Episode Review: Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 10 "Freaky"

In Freaky, Spider-Man and Wolverine change bodies because of the villainous Mesmero and have to figure out a way to adapt to their combat and lifestyles until they manage to switch back. This story is written by Brian Michael Bendis and is based off of one of his comic book storylines in Ultimate Spider-Man called Jump the Shark.

First of all, I’d like to say that anyone who hates this show needs to watch this episode. Bendis takes full advantage of his skills as a comic book writer and applies them here to create a wonderful episode. Not only does it focus on action but it also contains tons of comedy that should be fun for everyone to enjoy. If you hate this show then I say you look at it for what it is: a kid’s show. Before you go in the comments section and write “Why can’t they make it for adults too?” well look at Superhero Squad Show. That is a kid’s show and nobody complains about it being a kid’s show like they hate on Ultimate Spider-Man. I urge you to give this episode a viewing and remake your decision on everything.

One of the best things about this episode was the amazing voice acting. I am able to see where people come from claiming that Drake Bell is an awful Spider-Man but I think he does a pretty good job especially in this episode as he takes it to a whole new level – a Wolverine level to be exact! Steve Blum returns as Wolverine in this episode and also shows off his amazing voiceover skills. As Steve Blum mentioned in one of his behind-the-scenes videos for the episode, Drake Bell (who voices Spider-Man) has an extremely different pacing than Blum so it was very difficult for him to adapt to how Drake Bell speaks because he had to play Peter (in Wolverine’s body). Not only do both voice actors accommodate to the speed of each other, but they also change everything about themselves to sound like a different person. Drake Bell – while keeping the essence of Peter – adds a more roughness and gritty sound to his voice and often growls a lot and his voice is notably deeper like Logan’s method of speaking whereas Steve Blum heightens his pitch and gets rid of the roughness. It’s an amazing adjustment these two men make and I am giving credit where it is due despite how the show may seem to you. The voice acting in this episode is one of the best I’ve heard and I can go on forever about it.

Another great thing about this episode was having Sabretooth as one of the main villains. I always felt that even in X-Men cartoons Sabretooth needed more mainstream love and his interpretation in the X-Men film series was pretty awful as his character and design was pretty silly (I really liked him in Origins though!) so having him appear on a fun family cartoon while still staying the sadistic villain he is was great. Do not worry comic fans, here Sabretooth mentions plenty of times that he wants to slice and dice Wolverine’s body into multiple pieces. His design isn’t the greatest in this but considering what Ultimate Spider-Man is…it works.

Ultimate Spider-Man’s episode Freaky was a great production overall and I can’t wait to see what other episodes come out of Brian Michael Bendis’ mind considering he is one of the comic writers who knows Spider-Man best – espescially the Ultimate Spider-Man. I will say it many times: if you are a hater of this show please check out this episode as it may change your mind especially if you are a fan of Bendis. I will give this episode a 4 star rating as some jokes felt meaningless to me but some shined such as the soap opera intro parody.