- "You're capable of incredible things. With all your talents, you could easily do whatever you please. Yet you choose to show mercy. To be a hero. That's a tough road to follow, probably the toughest. There's gonna be moments where you stray, everyone does. But you found your way back, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters."
- ―Norman Osborn to Peter Parker
Hero or Menace is the ninth episode of the first season of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
Synopsis[]
Spider-Man swings into action, as Lonnie looks to settle a score and Norman visits an old friend.
Plot[]
Detained for violating the Sokovia Accords, Otto Octavius gets visited in jail by Norman Osborn who gloats about Octavius' failure and arrest. Osborn reveals that he personally tipped off Thaddeus Ross about him and all of his inventions are currently being seized by Oscorp. Octavius lashes out at him, calling Osborn out for exploiting the work of others for personal benefits and claims that he will always be worth more than Osborn ever could.
Big Donovan, Bulldozer and Lonnie Lincoln watch the Police Department of New York City and Oscorp transporting Octavius' equipment from his warehouse. Despite Lincoln's concern over taking a fight with the police, Donovan is determined to get hands on Octavius' inventions and win a war with the Scorpions. Meanwhile, Pearl Pangan and Nico Minoru hang out together, and Minoru listens to Peter Parker's voice message that he left for her.
The 110th Street Gang rams through the police convoy and attempt to hijack the Oscorp Truck, which almost hits Minoru, but Spider-Man manages to arrive just in time to save her. Lincoln is horrified to see all the damage their attack caused, but Donovan demands him to snap out of it and gets Bulldozer to get inside the truck. Spider-Man evacuates Minoru to safety and confronts the 110th Street Gang, however, soon spots Lincoln among them. He tries to reason with Lincoln and convince him to walk away, but Scorpion and his gang arrive on the scene to finish off the 110th Street Gang. While two gangs fight each other, Spider-Man panics seeing Scorpion, which almost lets him kill Donovan, but Spider-Man manages to save him in time.
While Spider-Man and Scorpion fight, Donovan is terrified and seeing his men being taken out by the Scorpions, he runs away, to Lincoln's shock. Lincoln then decides to help the gang by taking one of Octavius' devices and gets confronted by Carmilla Black, but Bulldozer intervenes and gives Lincoln time. He looks through the truck's contents to find something useful and accidentally knocks over a vial of Diox-3, that quickly fills up the truck and almost suffocates him. Spider-Man then sees Lincoln falling out of the truck and rushes over to help him, leaving himself open to Scorpion's attack. Lincoln wakes up and distracts Scorpion who then tries to impale him with his tail, but Lincoln reveals that he got superhuman abilities and manages to catch the tail with his bare hands.
With Lincoln's newfound powers, he teams up with Spider-Man and the two manage to overwhelm Scorpion and take him down. However, as they celebrate their victory, Scorpion recovers and crushes the construction beams on top of them, so Lincoln knocks Spider-Man out of the way and gets crushed. Horrified by the thought that his friend might be gone, Spider-Man loses his temper and mercilessly attacks Scorpion, recalling Osborn's words about him pulling his punches. He ruthlessly beats Scorpion down and prepares to impale Scorpion with his own tail, but Lincoln gets out of the wreckage and stops Spider-Man just in time. Spider-Man claims that Scorpion tried to kill them and will kill more, but Lincoln convinces him that Spider-Man must not sink to his level.
Spider-Man accepts his words and backs down, and as Lincoln leaves with the 110th Street Gang, Spider-Man goes to see Minoru at the alleyway. Parker apologizes for keeping a secret for Minoru this whole time, but she understands why he had to do it, realizing all the responsibility he had to bear while protecting the streets. She tells Parker that he is a hero no matter what and she will continue supporting him as his best friend, so the two finally reconcile. Parker hugs her and promises that the two of them will not have any secrets from each other, which makes Minoru feel uneasy as she grips her amulet.
Back at home, Parker and May watch The Bachelor together before Parker receives a call from Osborn and excuses himself. Osborn congratulates Parker with a job well done, saying that thanks to him, Oscorp recovered most of Octavius' equipment, safe for a damaged Diox-3 vial. Parker recalls how he almost lost control and took Scorpion's life, but Osborn tells him that hero's path is difficult to follow and he what matters is that he managed to pull himself together.
Osborn then holds a meeting with Bentley Wittman and other scientists, listening to them reporting on their projects. He learns that all of Octavius' tech has been categorized and Oscorp should soon be able to proceed with testing and implementation, as well as that the glider prototype he used to save Spider-Man is coming together. Wittman then informs Osborn that the internship project showing promise, and says that Oscorp's research of Spider-Man's blood sample allowed them to perfectly replicate his enhanced DNA, to Osborn's delight.
Cast[]
- Hudson Thames as Peter Parker/Spider-Man
- Kari Wahlgren as May Parker
- Grace Song as Nico Minoru
- Eugene Byrd as Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone
- Hugh Dancy as Doctor Otto Octavius
- Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn
- Cathy Ang as Pearl Pangan
- Leilani Barrett as Benjamin Donovan/Big Donovan
- Ettore Ewan as Henry Camp/Bulldozer
- Anairis Quinones as Carmilla Black
- Jonathan Medina as Mac Gargan/Scorpion
- Paul F. Tompkins as Doctor Bentley Wittman
- Andre Robinson as Additional Voices
- Arthur Ortiz as Additional Voices
- Diamond White as Additional Voices
- Griffin Puatu as Additional Voices
- Isabella Acres as Additional Voices
- Nick Carson as Additional Voices
- Noah Bentley as Additional Voices
- Oscar Camacho as Additional Voices
- ViviAnn Yee as Additional Voices
- Terri Douglas as Additional Voices
Non-Speaking Characters
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- New York City, New York
- Otto Octavius' Warehouse
- Parker Residence
- Oscorp Tower
- O'Hara Residence (mentioned)
- Midtown High School (mentioned)
- Rockford T. Bales High School (logo)
- Kelcheese's Pizza (logo)
- Washington, D.C. (picture)
- United States Capitol (picture)
Events[]
- 110th Street-Scorpions Gang War
- Otto Octavius' Weapons Dealing
- Arrest of Otto Octavius (mentioned)
- Battle at Oscorp Tower (mentioned)
Items[]
- Spider-Man Suit
- Web-Shooters
- Synthetic Webbing
- Nico Minoru's Amulet
- Scorpion Suit
- Diox-3
- Sokovia Accords
- The Ultimate Bachelor
- Captain America's Shield (picture)
- Iron Man Armor (picture)
- Arc Reactor (picture)
- Magnetic Generator (picture)
- Blue Fin Breakdown II (poster)
Concepts[]
To be added
Vehicles[]
- Oscorp Truck
- Goblin Glider (schematics)
Sentient Species[]
Creatures[]
Organizations[]
- Oscorp
- Do Not Disturb Protocol
- Project Monolith (mentioned)
- 110th Street Gang
- Scorpions
- Police Department of New York City
Mentioned[]
- Iron Man (picture)
- Thaddeus Ross
- Chameleon
- Emma
- Harry Osborn
- Porter
- Carla Connors (picture)
- Amadeus Cho (indirectly)
- Asha (indirectly)
- Jeanne Foucault (indirectly)
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Neighbor Like Me | The Math Club feat. Relaye and Melo Makes Music | Opening credits. |
Videos[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- The title card is a reference to the cover of Spectacular Spider-Man #215.
Behind the Scenes[]
To be added
References[]
External Links[]
To be added