Ultimate Spider-Man "The Parent Trap" Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Swing by for an all-new episode of Ultimate Spider-Man inside the Marvel Universe today at 11:30am (ET/PT) on DisneyXD!

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"The Parent Trap"
Episode Premiere Date - July 28th, 2013
Spider-Man and Power Man infiltrate Zodiac’s secret volcano base only to discover what really happened to Power Man’s long-lost parents.

Comments?

 

[One X]

Very good episode.
Funny, good, lots of action, nice ending.
Love to see Luke use his full powers.


Spoilers






was that real volcano? I mean, Luke was able to stay in there for a long time without his hair or clothes burning off.

And the ending....dose that mean he's gonna explode? Or de-power?

 

[Roxas_Sora]

My opinions:

+ Very good episode, indeed. At the same level of "Kraven the Hunter" as White Tiger's episode.
+ Maybe I'm wrong, but the last time we saw the Zodiac Key, SHIELD had it under custody after Scorpio failed attack to Hellicarrier failed and he had to run away. So when did Scorpio recover the Zodiac Key from SHIELD?
+ I also find curious the fact that Power Man's clothes didn't burn in the magma. Maybe they are made of "unstable molecules", you know, like the Fantastic Four's uniforms. That's how the Human Torch doesn't burn his clothes everytime he "flames on". However, did you notice that Scorpio's boxers didn't burn either?
+ Power Man's shiny eyes at the end of the episode worries me too. Hey, do you think Power Man could evolve from "Power Man" to "Wonder Man"?
+ Spidey's scene with the lasers, I don't know you, but I see a reference to Kim Possible here. Spiderman did something very similar to what Kim did in her very first mission.

What do you think?

 

[Gold Guy]

I actually didn't care for this one too much. IMO, almost the whole episode was filled with clichés. It was obvious that Cage's parents weren't evil. And I don't particularly care for Zodiac in this series.

 

[Medinnus]

OK, I liked this episode well enough, with one exception (which I'll get to in a sec). The humor was on-target if not particularly funny (except for the Star Wars cutaway) - that is Spider-Man humor, dead-on. No chibis - life is good.

OK, we now know Power Man's origin. Is there anything about Power Man that indicates he HAD to be Luke Cage? They've now stripped everything about Power Man that made him Power Man - his origin, his personality, everything is different. Why not have given him the name of the MU 616 teen power man, rather than Luke Cage? Everything else would have worked, and then they could have had the "real" Luke Cage as well. OK... "Sweet Christmas" was the same, but still...This is a BIG reason why I hate what they did, and why I feel its disrespectful to the character of Luke Cage. I mean, I like the USM Power Man as a character well enough - but he's not Luke Cage in any significant way.

The Zodiac has long since been one of my favorite groups, but I can't help but feel they are being way under-written here. Scorpio and thugs with masks is OK, but there are so many more plots that could feature the rest; Cornelius Van Lunt could take over a similar role to the MU 616 Justin Hammer, and powered Zodiac would be a team worthy of the Avengers.... in fact, it would be a great X-over two-part episode (one in each franchise).

 

[spyke]

OK, we now know Power Man's origin. Is there anything about Power Man that indicates he HAD to be Luke Cage? They've now stripped everything about Power Man that made him Power Man - his origin, his personality, everything is different. Why not have given him the name of the MU 616 teen power man, rather than Luke Cage? Everything else would have worked, and then they could have had the "real" Luke Cage as well. OK... "Sweet Christmas" was the same, but still...This is a BIG reason why I hate what they did, and why I feel its disrespectful to the character of Luke Cage. I mean, I like the USM Power Man as a character well enough - but he's not Luke Cage in any significant way.

The teen MU Power Man (Victor Alvarez) has similar (but different) powers to Iron Fist, which is most likely why they didn't use him in this new series. Victor can absorb chi from around the surrounding environment and convert that energy to super strength and limited invulnerability. Personally, I like Victor better than Cage, mainly because I think that Victor's powers are cooler due to the unique take on super strength and invulnerability.

As for the episode itself, I thought that it was pretty good.

 

[One X]

Well, Luke DID got his powers from an experiment. Victor house just blew up and he got his powers...or maybe he was a mutant and was born with them, idk, I never liked him. They completely changed Rhino and Scorpion origin as well. Also, anyone notice that Scorpio dude called Luke's dad "Mr. Cage" instead of Mr. Lucas? IIRC, Spiderman calls Luke "Lucas".
Yeah, I kinda do agree with you that this Luke Cage isn't exactly the same as the comic version.
But the comic Cage is kinda thiggish with a nice heart. Not sure if they want to show him on a kids/teen cartoon. He's not all THAT bad.

 

[firefoxprime]

Holy crap. The action, the jokes(most of 'em), the story, everything was on point. Felt like I was watching Young Justice man.... Also with the 4th wall jokes at a minimum, the suspense really felt "suspenseful". The episode just flowed. Awesome awesome awesome.

Also loving the blocker character designs(facial features) because those season 1 SuperHeroSquad round faces irked me to the core, UGH. Between Ultimate Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Parent Trap, season 2 is clearly on a roll.

 

[Medinnus]

Well, Luke DID got his powers from an experiment.

Thats like saying Captain America or Spider-Man could be Luke Cage.

The origin or the MU 616 Luke Cage had drama, and pathos, and like CA's and Spider-Man's origins, it too determined much of the way the character was developed.

Again, don't misunderstand - I like the USM Power Man. But they could have produced him out of whole cloth with a different civilian name, and not de-aged and disrespected the original. There was no reason for it.

 

[suss2it]

OK, we now know Power Man's origin. Is there anything about Power Man that indicates he HAD to be Luke Cage? They've now stripped everything about Power Man that made him Power Man - his origin, his personality, everything is different. Why not have given him the name of the MU 616 teen power man, rather than Luke Cage? Everything else would have worked, and then they could have had the "real" Luke Cage as well. OK... "Sweet Christmas" was the same, but still...This is a BIG reason why I hate what they did, and why I feel its disrespectful to the character of Luke Cage. I mean, I like the USM Power Man as a character well enough - but he's not Luke Cage in any significant way.

To be fair he's not Victor Alvarez in any significant way either, so wouldn't it be just as disrespectful to the character of Alvarez to give him that name?

Well, Luke DID got his powers from an experiment. Victor house just blew up and he got his powers...or maybe he was a mutant and was born with them, idk, I never liked him. They completely changed Rhino and Scorpion origin as well. Also, anyone notice that Scorpio dude called Luke's dad "Mr. Cage" instead of Mr. Lucas? IIRC, Spiderman calls Luke "Lucas".
Yeah, I kinda do agree with you that this Luke Cage isn't exactly the same as the comic version.
But the comic Cage is kinda thiggish with a nice heart. Not sure if they want to show him on a kids/teen cartoon. He's not all THAT bad.

Well they did show him in both Avengers: EMH and Super Hero Squad.

 

[sparkykandy]

Pretty much enjoyed this episode. So we now know the backstories of almost everyone on the team except for Nova. I do hope that we learn how Nova got his powers.

 

[Darth_Cygnus]

Incredible episode! It was as good as "Kraven the hunter". I really enjoy most duo episodes (the ones with White Tiger are the best).

We finally learn Luke´s origin story for the Ultimate Spider-Man universe. Nice to see more about the heroes. The spark in Luke´s eyes is kind of intriguing.
Lots of good action and well done jokes. That Star Wars reference is great.

Spidey is really improving his teamwork tactics. That assault with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Power Man was cool.

I guess Scorpio recovered the Zodiac Key from the remains of the original Helicarrier.

Season 2 improves even more with each episode. I love that.

Darth Cygnus

 

[Webbed-Wonder]

This episode was actually good! No real complaints for once.

 

[Darkwing 626]

As I watch the ep, one thought kept running through my head, 'did they just graft all of Spider-Man's origns onto Luke?'
　
Parents are spys/work for SHEILD- Spidey 616
　
Parents are scientists working with the supers soldier serum- Ultimate Origin (no idea how that fits in with the cancer/venom they had originally gone with-nor do I care)
　
Parents experimented on him as a kid giving him powers- the implication of the Amazing Spider-Man movie trailer (I know that ended up being misleading)
　
Parents died in a plane crash- seems to be how they die in most series
　
And just for fun
　
Got exposed to a chemical that made him grow in size, appear older, and gave him super strength- basically Rage's origin
　
If his parents turn out to be robots working for the Chameleon (well Zodic in this case) I'm going to call foul
　
I know they can't use the prison origin, but it doesn't mean they couldn't make it work. Have him be sick as a kid that gets an experimental procedure to boost his immune system. It goes wrong/works to well, gives him powers, he abuses them, does some bad stuff and SHIELD helps put him on the straight and narrow. With this story being about him going home and stopping something he didn't know he set in motion and is basically facing up to a past he's ashamed of and has been trying to put behind him, while accpeting who he was was instrumental in making him who he is.

 

[suss2it]

As I watch the ep, one thought kept running through my head, 'did they just graft all of Spider-Man's origns onto Luke?'
　
Parents are spys/work for SHEILD- Spidey 616
　
Parents are scientists working with the supers soldier serum- Ultimate Origin (no idea how that fits in with the cancer/venom they had originally gone with-nor do I care)
　
Parents experimented on him as a kid giving him powers- the implication of the Amazing Spider-Man movie trailer (I know that ended up being misleading)
　
Parents died in a plane crash- seems to be how they die in most series
　
And just for fun
　
Got exposed to a chemical that made him grow in size, appear older, and gave him super strength- basically Rage's origin
　
If his parents turn out to be robots working for the Chameleon (well Zodic in this case) I'm going to call foul
　
I know they can't use the prison origin, but it doesn't mean they couldn't make it work. Have him be sick as a kid that gets an experimental procedure to boost his immune system. It goes wrong/works to well, gives him powers, he abuses them, does some bad stuff and SHIELD helps put him on the straight and narrow. With this story being about him going home and stopping something he didn't know he set in motion and is basically facing up to a past he's ashamed of and has been trying to put behind him, while accpeting who he was was instrumental in making him who he is.

Wasn't Cage originally in prison for being wrongly accused of a crime? I think an origin where he actually does do the crime is kinda going against his character.

But yeah if Cage taking Spidey's "working for SHIELD" origin prevents Spidey from getting it since I always thought that was entirely lame and out of place for Peter "everyman" Parker.

 

[spyke]

As I watch the ep, one thought kept running through my head, 'did they just graft all of Spider-Man's origns onto Luke?'
　
Parents are spys/work for SHEILD- Spidey 616
　
Parents are scientists working with the supers soldier serum- Ultimate Origin (no idea how that fits in with the cancer/venom they had originally gone with-nor do I care)
　
Parents experimented on him as a kid giving him powers- the implication of the Amazing Spider-Man movie trailer (I know that ended up being misleading)
　
Parents died in a plane crash- seems to be how they die in most series
　
And just for fun
　
Got exposed to a chemical that made him grow in size, appear older, and gave him super strength- basically Rage's origin
　
If his parents turn out to be robots working for the Chameleon (well Zodic in this case) I'm going to call foul

I thought that I was the only one who noticed that PM's origin in the USM cartoon was taken from various origin stories from various Marvel characters and various versions of Spidey. Heck, him drinking the formula was straight up Steve "Captain America" Rogers drinking the Super Soldier Formula. Cage's parents plane being attacked by a strange aircraft and him being pushed out of a plane by his parents before the plane blows up (and his parents being captured) is very similar to Cyclops MU origin.

 

[Christopher Glennon]

I wasn't expecting Power Man to have the same origin as Luke Cage in the comics, what with him being a teen and all, so I'm just glad we got some backstory for him. Great to see his parents, too. I think only White Tiger's episode beats this as a satisfying backstory-filler.

 

[Medinnus]

I wasn't expecting Power Man to have the same origin as Luke Cage in the comics, what with him being a teen and all, so I'm just glad we got some backstory for him. Great to see his parents, too. I think only White Tiger's episode beats this as a satisfying backstory-filler.

Yet another reason that they shouldn't have used the character Luke Cage.

 

[Christopher Glennon]

Yet another reason that they shouldn't have used the character Luke Cage.

Then who would you have in his place? Let's be realistic, here. If they're going to diversify Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, there are only so many high profile black men they can use while sidestepping the mutant issue. Cage is a heck of a lot easier to teenify on this show than Falcon, Black Panther, or War Machine (who just got through being teenified on another show). And characters like Goliath, Night Thrasher, Nightwatch, Rage, and Doorman aren't as high profile and relevant as Luke Cage is.

 

[Medinnus]

And characters like Goliath, Night Thrasher, Nightwatch, Rage, and Doorman aren't as high profile and relevant as Luke Cage is.

Actually, until BENDIS! most recent renovation, Luke Cage was hardly high-profile, and when you change the motivation, the costume, the background, the personality, and basically keep the costume from a different character and the power set, what's left that's worth a darn?

And no fair asking the question and then answering it! *grins* Any of those, but particularly Rage or Night Thrasher or even Power Man/Victor would have filled the bill just as well, leaving the core character of Luke Cage untouched.

Its like changing the image character of Shadowhawk for a kid's show. By the time you change the fact that he cripples his enemies for life, all you have left is the costume, at which point you're better off creating a new intellectual property.