Cast your mind back to the mid-1990s and you will recall the hit television show, Spider-Man (aka Spider-Man: The Animated Series). The series followed the story of Peter Parker, a student and freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle, who also happens to fight crime under the guise of Spider-Man.
Across the course of the show’s 65-episode run, Spider-Man battled various villains including The Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, and Tombstone. He also took on The Insidious Six, as well as Red Skull and Doctor Doom.
However, arguably his most notorious foes from the series included Kingpin, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Alistair Smythe, and Venom. These villains either cropped up on a regular basis, or appeared in fan-favourite episodes.
And if I was to ask fans to list the most important villains in the series, I’m fairly confident they would name one of the five foes above. Carnage might also get a mention, because he was pretty memorable too, but it’s these guys that would top the list.
One character who is most likely to get overlooked is Dr. Jonathan Ohn, aka The Spot. The reason for this is because The Spot only appeared as a main villain in one episode, which was the appropriately titled ‘The Spot‘, which popped up as the 12th episode of Season Three (episode 39 overall).
This particular episode was loosely based on issue #312 of The Amazing Spider-Man comic. It acted as an introduction to Dr. Ohn, and detailed how he transformed from science whiz to super-villain.
In the episode, Ohn initially works for Tony Stark, creating interdimensional technology which allows him to open up ‘time dilation portals’. These portals grant the user the opportunity to travel large distances in an instant, by creating portals between one location and another.
However, after Ohn’s technology is abused by Venom and Carnage (as depicted in the episodes ‘Venom Returns‘ and ‘Carnage‘), Stark shuts down Ohn’s project and puts him out of a job. This in turn draws the attention of The Kingpin (aka Wilson Fisk), who offers Ohn a new opportunity where he can continue his work.
At first, Ohn sees this as a chance to develop his technology, but when a test-run of his new machinery goes wrong, Ohn opens up various portals across New York. He is then sucked into one of these portals, before he absorbs multiple black holes, altering his body forever.
Initially, Ohn is concerned about the events that have transpired, but his concern quickly turns to delight when he realises he can now open up interdimensional gateways, giving him unlimited power. This in turn leads Ohn to call himself The Spot, and use his newfound gifts to embark on a crime spree.
Eventually Spider-Man and The Spot do battle, as it becomes clear The Spot’s powers could endager the world. However, The Spot turns away from a life of crime, when he is forced to close one of his portals, to stop it from expanding exponentially.
But the only way to close the portal is to enter into it and shut it down from the inside. In a moment of self-sacrifice, The Spot does this, but he is seemingly gone forever, exiting the show in the process.
So, if The Spot is only a main villain in one episode, why is he so important to the series? Well, this is because The Spot’s technology is later obtained and re-used by both the Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin, and it has far-reaching results for Spidey.
These diabolical villains go to war over the technology, with the Green Goblin ultimately gaining access to it. He then uses this tech to deduce Spider-Man’s true identity, before enacting his revenge against Peter Parker.
This eventually leads to a showdown between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man which results in Peter Parker’s girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson, being kidnapped and then lost inside a time dilation portal. And while a version of Mary Jane Watson does show up again sometime later in the show, it’s not the same Mary Jane – the original version of MJ is lost and never returns to the series.
Because of The Spot’s technology, Spider-Man loses Mary Jane, and the audience never gets a resolution to her disappearance. The series ends with Spider-Man embarking on a quest to locate Mary Jane, but we never find out if he succeeds.
And if what happened to Mary Jane wasn’t bad enough, the final story-arc in Spider-Man: The Animated Series – which ran across two episodes (‘I Really, Really Hate Clones‘ and ‘Farewell, Spider-Man‘) – saw Spider-Man team-up with various Spider-Men from across the multiverse, to battle an evil Peter Parker, infected by the Carnage symbiote. This is the same symbiote from Spidey’s world, who travelled to another universe through a time dilation portal, and who has gained access to Dr. Ohn’s technology.
If Spidey doesn’t stop Spider-Carnage, then the whole multiverse is doomed. This becomes the final story in the series, and arguably the biggest story in the show’s entire run.
Irrespective of how much screen time The Spot was given in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, because of what happens to Mary Jane, and what transpires with Spider-Carnage, he plays a hugely significant role in the show. Without him, Mary Jane would not be lost through time and space, and Spider-Carnage would not pose a threat to the multiverse.
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Thank you for stopping by Don’t Tell Harry to read this post about The Spot. For more posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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