Iron Heart tells him he shouldn't lie on his resume. Aww!

Do you know what I love about May's reaction to Peter offering to show his baby pictures to MJ to distract from Groot? She calls it weird. Seriously. Peter's often unhinged behavior is usually taken in stride by the people who love him, but I glad somebody told him, "Dude, that's weird. You're weird." He needed to hear that from a friend.

Iron Heart immediately narcing Groot to the authorities makes me distrust and dislike her right off the bat. I'm wondering why the writers wanted me to do that.

I love that when Groot plays charades, it's all about the three words.

Will Friedle is back. Kevin Michael Richardson being recast stung though.

You go find Doctor Weirdo. Strange. What'd I say? Good line reading there. The recent Marvel shows are not known for funny or well-timed quips. This episode got off a couple of funny zingers.

All right but nothing to write home about. ***.
 

Frontier

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For a Venom season, that had very little to do with Venom.
It was mostly setup o_O.
As obnoxious as the Totally Awesome Hulk is, he's nowhere near as annoying and reprehensible as the Amadeus Cho from Ultimate Spider-Man. Just so you know, Cho. Actual smart people don't go around telling people how smart they are. Either that is a character failing or a writing one. I hope it's the former.
It's part of his character that he has an ego as big as his brain :sweat:.
So who are the six people on Earth smarter than him?
On a general basis there's Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Victor Von Doom, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Black Panther.

I'm not sure if that's the case in this universe but they're probably not going to go into it in-depth.
Do you know what I love about May's reaction to Peter offering to show his baby pictures to MJ to distract from Groot? She calls it weird. Seriously. Peter's often unhinged behavior is usually taken in stride by the people who love him, but I glad somebody told him, "Dude, that's weird. You're weird." He needed to hear that from a friend.
You don't usually rush to show baby pictures to the girl your aunt is trying to hook you up with :p.
Iron Heart immediately narcing Groot to the authorities makes me distrust and dislike her right off the bat. I'm wondering why the writers wanted me to do that.
I don't think she came off as a narc, she came off more as a scientist who's not used to working with a live and sentient specimen.
Will Friedle is back. Kevin Michael Richardson being recast stung though.
I thought it was weird that they suddenly recast the role but I guess they wanted a more younger sounding and cutesy Baby Groot :confused:.

I feel bad for Groot that he apparently hasn't aged since they fought The Serpent :(.
 

bigdaddy313

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Don't get me wrong the episode is fun and all but I feel like this episode was a waste of time, due to the fact that his problem could have being solved a long time ago.

With Peter and Mile's intelligence, they could't figured out that it's to simply get a pen and tune the tape back in by turning it backwards and playing it again.

By the way Groot is way more cute here than he is in the Guardians of the Galaxy animated series.
 

RoyalRubble

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Overall this was pretty good but I admit it felt like they dragged out the plot of Groot delivering the message. The main plot of the symbiote invasion hasn't really progressed much, so it should be interesting to see how it will play out in the next 4 episodes.

It was nice seeing Toddler Groot again. I didn't really mind the voice actor change. I also liked seeing and hearing more from Star-Lord, though I was expecting at least a cameo or something from the other Guardians as well.

Ironheart was a decent guest-star, she didn't really leave a big impression on me but I did find her more entertaining here than in the Marvel Rising stuff, for whatever reasons. Amadeus Cho on the other hand, wasn't too entertaining. He had maybe a couple of amusing lines but as a whole I found him kind of annoying (though I think that was the point). It was nice seeing him as a Hulk though, as opposed to giving him a suit of armor like on Ultimate Spider-Man. A little back-story wouldn't have hurt, but whatever.

Doctor Strange's inclusion was handled well enough I suppose. I was more interested in Baron Mordo and A.I.M.'s partnership though. Their plan was pretty good and those wood golems looked cool. Dumber than expected, but cool-looking nevertheless.

Mary Jane Watson's debut was probably the best part of the episode. Ignoring the continuity inconsistencies like Peter meeting her for the first time here, it was still fun. I did find it a bit odd how Pete was blushing at every other thing MJ said, I mean I get what they were going for, but it still looked weird. All things considered, her debut was fine and I look forward to seeing more of her. Though as I must have said before, I still hope they won't have to give her super-powers of any kind here as well.

All in all, not a bad special but I thought the premiere was a little stronger.
 

Fone Bone

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On a general basis there's Reed Richards, Hank Pym, Victor Von Doom, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Black Panther.

I'm not sure if that's the case in this universe but they're probably not going to go into it in-depth.
Wait, the 7 smartest people in the Marvel Universe are all superheroes and villains? That is not credible.
 

Frontier

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No, it really doesn't.
I mean, there's never been a hard confirmation of who's on the list, that was just my speculation based on who, on a general basis, are depicted as the smartest people in the Marvel Universe.

Maybe there's a random civilian who's just as smart as Tony Stark or Reed Richards...but they've never been addressed or appeared.
 

Fone Bone

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I mean, there's never been a hard confirmation of who's on the list, that was just my speculation based on who, on a general basis, are depicted as the smartest people in the Marvel Universe.

Maybe there's a random civilian who's just as smart as Tony Stark or Reed Richards...but they've never been addressed or appeared.
I'd be more inclined to believe Tony Stark is one of the smartest people on Earth if he didn't keep doing stupid things.
 

Frontier

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I'd be more inclined to believe Tony Stark is one of the smartest people on Earth if he didn't keep doing stupid things.
I mean, it's indisputable that he has developed some of the most advanced technology on the planet, even if sometimes his emotional maturity isn't as advanced, but that also depends on which version of Stark we're talking about.
 

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