Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Reviews

Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter IV: The Six Fight Again
Review and Media by Stu

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Episode #57 - Six Forgotten Warriors, Chapter IV: The Six Fight Again
Original Airdate - October 10th, 1997

Kingpin and the Insidious Six battle against Spider-Man and the Six Forgotten Warriors for possession of the last ring that will activate the Doomsday Device. With things looking bleak for the heroes, Silver Sable and the Wildpack arrive just in time to witness the release of Captain America and the Red Skull from the vortex they've been trapped in for fifty years!

Credits:
Written By: John Semper
Music Composed By: Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahchi
Animation Services By: Toyko Movie Shinsha (TMS)
Guest Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes as Spider-Man, Earl Boen as The Red Skull, David Hyter as Captain America, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Doctor Octopus, Jim Cummings as The Shocker, Richard Moll as The Scorpion, Alan Johnson as The Vulture, Roy Dotrice as Keene Marlow and Mira Furlan as Silver Sable

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Review: This is when the story really started getting itself together and building up to its big moment - the Six American Warriors and Spider-Man teaming up. The arc is clearly planned to be told at a very slow pace, allowing the show the rare opportunity to breathe and the characters to get fleshed out just a shade more. This series had so many ideas always fighting for screen time, with everything usually getting crammed together to lackluster results.

One of the weirder aspects of this arc is Kingpin. Unlike every other Kingpin appearance, he actually joins his lackeys in finding the keys, and even reveals his identity to Robbie! Certainly an bold move, but one that just goes nowhere once this season wraps up. Actually, if I recall, The Kingpin is never actually defeated in this series. I would've been cool to see Spidey finally take him down!

The episode slightly touches upon race issues from the 1940's, including an explanation as to why The Black Marvel wore a hood and kept his identity a secret. It's interesting and a smart touch by Semper to include this. It's a nod to history and how far we've come (and not come, because seriously, look around) but also a reminder that it's not something we should ever forget.

It's also odd that Richard Moll actually spoke the Rhino's only line instead of Don Stark. The Shocker didn't speak in the previous episode either. Clever way of saving no the costs of voices!

The Six returning was a great moment. If I knew whom half of them were, I'd imagine this would be a spine tingling moment. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when they fought The Insidious Six, as Miss America and Black Marvel, actually smacked their opponents in the face! The fight scenes in this show were censored to a ridiculous degree. I mean, it's an action show. People will fight. What's even stupider is that this aired on the same network as Batman where characters continually punched each other. Stupid networks.

The coolest part of the episode was the long awaited return of Captain America. We knew he was coming since the beginning of season four and he was back to his best. I think it's a shame we never got the planned Captain America series after Avengers, I think a Cap cartoon would've been awesome. It's sad that the golden age of Marvel animation had to end the way it did, a crappy Spider-Man series ending on a cliffhanger and the other cartoon, The Silver Surfer concluded with the universe ending! Both of them ending with the dreaded "To Be Continued" when the show didn't.

I thought it was pretty cool to have The Chameleon be the traitor. I always thought this show's version of Chameleon was cool, simply because he didn't speak. He always morphed into someone else to speak. It also continued a plot thread from the third seasons in which he and Richard Fisk talk about Parker's parents being traitors. As with all the Six Forgotten Warriors episodes, the next one is better than this one. I thought they did a fantastic job building up The Doomsday Weapon. It's interesting to note that Semper wrote every single episode of this arc himself. It's arguable that a tribute to the silver age is no place for a Spider-Man cartoon but hell, like "Secret Wars" I really enjoyed it. It was a daring story to say the least but it paid off.

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