The Reality of Christmas

The 24th episode of the second version of the alternate fourth season of Ultimate Spider-Man TV Show, originally entitled Ultimate Spider-Man vs. the Sinister 6, here entitled Ultimate Spider-Man and the New Avengers.
== Characters ==
=== Featured Characters ===
* New Avengers
** Spider-Man / Peter Parker
** Phoenix Princess / Mary Jane Watson
*** Light Phoenix Entity
** American Son / Harry Osborn
** Black Cat / Felicia Hardy (cameo)
** Scarlet Spider / Ben Reilly (cameo)
** Cyberstar / Liz Allan
** Iron Phoenix / Gwen Stacy
** Kid Arachnid / Miles Morales
** White Tiger / Ava Ayala
** Reptil / Humberto Lopez
** Nova / Sam Alexander
** Inferno / Dante Pertuz
** Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan
** Squirrel Girl / Doreen Green
** Agent Venom / Flash Thompson (cameo)
** Cloak / Tyrone Johnson (cameo)
** Dagger / Tandy Bowen (cameo)
** Ka-Zar (cameo)
** Zabu (cameo)
** Triton (cameo)
=== Supporting Characters ===
* Avengers
** Captain America / Steve Rogers
** Ant-Man / Scott Lang
** She-Hulk / Jennifer “Jen” Walters
** Thor (mentioned only)
** Vision / J.A.R.V.I.S.
* Doctor Strange / Stephen Strange
* Cassie Lang
* Maggie Lang
* Santa Claus / Jolnir
=== Villains ===
* Kaecilius (single appearance)
* Mysterio / Quentin Beck (first appearance) (loses illusion helmet)
* Dormammu (voice only)
=== Other Characters ===
* Aunt May
* Rio Morales
* Midgard Valkyrie / Tarene Olson (cameo)
* Werefox / Rosy Barsi (cameo)
* Harley Keener (cameo)
* Maria Hill
* Tippy Toes
* Monkey Joe
* Iron Man / Tony Stark (mentioned only)
== Plot ==
It is Christmas Eve in New York City. While Peter, Harry, Miles and Humberto are helping with the Christmas Party, Mary Jane is with Aunt May, Rio and Scott Lang’s wife Maggie watching a junior Stage-play show based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King on which Scott’s daughter Cassie is playing Marie the ballerina. Everything appears to be a calm night until Squirrel Girl comes and alerts the boys, who come out and watch in disbelief as a giant nutcracker puppet is walking around the streets.
Putting on their superhero forms, Spider-Man and his team stop the puppet, which magically turns back into its true form as a regular puppet. They are approached by Doctor Strange, who informs them that toys across the city are coming to life due to the effects of the Reality Infinity Stone, which accidentally feel in the hands of a human child who is carelessly unaware of its power. Followed by the Avengers (Captain America, Ant-Man, She-Hulk and Tony Stark’s first A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. (now a synthetic android named Vision)), the team expects to find the child and retrieve the Stone. Captain America also warns the young heroes that he heard that there are two villainous wizards who are after the Stone: one is Doctor Strange’s first enemy Kaecilius, who seeks the Stone to free the Zealots, and Spider-Man’s old foe Mysterio, who was presumed dead after his confrontation with Spider-Man until it was revealed that Quentin Beck, the Mysterio helmet’s host, was only entrapped in the helmet's dimension and is seeking the Stone to fulfill his debt with Dormammu.
The group explores the city in search of the child, although they are ambushed and challenged multiple times by Kaecilius and Mysterio; the two mad wizards are also competing against each other for the Stone’s power. The heroes are joined afterwards in their mission by Phoenix Princess, Cyberstar, Ms. Marvel and White Tiger as they work to keep the hexed toys under control. The behavior of the sentient toys properly reminds Scott of how his daughter Cassie plays with her own toys, leading Peter and Mary Jane to the possible conclusion that Cassie has the Stone. This fact is proven correct when they spot Cassie, still wearing her stage-play costume to enjoy Christmas, wearing a Red Diamond Tiara. And Jocasta confirms that the gem is in fact the Stone.
The young couple approaches Maggie and, after some talk about the situation, they manage to switch the Tiara with the Stone with a normal tiara Mary Jane creates with her Phoenix Powers. After they deliver the Stone to Agent Hill for S.H.I.E.L.D. safekeeping, Spider-Man and Phoenix Princess gather with their teammates and join the fight against Kaecilius and Mysterio, whom Spider-Man defeats by separating Beck from the Mysterio helmet and convincing Beck to start living a normal life. Facing defeat by the heroes’ hands, Kaecilius takes over the Mysterio helmet eager to achieve true power, but only to become a slave of Dormammu (as Doctor Strange previously warned Spider-Man about) and get sucked into the Dark Dimension. Doctor Strange takes the helmet to the Sanctum Sanctuary for safekeeping as the young heroes enjoy their night. They are visited by Jolnir (also known as Santa Claus), who praises the young heroes for their work before he and Spider-Man together go delivering gifts for children in New York before they part ways as Santa admits that Peter holds a really good Christmas spirit within him for the lessons he learned. With one hour left before Christmas, the young heroes enjoy a peaceful Christmas party with Aunt May, Maggie, Cassie and the Avengers. During the event, Cassie properly puts a small mistletoe between Peter and Mary Jane, getting them both to share a passionate kiss, much to their friends' joy.
== Continuity ==
=== Previous Episodes ===
* Spider-Man mentions having heard of Santa Claus’ origins as a Light Elf/Frost Giant hybrid named Jolnir from Thor and Reptil, who met Santa Claus during their battle with Loki and Ymir in the TV Film special “Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!”.
* The Midgard Valkyrie had agreed to return from Asgard to Earth in Ride of the Last Valkyrie. She is shown to have fulfilled this promise by spending a Christmas night in Tigra's apartment; Tarene is shown to be sleeping in the same bedroom Rosy Barsi is in when Peter appears to deliver their Christmas gifts.
=== Next Episodes ===
== Notes ==
* This episode is notable for the inclusion of formidable Disney characters' cameos:
** Disney's mascot Mickey Mouse appears as the mascot of a Toy Factory where Spider-Man fights Mysterio.
** The giant nutcracker Spider-Man and his teammates confront in streets is based on the Steadfast Tin Soldier featured in a short from Fantasia 2000.
** Simba, Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King franchise appear as life-sized stuffed animals which are brought to life by the energies of the Reality Stone.
** Two little girls standing next to Cassie Lang after the stage-play show are shown dressed as Anna and Elsa the Snow Queen from Frozen. They are also shown next to a snowman (based on Olaf).
** While sleeping in their beds when Peter arrives to deliver their gifts, Tarene and Rosy are shown holding stuffed dolls based on the Disney versions of Pinocchio and Genie from Aladdin respectively.
** During the Christmas Eve party, a group of children next to Cassie are watching cartoons in a television. They are shown to be watching The Emperor's New Groove (footage of the moment when Kronk is talking to the squirrel in the forest where he and Yzma reach for Kuzko is shown).
== Voice Cast ==
Category:Ultimate Spider-Man Alternate Season 4 (Version 2)
Category:Episodes
Category:Christmas episodes
Category:Christmas