Episode Title: Sunfire
Greetings once again true believers. It’s time to check in once again with the Spider Friends. This time a new super-powered hunk joins in the fun, and catches Firestar’s eye. It’s a character on loan from the X-men, and he has pretty much the same powers as Firestar. Get ready for Sunfire!
The episode opens with Peter, Bobby and Angelica looking at a meteor shower through their telescope. It’s a good thing they’re watching too, since they spot a meteor big enough to vaporize New York. It sounds like a job for Firestar, who has no trouble stopping the giant rock. Her heroic act, though, is spotted by a dude in a samurai outfit and his nephew Shiro Yoshida. Shiro is a mutant with the same powers as Firestar. Uncle needs both their powers to ignite his fusion reactor. Shiro agrees to find her since he believes the reactor will benefit all mankind. However, he doesn’t know that dear old uncle is really evil and wants both their powers to breathe life into his giant fire monster.
The next day, our three heroes run into Shiro at a fair where he is showing off some of his uncle’s samurai robots. But when there is a mishap involving a helicopter, which Aunt May happens to be on, the Spider Friends swing into action…and Sunfire shows up to help. Soon our too hot heroes are making goo goo eyes at each other. But when the uncle successfully uses their heat powers to create his fire monster, all four heroes must find a way to stop the creature from melting New York.
This is probably the most complicated episode of the show we’ve encountered yet. There’s a lot thrown into the mix: giant meteors, helicopter mishaps, samurai robots, laser swords, and a giant fire monster…just to name a few. It’s also a really solid episode that really gives Firestar the chance to shine. After all, she stops that meteor all by herself! Peter and Bobby don’t even suit up. They just watch all the action through their telescope. Firestar definitely isn’t the damsel in distress this time around.
It’s also nice to see this series’ version of the Marvel Universe start to expand. Sunfire isn’t exactly an A-list hero, I can’t say that I’m all that familiar with the character, but he makes a decent addition here. A highlight of the episode is the heat versus cold, one on one battle between Sunfire and Iceman. You can’t really blame Iceman for going after the guy. After all, Angelica/Firestar gets a bit too cozy too quickly with Shiro/Sunfire. I mean, earlier in the episode Anjelica and Bobby are holding hands at the fair…but by the end of the episode Sunfire and Firestar are smooching against a sunset in shot that looks strangely erotic for a kids cartoon. They look naked people!
In the end, this is a fun episode. It’s got plenty of cool action , and if you’re not into that there’s plenty of mushy stuff. Next time, though, our heroes are up against giant bees in Swarm.
Channel: Superhero 