Hey everyone! Thanks for swinging by for another installment of Marvel’s Spider-Man on Disney XD. Peter Parker is no longer being controlled by Otto Octavius, and this week he has to face his biggest challenge yet, a gang of goblins! Being a teenage superhero can be hard, especially if you are being tracked by your closest friends! Pull up a web and enjoy as we give you five thoughts about Season 2, Episode 23, “Goblin War, Part 1.”
1. What is the Goblin Nation?
In last week’s episode, we learned “The Goblin Nation” was ready to rise. At the beginning of “Goblin War, Part 1,” Ock and Peter are arguing just how credible a threat the Goblin Nation truly is. Ock seems convinced that the nation is nothing more than a threat, poorly drawn graffiti that criminals are using to create threats. He is proven wrong. Peter is attacked by a person wearing goblin armor that has stealth technology. Ock is unable to use his surveillance to aid Peter, and they ultimately lose.
Peter is able to identify that the Goblin Tech does seem to be like his friend Harry’s original design, but Harry is in Europe. There is also the debate of just how big the Goblin Nation truly is. In the end, they discover that the threat is bigger than they originally thought, but it’s still a mystery how much influence they have. It’s a good threat and built up well over time.
2. Suspect number one? Peter Parker!?
There is a lot of mystery in “Goblin War, Part 1.” One of the biggest is just who is this new Green Goblin running around? Peter suspects Alistair Smythe. Smythe took Peter’s lab at Horizon (which has Harry’s Goblin tech designs) and has taken up his father’s footsteps of creating Spider-Slayers. To Peter, he is the obvious choice to be the new Goblin. Spidey’s allies don’t see it that way.
Anya and Gwen are back this week and they are tracking down their suspect of who the new Goblin is, Spider-Man’s friend Peter Parker. Gwen and Anya are suspicious of Peter’s behaviors (as Doc Ock) and are convinced that Peter has snapped. Spidey has to convince them otherwise, without revealing his identity to them. The episode shows how Peter is still fighting to redeem himself. While it’s revealed at the end of the episode that Peter is not one of the Goblins, Gwen and Anya are still suspicious.
3. New friendships, old tensions
Harry has come back to help Peter investigate who the new Goblin is, the person using his technology for evil. Harry is not happy, however, to meet Spidey’s new friend and ally Doc Ock. Peter tries desperately to explain that Ock is no longer the villain they once knew, but Harry is having none of it.
What’s interesting about this conflict is that you can really feel the friendship that has grown between Peter and Ock. What at one time was total animosity has bloomed into a friendship.
It would have been easy for Peter to abandon Otto for Harry, but it’s good to see them respect the work they’ve been doing to become friends and allies. Ock also proves to be incredibly useful to Peter’s crime-fighting, giving him insight into how the mind of a villain works. In the end, Harry is able to convince Peter to join him. He has evidence that his father might still be alive but asks that they leave Ock out of it. It certainly raises some red flags, but it seems like if Harry is not what he seems, Ock will be there to help in the end.
4. A heroic theme makes for good storytelling
There’s a moment in “Goblin War, Part 1” where Ock decides to jump into action and use the Spider-bots. The thing about the sequence is that Ock gets his own heroic theme that is then extended to the rest of the Spider-team. It might sound silly, but it was really exciting to see Ock get music that reflects his changes.
The music in Marvel’s Spider-Man is fine, it serves its purpose well but is not necessarily memorable. When Ock ran to his control station, that wasn’t the case. The music had a heroic, yet mechanical feel which worked perfectly with Doc Ock’s personality. When it continued into the fight sequence with Spidey, Spider-Girl, and Ghost Spider it felt like the theme of a true team, one that Ock was part of. It’s a subtle thing to be sure, but the music of this moment helped to tell the story of Ock’s change and gave him a truly heroic moment.
Continued below5. Who is the Goblin King?
The final confrontation between Spidey and the Goblins takes place on the Roosevelt Island tram. It’s a fun callback to Spider-Man’s past, but it’s also an exciting fight sequence. Ock discovers that even though his Spiderbots can’t see the Goblins in their armor, they can detect the webs stuck to said armor. After a well-animated fight sequence, Spidey leaves the Goblins (including Alistair) trapped in the tramcar under the watchful eye of the Spider-bots.
Ock loses surveillance as the goblins start to chant about the Goblin King and then the worst happens. The Goblin King saves them. The mystery of the Goblin King is certainly a driving factor moving forward. Who is this mysterious Goblin? What have they been promising their growing nation? It’s a good mystery and one as the Goblin war escalated in New York.
And so begins the Goblin War. The biggest question moving forward is just who is the Goblin King? Is Normal really back? Is Harry as innocent as he seems? Who do you think it is? Sound off below!
