To help support Aunt May after the death of Uncle Ben, Peter takes a job at the Daily Bugle as a freelance photographer. There he learns of a counterfeit pharmaceutical scam run by the Kingpin, and must save his new boss J. Jonah Jameson when the Kingpin attempts to kill the story.
This episode provides examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: Frederick Foswell appears as a mole planted in the Daily Bugle working for the Kingpin. While this also the case in the comicsnote , Foswell eventually betrays the Kingpin and sacrifices himself to save Jameson. Such a face-turn doesn't happen in this episode.
- The Mole: Foswell is the Kingpin's inside informant working at the Daily Bugle, and he's the one to warn him that the paper is onto his counterfeit drug operation.
- Origins Episode: Continuing on from the last episode, this episode shows how Peter first got his job at the Daily Bugle and his first real attempt at crime-fighting.
- Pet the Dog: When Peter arrives to apply for a job at the Daily Bugle, Jameson hires him on the spot as he's heard how Peter recently lost his uncle."And that's my good deed for the day. What a man has to do to run a newspaper."
- Time Bomb: The Kingpin has Foswell plant a bomb at the Daily Bugle set to go off at midnight just in case Jameson refuses to kill the story himself.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The Kingpin manages to escape in his helicopter because Spider-Man abandons his pursuit to stop the bomb planted at the Daily Bugle. This is one of the few times in the series that Spider-Man was not able to capture the main villain at the end of the episode.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The Kingpin has a bomb set to go off at midnight to take out the Daily Bugle when the papers are set to go to print. With two minutes left until then, Spider-Man has to hurry to the Bugle to stop the bomb from going off.
