Ultimate Spider-Man S02E13-14 Review: K'un Lun & the Agents of SMASH

Ultimate Spider-Man, Season 2, Episodes 13-14

Episode 13: The Incredible Spider-Hulk

A pair of... well, decent episodes? I think that "The Incredible Spider-Hulk" is sort of the weaker of the two, but mostly because it's apparently supposed to be the backdoor pilot for another cartoon series, Hulk and the Agents of SMASH. Which is reportedly terrible? I dunno. I haven't personally seen it myself.

The episode itself combines two season one plotlines, though -- Mesmero shows up again and has Spider-Man switch bodies with another hero, this time the Hulk... and the hijinks in this episode isn't as wacky or as hilarious as it was in the season one episode. There's a significant focus on public hatred in this episode, a running theme in this series, with both Hulk and Spider-Man being particularly unpopular heroes among the public, but I don't really think that the episode manages to explore the themes particularly well.

The voice acting is decent, but the scripting doesn't really make it clear just why the Thing, the SHIELD agents and Coulson don't actually realize that Hulk isn't doing his usual HULK SMASH routine. Fury's at least hypnotized, but the others don't have that excuse. There's also some bizarrely piss-poor editing and storytelling choices. How did Hulk-in-Spider-Man end up as Peter Parker asleep in his bed? Why doesn't Peter-in-Hulk just... surrender to the Thing instead of punching him?

The episode eventually ends with the Spider-Hulk and the Hulk-Spider intimidating Mesmero to switch them back, and the Hulk realizing that SHIELD really doesn't trust him. With seemingly greater intelligence (hello, Thor: Ragnarok) Hulk leaves, and Spider-Man manages to convince Fury to not pursue.

Overall, the episode has a lot of potential, really. Spider-Man and the Hulk switching bodies and realizing that neither of them are appreciated is a very interesting story, but we don't go anywhere. The drama elements of this episode are either insipid or quickly resolved, while the jokes aren't even that funny, so we have another episode that unfortunately doesn't go in either direction particularly well, and feels confused about its tone. I honestly feel that "Homesick Hulk" manages to tell the Hulk/Spider-Man buddy-up story in a far, far better way than this episode does.

What's not confusing, though, is that awesome Stan Lee rant as he stands on top of a soapbox (Stan's Soapbox is the name of Marvel Comics' old letter page). Man, I love Stan Lee.

Episode 14: The Journey of the Iron Fist

It's kind of a neat episode,  honestly. Again, I've been preaching about how this series really needs to make better use of the Junior Avengers, because a lot of them (Luke and Nova particularly) are still basically one-note "joke" deliver-ers, but the consistently decently well-written one has always been Danny Rand. He's gotten one of my favourite episodes in season one with the whole fear dimension thing, and it does really help that his zen koans are legitimately hilarious. Also, unlike the other three, Danny is just consistently likable and not a gigantic ass for no reason. 

This episode ends up with Danny being attacked by a mysterious ninja assassin, and later being told by a robed monk that he needs to return to K'un Lun. Spider-Man, of course, follows, and ends up arriving at the mystical land, and faces off against the show's version of the Scorpion, who combines the classic Spider-Man enemy's scorpion tail with the concept of Danny's estranged brother who thinks he's better than Danny. Basically, the Steel Serpent. I'm not mad, it's actually a fun little combination of enemies, and Davos-Scorpion's sickle-tail is pretty badass.

Apparently Danny is supposed to wander the outside world for a year before saying his good-byes and settling down as the King of K'un-Lun after obtaining the Iron Fist, which.... which for whatever reason he ends up taking the SHIELD junior hero program. Okay? The episode then establishes that Danny's been poisoned, right at around the time where Danny has to compete with Scorpion for the right to become king. It's... it's bizarre, honestly. If Danny already has the Iron Fist, why would he need to compete? It's a bit off, and the episode doesn't offer that many explanations, but Spider-Man ends up competing as Danny's proxy.

And, of course, we do get a couple of action scenes, but like all kung fu movies it's all a test of character. Spider-Man showed all the good qualities by stopping and saving his rival, while the Scorpion is just ruthless and obsessed with power. And so Danny ends up the victor... and somehow earns a second Iron Fist because he made a good decision by choosing a good champion? I dunno, I really wished that there was a way to have Danny actually do something other than be a plot device in his own focus episode. It's an episode that ends up feeling like it probably should've gone through a couple of revisions to make a more coherent story, but I definitely enjoyed it. There's enough good stuff and I kinda get what they were going for even with the rather odd choice of having Spider-Man basically run the entire gauntlet.