Avenging Spider-Man #20
The Chameleon Sanction Part One
In Moscow, two operatives known as Saint and Skull are briefed by a government official named Stovic. He tells them that the Chameleon has been taken into SHIELD custody and that he has government secrets that must not come out.[1] As such, Saint and Skull have been ordered to eliminate him.
Meanwhile, in New York City, Nick Fury leads a SHIELD team to a secret AIM facility to shut it down only to discover that Spider-Man has beaten them to the punch. Spider-Man tells Fury that he needs to speak with SHIELD’s commander, Maria Hill, because he has become aware of a threat that will cost thousands of lives if it is not stopped. This is all a ruse to trick Fury into bringing him to the SHIELD helicarrier so he can break into it. Along the way, Otto muses how he has fooled everyone into thinking he was Spider-Man,[2] and takes the opportunity to crack a joke about Nick Fury’s resemblance to actor Samuel L. Jackson.[3]
However, when Spider-Man arrives on the Helicarrier, he is annoyed to see that Phil Coulson has also just arrived with both Hawkeye and the Black Widow. Otto is furious because the presence of two Avengers will complicate his mission. Still he moves forward with his plans and while he asks Hawkeye and the Widow what they are doing aboard the Helicarrier, he secretly unleashes a number of small spider-drones to infiltrate the helicarrier. The drones infilrate the bridge, the central computer, the security hub, and finally the holding cells. There, a SHIELD doctor is questioning the Chameleon. However, the master of disguise is more interested in trying to mimic the doctor’s speech pattern than telling them any of his secrets. He tells the doctor that he is more afraid of revealing any secrets.
Outside, a cloaked ship carrying Saint and Skull and a number of heavily armed Russian mercinaries has just arrived near the helicarrier. After confirming that they are invisible to SHIELD, they prepare for the coming attack. While back aboard the bridge, Spider-Man kills time by discussing the AIM cell he busted, while also dodging questions from his fellow Avengers about his recent activities.[4] That’s when the Russians launch their opening salvo, killing power aboard the helicarrier. This raises concerns across the ship, among those suspecting trouble are Commander Maria Hill, the Taskmaster, and Bruce Banner. Amid the chaos, the Chameleon is freed from his cell.
Nick Fury leads Coulson and the three Avengers down to the holding cells to regain control. Spider-Man decides to go off on his own, making up an excuse that he needs to use the bathroom.[5] That’s when Saint and Skull teleport into the room with their soldiers and begin attacking them. While Fury and the others are busy, Spider-Man heads off to find the Chameleon to discover that not only has he escaped he has cut off the face of the doctor that was examining him. That’s when Skull and Saint arrive, however before he can deal with this threat Spider-Man is ambushed by the Hulk. As Otto begins to realize how complicated things have gotten the Chameleon, wearing the doctor’s face, tries to make his escape.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Chameleon, SHIELD (Maria Hill, Nick Fury Jr., Phil Coulson, Taskmaster), Secret Avengers (Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk), Saint, Skull, AIM
Continuity Notes
The Chameleon was captured along with most of the rest of the Sinister Six when they attempted to blackmail the world during the Ends of the Earth story line. See Amazing Spider-Man #682-687.
In case you’ve been living in a hole, Doctor Octopus swapped bodies with Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #698-700. This will remain the stats quo until Superior Spider-Man #31.
There is a lot of “inside baseball” with this joke. When they introduced the Ultimate Universe version of Nick Fury in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #5, they redesigned the character to make him resemble Samuel L. Jackson. Later, when Marvel Studios began the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they hired Jackson to play the role of Fury in the 2008 Iron Man film. In turn, Marvel decided to add a similar Nick Fury to the Prime Marvel Universe. Nick Fury, Jr. was revealed to be the son of Nick Fury in Battle Scars #1-6.
The Black Widow expresses her concerns about Spider-Man killing Massacre. Massacre was a mass murderer that had no sense of right or wrong due to a brain injury. Where as Peter Parker took down the killer in Amazing Spider-Man #656, Otto decided to kill him in Superior Spider-Man #4-5. Hawkeye mentions how Spider-Man recently beat the shit out of the Jester and Screwball. He did this in Superior Spider-Man #6 after growing tired of their childish antics. His out of character brutality during this fight had also caused concern among the Avengers.
Hawkeye reminds Spider-Man that he is on probation. This is due to the above referenced actions. The web-slinger was put on probation in Superior Spider-Man #7-8.
Errors
Mr. Stovic refers to his organization as the KGB, aka Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti. Government agencies in the Marvel Universe are analogous to their real world counterparts. As such referring to Russian intelligence as the KGB is incorrect here as that organization split into two separate agencies in 1991 following the fall of the Soviet Union. The KGB is succeeded by the Federal Secret Service and and the Foreign Intelligence Service. My guess it that writer Christopher Yost chose to refer to the KGB here because that is an organization that readers would easily recognize. Like how many of you know about the FSS or the FIS? I rest my case.
