At a time when perhaps we need them the most, Marvel has been knocking it out of the park lately. If you haven’t been watching the fantastic final season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., you have been missing out. Even the Marvel Battleworld shorts are a blast. But one monthly highlight has been the extended monthly installments of Spider-Man: Maximum Venom. This week’s edition, “Vengeance of Venom,” we get the long-awaited battle between the venomized Avengers and Spider-Man.
But as the series has done during its entire run, it never takes the obvious path. Not only do Aubrey Josephy and Olivia Holt return as Cloak and Dagger, but Peter Giles guest stars as Marc Spector a.k.a. Moon Knight. We don’t want to give anything away, but I will say that even though the venomized world makes the stakes really high, the show never forgets what makes Spider-Man so special.
It is the values taught by Peter Parker’s father-figure Uncle Ben that ground this episode despite the large cast of characters and intergalactic scope. I love that this episode ended up being released on Father’s Day, as it reinforces the classic lesson of “with great power, comes great responsibility.” Not only do we get Peter Parker espouse his admiration for Uncle Ben, but we get another perspective which reinforces how big a role he played in making Peter Parker follow the right path.
There is no question that kids and adults are facing challenging times. But what is great about our modern myths of super heroes, is that they reinforce an optimism in humanity. Even when facing great adversity, there are those that will do the right thing. And when they do the right thing, they inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
“Vengence of Venom” airs on Disney XD on June 21 at 9:00pm ET/PT. It will also be available on the DisneyNOW app. For more “stay at home” Marvel fun, you can catch up on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Hulu and watch Marvel Battleword on the Marvel HQ YouTube channel.