Spider-Man Skills, Slapstick Challenges, and Trivia Decide a Chaotic Championship

Rating

Video Reviewed
Rating7.8/10
Who Is The BEST Spider-Man? (Spider-Man Brand New Day Challenge)

Turning Spider-Man's abilities into a six-part competition gives this challenge a simple structure with plenty of room for physical comedy. Ryo, Shinobi, and Melvin compete across agility, reflexes, wall crawling, web shooting, photography, and strength before a trivia tiebreaker determines the championship. The challenges rarely function as serious measurements of who would make the best Spider-Man, but they cover enough recognizable aspects of the character to keep the premise moving and give each contestant opportunities to succeed for different reasons.

The agility and reflex rounds establish the competitive dynamic effectively. Flips and trampoline tricks make the opening visually suited to Spider-Man, while the falling-stick reflex test is one of the clearer challenges because performance can actually be counted. The joking comparison between catching sticks and saving people gives a straightforward task some personality, although the apparent difference in how high the sticks are held for different contestants makes the test less convincing as a fair comparison. That matters because the episode presents these rounds as contributing to an eventual champion even while treating the rules casually.

Wall crawling is more subjective but makes good use of the theme. Rather than simply racing up the climbing wall, the contestants are judged on style, encouraging them to improvise poses and movement that resemble Spider-Man. Shinobi's upside-down approach ultimately wins because the judge considers it the most authentic-looking performance. The sequence also contains an awkward safety contradiction: viewers are told to follow proper procedures and wear a helmet while the participant explicitly does not. The disclaimer acknowledges the risk, but demonstrating the opposite behavior weakens the message.

The Hulk-themed web-blaster round is the weakest competition segment because it quickly abandons its own premise. The contestants are supposed to demonstrate web-shooting ability against Dane as Hulk, but the equipment causes confusion and the participants stop following the intended challenge closely enough that nobody wins. There is some slapstick value in the breakdown, especially once they discover how the blaster is supposed to work, but it feels more like a discarded experiment than a meaningful stage of the competition.

The photography round is a clever reference to Peter Parker earning money from Spider-Man photographs, and it gives the episode a different kind of challenge after several physical tests. The contestants attempt staged superhero imagery, including a rescue scenario and an upside-down pose, before Dane criticizes lighting, angles, composition, and clarity. His harsh judging becomes part of the joke, but Melvin's win at least receives a concrete explanation based on his experience creating YouTube thumbnails. The accusations of favoritism also underline how deliberately informal the judging has become.

The strength finale produces the most straightforward physical climax, with each contestant trying to resist being pulled toward the pit while holding ropes from both directions. Ryo's victory is easy to understand because he is the last one standing, making the result less dependent on Dane's personal preference. More importantly, Ryo's earlier frustration about repeatedly losing gives the win a small payoff within the competition. Discovering that the overall scores are tied then provides a natural reason for the final trivia question rather than simply ending the episode on another subjective judgment.

The tiebreaker is ultimately the most decisive demonstration of Spider-Man knowledge. Melvin identifies Scorpion as Mac Gargan and adds a detailed account of the character's comic-book background, easily securing the championship. The response is framed as knowledge learned from Chad rather than independently verified information, and the video also treats Scorpion's appearance in Brand New Day as expected without establishing that claim within the competition. Still, the trivia payoff works dramatically because Melvin's unexpectedly elaborate answer contrasts sharply with the guessing that precedes it. Chad's arrival, the championship handoff, and the Spider-Man book gift then give the episode a celebratory ending that feels more complete than simply announcing a score.

Pros

  • Six varied challenges draw on recognizable Spider-Man traits, including agility, reflexes, climbing, web shooting, photography, strength, and character knowledge.
  • The contestants' competitive banter gives simple physical challenges an energetic comedic rhythm.
  • The reflex and strength rounds provide clearer performance-based results than the more subjective contests.
  • The photography challenge creatively incorporates Peter Parker's connection to taking and selling Spider-Man pictures.
  • Melvin's detailed Scorpion answer makes the trivia tiebreaker a satisfying decisive moment.
  • Chad's arrival and gift provide a fitting celebratory payoff after the championship is awarded.

Cons

  • Judging is inconsistent and often subjective, making the overall competition less convincing as a genuine test of the contestants.
  • The web-blaster round breaks down to the point that nobody wins, leaving one of the six advertised challenges largely unresolved.
  • The reflex test appears to use different drop heights, reducing the fairness of an otherwise measurable round.
  • The climbing segment gives a safety warning about helmets while simultaneously showing a participant not following that advice.
  • Some extended arguing, judging jokes, and Spider-Man references slow the progression between challenges.
  • The video presents some Spider-Man movie expectations as settled within the conversation without establishing their basis.

The competition succeeds primarily as a playful Spider-Man-themed showcase rather than a rigorous attempt to determine the best performer, with varied challenges, energetic chemistry, and a strong trivia payoff compensating for loose rules and uneven judging. Several tests could be fairer or better organized, and the failed web-blaster round wastes a promising idea, but the escalating competition and celebratory finish give the episode enough momentum and personality to make the championship enjoyable.

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