Amazing Spider-Man #672
Boss Battle
Commander Steve Rogers is heading to Belvedere Castle the location of the former Project Rebirth base where Adriana Soria — aka the Queen — a rogue super-soldier is currently locked in battle with Agent Venom, a battle that Venom is losing. He attacks her head on with his photonic shield even though she is the most powerful super-soldier ever created and has a wide array of powers. The battle appears to be a quick one when Steve impales her with his shield. However, the Queen suddenly transforms into a massive spider-form. Observing from Washington, government officials witnessing this transformation classify Soria as an omega level threat.[1]
At Horizon Labs, Spider-Man has just restored Kaine back to human form and the commotion from their battle is drawing people to the lab where they are developing a cure for the spider-plague affecting Manhattan. In order to preserve Peter Parker’s identity, Spider-Man swaps clothes with Kaine so Peter’s clone doesn’t raise any uncomfortable questions. Their efforts are for nothing because Mister Fantastic, Max Modell, and the other scientists are drawn away when the alarm goes off. They rush to the front of the building where Mary Jane has arrived with the people that Anti-Venom cured prior to his arrival at Horizon Labs to mass produce a cure. Reed is surprised to see that Mary Jane is just now entering the second stage of the spider-plague. Once they get away from prying ears, Reed theorizes that Mary Jane’s long term relationship with Peter Parker might be the reason why her body has been more resistant to the spider-plague than others.[2]
When Mary Jane asks where Peter is, they all go to lab six where they are surprised to see Spider-Man and Peter Parker standing side-by-side.[3] Peter quickly takes control of the situation and tells them all that Spider-Man’s foe the Queen is behind everything and retreats to his lab with “Spider-Man” to come up with a solution to deal with her. Once away from the others, Peter confirms that the Queen still has her sonic scream and pulls his stealth-suit out of storage. Kaine insists on wearing it himself and after Peter puts his traditional Spider-Man costume back on, the two head for Central Park.[4] When Kaine asks why they are going alone, Spider-Man explains that the other heroes in the city are needed to help contain the spider-plague from spreading beyond Manhattan and keeping people safe.
Elsewhere in the city members of the Young Allies, X-Men, and the Avengers continue to defend the spider-sense jammers that are placed all over the city. Suddenly, the spider-monsters that have been trying to disable these devices suddenly begin fleeing the scene. This is because they are responding to the call from the Queen who — in her massive spider form — is now chasing a helicopter carrying Agent Venom and Steve Rogers. The former Captain America radios his teammates and tells them to converge on Union Park where they are luring the Queen for the final battle.
Hearing the Queens approach, Spider-Man and Kaine are then visited by Madame Web who warns them that their foe’s power has increased and by feeding upon the web of life has become a god. When Madame Web insists that the only way they can stop the Queen is by killing her, Spider-Man refuses to take a life, willing to find another way to end this. However, when they finally come upon the Queen, Spider-Man is easily swatted away. He’s saved by Mary Jane, but this revelation has completely annihilated his confidence. Mary Jane reminds Peter that his spider-powers aren’t what makes him special, it’s the things that make him Peter Parker and tells him to nerd up and use his mind to come up with a solution to save them all. Thinking about his recent encounter with Alistair Smythe, Spider-Man suddenly comes up with a solution to beat the Queen.
He and Mary Jane then race down to the superhuman evidence locker at the NYPD where thousands of Octo-Bot drones have been stored after Doctor Octopus failed to take over the city.[5] Spider-Man manages to find the control helmet but needs a large antenna to boost its broadcasting power. With a smile on her face, Mary Jane tells Peter that she knows exactly the place.
Back at Union Square, Steve Rogers rallies the Avengers, X-Men, and Young Allies for the final battle. Watching from the sidelines is Madame Web who wonders why they are risking their lives when the battle is hopeless. That’s when Shang Chi arrives with the Immortal Weapons as reinforcements. Madame Web admits that she did not see their involvement from her visions, which is encouraging to Shang Chi who thinks that they could turn the tide of battle in their favor. By this point, Spider-Man and Mary Jane have arrived at the radio tower atop the Empire State Building, which is just perfect for what Peter needs.[6] With the control helmet hooked up, Spider-Man commands the octo-bots to head to Horizon Labs where they begin taking samples of the cure created from Anti-Venom’s symbiote. These small robots then go about the city injecting the cure into all of the humans who have been turned into spider-monsters. This comes as the other heroes in the city are buckling under overwhelming odds.
As more people are cured, the Queen becomes losing her great power. As people all over the city are being cured, Peter begins to feel confident that he’ll be able to save everybody this time. Proud of Peter for what he is doing, Mary Jane says that she loves him, but Peter doesn’t hear her over the noise of the battle. Back at the scene of the battle, the Queen’s flagging powers are becoming obvious. Using a move that she has practiced with the real Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel whips Kaine at the Queen. In that moment, Madame Web realizes that it is Kaine who is her champion as he is the one who will cross that line that Spider-Man won’t. It’s at that moment that stingers suddenly pop out of Kaine’s writs. He then flies through the Queen’s mouth and rips his way out the opposite side. With the Queen about to fall, Steve Rogers orders everyone to give her all she got and the combined power of all the gathered heroes cause the Queen to explode.
Although Madame Web says Kaine was the victor in the battle, the clone points out that all of this couldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Spider-Man because he made the suit Kaine is wearing, it was one of his techniques that lead to the Queen’s downfall, and he was the one who cured everyone in the city. While back atop the Empire State Building, Spider-Man and Mary Jane look down on the city. Peter figures that nobody is going to want to be Spider-Man for a long time after living a day in his shoes. Mary Jane points out that they only experienced the wall-crawling aspects of Peter’s life not any of the parts that really matter. Putting his arm around his ex-girlfriend, Peter thanks her for saying so.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, the Queen, Avengers (Commander Steve Rogers, Iron Man, Spider-Woman, Red Hulk), New Avengers (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Ms. Marvel, Power Woman), Mister Fantastic, Thing, X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Gambit), Young Allies (Gravity, Firestar, Spider-Girl), Immortal Weapons (Prince of Orphans, Fat Cobra, Bride of Nine Spiders, Dog Brother, Tiger’s Beautiful Daughter), Mary Jane Watson, Kaine, Madame Web, Agent Venom, Shang Chi, Max Modell, Shroud, Black Cat, Hercules, Grady Scraps, Bella Fishbach, Eddie Brock, Carlie Cooper, J. Jonah Jameson, Randy Robertson
Continuity Notes
This whole sequence is pretty much were Venom (vol. 2) #8 left off.
Peter and Mary Jane had dated on and off for years starting in Amazing Spider-Man #42 until they finally broke up for good circa Amazing Spider-Man #545.
Everyone is surprised to see Peter in his underwear, but Max Modell explains that Peter likes to work in the buff. This is an excuse Peter made back in Amazing Spider-Man #650 when his colleagues barged into his lab while he was trying to change out of his costume.
Kaine says that he doesn’t want to wear Peter’s Spider-Man costume because the last time he wore it he got killed and then came back with crazy new powers. The details:
Kaine posed as Spider-Man during the Grim Hunt storyline and was sacrificed to bring Kraven the Hunter back from the dead. Not long after his death, he was resurrected and captured by the Jackal. See Amazing Spider-Man #634-637 and Spider-Island: Deadly Foes #1.
Spider-Man can relate with dying and coming back with new powers. This is a reference to The Other: Evolve Or Die story arc. See Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1-4, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19-22, and Amazing Spider-Man #525-528.
Spider-Man eventually lost these enhanced powers after rejecting the entity known as the Other in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #22 causing his powers to fade following Amazing Spider-Man #545.
As explained in Scarlet Spider (vol. 2) #14, the Other moved on and took on Kaine as a host following his death and rebirth.
Doctor Octopus used these drones to take over the entire city back in Amazing Spider-Man #600.
Peter and Mary Jane refer to the Empire State Building as their “special place”, Peter once took Mary Jane up to the very top of the radio tower to see the city from a vantage point few have seen. That was in Sensational Spider-Man Annual (vol. 2) #1.
