Spectacular Spiderman- A lesson in how to make Eddie Brock compelling

With the release of Sony’s Venom movie coming out in October, fan reaction has been understandably mixed, much like the response to the films title character. Yup, we all know him, one way or another, it’s Venom. For the one or two of you not in the know, Venom is a partnership between an alien symbiote, called the Venom Symbiote later, and a whiny bottom feeder named Eddie Brock. This symbiote was formerly attached to Peter Parker, and since the Symbiote fed on negative emotions, it pushed Peter’s more selfish and aggressive behavior to the forefront, acting like an asshole to everyone around him and pushing everyone away, so that the Symbiote and Peter can be one forever. Peter, however, realizes just how fargone the Symbiote has made him and works to remove it, going to a church bell to use sound to force the symbiote off(its weakness is sound). The Symbiote later finds a suitable host in Eddie Brock, a muscle bound, whiney douchenozzle that blames Peter Parker and Spiderman for ruining his life(even though it was never their fault) and together they bond to destroy not only Spiderman, but everything he holds dear, using his knowledge of Spiderman that the symbiote picked up during their bond. Since their poison to Peter Parker and Spiderman, they christen themselves as Venom.

Venom is probably the most popular Spiderman villain, Green Goblin and Doc Oc are pretty high up there too, but Venom has that 90’s edginess that appeals to his fanboys, and speaking honestly, I never really cared much for Venom as a character at all. Sure, the Black Spiderman arc and the symbiote as a concept are great, its just that I can’t really stand the character of Eddie Brock. He never takes responsibility for anything in his life and has no other goals other than revenge. He’s really bland, and while his other counterpart, Carnage, is just a Psychopathic Symbiote, at least he’s entertaining in a Joker kind of way with how he messes with his enemy, Venom is just, well, petty. Much moreso than the other spiderman villains. It doesnt help that my first introduction to the character was Spiderman III(which is probably the weakest aspect of the film) but I later went back to read the comics and watched the 90s Spiderman Show(grossly overrated btw, hasnt aged well at all) and I kind of understand why Raimi didn’t want to use Venom- He really doesn’t have much going for him outside of the “edgy coolness” or the black spiderman suit, both of which are highly marketable. So yeah, Venom was just yet another 90s character that the writers tried so hard to make a cool villain/antihero(cause who didn’t have an antihero phase in the 90s), without ever fleshing out Brocks character beyond the petty, whiney, muscular punk that he was(He’s pretty much the Sasuke of Comics).

That is, until my existence was graced by Marvels Best Cartoon, bar none, Spectacular Spiderman. I plan on doing a whole series review of this show in the future, its easily my favorite Superhero cartoon outside Batman TAS, and that show gets plenty of love online so don’t expect as much from me on that. It’s easily the best adaptation of the comics, being faithful to the spirit of the characters from the comics while also making modernizations or improvements where they were desperately needed. The characters, especially Spiderman and his villains, as well as the side characters, were written very well, the voice cast was superb(to the point where most of the voice actors are the voices I imagine when I read a Spiderman comic, Josh Keaton really is to Spiderman what Kevin Conroy is to Batman). Anyway, this isn’t supposed to be a review of Spectacular Spiderman(though it is on its way), this is talking about how Spectacular Spiderman made me care about Venom whereas previously I had varied between disliking him or being indifferent to him.

The biggest key to why Venom works in Spectacular Spiderman is because we get a good 10 episodes with Eddie Brock before he becomes the evil Symbiote, and by god is this Eddie Brock a fucking godsend. Some elements of Eddies backstory from the comics are kept, like him being an orphan and being generally down on his luck. Most of it however is changed, for the better too. Him and Pete, instead of being strangers before the Symbiote story starts, actually begin as childhood friends, whose parents worked and died together. While they both took to science, Eddie Brock was also an athlete, and looked out for the often bullied Peter and later Gwen Stacy. When Eddie goes to college, he becomes a full time assistant at the Connors Lab(where Peter and Gwen get an internship) and the two have a nice reunion. Thanks to the voice acting between Ben Diskin and Keaton, we really get a good feeling of camaraderie between the two, and you can believe that Eddie considers Pete to be like a bro. As the episodes go on, we see Eddie as someone whose brave and possibly heroic, though it’s actually something a bit more sinister at play. According to show creator and animation genius Greg Weisman, Eddie’s heroism at the start isn’t as idealistic as Peters is- Peter’s families death gave him a love of living life to the fullest, while Eddies Parents death(due to not having the support system that Peter had) made him obsessed with death, not a suicidal way, more in a life is frail so its ok to be reckless kind of way. It adds a dark yet not so edgy dimension to his character. Peters need for a job(for actually paying the house bills, not for personal gain at all) ends up compromising his internship with the Connors(after taking pictures of the Lizard incident) and he gets fired. Eddie has some trust issues with Pete after that, finding it hard to believe that Peter would just take advantage of the situation for money. The next time they talk, Eddie tells him not to go emo and that they’re still bros. When Peter wont ask Gwen out to homecoming, Eddie offers to take her out as a friend. He gets pissed when he sees Pete dancing with MJ only to bail on her.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Pete took pictures of the Symbiote in the Connors lab(forgot to call the police) and Eddie yells at him again for just sitting around making money off taking photos of the robbery. This pushes Brock over the edge, as he starts trying to find ways to hurt Pete, especially after the loss of the Symbiote(which bonded to Peter, thus never returned after the episode was over) and the Connors having to fire Eddie due to their funding being cut. He attempts to take MJ for a ride, only to reveal his intentions, with MJ telling Brock to fuck off and saying Pete is twice the guy he’ll ever be. While Peter is going through his emo phase of the black suit arc, Aunt May gets a heart attack from being caught in the middle of a battle between Spidey and the Sinister Six(a fantastic episode) and being stuck in the hospital. Eddie goes to visit Aunt May while berating Pete, saying that at least he cares enough about Aunt May to visit her, which gets Peter to hate Eddie. When Peter returns to the hospital(after pushing his friends away, all of whom were just trying to sympathize with him), he gets confronted by Brock for costing him his job, at which point Peter pins him to the wall and then throws him off. (Pete knows he’s messed up once he considers Tombstones offer of millions just for not fighting normal crime for a week). When Pete returns the symbiote(after the best telling of the Black Suit Spiderman Story ever), Eddie rejoices, saying that he get his job back, only for Spiderman to try and kill it, which gets Eddie hating both Peter Parker and Spiderman, which the symbiote uses to try and bond with him, creating Venom. There’s a lot more to the arc but I’m mainly focusing on the Eddie Brock parts of the arc.

The pair then attack Peter in his own home, where he gets curb stomped after he learns that Eddie and the Symbiote fused, by Eddies choice. Instead of killing him, Venom decides to try and hurt the people he loves the most first. He goes after Aunt May, to which Peter fiercely defends, able to fight off the vastly superior Venom, and so Venom goes off to get the second best person, which Peter assumes is MJ. Using his knowledge of who Peter truly loves, he kidnaps Gwen Stacy and puts her on a parade float(it’s Thanksgiving in NYC) and Pete is mortified. Gwen was Eddies friend, since Pete and her were in Seventh Grade, why would he attack someone they personally know, was his hatred that deep? They proceed to have an epic fight scene across floats and the buildings, Venom able to get under Peters skin. Even when Peter thinks he’s saved Gwen by causing a slow descent for the Balloon, Venom just slices the web holding her, Peter just barely able to get her to her classmates as Venom pulls him back onto the roof of a building. It’s in this moment that Peter surrenders to the Symbiote, and when Brock makes the foolish mistake of referring to Venom as himself instead of us, and the Symbiote abandons him for Peter, which causes Brock to get really sad. Peter buries the Symbiote and we get the conclusion to Venom, for now.

In Season 2, starting with Episode 5, we see Eddie messing with Peter’s head to make him think Venom has come back, only to trick Peter into revealing where he buried the Symbiote. For the next two episodes, 6 and 7, we see Venom doing what he does best- destroying Spiderman by turning others against him, first by turning Captain Jupiter against Spiderman, and then revealing his identity to the Bugle, which Peter only gets away with thanks to Flash refusing to believe Peter is Spiderman, and going out of his way to prove it. In their last encounter in the series, Peter and Flash together are able to force the Symbiote off of Brock, Brock going nuts. It’s clear that Eddie is only really hating Parker at this point to breed the negative emotions that attract the symbiote, the feeling of power and being loved is so intoxicating that he’ll continue hating just to have a chance with the Symbiote again. He gets taken to Ravencroft, and we never see the Symbiote or Eddie ever again, given the shows cancellation after Season 2. It’s a shame too- Eddies character had more opportunity for redemption, especially given his history and former friendship with most of the cast, Peter especially. But, such things only exist in the world of dreams.

The storyline overall was really amazing and well written, giving Eddie Brock a much more sympathetic backstory that, instead of just making you outright hate him for being such a bottom feeding scum, actually makes you horrified that one of the series most likeable yet flawed characters would turn to hate so fast, but again, he had extremely valid reasons(compared to the comics at least) for Loathing Peter and Spiderman. You don’t just hate someone that much unless you were close to them and felt betrayed. Having Eddie and Peter as lifelong friends was a genius move by the writers, as they were not only able to communicate without constantly reminding us, but also showing both sides of the conflict without much bias- in quite a few ways, Peter was definitely in the wrong for this series. He’s certainly not perfect, but thats what makes him Spiderman- he’s not the best, he’s doesn’t always have the answer, and sometimes he has to compromise what makes him happy for the sake of others, and other times he’s short sighted and can’t understand why leaking his bosses fights to the paper would piss them off. He’s a teenager. Eddie’s got flaws too, but his lifetime of being abandoned and feeling betrayed by the one person who was always there for him(and whom Eddie was always there for, protecting Peter from bullies), it would probably break much weaker people sooner, and once again I applaud Greg Weisman, Ben Diskin, Josh Keaton, and the other writers for doing such an effective job of turning Venom from one of Spiderman’s most overrated foes into easily the best villain for this series, finally turning Eddie Brock into the tragic, effective fallen hero I think they always intended him to be(in the comics) but always got lost on making Eddie Brock petty to hate both Parker and Spiderman(again, they had no history before the symbiote story began).

I have a lot more to discuss on this awesome series Spectacular Spiderman. There wasn’t a single character that this series got wrong, it showed tremendous respect for Spiderman, his supporting characters, and his rogues gallery, it showed just how big a fan of the material Greg Weisman and his crew were, they weren’t just making a big toy commercial like the 94 Spiderman show. Also, while many of you will probably complain about the art style, the actual animation for the show is superb, especially when it comes to action, and this show still probably has the best on screen fights of anything Spiderman related, from how attacks impact the characters, to being allowed to throw punches(rolls eyes) and finally to just how fluid the fights are in action. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a superhero cartoon be this smooth and amazing with these kinds of fight scenes. I couldn’t expect anything less from the guy who made Gargoyles and Young Justice. The true Firefly of animation, a show so amazing that it got cut short for reasons outside the shows control.

So that was my first essay for this blog. If there’s any more interesting topics you’d like discussed, be sure to leave them down below. For my next post, it will either be something Digimon or Power Ranger related(Fox Kids 4 Lyfe). Or Pokemon. You can help me make that decision. Dork Side of the Moon doesn’t have a set schedule, but I will try to work on that, I don’t really try to force myself to write something, it usually comes naturally. Do expect the next post sometime soon. Also, if you haven’t watched Spectacular Spiderman yet(you invalid), you should definitely buy the series on Blu Ray, it ranges from around 20-30 dollars online, it’s well worth the price, especially for how beautiful the show looks on an HD TV as well as the great behind the scenes bonus features. If your a fan of Spiderman yet somehow haven’t seen this, your commiting a mortal sin and need to correct this mistake. Hope you guys enjoy, have a great 4th of July, and don’t forget to be Spectacular.