Throughout its decades-long run, Saturday Night Live has had no shortage of incredible special guests, but perhaps none so special as the time Spider-Man teamed up with some of the show’s most iconic actors to do battle with the Silver Samurai in the pages of 1978’s Marvel Team-Up #74. And things get bad from page one.
Not only do Peter and Mary Jane have to suffer through a torrential downpour to make it to 30 Rock, but Peter’s Spider-Senses also start going berserk as soon as they enter the studio. There is plenty of problems backstage, too, as John Belushi struggles with a ring he’d received through fan mail. It’s now stuck on his finger and his cast-mates mock his attempts to remove it. Dan Aykroyd jokes Belushi is too bloated from his drinking the previous night.
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Failing to remove the ring, the cast readies for the show. Meanwhile, The Silver Samurai also happens to be backstage with a pack of goons and plans to get that ring for himself. He gathers his troops as he suits up. When Peter sees an NBC page being abducted during the show’s opening monologue, he finally suits up and heads into action. And if this somehow all wasn’t bizarre enough, the episode’s host that was giving his monologue as Peter ducks out is none other than Stan Lee himself (featuring musical guest Rick Jones). Backstage, things are getting weird as the Samurai’s henchmen seek out the actors in search of the ring.
Bill Murray knocks out one of the thugs with a prop replica of Mjölnir and joins the crew undercover to learn their plans. Laraine Newman has just finished dressing as Ms. Marvel for a sketch when two goons bust into her dressing room, before promptly running off after mistaking the actress for the actual hero. And Garrett Morris (who actually has a long history with Marvel heroes) poses as an African American Thor to foil a group of thugs with the help of Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and a set of jumper cables connected to a metal catwalk.
Things come to a head when Silver Samurai finally tracks down Belushi. Not only is he still wearing the ring, but he’s now dressed as the wild caricature of a real samurai Belushi would often play on the show. The Silver Samurai takes offense to this appropriation (he might have a point there) and the two engage in a brief sword fight before Spider-Man swoops in to stop it. But in the tussle, Silver Samurai got his hands on the ring and reveals that it’s actually some sort of “teleportation matrix” that will let him instantly travel around the planet. The villain disappears in a flash of light.
The bewildered audience gives the cast a standing ovation – believing this was all an elaborate skit – and an equally confused Stan Lee comments that the live show was nothing like dress rehearsal while Spider-Man makes his exit. The book’s closing panels see Belushi and Morris sitting at a bar, with Belushi explaining the ring had been meant to go to an importer/exporter named J.B. Lu-Shi that also had an office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. So just remember that the next time you accidentally get your neighbor’s mail, things could turn out a lot worse.