They really need to upgrade the prison in the Spider-Man (1967) universe. It seems like every other episodes someone escapes with ease. It would probably help if they didn’t put the super villains in their cells in full costume.
In this story, it’s the Scorpion who escapes and in a plot common to the comics is out to get revenge on J Jonah Jameson and Spider-Man.
Scorpion has one little stop to make first though to Dr. Stillwell’s lab. It was Stillwell that gave Scorpion his powers back in “Never Step on a Scorpion”. That show was a loose adaptation of Amazing Spider-Man #20. One aspect that didn’t make the translation from panel to screen was that Dr. Stillwell died in that issue.
With Stillwell alive and, uh, still well, the Scorpion drops by to get a top up on his super strength formula as its effects have worn off during his time in prison. When Stillwell refuses to provide the formula, Scorpion goes mad and just grabs the first thing he sees and drinks it. That can’t be dangerous at all.
Whatever it is that he drinks makes the Scorpion even crazier…and he also grows to be twenty feet tall. Which allows him to easily deal with Spider-Man and impervious to police bullets. Scorpion eventually makes his way to the Bugle and kidnaps Jameson.
The army arrives to contain Scorpion to Central Park, but cannot fire on him for fear of hitting Jameson, whom the Scorpion is carrying around like a little doll. (The proportions of Scorpion and surrounding areas fluctuate wildly.) A plan which lasts about 30 seconds until the tanks open fire and aim at Scorpion’s legs. Luckily Jameson and Scorpion remind the army that he is still a captive and they halt fire.
Spider-Man shows up and defeats Scorpion by tripping him up with webbing and then easily pours an antidote provided by Stillwell into his gaping mouth…that he conveniently leaves open until Spider-Man finishes pouring in the entire bottle.
The Fly brothers are back and they are still behaving more like Spider-Man knock offs than flies. See “The Spider And The Fly” for the first appearance of the Fly. We also learn that the Patterson brothers are named Stan and Lee. A nod to Spider-Man’s (and most everything Marvel’s) co-creator.
Pushing the “fake Spider-Man schtick” even further, the Flies have begun dressing up like Spider-Man to frame him for their most recent crime spree. At least this time they acknowledge that they are stealing Spider-Man’s MO right down to creating a “fly tracer” that they manage to plant on Spidey to keep track of his wearabouts. The fly tracer looks like a fly, one of the only things that makes the Human Flies fly like.
Using the tracer, one of the brothers fakes stealing a jewlery store while the other knock over a bank. While the real Spider-Man is made to look like a fool for stopping one of the Flies who is carrying a bag of apples, the other Fly is leaving a fake Spider-Man mask behind at the bank. If it was the real Spider-Man stealing the bank, why would he leave his mask behind? Pretty silly that the cops don’t see through this scheme. Especially when they see Spider-Man arrive at the bank…and he is still wearing his mask. And while Spider-Man made his way to the bank, the other Fly circled back and actually did rob the jewelry store, leaving fake webbing behind to point the finger at you know who.
The show employs a storytelling technique that uses flashbacks (and flash forwards) to show the evidence of Spider-Man’s framing (and Jameson’s dream headlines of Spider-Man’s capture), which is not something that had been done before.
Spider-Man discovers the fly tracer and rewires it to allow him to track the Flies down and easily capture them.
This is the end of an era, which is odd to say for the season one finale of a show that lasted three years. But this is the last episode produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation. Things get wacky and wild starting with season 2, produced by Ralph Bakshi.
More Stories
Tales From The Crypt “None But The Lonely Heart”
Widow’s Bay “Lodging”
Simpsons Did It!: “Treehouse Of Horror Presents: The Revengening”