In the episode, Spider-Man must face the scientist he was working for, Curt Connors, who has been mutated into an anthropomorphic lizard by a serum designed to regrow his missing arm.

"Natural Selection" was written by Matt Wayne, known for his work on Justice League Unlimited, and was the first time he had done so for The Spectacular Spider-Man.

block for The CW network, and met overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, who praise it for its action sequences, narrative direction, and the new design for Lizard.

Meanwhile, Dr. Curt Connors injects himself with his experimental serum containing lizard DNA, which was electrocuted by Electro in the previous episode.

At school, Peter is attacked with water balloons by Flash Thompson and his sidekick Kenny Kong, which he dodges until he realizes it might reveal his secret identity as Spider-Man.

Peter tries to comfort the Connors's son, Billy, but is interrupted when Curt fully transforms into a hulking, humanoid lizard, completely lacking in human thought, and runs off.

However, when Gwen, Eddie, and the Connors find out, they are outraged that he ran off simply to take pictures and say he has lost their trust.

[4] Dee Bradley Baker, a voice actor for animated series and video games, continued his role as Dr. Connors/The Lizard.

[1] When Disney XD premiered The Spectacular Spider-Man on March 23, 2009, it aired "Natural Selection" after the previous two episodes, "Survival of the Fittest" and "Interactions.

"[5] Greg Weisman, one of The Spectacular Spider-Man's producers[6] came up with a continuing title scheme that follows "The Education of Peter Parker."

Like Goldman and Tanaka, Elliot enjoyed the action style and fight sequences and the callbacks to Lizard's original comic book appearance.