Spider-Man: Come on! Just because I'm not Parker doesn't mean I'll reveal who I am, it's called a secret identity!
In the aftermath of Venom announcing Peter's identity as Spider-Man, Jameson orders Ned Lee to interview everyone Spider-Man contacted. Robbie sends Peter home, telling Jameson he thinks Peter is just a kid but revealing the next day's front page: "Peter Parker Is Spider-Man". The following day Harry tells Peter that Ned interviewed his father, while Flash continues to flirt with Sha Shan and unsuccessfully attempts to convince Mr. Devereaux to give him a part in the play. Captain Stacy conducts a seminar on identity theft, and Ned interviews the Connors, who initially laugh until they realize that it being true would explain numerous instances and ultimately refuse to comment on the matter. At ESU's lab, Eddie Brock returns, much to the Connors' and Gwen's delight and Peter's disgust. Eddie accepts Martha's offer of his old job back, and in a private discussion with Peter laments that the Bugle is taking their time with the scoop. Peter rebukes Eddie and leaves with Gwen to meet Harry and Liz at a diner, only to be confronted by a horde of paparazzi. They hide in a heart-shaped sculpture, but the romantic moment is interrupted by Harry calling Gwen to inform her that he and Liz are waiting for them. Peter opts to pass on lunch, and later that evening accosts Eddie as Spider-Man. He asks Eddie if he realizes that he's putting everyone in danger, but Eddie, transforming into Venom, sneers that he can't wait to watch Peter's friends and family turn against him. They fight, but Venom defeats Spider-Man and pins him to the ground in front of the paparazzi. Spider-Man breaks free, but Venom taunts him by asking the crowd that if he wasn't Peter Parker he wouldn't be so disinclined to show his face. Spider-Man goads Venom into punching him hard enough to knock him onto ESU's roof, enabling him to escape.
At Midtown High, Peter glumly contends with the speculation, while Eddie steals a vial of gene cleanser from the Connors' lab. Flash is interviewed by Ned and tells him that anyone could dress up as Spider-Man and to prove his point, he puts on a spare Spider-Man costume. However, he is spotted by a pair of thugs who decide to take advantage of "Spidey"'s weakness. Peter decides to admit the truth, arriving in time to save Flash from the thugs. Venom attacks him, webbing him to a car and announcing his intent to depower Peter after unmasking him, leaving him unable to protect himself or his loved ones from the inevitable retribution. Venom pulls off Spider-Man's mask, but Peter flips the car over to keep his face hidden and snatches his mask back. Their brawl continues into the school, and Venom pins him to the wall of the science lab. Gwen yells at Venom to stop, distracting him long enough for Spider-Man to break away. Acid splashing on the symbiote and then exploding after being ignited weakens Venom long enough for Peter to get a few hits in, grabbing a baseball bat and slamming it against a locker. Enraged, Venom chases Spider-Man across the school and into the gym's locker room, where Flash is sulking after his failed attempt to convince the reporters Peter isn't Spider-Man. Flash distracts Venom long enough for Spider-Man to swipe the gene cleanser and stuff it down the symbiote's maw. As the symbiote peels away from him and oozes down a drain into the sewers, Eddie desperately begs Spider-Man to help him get it back. Peter tells his former friend he can finally let go of his hatred, but Eddie glumly states that the symbiote only loves him for his hatred. As he is carted away in a stretcher, Eddie swears that he will always be Venom and that once the symbiote returns to him they will destroy Spider-Man once and for all. Mr. Devereaux approches Flash and tells him that, after witnessing Flash's attempt to help Spider-Man, he reconsidered and decided to cast him as Nick Bottom, and Flash attempts to ask Sha Shan for some private "rehearsal time" she tells him he has the part nailed. When Miles Warren notices the stolen vial of gene cleanser, he announces that due to the Connors' shoddy security record he will request to have management of the lab turned over to himself, ignoring Martha's protests.
At the Daily Bugle, Ned concludes that Peter isn't Spider-Man and Peter silently thanks Flash. Peter wryly comments on the Daily Bugle's morning paper, which proclaims his innocence but that Spider-Man is still at large, while the symbiote slinks through the sewers. At the Criminology seminar, Captain Stacy states that while he initially saw Spider-Man's heroics as nothing more than vigilantism, if the wall-crawler's true identity was to be revealed than everyone he ever cared about would be in constant danger, concluding that rather than using the mask to hide, Spider-Man is using it to protect those he cares for, asking Peter, the only student in the class, if he agrees. Captain Stacy leaves, leaving Peter to wonder if he suspects Spider-Man's true identity.
This episode provides examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: Spider-Man attempts to exploit Venom's weakness to sonics by slamming a bat against some lockers. It causes Venom a good bit of pain, but then he snags the bat.
- Almost Kiss: Peter and Gwen nearly kiss while hiding from paparazzi, but are interrupted by Harry calling Gwen.
- Big "NO!": Venom, as the gene cleanser kicks in.
- Bittersweet Ending: While Peter is able to separate Eddie from the symbiote and thanks to Ned no one suspects him of being Spider-Man anymore, Eddie is institutionalized and sent to Ravencroft due to his continued ranting about being Venom.
- Brought Down to Normal: Venom's plan is to definitively expose Spider-Man's identity and then use the gene cleanser on him to leave him vulnerable to his enemies. Of course, it ends up being used on him instead.
- Call-Back: Eddie avoids using first-person pronouns when talking to others.
- Cassandra Truth:
- While being wheeled away, Eddie insists he's Venom and will get Spider-Man one day. Flash thinks he's cracked up—saying Venom was twice his size.
- Ironically everyone that Peter knows, when asked if he could be Spider-Man, laughs it off or thinks it ridiculous. The closest being his enemies being open to the idea only because it greatly benefits them if its true.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Venom's clashes with Spider-Man amount to these, as Peter barely escapes each time and the hits that he lands barely phase Venom.
- Death by Secret Identity: Thankfully doesn't happen, but this is Venom's plan in a nutshell: blow Peter's secret identity, take away his spider powers, then sit back and watch as the entire NYC criminal underground descends on his loved ones seeking revenge, with Peter being helpless to stop it.Spider-Man: Bro, I get why you're doing this to me, but don't you get how many other people you'll hurt?
Venom: Oh, we know exactly how many people your secrets will hurt! And we can't wait to watch them all turn against you! - Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Curt and Martha initially laugh off the idea that Peter is Spider-Man before acknowledging that it would actually explain a few things from last season. Their official response when interviewed?Curt/Martha: No comment.
- Fake Identity Baggage: Flash, to prove his point about how anybody can dress as Spider-Man and pretend to be him, decides to do so to show Peter can’t be Spider-Man. Unfortunately, this leads to him being attacked by two thugs, who mistake him for the real Spiderweb with a broken leg and decide to advantage of "Spider-Man’s" injury. Luckily for Flash the actual Spider-Man saves him.
- Foreshadowing: Mark Allan expresses attraction to Mary Jane, while Eddie's forced separation from the symbiote and subsequent incarceration would have led into Carnage's appearance had the show continued.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The gene cleanser Eddie steals to depower Peter is used to separate him from the symbiote.
- Insane Troll Logic:
- Venom's argument that Spider-Man has to be Peter Parker because of his refusal to unmask. Spider-Man's counter-argument is that, whether he's Peter or not, he can't just reveal who he is, and the one claiming it is a psychotic alien hybrid and can't be as trusted.
- Flash dressing up as Spider-Man to prove a point that anyone could be mistaken for the real thing is convincing proof that Peter is Spider-Man, even though Flash was trying to show why he thinks Peter isn't.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Peter is forced to lie throughout the episode, insisting that he isn't Spider-Man. He hates this, but feels it's better than putting his friends and family at risk with the truth.
- Little "No": Norman's response to Ned asking him if Peter is Spider-Man, though it follows a contemplative silence.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Surprisingly, no one knows Eddie is, or was, Venom since Spider-Man was making their fight more private. Flash excuses Eddie claiming he's Venom due to the size difference between the two.
- Love Triangle: Peter's attraction to Gwen, and hers for him, is highlighted in this episode, and Liz and Harry barely appear.
- Mythology Gag:
- Ned asks Betty out for a date. In the comics, the two had a long-running relationship and eventually got married for a while before Ned was killed.
- George being a Secret Secret-Keeper. In the comics, he had long figured it out and didn't tell Peter until shortly before dying.
- No Peripheral Vision: Averted. When their fight takes them into the school's gymnasium, Venom explodes through the door and finds Spidey nowhere in sight. He then immediately looks to the ceiling.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "That... was... unpleasant!!!"
- Put on a Bus: This is Eddie, the symbiote, and Venom's final appearance.
- Reset Button: Footage of Peter in the Spider-Man costume during Halloween, and seeing Flash in one, were enough to put his identity exposure issue to bed. However, it is possible not everyone has moved on.
- Sanity Slippage: Eddie doesn't take being separated from the symbiote a second time well.
- Secret Secret-Keeper:
- Captain Stacy talks to Peter about Spider-Man keeping a secret identity. While Venom's claim is put to bed, the rest of the series gives heavy implication that George actually believes it.
- It's implied that the Connors realized that Peter was indeed Spider-Man, and their refusal to comment in the matter is them trying to protect the kid from any further problems.
- Secret Identity: The recurring item, of course. Captain Stacy accepts that there may be a justified reason Spider-Man wears a mask.George: I once thought his whole masked vigilante thing was problematic, but I've come to realize that if Spider-Man's true identity was revealed, everyone he cared about would be in constant danger. Maybe a man in a mask doesn't have something to hide, but something to protect.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: Like many characters this season, Venom gets one.
- Spanner in the Works:
- Flash insists that Peter is not Spider-Man and sets out to prove it by impersonating him. Just as Venom's about to make Spider-Man drink the gene cleanser, Flash puts his Spidey mask back on and distracts him just long enough for the real one to break free. Near the end, Lee of the Bugle digs old footage from Halloween, disproving Eddie's identity claim. After all, why would Spider-Man casually show his face in public.
- Eddie steals a vial of Gene Cleanser from the Connors lab in hopes of depowering Peter. Though he fails, Miles Warren takes notice of the missing vial later and takes over the lab, accusing the Connors of mismanaging security.
- This Cannot Be!: Eddie exclaims this when the symbiote separates from him.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Spider-Man's reaction to the Achilles' Heel just making Venom angrier.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Forced to reject Brock, the symbiote slithers down a drain and gets into the sewers. Brock, however, cracks up and gets taken away in an ambulance.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Ned finds a clip of Peter dressed as Spider-Man at the Halloween carnival. Ned reasons this is how the rumor started and that no real superhero would be so careless about his secret identity, but viewers know Peter really was.
