Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5
The Foes are Back!
The Owl has captured a crook who managed to steal money from him and how has him tied up under a pipe filled with rats. The squirming rodents are kept from falling all over him because of a grate that keeps them inside. When the Owl finally comes in, the man pleads with the mobster to let him go, offering to show the Owl how he managed to steal the money. Instead, the Owl tells him some facts about how quickly rats reproduce and that their teeth never stop growing. He then decides to tell him the tale about one of his enforcers, the Man-Bull.
He tells about how they were attempting to get an ex-con named Willie Valentine to get back into safe cracking for them. When he refused, he sent the Man-Bull to take his wife hostage.[1] What nobody knew was that despite he fact that he was half-man-half-bull, the Man-Bull was quite the romantic and he managed to charm Willie’s wife. When the Owl later tried threatening Willie by showing that the Man-Bull had his wife, he inadvertently showed Valentine a life feed of the Man-Bull fucking his wife to death. The lesson the Owl learned that day was that if you wanted to get a man to do what you want, you don’t show him a video of a bull fucking his wife. With that, the Owl releases the rats which begin eating the man alive. As he walks out of the room, the Owl orders his men to clean up after the rats are done and then bring one to him, because he is starving.
This is the maniac that Boomerang and his Sinister Six want to rob because they believe he has the head of Silvermane. Scouting out the Owl’s warehouse hideout from across the street, Boomerang tells Speed Demon to run down and get the lay of the land. Unfortunately, Speed Demon hurt his ankle and needs to wear a in-line skate on the injured foot to get around.[2] However, Beetle has thought ahead and proves them all binders containing detailed information about the Owl’s hideout. Boomerang angrily grabs these binders and tosses them away, thinking that the Beetle is still trying to replace him as leader.
That’s when she notices that the Shocker isn’t with them and asks where he is. Boomerang tries to convince the rest of the team that Herman chickened out, but almost lets slip that he actually dumped him in the trunk of a car. He puts up a convincing argument and this motivates Speed Demon to race off and take out the guards that are guarding the gate. This is followed by Overdrive who uses his powers to turn a radio controlled helicopter into the real thing, which he uses to blow open the front of the building. With the easy part out of the way, Speed Demon suggests they hurry before a second wave of guards arrive on the scene. Boomerang tries to figure out which way they should go, but he can’t make up his mind and reluctantly accepts Beetle’s blue print so they can forge ahead.
Entering the building, the Sinister Six begin fighting their way through the Owl’s goons. During the fight Boomerang finally begins to believe that his crew are worthy of calling themselves the Sinister Six. He’s also confident that this time things are going to be different and they are going to come out on top. Held back by the guards, he orders the rest of the team to keep going. They then begin going down floor by floor facing all sorts of threats like werewolves and giant scorpions. When Boomerang finally fights off his attackers he discovers that the elevator they all thought was out of order actually works.
The Owl sees all of this on his security footage and decides that it’s time to flee and escapes in his modest 4-door sedan. While the other members of the Sinister Six are still busy, Boomerang gets into the Owl’s secret vault to claim what he was actually after: a portrait painted of Doctor Doom with his mask off. As it turns out, Boomerang lied about Silvermane’s head, something that he thinks is nothing more than an urban legend.
Boomerang would be wrong, however, as at that moment the car with the Shocker in the trunk has just been brought to a junkyard. It’s here that Herman finally frees himself from his prison. He is found by a young boy whose mother owns the junk yard. The Shocker keeps deflecting the boys questions, by repeatedly telling him not to do drugs, as he tries to reorientate himself. That’s when he spots the head of Silvermane — attached to a radio control truck — watching him from around the corner of a shack. Unable to believe it, the Shocker snatches Silvermane’s head and high tails it out of there.
Recurring Characters
Sinister Six (Boomerang, Beetle, Overdrive, Shocker, Speed Demon), Silvermane, the Owl, Man-Bull
Continuity Notes
The Owl mentions how he has employed the Man-Bull in the past. This was in Daredevil #144.
Boomerang mocks Speed Demon for wearing a in-line skate on his injured leg saying that he “looks like the wrong half of Dazzler.” When Dazzler first appeared in X-Men #130 she was an aspiring disco singer and wore roller skates as part of her ensemble a look she maintained until Dazzler #26.
Topical References
The Owl is depicted as driving a 2014 Toyota Prius. This should be considered topical because who the hell is going to drive a 2014 Toyota Prius when these models are going to be considered “vintage?” Nobody, that’s who.
