Amazing Spider-Man #572
Easy Targets
Following the Thunderbolts attack on the FEAST Center, Peter Parker is volunteering his time to help repair the building. This comes on the day that a number of undocumented immigrants from China that have come to the center to seek aid from Martin Li.[1] Martin welcomes them in with open arms but asks why they have strange lesions on their skin. Also on the location is Ben Urich and Sally Floyd from the Front Line, who are covering the story about the sweatshop these immigrants came from. Also, there is Betty Brant, who is covering the story about alleged miracles happening at FEAST for the DB.[2] Both Betty and Sally trade barbs about the journalistic integrity of their respective newspapers.[3] Although they have a hard time understanding what is being said because everyone is speaking in Mandarin. The refugees are telling Martin Li how they were experimented on by scientists who work for a company called Oscorp — a word that the gathered reporters all understand. When Betty Brant calls in this revelation to Dexter Bennett, Bennett tells her to kill the story immediately. This verifies everything that Ben and Sally were told by Harry Osborn. Peter is surprised to learn that Harry was their source and is told to go and talk to Harry since he’s dried up on them after he gave evidence proving that Randall Crowne and Norman Osborn were involved in the sweatshop scandal.
Meanwhile, Norman Osborn has called a meeting with his Thunderbolts as he has come up with a guaranteed way they can capture and kill Spider-Man. Having found Peter Parker’s camera at the scene of the battle between Venom and Anti-Venom. He has discovered that the camera has been modified to track a sensor in Spider-Man’s costume and he has reversed engineered the device so they can use it to track Spider-Man wherever he’s hiding.[4] Osborn has also outfitted his troops with guns that have bullets that will lock onto the sensor no matter where thy shoot. While Bullseye goes out with the soldiers out hunting for Spider-Man, Norman orders Songbird and Radioactive Man to join him at headquarters to act as security guards while he tries to develop a means for Venom to become immune to Anti-Venom. What they are unaware of is that Anti-Venom has infiltrated their headquarters by disguising himself as one of the guards and as he follows Osborn and the others to where they are keeping Mac Gargan, crushing Peter Parker’s camera while he’s making his way out. Soon, at the Oscorb labs, Norman has Radioactive Man bombard Venom with radiation so they can isolate and extract a sample of residue left behind by Anti-Venom.
Norman then takes the samples to a lab where he has been keeping the Freak as a prisoner. The scientist assigned to examine the Freak has been using his unique ability to develop immunities to create miracle cures.[5] Injecting the Anti-Venom material into Freak, the man-monster’s body produces a highly toxic poison. Norman then returns to his home where he opens a secret passageway where he has stored some of his Green Goblin equipment. He is not surprised that someone has been stealing equipment from this cache,[6] As Norman gets down to work he decides to put on one of his Goblin masks to protect his face. Meanwhile, Peter’s meeting with Harry Osborn also includes Lily Hollister who is still upset after Menace attacker her father, mayoral candidate Bill Hollister. Lily’s presence prevents Peter from talking to Harry about what was going on at Oscorp. That’s when Harry gets a call from his father. Stuck continuing to console Lily, Peter tries to overhear what Harry is discussing with his father. Norman, thinking that his son is the Menace, tries to talk to him about it, but Harry has no idea what he is talking about. That’s when Peter’s spider-sense beings going haywire and he tells Harry and Lily that they all have to go right away. Outside, Bullseye radios in and tell Norman that they have tracked Spider-Man to the Coffee Bean. Amused, Norman orders them to attack and not be concerned about damaging his son’s business. As tear gas is shot into the shop, Peter ushers Harry and Lily out, telling him that he will go and get some help. Instead, Peter changes into Spider-Man.
Outside, Harry is furious that Norman would attack his business and that Peter would just stand by and photograph it and decides to go and confront his father. Inside, Spider-Man is seriously injured because the Thunderbolt soldiers are able to hit him thanks to the tracker hidden in his costume. The wall-crawler can’t figure out how they keep on hitting him until Anti-Venom drops his disguise and returns Spider-Man his camera. In order to turn the tide of battle, Spider-Man rips off the tracker from his costume and tosses it in a web-ball at Bullseye. When the villain catches the projectile, it sticks to his hand, making him a victim of when his own troops begin opening firing again. Soon Spider-Man and Anti-Venom wrap up the rest of the troops. It’s then that Anti-Venom tells the wall-crawler where they can face Norman Osborn and the rest of his Thunderbolts, including Venom.[7] While at Oscorp, Norman Osborn — now in his full Green Goblin regalia — prepares to the coming battle. He injects Mac Gargan with the cure for Anti-Venom’s touch allowing the alien symbiote to begin recovering. However, to give Gargan with some added power by giving him a new suit of Scorpion armor over top of the symbiote.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Anti-Venom, Thunderbolts (Green Goblin, Venom, Songbird, Radioactive Man, Bullseye), Aunt May, Ben Urich, Sally Floyd, Betty Brant, Harry Osborn, Lily Hollister, Martin Li, Freak
Continuity Notes
These undocumented immigrants were uncovered when a sweatshop was exposed during a battle between Spider-Man and Menace in Amazing Spider-Man #568.
The FEAST Center has been the site of miraculous healings since Amazing Spider-Man #563
Some facts about the DB And the Front Line that underly the cattiness between the two reporters:
The Daily Bugle was one of New York's most prestigious newspapers until it was brought by Dexter Bennett in Amazing Spider-Man #547. Dennett rebranded the paper to DB and turned it into a tawdry tabloid.
The Front Line, on the other hand, is an independent newspaper that recently started publication mostly online in Civil War: Front Line #11. The reference to Sally getting sources from her Myspace page should be considered a topical reference. At the time of this story, Myspace was one of the most popular social media platforms of its time. Since then it has fallen out of favor.
Peter installed a sensor on his costume that allowed his camera to focus on him in battles in Amazing Spider-Man #558.
The Freak was taken into the custody of Oscorp following his defeat in Amazing Spider-Man #558.
This equipment was stolen by Menace, whom Norman thinks is his son Harry. However, as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man #585, Menace is actually Harry’s girlfriend Lily Hollister.
Eddie Brock’s history with Peter Parker’s secret identity is complicated:
Venom comments on how Spider-Man must have been taking all the pictures that were credited to Peter Parker and thinks that the anger he had for Parker were misdirected. Before becoming Venom, Eddie Brock was a reporter for the Daily Globe. His big story was interviews with a man claiming to be the spree-killer calling himself the Sin-Eater. When Spider-Man caught the real Sin-Eater, Eddie lost his job in disgrace. (See Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110 and Venom: Dark Origin #1-4)
When Brock first bonded to the Venom symbiote he learned Peter Parker’s secret identity and terrorized Spider-Man both in and out of costume (Amazing Spider-Man #300)
Brock later lost the knowledge of Spider-Man’s secret identity after a blow to the head in Spider-Man: The Venom Agenda #1.
Later, he learned Peter’s secret identity again when Spider-Man publicly unmasked during the Civil War in Amazing Spider-Man #533.
Lastly, Eddie Brock — and virtually everyone else — lost the memory of Spider-Man’s secret identity when reality was altered by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In order for this to work, one could presume that Brock’s memories had been altered to think that he blamed Peter Parker and Spider-Man separately for the end of his career as a reporter.
