The Alien Costume

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“The Alien Costume”
Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode
Venom captures Spider-Man
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8-10
Written by	Part 1: Stan Berkowitz Len Wein Meg McLaughlin John Semper Part 2: Brynne Chandler Reaves Part 3: Mark Hoffmeier
Production no.	Part One: 107 Part Two: 108 Part Three: 113
Original airdate	Part 1: April 29, 1995 Part 2: May 6, 1995 Part 3: May 13, 1995
Episode chronology
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"Dr. Octopus: Armed and Dangerous"	"Kraven the Hunter"
Spider-Man (1994 animated series) Episode List

"The Alien Costume" is three part episodes from season 1 of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

1 Summary
2 Trivia
3 Cast
- 3.1 Main Cast
- 3.2 Major Cast

[edit] Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] The Alien Costume: Part One

John Jameson and a fellow astronaut discover a rock known as "Promethum X", which is said to be more powerful than plutonium. Unknown to the astronaut though, Promethum X also contains a mysterious element which manages to break free and tries to consume the two Astronauts. The space shuttle crashes on Manhattan Bridge, near the Hudson river where Rhino is sent by The Kingpin to steal the Promethum X. Spider-Man arrives on the scene and manages to save Jameson and his fellow astronaut, yet unknown to Spider Man, Eddie Brock is on the bridge too, and takes photos of him (and Rhino as well). However, when Jonah arrives on the scene, Eddie uses propaganda and frames Spider-Man for stealing something from the shuttle, which leads to a $1 Million dollar bounty on Spider Man's head. However, Eddie fails to mention to have seen Rhino at the scene also. Meanwhile, at home, Peter throws his costume in the garbage, as it is now useless to him. However, when he returned from the crash site, his suit carried what appeared to be "rich, thick, and creamy" Hudson River pollution. When Peter went to bed, the substance oozed over him and began to give him a nightmare...and when he woke up, he found himself hanging from a building in a costume he had never seen before!

This costume proved to be more powerful than anything he had ever imagined, as his webbing began to shoot out by itself, his strength was augmented, and he was able to disguise his appearance! However, the next day, when Peter was at school meeting up with Felicia Hardy, he almost got into a fight with Flash Thompson. Elsewhere, the Kingpin needed to gain some materials to test the power of Promethum X, he sent the Rhino to gain the necessary materials for his machine. Spider-Man managed to stop him, but almost lost himself to the power. He eventually had to retreat back to the city, and ponder what was happening to him. However, when he looked at his reflection, for a brief moment, he saw the face of a horrifying beast, leaving him wondering how the suit is changing him.

[edit] The Alien Costume: Part Two

The story continues where it last left off, with the whole city hunting Spider-Man for Jonah's $1 million bounty. Spider-Man manages to fight them off until he is shot with a Sonic Blaster device, which weakens him. Despite this, Spider-Man manages to escape, and focuses his attention on Eddie Brock and Jonah Jameson and warns him to call off his reward, also mentioning Rhino and how Brock neglected to mention him. After Jonah visits his hospitalized son and hears him utter "...man...in a... rhino costume...", Jameson realizes that Brock was lying and fires him. He also calls off the manhunt for Spider-Man.

Noticing another disturbing change in his behavior, Spider-Man seeks the assistance of Doctor Curt Connors, who studies the suit and realizes that it is a living organism known as a Symbiote which looks to bond with another living organism. Spider-Man then uses the symbiote's powers to find a clue in Eddie's apartment, only to run into the Shocker, who is working for The Kingpin and to destroy Brock since he has evidence of the crash site and it could get traced back to Kingpin. The two fight, and Shocker gains the advantage, without realizing that Spider-Man is onto his trail once more. Following Shocker leads him to Alistair Smythe and the Promethium X, which Spider-Man steals. Spider-Man then studies it properly, and realizes the Promethium X's true potential. Angry that Spider-Man has the Promethium X, Kingpin and Shocker form a plan to kidnap John Jameson in an attempt to gain it back. Using John as bait, they manage to lure Spider-Man, with the Promethium X, to an old church, only to find that it was an ambush by Shocker. While Shocker puts up a good fight, he comes to the realization that Spider-Man is too powerful. Eddie Brock tries to intervene, but is webbed up for his efforts. With Shocker at the mercy of Spider-Man, he begs for his life as Spider-Man is about to push him to his death. Spider-Man's conscience gets to him and he relents, only to have the symbiote push Shocker off the belltower, but Spider-Man uses two web lines to save him. Spider-Man, finally realizing that the suit is turning him into a monster, tries to separate himself from the suit. He finds it impossible to free himself at first, but then the church bells start ringing deafeningly, and the symbiote sloughs off Peter and slinks weakly away. Peter Parker leaves, relieved to be away from the symbiote. However, and unfortunately for Spider-Man, the symbiote found a new host - Eddie Brock.

[edit] The Alien Costume: Part Three

The Kingpin once again found himself in possession of the mysterious Promethium X, but Alistair Smythe discovers that it is transforming into lead, which appeared to be the natural state of the element. Kingpin realized that Spider-Man must have known that it would be useless to him, which is why he surrendered it so easily. Meanwhile, Spider-Man had returned to his old costume. He soon came across The Rhino and The Shocker. While Spider-Man was able to easily defeat The Rhino, The Shocker managed to get the upper hand. However, an unknown 'ally' arrived and defeated the two villains himself. The new 'ally' proved to be Eddie Brock, who revealed himself as 'Venom'.

Spider-Man attempted to reason with Brock, but Venom webbed up Spider-Man and removed the hero's mask high over a crowded street. Venom allowed Spider-Man to live, haunting his every step. Venom ruined a date with Mary Jane and menaced Spider-Man's aunt, so Spider-Man decided to fight back. He set a trap for the villain near the launch of a space shuttle. The heat from the rocket's afterburners forced the symbiote off of Brock, and Spider-Man webbed the creature to the rocket. The symbiote was blasted into space, and Eddie Brock was imprisoned at Ravencroft Asylum.

At the episode's conclusion, Spider-Man (as Peter Parker) and Mary Jane regard the night sky and wonder what else might be up there. Venom's menacing face appears on the moon.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

Prometheum is an actual element. The X may represent that it is the tenth isotope found as X is the Roman numeral of 10.
Part 1 introduces John Jameson and The Rhino.
Part 1 also introduces Spider-Man's black costume, which is found out to be in part 2 an alive alien substance called a symbiote, in which it attaches itself to Eddie Brock and becomes Venom. In the comics, Spider-Man first wore it during the Secret Wars on an alien planet.
The scene where Spider-Man wakes up, looks in the reflection of a window at a skyscraper and seeing his black alien costume is also shown in the teaser trailer of Spider-Man 3 except, mysteriously, when Spider-Man has his black costume on and looking in the reflection of the skyscraper, he sees his regular costume instead. This could be used as a metaphor describing Spider-Man's inner battle with darkness (the symbiote)
Part 2 introduces The Shocker.
This is the first time Dr. Curt Connors is used as a supporting character than the villain The Lizard.
Spider-Man removes the symbiote costume by having it weakened by a bell and the costume crawls onto Eddie Brock, transforming him into Venom. This was from the comics and also a plot device used in Spider-Man 3.
This was Eddie Brock's (who had appeared in other episodes) official first appearance as Venom.
Jim Cummings, who plays The Shocker, also plays the person who announces the rocket countdown at the end of the episode.