Review: Ultimate Spider-Man "Doomed"

The plot of this episode in one sentence.

"Hey! Let's go fight Doctor Doom!"

And you know what? That's not enough. An episode down the line will give us that and a Captain America team-up. And you know what? Doom doesn't even technically show up in this one! Though the same can be said for a lot of Fantastic Four comics. But I will say this. There's a seed of an idea here. It's not fully realized, but it's there in the subtext. If you'll indulge me for a bit, this episode seems to be about potential.

Here we have S.H.I.E.L.D.'s young recruits. They get it into their heads that they can just waltz in and take down somebody that the Avengers have trouble dealing with. What happens? They get their butts kicked, Doom lets them win, then they get blindsided by a standard villain ploy. This team isn't ready for prime time yet. They're reckless, hot headed, impulsive, and uncoordinated. But they're learning. This episode firmly establishes that the characters might not be Avengers-level, but they can learn.

There are some issues with the way the team treats each other outside of work, but I'm saving my words on that topic for next time. The Spartacus-esque moment at the end was a nice touch, though, and shows that these people do care for each other. Kind of. Again, I'll get to that next time.

All in all, this episode was okay. It cam along, filled up half an hour, and left me unfulfilled and wishing that I had watched "The Private War of Doctor Doom" instead. Honestly, it feels like the odd man out with its nondescript blandness. Later episodes will try to go all out. Many of them fail, but they try. This one just feels like its holding back, but I can't really put my finger onto why.

Characters
We learn little we didn't already know.

Plot
Meh. They go to fight Doctor Doom, they end up fighting Doombots and learning the true meaning of friendship.

Animation

KILL IT WITH FIRE.

Other than that, I have little to say about this episode. Sorry.

Here, go read this, if you haven't already. I'm pretty proud of it. I don't know, what do you want me to do? I've done all I can. I've wrung all I can out of this, but this episode is just so.... ephemeral.

See you next time, where I can guarantee that I'll have more to say.