This post is a continuation of Story Pitch: Marvel's Strange Tales Presents - Spider-Man. Click here for the first part. Also, welcome back to Dateline Movies, and this is the second part of our post.
Episode 8: Hide and Seek
Without a costume to help him out, wearing his so-called "Amazing Bag-Man" suit, and fighting while under the hallucinogen, Spider-Man is forced to fight the enhanced police officers, lead by Officer Abner Jenkins, who are all secretly hired by The Tinkerer to kill Spider-Man, all the while badly injured. All the pieces of the puzzle start coming together, as Hammer, by creating an incident that not only proves the superiority of one product, but also the necessity of having a countermeasure, would effectively gain a fortune for his maniacal efforts, and Hammer hints that he hired Mysterio, The Prowler, and The Shocker through The Tinkerer, a disgruntled former Hammer Industries engineer whom he will betray yet again. He also gets an added bonus by also showing-off The Tinkerer's updated weapons catalog through The Prowler and The Shocker. Eventually, a newly upgraded Vulture comes to Peter's rescue, just before Jenkins and the rest of his team pass-out from the stress of their painful flashbacks at the Break Room of Tomorrow, as well as the imperfect construction of their enhancements. Clash, upset that Hammer left him out of the deal to get upgrades, decides to fight Spider-Man as well, only to also gain second-thoughts at looking through his past memories, including his time witnessing Spider-Man fight at a wrestling cage at his younger days, eventually surrendering.
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While this is happening, the crew of the Apogee-1 Space Station are then challenged by Mysterio, who is getting bored with Spider-Man, but only a little bit, to fight Molten Woman. They all engage in combat, and under the leadership of John, they manage to escape with about more than half of them. However, with Mysterio "going against the script", Mysterio then commandeers the space station, sending it into a collision course towards New York City.
Meanwhile, Justin Hammer is upset that Mysterio went against the deal, since they all agreed that once they all got their money, they would let the crew of Apogee-1 free. However, Mysterio, tired of being the "fall guy", since he was only hired to take credit for the crimes, decided that it was time for him to step into the spotlight by becoming a criminal mastermind, instead of just being another "bit part actor". With this, Mysterio drugs Hammer with the hallucinogen and then allows The Tinkerer's Beetle Drones to beat him near-death, after Mysterio tells The Tinkerer that Hammer is planning to betray him to the police once the smoke clears.
Being treated by May for his injuries, Peter and May begin to mend fences over their different perspectives on Peter's superhero career, with May being happy to have raised Peter despite his questionable lifestyle. As he heals, with M.J. remaining oblivious to Peter's alter-ego, Peter awkwardly thanks The Vulture for saving his life. They then discuss about The Vulture's potential redemption, to which The Vulture retorts that it is far too late for redemption, and that he is not willing to do everything that he can to give money to his family. Peter then asks as to why is he still alive if he already knows too well his secret identity, to which The Vulture says that it is "because you're not Stark's lackey", and also that "those knock-offs could go global and harm my family".
When M.J. mentions how much she both loves and hates "the superhero problem", Peter asks her further, all the while they tend to the injured. M.J., believes that every good thing can inspire the good and the bad, and so as much as she respects Spider-Man for his valiant efforts, much like Flash does, she also hates the fact that many more problems will be coming, solely thanks to him being there. Despite that, she is glad that people like Peter strive for the common good, even admitting that it is one of the many reasons why M.J. did not kick Peter out of the decathlon team, despite his absences, which leads M.J. to slightly blush in front of an oblivious Peter.
Both The Shocker and The Prowler, after coming to a huge disagreement as to who would get this loot and that loot, battle one another, and their fight is causing major damages to Horizon Labs. Spider-Man reports to the scene in order to diffuse the fight, and in the process, he saves Flash and the others who came with him, bringing both The Shocker and The Prowler to justice. While this is happening, Mysterio has initiated the destruction of Apogee-1, and Mayor Jameson has to call in The Avengers in order to save his son, while also searching for Hammer's location, after Jenkins confesses that Hammer hired him and his team.
During the battle, Quentin suggested that Mysterio might even be one of them, considering that he seems to know more all about them. Flash rebukes this and believes that Quentin is Mysterio, since for the entire time, he has been plotting something. This is later revealed to be some form of a stronger hallucinogen, created from improvisation with the recovered Beetle Drone's fuel, which in-turn increased the aggression levels for both The Prowler and The Shocker, resulting into their battle. In another attempt to impress his audience, Quentin sacrifices himself to shield Flash from a blast from The Shocker's gauntlets, traumatizing Flash, and forcing him to reconsider his life choices.
Episode 10: With Great Power ...Meanwhile, Justin Hammer is upset that Mysterio went against the deal, since they all agreed that once they all got their money, they would let the crew of Apogee-1 free. However, Mysterio, tired of being the "fall guy", since he was only hired to take credit for the crimes, decided that it was time for him to step into the spotlight by becoming a criminal mastermind, instead of just being another "bit part actor". With this, Mysterio drugs Hammer with the hallucinogen and then allows The Tinkerer's Beetle Drones to beat him near-death, after Mysterio tells The Tinkerer that Hammer is planning to betray him to the police once the smoke clears.
Episode 9: Shock and Awe
Being treated by May for his injuries, Peter and May begin to mend fences over their different perspectives on Peter's superhero career, with May being happy to have raised Peter despite his questionable lifestyle. As he heals, with M.J. remaining oblivious to Peter's alter-ego, Peter awkwardly thanks The Vulture for saving his life. They then discuss about The Vulture's potential redemption, to which The Vulture retorts that it is far too late for redemption, and that he is not willing to do everything that he can to give money to his family. Peter then asks as to why is he still alive if he already knows too well his secret identity, to which The Vulture says that it is "because you're not Stark's lackey", and also that "those knock-offs could go global and harm my family".
When M.J. mentions how much she both loves and hates "the superhero problem", Peter asks her further, all the while they tend to the injured. M.J., believes that every good thing can inspire the good and the bad, and so as much as she respects Spider-Man for his valiant efforts, much like Flash does, she also hates the fact that many more problems will be coming, solely thanks to him being there. Despite that, she is glad that people like Peter strive for the common good, even admitting that it is one of the many reasons why M.J. did not kick Peter out of the decathlon team, despite his absences, which leads M.J. to slightly blush in front of an oblivious Peter.
Both The Shocker and The Prowler, after coming to a huge disagreement as to who would get this loot and that loot, battle one another, and their fight is causing major damages to Horizon Labs. Spider-Man reports to the scene in order to diffuse the fight, and in the process, he saves Flash and the others who came with him, bringing both The Shocker and The Prowler to justice. While this is happening, Mysterio has initiated the destruction of Apogee-1, and Mayor Jameson has to call in The Avengers in order to save his son, while also searching for Hammer's location, after Jenkins confesses that Hammer hired him and his team.
During the battle, Quentin suggested that Mysterio might even be one of them, considering that he seems to know more all about them. Flash rebukes this and believes that Quentin is Mysterio, since for the entire time, he has been plotting something. This is later revealed to be some form of a stronger hallucinogen, created from improvisation with the recovered Beetle Drone's fuel, which in-turn increased the aggression levels for both The Prowler and The Shocker, resulting into their battle. In another attempt to impress his audience, Quentin sacrifices himself to shield Flash from a blast from The Shocker's gauntlets, traumatizing Flash, and forcing him to reconsider his life choices.
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As Ned proposes the idea for him to use his own secret project, the "Steel Spider", and as M.J. provides cynical commentary on heroes and villains, pertaining to the Ultron Problem, they then respond to the emergency that is the downing of Apogee-1. During this time, Quentin is taken to the hospital, where he is treated for his injuries, and manages to gain the respect of his classmates.
As Apogee-1 begins to make its way to New York City, the crew do their best to prevent the space station from striking the city, while also fending-off a highly radioactive Pepper Potts, who is mindlessly out to kill them. With no more hostages, The Avengers, comprising of Iron Man, War Machine, and The Vision have joined in the attempts to stop the station from crashing, but because of the thick metal, Iron Man, War Machine, and later, The Vulture can only cut through some of the walls, and because of the radiation from the Molten Man, The Vision is having difficulty using his phasing abilities, saving only John, due in-part to his newfound abilities, a crippled Alistair Smythe, whose legs were crushed by Pepper, under a metal cabinet, during a fit of rage, and Agent Hill, while the rest of the crew sacrifice themselves by splitting the various parts of the station into pieces, so as to lessen the effect of the crash. Spider-Man catches much of the debris through his webbing.
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Episode 11: The Avenging Spider-Man
Pepper Potts is still alive, and the crash, while it destroys parts of New York City, leaves her unscathed, and now she proceeds to cause some serious damage. To make matters worse, John goes completely berserk in his attempt to kill Pepper for her involvement in the deaths of his friends and colleagues. The Avengers, Spider-Man, with his newly acquired "Spider-Armor" prototype suit, his secret project, The Vulture, and Steel Spider work to contain the damage, as a media frenzy circles around them.
Iron Man realizes that an updated version of the Extremis, with the base substance being recovered from the dead bodies of Aldrich Killian's former teammates, done by none other than Hammer Industries, is in Pepper's body. Not only that, it would appear that the Extremis never really left her body, and instead remained dormant, and that her body only reacted to the introduction of the updated version of the Extremis. Working to create a different antidote while also containing the chaos, Spider-Man manages to help make a nanobot cocktail, which knocks Pepper out, and seemingly removing her powers. Mysterio also sends more waves of Beetle Drones to fight The Avengers, but are quickly dispatched.
John is later calmed down by his father, and The Avengers are forced to take them to the underwater prison for enhanced beings, The Raft. This is to ensure that as they are being treated, no one else would be harmed, much to Mayor Jameson's dismay. Mayor Jameson vows to put those responsible behind bars, permanently. Distraught over what Hammer has done to Pepper, Iron Man implores Spider-Man to bring Hammer to justice, as he tends to a resting Pepper.
Meanwhile, Mysterio enacts his own version of the plan, and that is to use the Spider-Slayers to destroy New York City, not only cementing his status as a serious villain, but also to prove to everyone that heroes are indeed needed in society, inviting Spider-Man for another "game". Justin Hammer is helpless to watch as his reputation sinks lower once more.
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Episode 12: The Menace of Mysterio
Enjoying the calm before the storm, Peter and Ned, and later M.J., dine-in at Delmar's sandwich shop. They both discuss their roles as public servant, with Peter being both a scientist in the making, and a superhero, while Ned being a news writing intern for the Daily Bugle, which he received as a summer job. Ned breaks the sentimentality of their conversation by revealing that "The truth is Pete ... I'm not writing for the Bugle for this whole 'sense of right' thing ... I'm just ... well ... I'm trying to impress Betty". "Betty Brant? The news anchor Betty Brant?", asked Peter, to which Ned replies with a resounding "Well, you would do the same thing for Liz too, right? If she was still studying here".
With The Avengers departing to The Raft, Spider-Man and The Vulture, plus the limited assistance of Ned and M.J., unite to fight Mysterio's army of Beetle Drones, armed with hallucinogen canisters, as they destroy everything in sight, and forcefully merge with people, which Mysterio later programmed to explode afterwards. The Tinkerer quits helping Mysterio citing that he is "done with this spectacle", forcing Mysterio to control the robots without any sort of knowledge. As they make their way back to Horizon Labs, to fight-off what is left of Mysterio's army, they are surprised by Mysterio's lack of knowledge in controlling the robots, proving that he really is not the "puppet master" that he claims to be, and as such, the Beetle Drones become uncontrollable and even the machines turn against Mysterio, forcing him to retreat.
Spider-Man, under time pressure, works to pull each and every one of the people who are caught inside the suits. With their assistance, Spider-Man asks The Vulture and Ned to help him set-up his new Spider-Pulse, which he upgraded back at Parker Industries, all across the city, creating a larger electromagnetic pulse to decommission the rest of the Beetle Drones, which are all being reproduced in three different locations in the city. These locations are provided by May, which she recovered from Doctor Buddy's office. Enraged, Mysterio refuses to admit defeat, and he forces Spider-Man to fight him in Metro-General Hospital, his hideout, which is funded by Hammer Industries prior to its acquisition, and is now being taken under control by Mysterio and the last of the Beetle Drones. With both The Vulture's and Steel Spider's suit decommissioned, Peter goes in alone.
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Episode 13: Curtain Call
The final episode. As Spider-Man follows the trail of Beetle Drones, all of whom are trapping people, including Quentin, while listening to Mysterio's further insults, which reveals that Mysterio is a professional stuntman who grew bored with his life, and has made it his calling to ensure that villains like him are around to keep the audience "entertained" with superhero battles, as he had such experience long ago when "my own face was broadcast all over the freaking world". Peter is puzzled, because he does not recall seeing him in television, to which Mysterio replies over the P.A. system that "I was there, but like before, no one really knew me until I got caught-up on the wrong side of the law. Typical Hollywood". Mysterio later answers Peter's question that he only does not hack into Peter's suit if he wants to, and that there are things such as his secret identity that he cannot discover, due to fail safes.
Agent Hill, recovering from her wounds, fights a machine flawlessly, and with May and M.J., they escort the rest out of the patients out of the hospital. At the same time, Mysterio reveals the plan to Spider-Man, pointing-out that his future plans would be needing "a clean slate". Mysterio reveals that Hammer hired him, The Beetle, Clash, The Prowler, The Shocker, and The Tinkerer to create some sort-of exposition for their weapons, including the Beetle Drones, and even Pepper Potts herself. This was all orchestrated by Hammer, all in a desperate attempt to regain his financial losses.
After destroying the last of the Beetle Drones, Peter reaches the basement levels, where Mysterio says he is hiding, only to find a heavily injured Justin Hammer threaten Spider-Man. Mysterio is already long gone, and he is only communicating to Spider-Man through hacked communication relays. Desperate to get his revenge on Iron Man for his misfortune, Hammer, given control over the robots by Mysterio, activates the self-destruct sequence for the machines in the hospital, hoping to at least "kill the little Spider-Boy". Spider-Man, with Agent Hill on a jetpack, which she used to fight Molten Woman and John aboard Apogee-1, fights, and beats him in his unique, red and silver-colored version of the Beetle Drone, and he proceeds to dispose all of the fifteen machines mid-air, merely one minute away from exploding, saving the hospital, and effectively, temporarily ending Mysterio's threat.
Quentin is later arrested after evidence suggest that all of the recordings of Mysterio's were transmissioned from him and pre-recorded, and he has been joining forces with Hammer, as revenge on their school for not recognizing his genius. This means that Quentin Beck is Mysterio. All attempts to prove his innocence failed, and Quentin is left frustrated and saddened in a juvenile detention facility.
A few days after the attacks, Horizon Labs, under reconstruction from the Department of Damage Control (D.O.D.C.), is finally reintroduced to the world by Pepper Potts and Tony Stark at the reinstated Stark Expo. It can be seen that M.J.'s romantic affection towards Peter are becoming clearer and clearer when she asks him if Peter would want to see her perform with her band for the after-party, to which Peter says "You sing?", to which M.J. says yes to, while Ned successfully asks Betty out for coffee.
While Peter enjoys the company of his friends, M.J.'s band performing, and his more approving Aunt May, Mayor Jameson is saddened by his son's transformation into an enhanced human being, and he hires Phineas Mason, whom he does not know is actually The Tinkerer, to re-purpose the Beetle Drones for police uses, which he willingly accepts. The Vulture, still not trusting Iron Man, willingly returns to jail, and in an attempt to redeem himself in Liz's eyes, accepts an offer by third-parties to do some "conditional hero work", while The Prowler and The Shocker are invited by cellmate Mac Gargan for a potential team-up. And speaking of John Jameson, Tony Stark offers him the "Jupiter Suit", which can help him control his newfound abilities, but his mind is ridden with survivor's guilt, while Agent Hill consoles Pepper after her uncontrollable transformation.
In the closing scene of this finale, Trevor Slattery, who is actually Mysterio, and not Quentin, after managing to escape the real Mandarin's attempt to kidnap him, and tired of being made into a "lackey", types in his computer his latest "script", stating that "a sequel is in order". Trevor framed Quentin, whom he intentionally matched his persona with, in order to avoid suspicion, and managed to hack Spider-Man's suit in order to plant the false evidence, leaving an innocent man like Quentin set on the same path that lead Trevor to finally embrace the life of a professional criminal.
Agent Hill, recovering from her wounds, fights a machine flawlessly, and with May and M.J., they escort the rest out of the patients out of the hospital. At the same time, Mysterio reveals the plan to Spider-Man, pointing-out that his future plans would be needing "a clean slate". Mysterio reveals that Hammer hired him, The Beetle, Clash, The Prowler, The Shocker, and The Tinkerer to create some sort-of exposition for their weapons, including the Beetle Drones, and even Pepper Potts herself. This was all orchestrated by Hammer, all in a desperate attempt to regain his financial losses.
After destroying the last of the Beetle Drones, Peter reaches the basement levels, where Mysterio says he is hiding, only to find a heavily injured Justin Hammer threaten Spider-Man. Mysterio is already long gone, and he is only communicating to Spider-Man through hacked communication relays. Desperate to get his revenge on Iron Man for his misfortune, Hammer, given control over the robots by Mysterio, activates the self-destruct sequence for the machines in the hospital, hoping to at least "kill the little Spider-Boy". Spider-Man, with Agent Hill on a jetpack, which she used to fight Molten Woman and John aboard Apogee-1, fights, and beats him in his unique, red and silver-colored version of the Beetle Drone, and he proceeds to dispose all of the fifteen machines mid-air, merely one minute away from exploding, saving the hospital, and effectively, temporarily ending Mysterio's threat.
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A few days after the attacks, Horizon Labs, under reconstruction from the Department of Damage Control (D.O.D.C.), is finally reintroduced to the world by Pepper Potts and Tony Stark at the reinstated Stark Expo. It can be seen that M.J.'s romantic affection towards Peter are becoming clearer and clearer when she asks him if Peter would want to see her perform with her band for the after-party, to which Peter says "You sing?", to which M.J. says yes to, while Ned successfully asks Betty out for coffee.
While Peter enjoys the company of his friends, M.J.'s band performing, and his more approving Aunt May, Mayor Jameson is saddened by his son's transformation into an enhanced human being, and he hires Phineas Mason, whom he does not know is actually The Tinkerer, to re-purpose the Beetle Drones for police uses, which he willingly accepts. The Vulture, still not trusting Iron Man, willingly returns to jail, and in an attempt to redeem himself in Liz's eyes, accepts an offer by third-parties to do some "conditional hero work", while The Prowler and The Shocker are invited by cellmate Mac Gargan for a potential team-up. And speaking of John Jameson, Tony Stark offers him the "Jupiter Suit", which can help him control his newfound abilities, but his mind is ridden with survivor's guilt, while Agent Hill consoles Pepper after her uncontrollable transformation.
In the closing scene of this finale, Trevor Slattery, who is actually Mysterio, and not Quentin, after managing to escape the real Mandarin's attempt to kidnap him, and tired of being made into a "lackey", types in his computer his latest "script", stating that "a sequel is in order". Trevor framed Quentin, whom he intentionally matched his persona with, in order to avoid suspicion, and managed to hack Spider-Man's suit in order to plant the false evidence, leaving an innocent man like Quentin set on the same path that lead Trevor to finally embrace the life of a professional criminal.
In the mid-credits scene, Justin Hammer, in prison, makes contact with Ten Rings agent Jackson Norris, who was Trevor's original kidnapper, and had failed to do so when authorities intervened. He offers them his remaining weapons, and the whereabouts of Trevor Slattery, in exchange for giving him money to do "my own dirty work", tired of being double-crossed twice.
In the post-credits scene, members of Horizon Labs, and Agent Hill, notices that there is a strong energy signature from space that is heading their way, leaving all of them terrified, and setting-up the events of Avengers: Infinity War.
And there you have it, my pitch for a darker Spider-Man animated web-series. I hope you enjoyed it, despite the length. And since we already featured some concept artwork for the unmade Spider-Man 4, you might as well get to know it more by watching the video below. Stay tuned for more Dateline Movies!
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![Intellifluence Badge](<div><a href="https://intellifluence.com"><img style="width:150px;height:150px;display:block;margin-bottom:18px;" src="https://app.intellifluence.com/img/badges/common/intellifluence_influencer.png" alt="Ramon Martinez's Intellifluence Influencer Badge"></a></div>)
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