Spider-Man: The Ultimate Villain Showdown

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man…everywhere you look, it’s Spider-Man. You’d think this guy was long-overdue for a decent adaptation or something. Well, one look at Spider-Man: The Ultimate Villain Showdown, and you’ll realize that, actually, a good adaptation is really long overdue. A character that’s been around since the ’60s had to wait until the early ’90s before they could even throw together a decent animated series about him, much less a feature film.

Taken from the TV series that was much more faithful to the comic books than any that went before it (remember Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends?), Showdown collects some of Spidey’s best super-villain dustups, ranging from the maniacal Green Goblin to the, um, maniacal Kraven the Hunter. The extra features are very Stan Lee–heavy—but can you blame him? The guy’s waited 40 years for this kind of press. We really appreciated the inclusion of the “origin” episode from the original 1967 series, though. Not only is the cornball dialogue and cheesy animation a blast, but we never get tired of that theme song (but if you know what’s good for you, you’ll avoid Areosmith’s tepid cover version from the movie soundtrack—egads). Most of you won’t be rushing out for this, and that’s understandable, but fans and completists will be pleased.

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