Spider-Man TAS: The Alien Costume saga

[héad.casé]

Spider-Man the Animated Series had a lot of great episodes, and a lot of great stories that could've been anything from 3 to 6 episodes long, but my main favourite arc they had on the show was the three part story called "The Alien Costume". As a kid, I never read the story of how Venom was introduced into the Spider-Man stories, or how much of this story in the cartoon was taken from the comic panel by panel, so to me, this was my introduction to the symbiote and Venom/Eddie Brock.

Firstly, I thought Venom was badass (still do), and it was scary how because the symbiote had been attached to Peter, that it kind of knew Peter's thoughts and tactics, and helped Brock stay a step ahead when it attached itself to him. What are other people's thoughts of this story arc in the cartoon?

[BorneAgain]

I think you can see how successful this story was by how many various adaptations and media have been inspired by it with the original Sin-Eater storyline from the comics largely left to the dustbin of Marvel history.

Its also probably the best example of how good TAS was at paying off their story arcs. While they built Norman Osborn's transformation into the Goblin, Spider-Man's confrontation with Kingpin, and Madame Web testing Peter before the series finale all very well, Brock's gradual hatred for both Peter and Spider-Man was probably the most concise and effective bit of character storytelling the show did. In general the sybmiote storyline with it, Venom, and Carnage always left you wanting more rather than overusing the characters to the point of tedium.

Incidentally Hank Azaria is still my favorite Venom voice, with Daran Norris from the 2000 Spider-Man game being a very close second.

[Deleted]

[Fade]

Feb 9, 2018 20:59:28 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

I think you can see how successful this story was by how many various adaptations and media have been inspired by it with the original Sin-Eater storyline from the comics largely left to the dustbin of Marvel history.

Its also probably the best example of how good TAS was at paying off their story arcs. While they built Norman Osborn's transformation into the Goblin, Spider-Man's confrontation with Kingpin, and Madame Web testing Peter before the series finale all very well, Brock's gradual hatred for both Peter and Spider-Man was probably the most concise and effective bit of character storytelling the show did. In general the sybmiote storyline with it, Venom, and Carnage always left you wanting more rather than overusing the characters to the point of tedium.

Incidentally Hank Azaria is still my favorite Venom voice, with Daran Norris from the 2000 Spider-Man game being a very close second.

Second a lot in this...I was gonna add that as a kid it would frustrate me there weren't more episodes dedicated to Venom/Symbiotes, but looking back it was just perfect and made me want more instead of it being oversaturated (as Venom/symbiotes tend to get..) in fact, the Spider-Man show after TAS, "Unlimited" IIRC, was ALL about the symbiotes and it did not play out well.

Also, TIL Hank Azaria voiced Venom. Only makes me even more fond of it.

[WoodStoner1]

SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

[The Legend of Groose]

Feb 9, 2018 21:54:15 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

I clicked on Venom driving a truck and I got Venom driving a truck. I don't know what else I expected.

[Goldenbane]

While I hated the Spider-man TAS for being so heavily censored in terms of violence, I did like a lot of the changes they made.

In the comics, the symbiote was just an alien that fell in love with Spider-man and wanted to bond with him permanently. When you later see what happens with Eddie Brock and Venom...Spider-man honest to god looks like a jack ass for refusing the symbiote and not wanting to bond. Why? Vast increase in strength, nearly unlimited webbing, shape shifting ability, invisibility, enhanced durability/invulnerability, claws when needed, teeth when needed, poison when needed...ect. The only drawbacks were weaknesses to sonics and fire, and Spider-man's spider-sense would have helped him avoid those types of attacks 99.99% of the time. There was a really awful What If comic where they show that, had Spider-man bonded with the symbiote he would have...become an old man or something...but that was so horribly written and didn't make any sense because Eddie Brock hadn't been turned into an old man. (Honestly, that issue of What If seemed more interested in showing OTHER heroes bonded to the symbiote other than Spidey...as they showed him bonded with the symbiote for all of 2 panels before it left him for the Hulk and later, Thor).

At least the cartoon added the increased temper and violence. It made WAY more sense why Spidey wouldn't want the thing on him. He looks like a clueless doofus otherwise.

[Talent Name]

Feb 10, 2018 10:40:04 GMT -5 Goldenbane said:

While I hated the Spider-man TAS for being so heavily censored in terms of violence, I did like a lot of the changes they made.

In the comics, the symbiote was just an alien that fell in love with Spider-man and wanted to bond with him permanently. When you later see what happens with Eddie Brock and Venom...Spider-man honest to god looks like a jack ass for refusing the symbiote and not wanting to bond. Why? Vast increase in strength, nearly unlimited webbing, shape shifting ability, invisibility, enhanced durability/invulnerability, claws when needed, teeth when needed, poison when needed...ect. The only drawbacks were weaknesses to sonics and fire, and Spider-man's spider-sense would have helped him avoid those types of attacks 99.99% of the time. There was a really awful What If comic where they show that, had Spider-man bonded with the symbiote he would have...become an old man or something...but that was so horribly written and didn't make any sense because Eddie Brock hadn't been turned into an old man. (Honestly, that issue of What If seemed more interested in showing OTHER heroes bonded to the symbiote other than Spidey...as they showed him bonded with the symbiote for all of 2 panels before it left him for the Hulk and later, Thor).

At least the cartoon added the increased temper and violence. It made WAY more sense why Spidey wouldn't want the thing on him. He looks like a clueless doofus otherwise.

Going by the comics though the symbiotes true nature is peaceful, the person wearing the symbiote can corrupt it and that is what happened with Venom and Carnage

[mizerable]

I thought this was going to be about that shitty Spiderman Unlimited show that they tried out afterward.

[Goldenbane]

Feb 10, 2018 13:47:11 GMT -5 Talent Name said:

Feb 10, 2018 10:40:04 GMT -5 Goldenbane said:

While I hated the Spider-man TAS for being so heavily censored in terms of violence, I did like a lot of the changes they made.

In the comics, the symbiote was just an alien that fell in love with Spider-man and wanted to bond with him permanently. When you later see what happens with Eddie Brock and Venom...Spider-man honest to god looks like a jack ass for refusing the symbiote and not wanting to bond. Why? Vast increase in strength, nearly unlimited webbing, shape shifting ability, invisibility, enhanced durability/invulnerability, claws when needed, teeth when needed, poison when needed...ect. The only drawbacks were weaknesses to sonics and fire, and Spider-man's spider-sense would have helped him avoid those types of attacks 99.99% of the time. There was a really awful What If comic where they show that, had Spider-man bonded with the symbiote he would have...become an old man or something...but that was so horribly written and didn't make any sense because Eddie Brock hadn't been turned into an old man. (Honestly, that issue of What If seemed more interested in showing OTHER heroes bonded to the symbiote other than Spidey...as they showed him bonded with the symbiote for all of 2 panels before it left him for the Hulk and later, Thor).

At least the cartoon added the increased temper and violence. It made WAY more sense why Spidey wouldn't want the thing on him. He looks like a clueless doofus otherwise.

Going by the comics though the symbiotes true nature is peaceful, the person wearing the symbiote can corrupt it and that is what happened with Venom and Carnage

Yeah, and they explained that the Venom symbiote is only evil because of Deadpool or something stupid like that. I think they retconned him into the original Secret Wars (much to my irritation, since I'm a huge fan of that story and not exactly the world's biggerst Deadpool fan).

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Feb 10, 2018 22:54:09 GMT -5 Goldenbane said:

Feb 10, 2018 13:47:11 GMT -5 Talent Name said:

Going by the comics though the symbiotes true nature is peaceful, the person wearing the symbiote can corrupt it and that is what happened with Venom and Carnage

Yeah, and they explained that the Venom symbiote is only evil because of Deadpool or something stupid like that. I think they retconned him into the original Secret Wars (much to my irritation, since I'm a huge fan of that story and not exactly the world's biggerst Deadpool fan).

I don't believe Deadpool's Secret War is canon.

[andrew8798]

What Change did Bendis do again to the symbiote