In my review of season 1 of the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, I noted that it was mostly an introductions/origins season, with most of the episodes being one-off stories that had Spider-Man’s villains being created and introduced for the first time. I definitely love season 1 for what it is, but it doesn’t exactly do anything innovative in terms of storytelling. Season 2, on the other hand, is where the series finds its groove, and does some pretty cool things.

Unlike season 1 being mostly one-off episodes, season 2 has an overall story arc. It’s one of those weird episodic/continuous hybrids, though, because there are many individual “two-parters” within the season that have self-contained storylines, but there is also a story thread that links through the season. This is immediately apparent in the episode titles, which all begin with “Neogenic Nightmare, Chapter ‘X’” preceding the rest of the title. So, this Neogenic Nightmare is a 14-chapter story spanning the 14 episodes of the season. The basic thread here is that Peter’s DNA is starting to mutate, which is threatening to turn him into an actual spider. He desperately tries to find a cure before this transformation completes. I really like this storyline a lot, and I think it’s implemented really well here. It lends itself to some pretty interesting twists over the course of the season too.

The individual episode plots are really fun too. The season opens with a two-parter featuring Spider-Man fighting the Insidious Six, and that’s always an immensely fun time to watch. We then get another villain origin episode, with the show introducing Hydro-Man in a very interesting arc. This season also introduces some other classic Spider-Man villains like Morbius and Vulture, but I think more impressively it weaves in some of the villains from the first season in interesting ways. These villains return in a way that doesn’t feel shoehorned, but rather organic to the season’s overall plot.

Another big addition that was made to season 2 is having episodes that feature other classic Marvel heroes. The big ones we get here are the X-Men, the Punisher, and Blade, all of which have their own two-parters that they’re involved with. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these additions are definitely fan service, but it’s fan service in the best way possible. The showrunners gave some really neat storylines for these heroes to be involved with, and so it doesn’t feel forced to have them join Spidey on his adventures. My favorite one was Punisher, but it was fun seeing all of them.

So, overall I think that season 2 is an improvement over season 1, at least depending on what you’re looking for out of the show. Season 1 definitely feels the most like a “classic” Spider-Man cartoon, giving accurate origins to many classic Spider-Man villains and storylines. Season 2 obviously borrows a lot of material from the comics too, though (the whole Neogenic Nightmare storyline is a pretty famous Spider-Man arc), but I feel like it’s more taking inspiration from and paying homage to these stories in a way that’s doing something unique with it. I really liked season 2 a lot on my adult watchthrough of the series, so I’m excited to see how the rest of the seasons stack up to it.

4.5/5