Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #18
Changes Part 2
After being kissed by the Queen, Peter Parker has been undergoing a strange transformation that has been undergoing changes where he appears to be turning into an actual spider. He considers how he’s always been a spider-themed hero, but for the most part, it was a symbolic gesture after the radioactive spider bite first gave him his powers.[1] Still, even though he is going through all these changes, he surprised when Mary Jane says they still need to go to a wedding they were invited to.[2] However, he eventually relents and agrees to go when Mary Jane promises to take him to a doctor of his choice afterward.
Meanwhile, Captain America has come to the Veteran’s Hospital on 57th Street to meet with an old friend of his named Tommy. Tommy is now an old man confined to a wheelchair and when Cap tells him that this isn’t a social call — that he has come to discuss Ana Soria — Tommy begins to cry.[3] While in her secret hive, the Queen calls one of her drones and tries to have an actual conversation. Unfortunately, Ana’s control over people prevents that from happening. She decides it doesn’t matter and will continue to no longer matter once she gets what she needs. She thinks about her time in the military training and what she had to sacrifice to get to this point. She now thinks that this has always been about survival of the fittest.
At this same time, Peter Parker endures the science fiction themed wedding of his neighbors on the first floor. In order to cover up the fact that his eyes have started segmenting he wears a pair of sunglasses. The wedding ceremony is long and drawn out and Peter is relieved when it is finally over. When Mary Jane wants to linger to talk to the family of the couple, Peter insists that he needs to go and rushes out of the room. Embarrassed, Mary Jane tells them to excuse her husband as he gets irritable bowel syndrome at weddings. However, Peter is undergoing more changes and as he flees the wedding he rips off all of his street clothes so he can breathe properly again. Down to his Spider-Man costume, Parker goes up to the rooftops Losing more of his humanity as he coughs up blood, Peter can suddenly feel the Queen calling out to him and can no longer resist her call.
Back at the Veteran's Hospital, Captain America tells Tommy that they shouldn’t have let things with Ana progress this far but figures maybe this is for the best. That’s when Nick Fury appears and demands that Cap tell him everything he knows. Fury threatens to go to the Joint Chiefs of Staff if Steve won’t tell him the whole truth. That’s when Tommy finally speaks and suggests that they tell Fury the truth. Captain America reluctantly tells Fury that this all happened back in World War II. The war had yet to be won and the United States Army grew concerned not only about the three fronts in the war, but the inevitable conflict with the Soviet Union that would follow. So it was decided that the military was to make more super-soldiers. They then recruited soldiers that they determined would be the most genetically susceptible to the experimentation that was to happen. However, the soldiers that were recruited didn’t know what was going to happen. However, their attempts to try and recreate the success of Operation: Rebirth, the program that created Captain America, was a failure and the project was abandoned.[4] The only survivor of these experiments, Adriana Soria of the Women’s Auxillary Corps, was left locked away. He recalls how Ana proved to be the strongest of all the test subjects. No matter what they threw at her, no matter how hard they tried to break her, she keeps on persevering. Unfortunately, she finally cracked when the project was scrapped. By that point, Captain America was missing in action and presumed dead, so they locked Ana up in an asylum in Maimi and threw away the key.[5] Unfortunately, she escaped sometime in 1957 and went underground and they are now unsure what her motives are now. He concludes by telling Fury that the experiments on Ana turned her into a new subspecies of humanity called homo insectus, meaning that she tapped into the part of humanity prior to their split from insects on the evolutionary tree. Not only can she control all of the insects on Earth, she can also control a third of the human population that still has the insect gene that.
At that moment, Spider-Man is still on the rooftop uncontrollably vomiting, wondering what is happening to him now. Feeling the web-slinger’s agony, the Queen calls out to him telling him not to fight it, as this is merely the next step in his evolution. Suddenly, Spider-Man screams in agony as his body takes on a more arachnid shape, with extra arms eyes and teeth ripping from his body.
Back at the hospital, Captain America then tells Fury about the next concern he has — something that only seven other people in the world know about — a bomb that can kill every human within a six hundred mile radius while leaving everything else intact. The bomb emits a burst of chemical and radiological bursts that will shut down every human brain to shut down. Another side effect is that the radiation might also prove beneficial to lower life forms, including insects, making it the ideal weapon for the Queen to unleash on New York City, creating an instant kingdom for her and her thralls. When Nick Fury asks how Ana had the means to create such a weapon, Captain America says that she didn’t create it, the United States government did.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, the Queen, Mary Jane Watson, Captain America, Nick Fury, John Anderson
Continuity Notes
DO I NEED TO TELL YOU PETER GOT HIS POWERS IN Amazing Fantasy #15? GOOD, I DIDN’T THINK SO EITHER.
Peter refers to Mary Jane as his wife. However, not long after this, their marriage is erased by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such, in this altered timeline, Peter would refer to Mary Jane as his fiancee instead of his wife.
Tommy is stated as being a soldier during World War II. However, as the sliding timescale pushes the modern age forward it becomes increasingly impossible for someone to have served in World War II to still be alive in the modern age. Since Ana Soria’s origins are locked into the year 1945 it becomes increasingly difficult to explain how Tommy could still be alive. Marvel has yet to provide an answer. However, given the number of wartime characters who have had their aging process slowed or completely stopped, one could assume that Tommy was also part of some wartime experiment that extended his lifespan. Given his relationship with Ana in 1945, this is entirely plausible.
Captain America was given the super-soldier serum as part of Project: Rebirth as seen in Captain America Comics #1.
Per Avengers #4, Captain America went missing in action in late 1945 and ended up in suspended animation until his frozen body was discovered and revived by the Avengers.
Topical References
The couple getting married are stated as having been identified as Trekkies and that their wedding is to be Star Trek themed. This should be considered a topical reference as Star Trek is a real-world television series.
Captain America’s statement that the war took place sixty-five years prior to this story should also be considered topical. As the Sliding Timescale pushes the modern age forward, the length of time between the modern age and World War II grows larger.
Avengers Disassembled Reading Order
Iron Man (vol. 3) #84-85, Thor (vol. 2) #80-81, Captain America and the Falcon #5, 6, 7, Captain America (vol. 3) #29, Avengers #500, 501, 502, 503, Iron Man (vol. 3) #86, 87, 88, 89, Captain America (vol. 3) #30, 31, 32, Fantastic Four #517, 518, 519, Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, Thor (vol. 2) #82, 83, 84, 85, Avengers Finale #1, New Thunderbolts #1
