Movie Review: Justice League - The Gathering I Expected

I first started my blog with a review of "Man of Steel", the Superman reboot that would be the beginning of the DC Extended Universe. It's kind of crazy that it's been almost five years and how much I've grown in my writing since then. I've been covering the DCEU from the start and it's definitely been a rocky road, and it's led to this: the Justice League. While DC has taken a different approach than Marvel did leading to the Avengers, I've always remained hopeful that Justice League would be just as epic. That said, Justice League is pretty good...but it's not epic.

The film has a bit of a rocky start with some odd choices in dialogue and fight choreography, but it really starts to find its groove after the scene on Themyscera featuring another Amazon battle and once the team starts to come together. After that, I was pretty entertained for the rest of the film between the action and interaction amongst the heroes. I'm not saying that I didn't like it, but compared to the previous films leading up to this, "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", it just felt really different than what came before. It didn't have any major themes from what I noticed. There were quite a few moments I really enjoyed, but nothing that made me geek out as hard as the Batman warehouse fight in BvS. Believe it or not, I actually still like BvS more. What's really sad to say though is that I kind of expected things to go this way for the film.

Earlier this year, director Zack Snyder had stepped away from the film after the death of his daughter, leading the reigns of the film through post-production and reshoots to Joss Whedon, director of the first two Avengers films. While Whedon did film additional material, it was constantly said that Snyder's vision and story were still at the forefront, even with the different styles of the two directors. But even so, what didn't help was that Warner Bros. had mandated the film's runtime to be under two hours. To put this in perspective, the majority of DCEU films are roughly two and a half hours with the extended cut of BvS clocking in at three hours, making Justice League the shortest film yet. This may not have been a problem if not for two things: 1) We're being introduced to three new heroes in Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg. and 2) It was pretty clear that many scenes were cut, from the characters who were expected to appear but didn't (like Iris West) and scenes shown in the trailers but not in the actual film. It really did feel like a more condensed version of what Snyder intended. When the extended version of BvS came out on Blu-Ray, the extra scenes helped that movie flow better and filled in some holes the story was missing, many believing that the film may have been better received had that been the version released in theaters. It seems that not only has WB not learned its lessons from before, but they're doubling down when it comes to "Justice League". The DCEU hasn't had the best reception overall, which of course leads to course correcting, but sometimes it can go too far. "Suicide Squad" had this problem after the poor reception to "BvS" and you can say "Justice League" did the same after the success of "Wonder Woman". But of course, from my understanding, "Wonder Woman" succeeded because director Patty Jenkins was allowed to make the film she wanted with little interference from WB. Even "Man of Steel", with its more mixed reception was still its own story, as the major plan of the DCEU was still in its infant stage. My point is that if WB wants to get the DCEU on track, they need to allow the directors of these movies have more free reign, which I understand is supposed to be the direction they're going now, giving me hope still in the DCEU. All that said, I'm trying not to judge the Justice League film I saw too harshly as we clearly won't see the whole story until the inevitable extended cut will be released on Blu-Ray. But enough behind-the-scenes drama; let's talk about the film itself.

As the returning cast members, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Jeremy Irons are still on point from their previous performances as Batman, Wonder Woman, and Alfred. Gadot continues to radiate divinity as the demi-goddess. I've seen some criticism of Affleck's performance in this film, like that he doesn't seem like he wants to be there or that he's phoning it in, but I say he's still on par with his portrayal in BvS. I've always thought of Bruce and Batman's voice to remain at the same serious tone with inflections when necessary, which he still has here. And let's be honest, it's not like Batman is the kind of guy who's good at expressing himself, not that he wants to anyway, which makes sense why his attempts to bring the team together at first aren't very successful. He's approaching them as serious Batman Bruce Wayne, not the charismatic business man Bruce Wayne. Besides that, I really enjoyed his character interactions amongst the others, from the co-leadership and romantic tension with Diana, the mentor role for Barry, and butting heads with Arthur and Clark.

Henry Cavill is also back as Clark Kent/Superman, and he's a bit different here than we've seen before. No longer unsure of himself and his place in the world, we see a Superman who's finally smiling and enjoying saving the day, the Superman some people have been waiting for since "Man of Steel". Of course, had they realized that this had been the planned character arc for Superman over three movies, they may not have had a problem with waiting so long, but I digress. The action scenes and character interactions involving him are some of the best of the film, really making the team feel complete by the end, especially for the big group shot. If I had any complaint, it's that his transition between coming back from the dead and suiting up as Superman went a little too fast, but this may be one of those instances where cutting scenes hurt things.

As mentioned before, we have three new heroes introduced in Aquaman, Flash, and Cyborg. While I didn't really think too much about DC not having each hero get their own solo movies before the big team-up, now that the big team-up is here, I can't help but think Aquaman and Flash really would have benefited from having their own movies first. Both have already had their powers, so it would have been nice to have some idea of their lives before this point. Besides that, this is our first look at Atlantis, and we only see a tomb holding a Mother Box.

Jason Momoa as Aquaman was pretty good and a real badass. From a character perspective, I find his situation similar to Clark's in "Man of Steel" or even Thor in his first movie; he's not truly Aquaman yet and hasn't taken up the responsibility placed on him. He's yet to become the king he's meant to be.

It was said beforehand that Ezra Miller's Flash was the highlight of early fan screenings, and I can see why. He's probably one of the most entertaining characters of this film. While part of that is because he was the source of most of the film's comic relief, his powers were quite a sight to see, especially with the lightning flying around. One of Zack Snyder's tropes is his use of slow motion, and I can't help but think he had a good time when it came to filming Flash's scenes where he was moving so fast it was almost like everything around him was frozen in place. Besides that, we see a slight rivalry between him and Superman about who's faster, including an "oh shit" moment where Barry realizes Clark can still follow his movements at high speed. As for Barry's character himself, he's a bit odd. Compared to Grant Gustin's depiction on the TV show, he's very different. If anything, he reminded me more of Wally West than Barry Allen. Hell, swap out Barry's background for Wally's and there wouldn't have been a big difference for the main story. But again, Barry apparently had more scenes depicting his everyday life that got cut, so there's that to consider.

After his brief cameo in BvS, Ray Fisher makes his feature film debut as Victor Stone/Cyborg. Unlike the previous two, Cyborg's origin being integrated into this film makes more sense considering his connection to the Mother Boxes, not to mention that the New 52's Justice League origin was also Cyborg's introduction in that timeline as well. Fisher does a good job portraying Victor's character arc from being ashamed and angry about his situation to becoming more accepting of his gifts and working with the League. And if you're expecting him to say a certain line the character's known for, don't worry, he does.

Our main villain of the film is Steppenwolf, whose character likeness for CGI and voice is provided by Ciarin Hinds. Steppenwolf is evil and out to conquer the world...and that's about it. Some of you may remember Hinds for portraying Mephisto in "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance". Let's just say he's two for two when it comes to forgettable comic book villain roles. It's not that Steppenwolf is a bad villain, but he's just not memorable. Hell, whether you liked Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor or not, you can't deny he was a forgettable part of BvS. Besides that, I feel that Steppenwolf's story could have been plotted a little better. In the film, this is his second time coming to Earth after being fought off by the combined armies of man, Amazons, and Atlanteans. The way I would have done it would be that the Mother Boxes would have been sent to Earth a long time ago with Steppenwolf only now coming to Earth to conquer it. After he's defeated and goes back to Apokolips, he's punished by Darkseid for his failure, but Darkseid's curiosity is still peaked that his top general was defeated on such of meager world like Earth (and yes, I know that's similar to how Thanos probably felt after the Avengers defeated the Chitauri). Steppenwolf being defeated twice on the same world just makes him look more weak than Earth being that strong. Besides that, in both CGI quality and character design, he reminds me much of Incubus from "Suicide Squad".

Danny Elfman performed the score to the film and while I don't usually talk about this kind of thing, I feel the need to hear. From the Simpsons, Nightmare Before Christmas, the original Spider-Man trilogy, and so much more, Elfman's a fantastic composer. And while I got a warm feeling hearing his Batman theme return in this film, other than that and the music during Flash's slow-motion scenes, I couldn't help but miss Hans Zimmer's previous themes from "Man of Steel" and BvS. It's just another factor that makes Justice League feel more removed in terms of tone from those previous two films. While both composers are amazing, in terms of the DCEU, Zimmer's just produced more memorable themes.

So overall, Justice League is pretty much how I expected it to be and still entertaining enough to be worth seeing in theaters with a post-credits scene that does get me excited for what's to come, but it could have been much better. Between this film and the Defenders back in August, I can't help but think how the Avengers did it better, introducing the main heroes with constant momentum and build-up before the big pay-off of the team-up. But again, I'm talking about a film that I've technically only partly seen. If/when an extended cut comes out, I'll probably have some more thoughts to share on whether or not the extra scenes help deliver a more complete film. But until then, the two words to sum up this film for me are "pretty good".

My Personal DC Extended Universe Film Rankings:

1. Wonder Woman

2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

3. Man of Steel

4. Justice League

5. Suicide Squad

Movie Review: "Thor: Ragnarok" - Final Days of Thunder

Back in the first year of my blog, I reviewed "Thor: The Dark World". I wasn't a real fan of that film and didn't even give my review for it an introduction paragraph like I am here and usually try to do. "Thor: The Dark World" remains my least favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe film and is really the last in the franchise I had any hint of disappointment in. So when it came to the next Thor movie, I was cautiously optimistic. In comparison to Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man, it was really my least anticipated Marvel film of this year, even behind other superhero films from the X-Men and DC universes. Still, the return of Mark Ruffalo's Hulk and major castings of actors like Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum got me a little more excited, and the two trailers that came out shooed away any doubts I had about this film. And once it came out, reviews were saying it was not just another well received comic book movie this year but one of, if not the best, to come from the MCU. I try not to let sites like Rotten Tomatoes or reviews from professional critics sway my opinion, so I didn't want to go into this film with too high of expectations. Coming out of it, it was definitely one of the most fun and craziest films to come out of the MCU.

I think what makes this film so unique is how much different it is from the previous two Thor films, which is good and bad in some ways. Unlike the previous films, we spend very little time on Earth and there's no romantic subplot, now focusing mainly on Asgard and Sakaar. While the Thor films haven't given too much attention to the other main realms of Norse mythology, it was still nice to see some new environments.

One of the main points this film has gotten praise for is its comedy, and that's fair. There's plenty of laughs to be had in this film, but I'll admit I was worried about this aspect, especially during the opening scenes. When Thor's held captive by Surtur hanging on a chain and spinning around, his behavior was something I'd expect more from Deadpool than the God of Thunder. Maybe it just took me a bit to get the feel of the kind of comedy this film was giving us, as it didn't become too grating as it went on.

I'm not saying you can't be funny in a superhero movie, as it is a way of making sure your audience is entertained, but I feel action and drama are also important, which this film still delivers on. We have some good family drama when it comes to Thor, Odin, and Loki, which is expected from the past films. In this aspect, we probably have the best interaction yet between Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Tom Hiddleston's Loki. We get more of a feeling of their past together and I think their relationship has come full circle in some ways. Action wise, what really stood out for me was finally having a proper battle between Hulk and Thor that is really intense.

It's worth noting that "Ragnarok" is the conclusion to the trilogy of Thor films, the third character to finish one after Iron Man and Captain America. "Ragnarok" is in my opinion the best of the third films among the trilogies. It pays homages to moments from both the previous Thor movies, as well as both Avengers films. And not only that, but it's also somewhat of a dismantling of all those films and what they established for the characters. As Ragnarok is meant to be the end of Asgard, you truly feel that this film is the end of an era. While I still enjoyed "Civil War" more, that was partially an Avengers film as well as a Captain America one. In addition, while Iron Man 3 was intended to be Robert Downey Jr.'s last solo film, his future in the MCU was still up in the air at the time. Not only is "Ragnarok" truly Thor's movie, but it comes at a time where the heroes that started the MCU are almost out the door on the heels of "Infinity War" and Avengers 4.

Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston once again shine as the characters they began playing in 2011, so there's not much to say in that department.

Mark Ruffalo returns from "Age of Ultron" to play Bruce Banner and the Hulk, and it's much different from his previous appearances. Given the Hulk's film rights issues prevent us from getting another solo movie, Marvel has said that the character will be undergoing an arc beginning in this film and continuing in "Infinity War" and Avengers 4. Without spoiling too much, apparently Hulk hasn't turned back into Banner since the end of "Age of Ultron", and this sets up a major internal conflict Banner hasn't had yet. Previously, the Hulk we're used to is basically Banner either losing his temper and acting out of impulsive anger or Banner transforming and guiding Hulk into battle. But with how long the Hulk has remained in control, he's forming his own personality and finally talking more in the usual broken Hulk speech fashion. Banner's body is one of two minds, his own and the Hulk's; it's now a true battle for control with Banner worried that he may lose, and I really look forward to where the character goes next.

Of the newcomers that stand out, it's Cate Blanchett as Hela and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie.

Right out of the gate, Hela proves herself as a formidable foe by breaking Mjolnir, making clear the kind of danger present. She's also well acted by Blanchett, and it's great showing from the first major female villain from an MCU film. I will say though that in terms of appearance and powers, she makes me think of a combination of Maleficent (with the horned helmet and green aura in her magic) and Ares from "Wonder Woman" (particularly the flying swords both of them can summon); not that that takes away from her character.

Of all the character arcs of this film, Thompson's Valkyrie goes through the biggest. She's a character with a dark past unwilling to face it until she realizes she has to. I think some people will see her as just the female lead or as a supportive role, but after watching her, what I see is a future major player in the MCU. As I said before, Hemsworth may be leaving just as Chris Evans and RDJ are. There's already potential Cap successors in Bucky and Falcon and it looks like Spider-Man will take Iron Man's place as the top dog, so who better to fill Thor's shoes than Valkyrie? In the comics right now, Jane Foster wields Mjolnir as the new Thor. In the MCU this isn't plausible because we're very unlikely to have Natalie Portman come back in the role and not only does Mjolnir function differently, it's been shattered (so sadly no chance of Cap being able to pick it up to fight Thanos). I don't think that matters though as Valkyrie proves in the film she is able to handle things well in her own right and I hope she continues to proves herself when she appears in "Infinity War" and beyond and that it could lead to her own film.

To sum things up, "Thor: Rangarok" not only serves a fitting end to the Thor trilogy but also hints at elements to the future, delivering a funny action-fueled ride, bringing us another successful adventure from the MCU.

My Personal Marvel Cinematic Universe Film Rankings:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
2. Captain America: Civil War
3. Thor: Ragnarok
4. Avengers: Age of Ultron
5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
6. The Avengers
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
8. Doctor Strange
9. Spider-Man: Homecoming
10. Ant-Man
11. Iron Man 3
12. Thor
13. Captain America: The First Avenger
14. Iron Man
15. The Incredible Hulk
16. Iron Man 2
17. Thor: The Dark World

Analysis: Spider-Man (2017) Episodes 1-14

Spider-Man is a character that has had so many animated adaptations going all the way back to the 60's, and because of that, there's a scale for how things could go. They're either well received to some degree like the 90's series and The Spectacular Spider-Man or they can take the character far away from the norm like Spider-Man Unlimited and Ultimate Spider-Man. With that in mind though, there were two reasons for excitement when a new Spider-Man series was announced. For one thing, it meant that Ultimate Spider-Man was finally ending after four seasons. While it did have its moments, the series was mostly reviled. The fact that it was ending was good too because season four had the show's quality taking a dive again after its improvements; after the slow trainwreck of the Spider-Verse sequel, there was another three-parter that not only ruined Mary Jane by making her Carnage/Spider-Woman, but they even somehow found a way to botch the Clone Saga, and believe me, that's quite a feat. Granted the finale was a good wrap-up to the series though. Still, I somewhat thought that with Spider-Man's debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his new solo movie coming out, they would have just reformatted Ultimate Spider-Man to match things up. The fact that they didn't do that was the second thing that made a new Spider-Man series cause excitement, particularly the fact that they were going to go back to basics with Peter balancing his superhero and high school lives. While Spider-Man's inclusion in the MCU may have facilitated this new show, don't go in expecting some kind of copy of what we see Peter's life is like in Homecoming. So just how does the new Spider-Man series match up to its predecessors?

Unlike my past Marvel cartoon reviews where I only focused on season premieres, with Spider-Man, I decided to hold off until multiple episodes were released and the show went into its first hiatus. I did this because when it came to Spectacular Spider-Man, it took me a few episodes in for me to make up my mind on that series, so I wanted to give this new series the same benefit. Between August and October of this year, 14 episodes have been released, which was more than I expected considering season orders are generally 26 episodes, which means we're already over half-way through the first one. That said, I won't go into every detail about each episode, but just the things that stand out to me.

The series premiere was the two-part "Horizon High", where we pick up on Peter not long after the death of Uncle Ben. He's just starting out and he's still wearing his rookie suit, which is something I don't think has ever been featured in a past Spider-Man cartoon. Things start to look up for Peter though as he's accepted into Horizon High, a school for geniuses, where he's able to develop the classic Spidey suit. It gets props right away by actually feeling like a Spider-Man show, at least compared to Ultimate. He's not relying on SHIELD or other heroes, he actually has a supporting cast and is fighting his own villains. That said though, part one had a lot of parallels to the first episode of Spectacular, particularly the first villain being Vulture and Peter wanting to help Aunt May as she's going through money troubles. The latter doesn't have much focus on this series in comparison though, as it's quickly resolved by Peter getting a job as a lab assistant. He does lie to Aunt May though by saying he got a partial scholarship; at this point, this hasn't been brought up again, so there's no telling if it will later on. The animation style has more of an anime influence not only in character designs, but it also helps the action become more fluid compared to Ultimate, particularly when he's in a fight with Scorpion in a subway compartment, which limits the space of the battle, but gives us a chance to see some of Peter's acrobatic skills.

One thing you'll definitely notice is Peter's love of science. That's always played a part in past Spider-Man series, but they really notched it up in this one. That's a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, it's nice to show Peter's love of science and how he's able to apply it to his Spider-Man activities. But sometimes it can get a little overboard where he can't stop himself from bringing up something scientific in a regular conversation, and it can get to the point where I feel the need to scream "NEEEERRRRD!" Thankfully as the series went on, Peter's love of science is still present, but he's able to have conversations like a normal person. That said, even though Peter is at a school for geniuses, he's definitely one of the more well-rounded students there. Hell, not only do they scoff at the idea of a school dance, but when he and some of his friends go to Coney Island for fun, they still bring their top secret project with them for some reason. Wait, if they're supposed to be geniuses, why did they take out in the open where it could be compromised?

These episodes also establish pretty early that Harry Osborn doesn't like Spider-Man, which at this point is becoming a cliché for the Spider-Man mythos. They've had several interactions through the series so far and Harry begrudgingly helps him out sometimes; Peter and Harry are still best friends here, and while they have some issues, their friendship remains steadfast, which means I think it's going to hit Harry hard when he eventually finds out. I will say though that I think this is being handled much better than it was in Ultimate.

In addition to Horizon High, there's also a rival school in Osborn Academy, created by Norman Osborn, which is the focus of episode three. I didn't really care for this episode because it has Norman essentially making two teenagers with advanced tech fight each other for a spot in his school, causing tons of collateral damage and putting so many people in danger, and they don't face any consequences. It's here where we're introduced to John Jameson (who is interested in astrophysics in this version and turns into the Man-Wolf in episode 11) as well as this show's version of villains Shocker and Clash, all of whom are teenage geniuses. This is something I'm worried about with this show, that half of the Spider-Man characters are going to come about in this fashion. Besides that, Otto Octavius was introduced in the first two-parter as well, and he's also a teenage prodigy, not to mention Peter's advisor. It's such a weird departure from what I'm used to with the character, but he does have the same arrogance you'd expect from the character, and I'm looking forward to see his transformation into Doctor Octopus.

By episodes four and five, this is when I started to notice the show coming into its own. Not only was it nice for them to showcase the social drama of Peter's life, but it's here we start to notice how the episodes play off of one another and set up future elements, though not to the same level of serialization that Spectacular had.

Now would be a good time to start talking about this show's version of Gwen Stacy. Like Peter, she's definitely more well rounded compared to the other students, and she really reminds me to some degree of Emma Stone's portrayal of the character from the Amazing Spider-Man films, particularly in that she may actually be smarter than Peter. While romance was pretty much non-existent in Ultimate, I sense one slowly blooming between Peter and Gwen here. In episode four, while Peter's in a rush somewhere, he stops when Gwen says hi and they talk for a bit, and in episode five, Peter's there to comfort her after the events of that episode (which I'm not going to spoil here though). And later on in episode 14, she actually helps Peter when he's having a hard time decoding a flashdrive with information on Hammerhead, which he says is a school project, and I got a warm feeling when he said "I think what I was missing was you." It would be hard to not miss the double meaning of that line. On that note, I have a strong feeling that Gwen knows Peter is Spider-Man. Like I said, she's a smart girl and should be able to figure it out, but she also doesn't really question why Peter has a drive with info on Hammerhead. I know it may seem weird how I'm wishing for romance on a kid's show between two teenagers, but that's always been a part of Peter's life in almost every version of the character, and he's supposed to represent the everyman. To take that out like Ultimate did is a disservice to the character. It's the relationships that Peter himself has with family and friends that make him the kind of man he is and in turn the hero Spider-Man is.

Episodes six through eight are our requisite symbiote/black costume arc. I know it may seem early for that, but let's not forget that the 90's series had this happen around the same time in its run as well. My main complaint is that it was much shorter compared to how long both the 90's series and Spectacular had it last. While Spectacular still did it the best in my opinion, this show's version of the story did a good job at showing how aggressive the symbiote made Spider-Man, and if you listen closely, it actually distorts Peter's voice the more he wears it. Another problem though is that when it came to how the symbiote affected Peter himself, he was acting cooler than he thought he was. Did they learn nothing from Spider-Man 3? Let's just be glad we were spared a dance number.

Something nice is that much like in the comics, there's a space between Peter wearing the black suit and when we're introduced to Venom. This comes to some fruition when a sample of the symbiote had bonded with Flash Thompson (as a majority of it had been taken by Iron Man to contain at Avengers Compound), but it only transforms him into Venom when he's feeling angry and he loses control. I didn't mind how it was done here, as not only is Spider-Man able to destroy that symbiote sample, but still opens the door for a proper Venom later on. I still have hope that we'll be introduced to Eddie Brock in this series and that he eventually creates a true bond with the symbiote with the goal of destroying both Peter and Spider-Man. When and if that does happen though, I think it would also be nice to see Eddie's more heroic side, i.e. Lethal Protector, something that hasn't been done before in animation.

Following the symbiote arc, but before Venom's appearance, we get a bit of a surprise in Miles Morales, who has only been one of Peter's friends at Horizon at this point, is bitten by another OsCorp spider and becomes a Spider-Man in his own right. When this first happened, I was a little taken aback. I've always seen Miles as the young protégé to Peter's more experienced Spider-Man. To have Miles be around the same age as Peter and already get powers a few months after Peter can be a little too much. But still, setting aside the time between Peter and Miles initially get their powers, having them be close in age isn't that much of a bad thing. It kind of reminds me of Barry and Wally on the Flash TV series. They're also closer in age, but there's still a learning curve one has to teach the other; it's also similar because the newer one has some extra strength compared to original (Wally being faster compared to when Barry first got his speed, and Miles having the cloaking and venom blast techniques). Despite Miles also having powers though, Peter still has his own solo stories, which is nice because I still want this to be Peter's show. And I also hope they both can be called Spider-Man; no more of that "Kid Arachnid" crap from Ultimate.

The last episode that aired before hiatus involved a very minor character from the comics named Screwball. In the issues I've read with her, she's an annoying internet prankster that has messed around with Spider-Man from time to time. The last time I remember her showing up, she pulled her usual shtick on the Superior Spider-Man, when Doc Ock had placed his mind in Peter's body; not having the same patience as Peter did, Ock paid her back with a severe beatdown. So when this character was said to appear, I expected to hate this episode. But imagine my surprise when they gave her actual depth; granted they had to make her Liz Allan (which she isn't in the comics), but it was worth it. She actually had a goal in mind with her pranks but lost sight of that when she noticed messing with Spider-Man got her more attention, eventually learning her lesson by the end of the episode. I may make this episode sound better than it actually was compared to others so far, but if this show can give us a better version of a character than the comics did, I think it's earned its spot among great animated comic shows.

When it comes to the current slate of Marvel animated series, also including Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Assemble, Spider-Man is definitely on top. Guardians of the Galaxy is still good, but I think it kind of lost some of its luster after the film's sequel came out. The animated series is its own continuation of the first film with no real connections to the MCU, but after the sequel as well as the current Telltale game, I see characters like Yondu and Nebula in a different light compared to how they're portrayed in the show. As for Avengers Assemble, I finally gave up on the show after the season four premiere. With all the opportunities the show has had to improve itself over its run despite some stand-out moments, I get the sense that they're comfortable sitting in mediocrity, and I'm done supporting that.

So with fourteen episodes in, I can definitely say that this new series is a welcome addition to the Spider-Man animated legacy. Of course, it's not as good as Spectacular Spider-Man, which I don't think will ever be topped, and it does suffer from some of the same problems Marvel cartoons have had since Ultimate Spider-Man. However, it still has many opportunities to improve, and it may be presumptuous to say it at this point, but I believe the 2017 series can join both Spectacular and the 90's series as the Spider-Man shows that will stand the test of time, as they all showcase the world of Spider-Man and introducing new fans to a somewhat accurate depiction of the character.