Marvel's Spider-Man "The Hobgoblin, Parts 1-2" Talkback (Spoilers)

[RoyalRubble]

Catch Marvel's Spider-Man! Disney XD will premiere two new episodes, back-to-back, today starting at 8:00AM ET! Don't miss out on the First Season Finale!

Marvel's Spider-Man "The Hobgoblin, Part 1"
Episode Debut - February 18th, 2018

Spider-Man takes on Doc Ock and his Sinister Five before they brainwash Spidey and destroy New York City.

Marvel's Spider-Man "The Hobgoblin, Part 2"
Episode Debut - February 18th, 2018

Spider-Man must find a way to stop Hobgoblin – who is completely bent on destroying Spider-Man, whatever it takes.

Comments?

Mod Note: We appreciate and encourage discussion, but please keep your posts civil, relevant and insightful. Please do not post any improper or inflammatory material, as we will issue warnings if we believe it necessary. And remember to keep the discussion ON-TOPIC!

Related Discussion:
Spider-Man: TAS "The Hobgoblin, Parts 1 & 2" Talkback (Spoilers)

 

[SweetShop209]

Well, I'm sold on the show. This is definitely quite an emotionally satisfying season finale. Hooray!

 

[Roxas_Sora]

Well, at least Harry already knows his father's true "colors". I still have no idea what that green liquid was, but we can assume it is what will turn Norman into the Green Goblin. My idea?, Warren's formula of the Jackal.

I'm very worried about the "things" that Norman left behind in that lab. Bad feeling about this.

They better don't leave us with Season 2 as the last season, because things are now really getting "amazingly spectacular".

 

[Gold Guy]

Not perfect, but this two-parter was more satisfying than I was expecting, and some of the Harry stuff was even pretty good (though Norman really overtipped his hand).

From an action standpoint, these two may have also been the most action-packed episodes of the show. Spider-Man had to fight a whole gauntlet here.

Seeing Max Modell reminds me that he really stopped appearing in the second half of the show, huh.

So..Norman is presumed dead again? Would they do that twice in one season? Guess we'll know next season...

Miles really got the shaft here...and I guess Gwen and Anya really did lose their powers.

Well, that's one semester down. Surely the next one can't be as hectic, right?

 

[Dragnatek]

At least this time the writers didn't make it obvious Norman survived. Really though why did they appear to kill off Norman Twice?

Good episodes, I am reminded of Spectacular Spiderman with Norman tricking his own son into thinking he's attacking Spiderman. It was different enough.

 

[Frontier]

I thought this was a pretty strong conclusion to what's been a pretty solid season for a Spider-Man cartoon. I think the show left off on a good note and I'm excited to see it build from there and where the creators will go with season 2 .

I was happy to see Spider-Man fend off three of the Sinister Five without needing any help. Sure it was just to tire him out so that Ock could then easily brainwash him, but it was nice to see Spider-Man actually beat a few major bad guys without needing his supporting cast to bail him out .

Well, I guess they finally got to adapt from the Ultimate comics with Spider-Man as a member of the Sinister Six. Plus Harry Osborn as the Hobgoblin .

Harry as the Hobgoblin was pretty cool, what with his flaming sword and all the Goblin gadgets they've built up over the course of the season finally getting used in the proper way. I would've liked to have seen Hobby with a more proper Goblin voice, but it was still pretty cool .

I liked the nods to the iconic Green Goblin deaths in the comics. We get Harry getting rammed by a glider to the torso, like Norman was, and Peter holding a weakened Harry's hand at the end was straight out of Harry's death in Spectacular Spider-Man #200 .

See Otto, this is why you don't brainwash your Sinister Six, they'll totally turn on you afterwards .

So are we finally going to see the general public turn against Spider-Man after he was witnessed helping the Sinister Six in their robbery and assaulted police? Although maybe saving that bus will restore his reputation? But I imagine the Bugle will capitalize on whatever they can to turn Spider-Man into a menace...

Anya, still the overachiever .

Poor Doc Ock. He primes himself up to be the main villain and a major threat and then he gets treated like an afterthought in the second part. He wasn't even caught by Spider-Man. Once again Otto Octavius is trounced by Norman Osborn .

I honestly think Max should've just dropped the statue. It feels a little too much for somebody as humble as Max. I did like the gag with him assuming Ock did it on purpose, and the Spidey statue at the end .

The girls admittedly didn't get to do that much in the finale, but then again Miles, who has powers, was only marginally better .

I wasn't expecting to see the iconic lifting of the weights scene here, so that was pretty awesome (especially since Peter did it without any help). I also liked that they brought back Patton Oswalt as Uncle Ben for a flashback, since I missed those .

Poor Miles relegated to crowd-control and helping people out of a bus. He's such a sidekick on this show. Although at least he got a good hit on Hobgoblin .

It was nice to see Peter and Harry's friendship finally fixed and for Harry to finally get over his hatred of Spider-Man and obsession with doing what his father tells him. The latter two elements have always come at Harry's expense as a character, all the moreso when his friendship with Pete is what made him so likeable and endearing, so it was nice to see them finally resolve everything with Harry in a positive way .

Y'know, I keep assuming the show is going to come up with the Goblin serum somehow and it never happens. Was it the spider-gas mixed with the explosion? No. Was it the radioactive nature of Peter's blood mixed with Norman? No. Was it the cure Harry used on both himself and Norman? No .

So at this point I'm not even going to assume that the green ooze that fused with the explosion is going to do anything like turn Norman into the Green Goblin, even if I doubt he's really dead anymore then he was the last time. Although I wonder how long before Norman turns up again, whatever did happen to him .

Harry Osborn, teenage CEO? I mean, I would assume Norman would will Harry OsCorp in case anything ever happened to him (heck, he seemed to have actually planned on it), but that did seem a little ridiculous. Like, there is no adult around to actually manage OsCorp so we need to put a teenager in charge of anything? Hopefully this doesn't mean Parker Industries is in the cards for Peter .

Good episodes, I am reminded of Spectacular Spiderman with Normal tricking his own son into thinking he's attacking Spiderman. It was different enough.

Really, this shows whole Goblin dynamic is kind of weird.

Not only does the Hobgoblin appear first, but it's Harry Osborn, but then it's really Norman and he's trying to frame Harry like he did in Spec when he was the Green Goblin.

And then Norman gives Harry a secret green room, ala Spider-Man 2, possibly teasing Harry becoming the Green Goblin or something.

Maybe it just feels weird that they're doing a lot of Green Goblin stuff even though both Osborns were running around in a Hobgoblin costume...

 

[Webbed-Wonder]

They really pulled a Spectacular Spider-Man there, I was pleasantly surprised by that turn of events and subsequent resolution to the plot thread for now. Satisfying emotional payoffs and the bromance stands strong on top of all the wreckage Norman tried to bring.

 

[Joe Wagner]

Really liked how the final two episodes of the season played out. The quality of the show has steadily improved with each episode and some of the animation sequences in the first part were absolutely fantastic, pulling you right into the action. It is a shame to see the season end so quickly though, but maybe we'll have new episodes to look forward to by summer. In the meantime, we have Infinity War to look forward to and I have some hooded Spider-Man figures to search for.

 

[Frontier]

I wonder how Spidey lifting the bridge compares to the debris in the Master Planner saga or Homecoming. Would it have weighed more, or less?

I at least appreciate that Peter thought of Uncle Ben instead of Tony Stark .

 

[Fone Bone]

Marvel's Spider-Man "The Hobgoblin: Part One"

The first part was mostly good, but there were some aspects of it that didn't hang together well.

First off, why is Doc Ock a villain at all? I don't think we ever got a satisfactory answer for that. He does not need to be a criminal to get New York to recognize his genius. He just needs to stop doing dumb stuff. I would think that would be far easier (and cheaper) for him to achieve than his master plan of creating the Sinister 6.

Secondly, while I appreciated Norman getting into Harry's head at the end of the episode, were I Harry, I'd not only realize that Norman is full of crap about Spider-Man, but probably that Peter was right about his father all along. The good news is that Norman doesn't know Spider-Man is Peter. But Harry does. So he should instantly realize the idea of Spider-Man having a master plan to take over the city and have Ock take the fall is nonsense. If only for the fact that Pete is an awkward 16 year old kid, and no awkward 16-year-old kid actually wants that. The fact that Harry grew up with, knew, and was friends with Peter BEFORE he become Spider-Man should tell him instantly Norman has an ulterior motive at trying to pit him against him.

But when Harry says he just wanted to be a hero, and Peter assures him that he is? That was the single best moment of the season.

Here's something dumb. If Ock is so smart, why after he mind controls Spider-Man, doesn't he unmasked him? That would be my first instinct, especially considering he used to work with him. And yeah, Spidey feels embarrassed by that particular team-up, and it being with that particular sociopath has got to be a bit humiliating. He might has well have gone crimefighting with Donald Trump. It's like "How could I not get this before? What is wrong with me?" And that is the correct reaction.

I also really liked his "I'm sorry. Did you say something? I couldn't hear you. Just kidding. That was really LOUD. And obnoxious." That had to be one of the funniest lines ever in a Spider-Man cartoon. The sarcasm is particularly biting in that moment because Peter seems to be throwing in the villain's face that he is so loud and stupid that Peter can just point that out without having to bother come up with a clever joke. The fact that there was nothing clever about that wisecrack made it the most clever Spider-Man wisecrack ever.

Good first part. ****.

Marvel's Spider-Man "The Hobgoblin: Part Two"

I loved that. Unconditionally. Honestly? That is exactly what a season finale for an action cartoon should be. We haven't gotten a proper season finale for an action cartoon since JLU went off the air. Everything else seems to be either a cliffhanger, or in the case of Ultimate Spider-Man or Transformers Prime, a proper series finale. This is how drama cartoons need to end their seasons. All of them. Action cartoons are far too risky a prospect to definitively count on another season coming. This wrapped up the arc, and left some stuff unresolved for a future season. Which is how it should be. And the last image of Peter enjoying the statue was an actual victory, and an actual nice moment to end the season on. Which is what cartoon season finales need to be doing.

I love that Harry doesn't blame Peter at the end of the episode. Maybe you'd grumble that it took him long enough to come around, but even if that particular bit of character growth was later than it should have been, I'm glad it still happened. Whatever happens to Harry next season, I sincerely hope this contentious aspect of his and Peter's friendship is over. Or if there is a new contention, that it is of a more evolved kind such as different goals, rather than a misunderstanding of somebody's actual intentions. I hope I'm right about that. I hope.

The episode was predictable in that it used the exact same Goblin twist The Spectacular Spider-Man used. But whereas that Norman seemed like an evil genius for that scam, this Norman strikes me as completely batpoopy. Did he actually think that would work? He's nucking futs. The only good part of the plan was the wheelchair. But see, that's why it's such dirty pool. That's why it's unforgivable. He's engendered unearned sympathy and used it to betray his own son. And I would think that the wheelchair being the alibi would have made Harry never forgive Norman had he survived. If Norman's actions were as righteous as he claimed, he wouldn't be faking being a cripple in a wheelchair to frame his kid. That's just low.

In fact, it was the wheelchair that instantly told me it was Norman. He was far too attached to staying seated throughout the episode to be innocent.

I love the clue that Peter finds out the Hobgoblin isn't Harry is the fact that Norman claims he can't wait to unmasked Spider-Man. Norman has no way to KNOW Harry already knows the ID, but because he does, Spidey instantly sees through the scam.

I have a lot of reservations about the season, particular regarding the character of Harry Osborn. But the finale addressed those concerns, and was pretty satisfying in its own right. Five stars. *****.

 

[Frontier]

First off, why is Doc Ock a villain at all? I don't think we ever got a satisfactory answer for that. He does not need to be a criminal to get New York to recognize his genius. He just needs to stop doing dumb stuff. I would think that would be far easier (and cheaper) for him to achieve than his master plan of creating the Sinister 6.

I think they really could have done a better job of developing Otto into a villain.

I don't think there was sensible progression between his earlier self and the full-on Doctor Octopus we have now, even if I think the show has a fun take on Doc Ock .

But when Harry says he just wanted to be a hero, and Peter assures him that he is? That was the single best moment of the season.

I especially loved the shout-out to Harry's death scene from Spectacular #200

Here's something dumb. If Ock is so smart, why after he mind controls Spider-Man, doesn't he unmasked him? That would be my first instinct, especially considering he used to work with him.

I don't think Ock cares about Spider-Man's identity.

 

[dcmarvelfanguy]

A great finale! I was a bit uncertain about this series at first. The first few episodes were alright, but it's only improved from there. The series became truly great during the "Rise of Doc Ock' four parter. Looking forward to Season 2.

Marvel's Spider-Man "The Hobgoblin: Part One"

The first part was mostly good, but there were some aspects of it that didn't hang together well.

First off, why is Doc Ock a villain at all? I don't think we ever got a satisfactory answer for that. He does not need to be a criminal to get New York to recognize his genius. He just needs to stop doing dumb stuff. I would think that would be far easier (and cheaper) for him to achieve than his master plan of creating the Sinister 6.

I wondered that at first, but I think it adds up. Otto has always had a massive ego, something Norman used to his advantage to get him to work at Oz Academy. Otto's scientific and heroic reputation was majorly tarnished when he tried to take on the Lizard by himself which led to Lizard turning into an even greater threat. Max Modell (a man Otto great respected) turned Otto away and Norman (who was truly responsible for the whole ordeal) was probably the only one willing to open his doors to Otto after that massive debacle. Then Otto found out Norman was just using him to acquire his technology. That probably gave Otto even more trust issues. After all the humiliations he had to endure in such a short period of time, Otto probably believes the saying "better to be feared than loved/respected." Hence why he'd rather mind control the Six than actually work with them. Otto has major trust issues in this series. I can't wait to see Season 2 further delve into Otto's character. He's been a major highlight this season.

 

[Miyamoto Musashi]

That was a solid ending arc to end the third solid story the season had to offer in a row.