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

[RoyalRubble]

Catch a new hour-long episode of Marvel's Spider-Man, tonight starting at 9:00PM ET on Disney XD! Don't miss out on the Season 3 Finale! The episodes will also be available on DisneyNOW before its debut on TV.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom "Maximum Venom, Part 1"
Episode Debut - October 25, 2020

When Spider-Man and his allies go to track down the missing and dangerous Lizard, they discover that the vicious Venom has returned to seek revenge on the planet Earth!

Marvel's Spider-Man: Maximum Venom "Maximum Venom, Part 2"
Episode Debut - October 25, 2020

Spider-Man must travel through a portal to a distant planetoid that has a symbiote-based environment in order to stop his greatest nemesis Venom, save his mentor Max Modell, and protect the planet Earth from complete destruction.

*”Zombies 2″ stars Meg Donnelly, Kylee Russell and Carla Jeffery guest star as Scream, Scorn and Mania, respectively.

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[Frontier]

If this finale is truly the end for this era of Marvel Animation, it was fitting to see this version of The Avengers one last time along with Spider-Man .

It's a shame we couldn't see Cap too, especially since the show oddly never really gave Peter much proper face time with Cap, but we got to see Thor actually voiced by Travis Willingham and he even managed to save a character voiced by his real life wife .

I love how they got in one last dig at Hawkeye .

It's too bad we never got to see Kamala again, but maybe they just didn't want to remind people of the brief PeterxKamala ship as they went full force with MJ...although Kamala meeting MJ might've been cool .

So is Peter officially the smartest person in this setting? He figured stuff out that stumped Tony and Max .

I like how they point out that none of The Avengers have seemingly any life outside being Superheroes, although they treat that as more just a feature than a criticism like I've felt about how the cartoons have been depicting them. I'm glad Peter refused that kind of life though, since that's not what Spidey is about .

I guess the Lizard and Swarm are left to be resolved off-screen unless we get a surprise new season. I mean, nobody gives a hoot about Connors other than Peter, but it sucks about Miles' dad .

And I guess Rio is really dead because Miles ends up living with Peter and Aunt May now, which kind of reminded me of Ultimate Spider-Man where everybody lived with Peter .

I didn't think that was a Lizard's tail, but maybe I had Symbiotes on the brain. I guess they needed to keep it a surprise that Venom was back .

Y'know, the dance would've been a perfect spot to bring in Max's husband as his date...but I guess that would have made Max turning out to be Venom even more difficult .

Well, for lack of any other options Gwen agrees to go out with Grady. Who else could she have gone with? Harry (or Anya )? I guess they needed to finally throw Grady a bone .

So...Anya and Miles? Are they a thing? Platonic plus one's? I mean, they end up paired up enough and Anya once said she could kiss him and Miles didn't seem to mind...I guess it could happen. Heck, did Anya change her dress color just to match better with Miles suit? That's sweet, if true .

They missed the perfect opportunity to have MJ do the iconic "Face it Tiger..." line when Peter opened the door and saw her in that dress. She even did the exact same pose she did it in in the comics. She looked absolutely stunning in that dress though .

I'm honestly not surprised Aunt May didn't merit an appearance in the season finale. I guess we'll just have to settle for her getting mentioned and getting such a big role in the Symbiote invasion. Would've been nice to see her tying Peter's bowtie during the dance prep montage .

In a way it's full-circle that Max, who Peter first suspected to be Venom in his debut episode, ends up being Venom's final host. Yes, that's right, the final boss of Marvel's Spider-Man is basically Max Modell. Never did I suspect Max's penchant for making trouble for Peter would culminate in this .

Max as Venom is "Maximum Venom?" I don't know if I should find that a cute way of working in the season title or just absurdly silly .

The Symbiote Sisters probably feel like they came out of nowhere without having followed up on all the promotional material for this season. Like, they couldn't have had the Venomized heroes mention or allude to them? Or the Worldkiller? Some foreshadowing might have helped. I thought they were cool and freaky for what amount of screentime they were able to have in the finale, but I feel like they would've been better served to have been introduced and developed earlier in the season. It felt like they were wiped out just when they were getting going as villains. But I guess that's par for the course for a lot of this show's ideas .

I didn't realize how much this show had been missing a down-to-Earth and normal character until MJ started pointing out how ridiculous and crazy everything that happens on this show is. Why couldn't they have introduced her earlier ?

I'm glad the show got to finally depict how awesome Mary Jane is by showing her as a courageous and capable girl, even with no superpowers, as she goes headfirst into danger to save Peter and then playing keep-away to keep the Seed away from the Symbiote Sisters with Grady. In a dress and heels, no less .

Wow, a romantic kiss! On a Marvel cartoon! It's been a while since that's happened. Sure it was on the cheek, but it was mutual and their teenagers on their first date. They can build up to a kiss on the lips .

It's a shame we never got to see MJ actually get to meet and interact with Spidey. The one time she sees him, he's a fake courtesy of Scorn. Grady also almost doomed the Earth as a result, just saying .

Although speaking of, I am kind of surprised we ended the show with MJ and Peter together but her not knowing he's Spider-Man. Did Grady figure it out after Gwen said his and MJ's name as Ghost Spider? Then again, he's Grady, so maybe not .

I guess I'm not surprised that, once again, Peter has to rely on someone else to help resolve everything in the finale of his own show, although his inspirational speech to Max was very heartfelt. I guess I just have to accept that this show won't let Spidey resolve stuff on his own to the very end .

Max Modell in control of the Venom Symbiote? Uh...that was a thing. I guess this show won't rest until it gives everyone in the supporting cast powers or a costume at least once. If we ever got another season, I'd half-expect they'd find a way to give MJ, Grady, and Aunt May their own powers or costumed identity .

Horizon is finally done. I guess there's only so much a super science school can survive after getting attacked by Supervillains on a weekly basis. It's kind of ironic, yet thematically fitting, that it's basically Max himself that destroyed his own school. It all comes back to the decisions he made regarding the Venom Symbiote and his own self-doubt. But at least Peter wouldn't let him give up in-spite of that .

Going back to Midtown doesn't sound so bad when your new girlfriend already goes there. What I wouldn't give to see the reaction of the Midtown cast to seeing Peter and MJ together .

Miles Morales. The Ultimate Wingman .

I think it's a pretty fitting thematic end for this version of Peter and his friends after their experience at Horizon to make their own science lab startup for them to do alongside normal school. Actually, where are Miles, Grady, and the girls going to go to school? Would they start going to Midtown too ?

I think you usually need to start with what the acronym means before coming up with the letters, but I guess Peter couldn't resist the W.E.B. gag...although it ends up being W.W.E.B. .

I'm guessing if the show ever continued we'd see them showing Peter juggling Midtown and Mary Jane with what the WWEB lab is doing (on-top of Spider-Man), although knowing this show I'm kind of worried they'd focus much more on the latter than the former, but otherwise it would be an interesting Spider-Man dichotomy to explore .

 

[Pattern_Maker]

There were too many things that I liked about the episode that I would go over word count trying to list them. I wonder if the W.E.B was Kevin Burke and Chris Doc Wyatt's way of giving an idea to a new Spider-Man series or a nod to Kevin Shinick's upcoming comic book: W.E.B of Spider-Man besides it being a reference to the Disney Parks ride.

What I didn't like about the finale Scream, Scorn, and Mania's introduction with no backstory. I know I defended the Secret History of Venom video before, but I was expecting there to be a mention or reference to the Symbiote Sister's history in this episode. Heck, Scream, Scorn, and Mania are never called out by name. Viewers wouldn't know who they are unless they see the cast list. Which on television is cropped for commercials.

My personal bias...I would have loved to see Gwen go with Harry instead of Grady...

Now I'm curious to see what the future holds for Spider-Man in animation under Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige.

 

[Frontier]

There were too many things that I liked about the episode that I would go over word count trying to list them. I wonder if the W.E.B was Kevin Burke and Chris Doc Wyatt's way of giving an idea to a new Spider-Man series or a nod to Kevin Shinick's upcoming comic book: W.E.B of Spider-Man besides it being a reference to the Disney Parks ride.

What I didn't like about the finale Scream, Scorn, and Mania's introduction with no backstory. I know I defended the Secret History of Venom video before, but I was expecting there to be a mention or reference to the Symbiote Sister's history in this episode. Heck, Scream, Scorn, and Mania are never called out by name. Viewers wouldn't know who they are unless they see the cast list. Which on television is cropped for commercials.

My personal bias...I would have loved to see Gwen go with Harry instead of Grady...

Now I'm curious to see what the future holds for Spider-Man in animation under Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige.

I was starting to wonder whether that comic was a secret sequel tie-in to the show before I realized Shinick hasn't been involved since season 1 .

It did kind of feel like the writers set up a few stuff that could be carried over in a new series/rebranding like W.E.B., Lizard and Swarm, Peter and MJ dating and being at Midtown, etc .

I'm just glad MJ got to meet the Horizon cast (even if she didn't meet Harry), even if she didn't get to really talk to any of them. If we ever got a continuation, it'd be nice to see her get to hang out with Gwen and Harry...

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

For a season called "Maximum Venom", it feels weird that Peter has only faced Venom twice, especially when neither time actually featured Eddie. I know this is pedantic, but I always considered "Venom" to be the exact combination of Eddie and the symbiote. Anything else just feels like "symbiote + BLANK", but even Marvel disagrees with me on that. I guess it does make sense that Max is the host (besides the bad pun) since he's had a closer emotional connection to Peter than Eddie would. It fell flat for me since I never liked Max, but it makes sense. The one thing I REALLY didn't like was the explanation for Venom's survival. It felt like a reach. Did the writers forget that the actual Venom symbiote was locked up in the space research center? Why not use that instead?

The Symbiote Sisters were boring villains. They felt like glorified goons and literally come out of nowhere, especially if you didn't watch that video about symbiote lore they released for this season.

The romantic plotline with Peter and MJ left me with mixed feelings. I overall like this take on MJ and how she grounds Peter's world, but she barely showed up in the series. Her romance with Peter feels rushed. I'm glad it's just them declaring they liked each other and starting to date, but it still felt a bit unearned. Grady taking Gwen as a date didn't surprise me, but Miles and Anya did. Are they dating? Or did they just go together as friends?

The ending felt like it was a mixed attempt at creating a conclusion while setting up a potential new future. As I expected, they couldn't fit the Swarm and Lizard plotlines together, so they're just left hanging. Kind of weird they're acknowledging them if they didn't resolve them at all. I guess they wanted to leave something if they ever got a new season. Same with Peter and friends starting a new tech company, W.E.B. It's cool that he rejected the Avengers offer and cashed that in for this project instead. It gives him (some) independence and stays true to the whole science school angle from the beginning. Between that and Peter (and potentially the cast) going to Midtown, it could've been a fun premise, but I think the show got there to late do that.

I guess that's it for this show, then. There's no indication that there's more coming. The next series is focused on a much younger demographic than before. It was a show with potential, but it didn't really live up to it often. Still, it didn't repel me enough like Ultimate did. Until the next Spider-Man cartoon, I'll be enjoying the games instead.

 

[Frontier]

For a season called "Maximum Venom", it feels weird that Peter has only faced Venom twice, especially when neither time actually featured Eddie. I know this is pedantic, but I always considered "Venom" to be the exact combination of Eddie and the symbiote. Anything else just feels like "symbiote + BLANK", but even Marvel disagrees with me on that. I guess it does make sense that Max is the host (besides the bad pun) since he's had a closer emotional connection to Peter than Eddie would. It fell flat for me since I never liked Max, but it makes sense. The one thing I REALLY didn't like was the explanation for Venom's survival. It felt like a reach. Did the writers forget that the actual Venom symbiote was locked up in the space research center? Why not use that instead?

I still don't understand how the writers seemed to completely forget about Eddie. Like, what was even the point of introducing him in season 2? But I always found it kind of hilarious how little Venom was actually in a season named after him .

The Symbiote Sisters were boring villains. They felt like glorified goons and literally come out of nowhere, especially if you didn't watch that video about symbiote lore they released for this season.

I think the Sisters had cool designs and powers, and a smidge of personality, but they just didn't have enough time to really develop and utilize them. They should've been spearheading the Symbiote Invasion, not leaving it to Venomized Iron Man and Dr. Strange .

The romantic plotline with Peter and MJ left me with mixed feelings. I overall like this take on MJ and how she grounds Peter's world, but she barely showed up in the series. Her romance with Peter feels rushed. I'm glad it's just them declaring they liked each other and starting to date, but it still felt a bit unearned. Grady taking Gwen as a date didn't surprise me, but Miles and Anya did. Are they dating? Or did they just go together as friends?

I definitely think the show should've prioritized developing MJ and her relationship with Peter instead of, say, introducing Ironheart, Amadeus Cho, and Moon Knight and then proceeding to not really do much with them. Even the initial Symbiote Invasion wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things. We could've gotten more interaction with MJ and the rest of the Horizon kids and maybe see her become friends with Gwen and Harry.

Although this is, what, the first romance arc we've gotten in a Marvel cartoon in years? I guess I'll cut the writers some slack, if only because they're still really cute together .

But seriously though, I think we really could've used a character like MJ, who is outside all the crazy super-science and is heroic and charming without needing superpowers or spandex, earlier in the show. In fact I'd say this is one of MJ's better media appearances in a while. But I guess better late than never .

I guess that's it for this show, then. There's no indication that there's more coming. The next series is focused on a much younger demographic than before. It was a show with potential, but it didn't really live up to it often. Still, it didn't repel me enough like Ultimate did. Until the next Spider-Man cartoon, I'll be enjoying the games instead.

I will say, for all it's flaws, that I think this was a better Spider-Man cartoon than Ultimate and got to the heart of the character, and for all it's writing and development issues, felt earnest in-spite of that.

 

[colomb]

I wonder if they planned originally planned for a full season and then were told to cut down. There is a considerable list of things that could have been expanded upon; the backstory of the symbiotes, more time for the invasion, Eddie Brock etc.

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

I wonder if they planned originally planned for a full season and then were told to cut down. There is a considerable list of things that could have been expanded upon; the backstory of the symbiotes, more time for the invasion, Eddie Brock etc.

Yeah, it definitely felt like there was plenty of content for a 26 episode season. Probably the same situation as Rise of the TMNT.

 

[Frontier]

Underrated comedic moment of the episode was Grady deliberately getting MJ's name wrong just to let her know what that feels like .

 

[bigdaddy313]

I wonder if they planned originally planned for a full season and then were told to cut down. There is a considerable list of things that could have been expanded upon; the backstory of the symbiotes, more time for the invasion, Eddie Brock etc.

You know I really didn’t think of that, but it does make sense now that I think about it.
I see there was more room for Peter and MJ’s relationship, Norman Osborn, this new building and back to Junior High.

 

[Frontier]

I thought it was always kind of weird that they gave it one more season but only gave it a half season order that they put together into hour-long specials.

Like how Panther's Quest ended up being 3-4 episodes shy of a normal season count compared to the last few seasons of Assemble.

 

[bigdaddy313]

I thought it was always kind of weird that they gave it one more season but only gave it a half season order that they put together into hour-long specials.

Like how Panther's Quest ended up being 3-4 episodes shy of a normal season count compared to the last few seasons of Assemble.

I think the third season was ordered before Marvel Studios takeover and the episodes were reduced.
I noticed a pattern when I was checking the state of Marvel Animation Studios and found out it was closed on the 21st of August and this show’s production ended since then.

 

[Frontier]

You know, if you had told me that the writers had to cut down a plan for a normal 26-episode season into a 12-episode season...I can kind of see it.

The first Symbiote Invasion might've fared better if it had been at episode 13 instead of episode 6.

 

[M.O.D.O.K.]

I was honestly imagining the symbiote sisters to be, like, empowered humans who acted like recurring sub-bosses or lieutenants to Venom or something. I even expected Knull to show up.

I don't know. This is purely speculative, so please don't take this as fact, but it felt like the whole Venom and symbiote story arc felt like a Marvel or Disney mandate and the producers weren't as interested, so the spent as little time as possible. I don't really blame them, as stuff like the resolution for Norman and Jackal, Mary Jane's introduction, or the other Spidey rogues interests me far more than Venom, but it does reflect on the season's quality.

Again, purely speculative.

 

[Comicman2014]

So Lizard and Swarm are still on the loose?

They should have replaced MODOK with Lizard at the beginning and have Miles be reunited with his dad at the end of the final episode. They could have squeezed them in somehow.

Like have the Avengers and Spider-man take down Lizard/Connors instead of MODOK.

 

[Pattern_Maker]

Here's an interesting tidbit that a fandom wikia found: Mania and Scorn's host were seen after Max destroys the symbiote seed. Mania's host was, ironically, a human-like spider alien, and Scorn's host was a muscular alien. You have to pause as soon as the symbiotes come off of them to see them, especially Mania's host.

I wonder what happened to them since Gwen, Anya, and Miles weren't fighting them when the symbiotes were destroyed and that portal Venom tricked Max into making was destroyed with Horizon. Are they just stuck on Earth now?

 

[Frontier]

I was honestly imagining the symbiote sisters to be, like, empowered humans who acted like recurring sub-bosses or lieutenants to Venom or something. I even expected Knull to show up.

I don't know. This is purely speculative, so please don't take this as fact, but it felt like the whole Venom and symbiote story arc felt like a Marvel or Disney mandate and the producers weren't as interested, so the spent as little time as possible. I don't really blame them, as stuff like the resolution for Norman and Jackal, Mary Jane's introduction, or the other Spidey rogues interests me far more than Venom, but it does reflect on the season's quality.

Again, purely speculative.

I think it was definitely mandated in so far it was trying to build on the hype for Venom in the comics and movies at the time. I'm not sure if the writers weren't crazy about it (they seem to have some very wishy-washy opinions on Venom and the Symbiotes from how they're used in the show), but I think the Sisters would have definitely benefitted from being overarching villains who appeared more than just being saved up for the very last episode.

So Lizard and Swarm are still on the loose?

They should have replaced MODOK with Lizard at the beginning and have Miles be reunited with his dad at the end of the final episode. They could have squeezed them in somehow.

Like have the Avengers and Spider-man take down Lizard/Connors instead of MODOK.

Yeah, I think that would've worked, and I was kind of expecting Swarm to show up and help them fight the Sisters off...

Here's an interesting tidbit that a fandom wikia found: Mania and Scorn's host were seen after Max destroys the symbiote seed. Mania's host was, ironically, a human-like spider alien, and Scorn's host was a muscular alien. You have to pause as soon as the symbiotes come off of them to see them, especially Mania's host.

I wonder what happened to them since Gwen, Anya, and Miles weren't fighting them when the symbiotes were destroyed and that portal Venom tricked Max into making was destroyed with Horizon. Are they just stuck on Earth now?

I saw that too. What happened to their hosts ?

 

[Rick Jones]

I will say, for all it's flaws, that I think this was a better Spider-Man cartoon than Ultimate and got to the heart of the character, and for all it's writing and development issues, felt earnest in-spite of that.

If the pros of this show and Ultimate were combined, I think kids would have been blessed with a Spider-Man series they would talk about for years to come.

This short season wasn't always as strong as I would have liked but those last two episodes really left me highly entertained. I love seeing Peter on top of his game for a change.

It didn't feel right to see Venom become a lackey for the other Klyntar but it probably didn't matter as much when the conflict between it and Spidey became that much more personal when Max was caught in the middle.

The Peter and MJ stuff was so incredibly sweet. I've always been a sucker for seeing them together and the interactions here were very pleasant to see. It would have been nice if MJ had been around for more if the show.

There's part of me that still thinks there's more that can be done with this Spidey but if this is the wrap-up, I think it ended on a good note. With this and Marvel Rising over, I'm just wondering where they'll go next with everything that's coming next year.



Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Comicman2014]

I was expecting Venom to betray his sisters, shockingly that didn't happen. I thought the writers were going somewhere when the sisters were belittling Venom. I was expecting a scene where Spider-man plays off Venom's wounded ego and convince him to turn against the other symbiotes.

Do Peter and his friends have hobbies and interests outside science and superheroing? I feel like it's science and crime-fighting that keep Miles, Anya, Gwen, and Peter together. It's like the Scooby-Doo Gang. Do the gang have anything in common besides solving mysteries and fighting monsters?

 

[Frontier]

I only just found out that W.E.B. is actually a thing for the new Avengers Campus attraction at Disneyland.

I wonder if they were planning or thinking of re-branding the show to tie-in to the ride like Guardians did with Mission Breakout.

I also wonder if they introduced Ironheart and Amadeus Cho with plans to have them be involved with W.E.B, since they didn't have much of a purpose to be introduced otherwise (other than establishing the Avengers internships, I guess).

Do Peter and his friends have hobbies and interests outside science and superheroing? I feel like it's science and crime-fighting that keep Miles, Anya, Gwen, and Peter together. It's like the Scooby-Doo Gang. Do the gang have anything in common besides solving mysteries and fighting monsters?

This is part of why I found MJ so refreshing on the show, since we finally had a major character that didn't care about science and was actually believably weirded out about all the craziness that goes on at Horizon .