‘HORN OF THE RHINO’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

This is another full-on ‘Spider-Man’ story instead of two stories featured into one episode. And it features the Rhino as a villain in the series. I did think that the Rhino was rather two-dimensional in this story, especially once he kept declaring he wanted to rule the world and have funny expressions.

This story is also interesting in featuring Aunt May. At this point, Aunt May hadn’t been in the series at all. It’d been mainly Peter Parker, Betty Brant and J. Jonah Jameson as the main characters. Aunt May certainly knows how to tell Jameson off on the phone when Peter’s sick and unable to work. 😀

In the story, Spidey keeps an eye on a train carrying a special component of a top secret government weapon. The Rhino soon rams into the train and Spidey gets the blame for it. The Rhino steals more components – one at an airport and one from a submarine so as to combine all three into a weapon.

Whilst all this is happening, Peter gets a cold. Aunt May has him staying in bed and gives him herbal remedies as well as soup in order to make him feel better. But Peter continues to be Spidey in order to stop the Rhino’s crimes whilst still having a cold. Peter struggles to defeat the Rhino with a cold. 😐

Jameson meanwhile takes on Aunt May’s advice to take his own photos whilst Peter’s sick in bed. But as he tries to enter a military base, he’s stopped by a guard and is soon arrested, being put in a jail cell. Perhaps wearing a white beard as a disguise might not have helped you with thing, Jameson.

Eventually, Spider-Man manages to find the Rhino in a hidden location at a zoo. He manages to catch the Rhino out using some pepper. Thankfully the Rhino gets caught and taken by the police and Jameson is set free from his prison cell whilst Spider-Man still has a cold to contend with by the end.

Incidentally, as with previous ‘Spider-Man’ villains in this 1960s series, we never know who the real identity of that villain is. Then again, the Rhino isn’t a clear villain in terms of whose his true identity is and it was never made clear in the 1990s TV series. Both the Rhino and the Hobgoblin can be enigmas.

Overall, ‘Horn of the Rhino’ has been a fun episode to watch in the 1960s ‘Spider-Man’ series. I enjoyed how Peter Parker overcame the problems of having a cold whilst fighting the Rhino as Spider-Man. It was intriguing to see Aunt May making an appearance in this ‘Spider-Man’ episode. 🙂

‘Horn of the Rhino’ rating – 7/10