Amazing Spider-Man #538
The War at Home Part Seven
Unaware that they are in the crosshairs of an assassin’s gun, Mary Jane and Aunt May wait patiently to get word back from Peter. They soon get a call, Peter is incredibly serious and tells Mary Jane that things have gone from bad to worse. He says that he is joining those heroes against the Super-Human Registration Act and that it’s going to be a huge battle. Sure enough, Spider-Man is among the many heroes fighting each other in the middle of Times Square. In the center of it all, the leader of both sides — Captain America and Iron Man — are fighting against one another. As the battle rages on, Spider-Man figures it always came down to this and refuses to stop fighting until Captain America stops fighting. As the battle is being watched by the bystanders on the street and on television, Spider-Man wonders if they realize this fight isn’t just about superheroes, it’s about all of them as well since this is a battle for civil liberties.
While in Ryker’s Prison, the Kingpin is among the prisoners watching the television coverage of the superhero battle.[1] He takes this opportunity to place a call to his lawyer outside to confirm that his “special package” is scheduled to be delivered. When the battle finally ends, one of the prisoners asks Fisk if he saw that coming. However, the Kingpin of Crime always knew that this was a battle where there could be one victor.[2] As the world watches, at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson finally decides on a headline and tells editorial to run it. In the aftermath of the battle, the heroes start picking up the pieces. As the reporters take account of the survivors, Spider-Man is considered among the missing.[3]
Hearing this news, Mary Jane and Aunt May worry for Peter’s safety. Mary Jane says she needs to get some fresh air and once outside, she begins praying for Peter to come back home saying she would give anything for him to come back. As she is saying this, Mary Jane is unaware of the fact that she is in the sights of a sniper’s crosshairs. The news reports continue to come in, saying that the President of the United States calls an emergency meeting to discuss the outcome.[4] While at that moment, the sniper hired by Wilson Fisk waits for Spider-Man to show up. Aware of Peter Parker’s spider-sense he tries to keep as quiet as possible and ultimately ends up falling asleep on the job.
Later that evening, Peter finally returns home and Mary Jane rushes to the door to greet him. As she does so, she sets off the sniper’s signal device that he attached to the door earlier that evening. Grabbing his gun, the sniper tries to get a bead on either Peter or Mary Jane when Peter’s spider-sense begins going off. He manages to shove Mary Jane out of the way as the sniper takes his shot. Although he saved Mary Jane’s life, Peter is horrified to discover that the bullet has struck Aunt May in the stomach.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Kingpin, Jack Martino (unidentified), Anti-Registration Heroes (Captain America, Invisible Woman, Falcon, “Spider-Woman”, Human Torch, Daredevil, Gladiatrix, Lectronn, Luke Cage, Hercules, Patriot, Vision), Pro-Registration Heroes (Iron Man, Wasp, She-Hulk, Mister Fantastic, Ms. Marvel, Sentry, Nighthawk, Arana, Doc Samson, Thor clone), Thunderbolts (Songbird, Mach-4, Lady Deathstrike, Venom, Taskmaster, Bullseye)
Continuity Notes
The Kingpin has been incarcerated since Daredevil (vol. 2) #50. A footnote in this story states this takes place before Daredevil (vol. 2) #93 when Fisk was released from prison.
The prisoners are seeing televised coverage of the ending to Civil War #7, where Captain America realized that the American people wanted the SHRA and surrendered to the authorities.
Other missing heroes are identified as Triathalon and Cold Blood. Triathalon survived and is later seen among those signing up at Camp Hammond in Avengers: The Initiative #1. Cold Blood on the other hand (at the time of this writing in April 2020) has not been seen since.
We’re shown the grave of Bill Foster, aka Goliath, who was killed in an earlier skirmish by a clone of Thor in Civil War #4.
Civil War Continuity
This story takes place between various issues of Civil War its various spin-off and tie-in series.
The first two pages where Peter is checking in on his family. This takes place between Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #3 and the siege on the Negative Zone prison in Civil War #6 page 16-22.
The two-page battle spread on pages 3 and 4 occur during pages 6-12 of Civil War #7 and Black Panther (vol. 4) #25.
Page 5-8 depiction the final battle between pro- and anti-SHRA forces takes place between the flashback in Captain Marvel (vol. 5) #1 and the lengthy battle sequence in Civil War #7 that occurs on pages 17 to 22.
The rest of this story occurs following the aftermath of Civil War #7.
