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Spider-Man Commentary: Spider-Man Behind Bars

"S02E03 "Spider-Man Behind Bars""  has no counterpart in the IRL-continuity, but like other stories "original" to my continuity, it is based in large part on a comic book story. But that's not what I started out to write. This is a story that I backed into.

To fill out the 13-episode stretch that precedes the start of the "Superior Spider-Man" arc, I used IRL-episodes where I could, but there were three slots where I had to come up with something new. That was fine, for it would give me a chance to develop villains for later use.

I knew I wanted episodes centered on Kingpin and Richard Raleigh, for these were characters that had been introduced in Season One but not gotten much development. I had established that there was bad blood between them, though, and so my mind turned toward making a two-part episode that pitted them against each other.

I came up with Part Two first—the climax, showing their fight and the fall of the Kingpin. But before I could come up with Part One, I got the idea for a Part Three: the aftermath of the Kingpin's fall as rival gangs fought for control of his territory and resources. A good fight needs a concrete goal, however, so I settled on the idea that they would be fighting for control of Kingpin's armory, with all its valuable gear. (In Season One I had Kingpin showing a special avidity for supervillain gear.) That would also need to be set up.

So with Parts Two and Three in mind I worked backwards to Part One, which would set up elements of the two sequels. First, it would show Kingpin acquiring the greatest pile of supervillain loot imaginable, so that his rivals would have a strong motive to fight for the gear. Second, it would end with a crisis that would force Kingpin into fighting Richard Raleigh, where Kingpin would fall.

To fill the idea out I ransacked back issues of Amazing Spider-Man and found the idea of a prison break from #65. To instigate the plot, and to spin it around so it would link up with Part Two, I seized on the character of Leonard Owlsley, who would betray Kingpin to Raleigh. I also thought might then turn up again as a gangster in the "Superior Spider-Man" arc. The Beetle also makes an appearance, in order to set up a later cameo taken over from the IRL-series.