Superior Spider-Man #18
Smack to the Future
Spider-Man 2099 has been sent back to the modern era to prevent the death of his grandfather, Tiberius Stone. This has put him in direct conflict with Spider-Man outside of Horizon Labs just before the web-slinger could harm Stone. The future web-slinger is surprised when Spider-Man doesn’t recognize him because he can tell that he’s dealing with Peter Parker.[1]
Otto Octavius, who has long since taken over the body of Peter Parker curses his previous act of erasing all of Parker’s memories because this situation could ruin his cover.[2] Otto strikes the future Spider-Man in the face and tells him to stay back. He then confronts Tiberius Stone again, but this time Liz Osborn asks Spider-Man to stop threatening her employees. Tiberius doesn’t think Spider-Man has the guts to harm him, mocking him for not being able to kill the Hobgoblin.[3] This angers Otto and he is about to attack when Spider-Man 2099 stops him. This leads to a tense stand-off between the two Spider-Men. The tension is interrupted by Tyler Stone, who is able to communicate with the future Spider-Man from his office in the future year of 2099. He recognizes his grandfather and orders the wall-crawler to protect him no matter what. Spider-Man 2099 has no choice because his own life is tied to Tiberius Stone since Tyler is his biological father.[4]
Back at Horizon Labs, Hector Beaz has to leave in order to represent his husband, Max Modell, who had just recently been arrested. Uatu Jackson asks Hector not to go because the other scientists need supervision. However, Hector needs to tackle one problem at a time. In Grady Scrap’s lab, the young scientist has reactivated his time door in the hopes of looking into the past to learn how Tiberius Stone caused all their problems. Bella Fishbach and Sajani Jaffrey are concerned about using the device since last time it almost destroyed New York City.[5] Grady assures them that he fixed all the bugs and, in order to prevent any time paradoxes, he will be visiting the past while chronically out of synch with time, allowing him to look around without being seen.
Back outside, Spider-Man attacks his future counterpart and is shocked when his talons don’t cut through Spider-Man 2099’s costume. Explaining how his costume is made out of UMF material he calls the present day Spider-Man low-tech. Otto takes this as an insult and he uses the mechaical arms built into his costume to pick up a limo. However, before he can throw it, Tiberius Stone activates a miniature spider-sense jammer.[6] This causes Spider-Man a great deal of pain he almost ends up dropping the limo on Normie Osborn. Luckily, Spider-Man 2099 manages to use his webbing to yank the boy out of harms way. Liz is horrified but the future Spider-Man assures her that her boy is safe. He has also noticed that Tiberius was the cause of Spider-Man’s sudden episode and snatches him away while Liz Osborn tells Spider-Man off for endangering her son.
When Spider-Man notices this he races off to find his future counterpart and quickly realizes that he has lost the trail. He then contacts his Spiderlings at Spider-Island Two and orders them to go out and find this other Spider-Man. He then gets a call from Anna Maria Marconi who has called to ask “Peter Parker” if he needs any help with his thesis. He politely declines her offer, telling her that things are hectic at Horizon Labs. That’s when Otto realizes that the work on his thesis at his lab at Horizon, putting it at risk of becoming Alan Chemical property if their takeover of Horizon succeeds.[7] Otto refuses to allow his work to become the property of someone else and rushes back to Horizon Labs.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man 2099 is still carrying Tiberius Stone to safety. Tyler Stone, still communicating with him from the future, tells Spider-Man that whatever he is doing is working and his existence is being restored. Miguel needs some time ot think about everything that he has just learned. He is concerned that if he lets his grandfather live his future, where everyone is basically a slave to Alchemax, will continue to come to pass and questions if he should prevent that future from coming to pass. Unfortunately, Tiberius Stone has figured out what’s going on and to prove that this Spider-Man needs to keep him alive he dives off the edge of the building. Spider-Man is forced to save Stone’s life. After webbing Tiberius to a wall, Miguel grows tired of hearing Tyler Stone bellowing in his ear and tries another channel on his com-link. Amazingly, Spider-Man is able to download his holographic personal assistant, Lalya, from 2099 to his point in history to communicate with her. He asks her to give him all the information from this era about Tiberius Stone and his dealings with Horizon Labs.
In the past, Grady Scraps has arrived at the time when Peter Parker was given a demonstration of his Parker Particles to a bunch of high school kids at Horizon Labs.[8] There, Grady keeps a close eye on Tiberius Stone and records him deactivating the safeties before Peter Parker began his demonstration. With this evidence, Grady radios back to his colleagues in the present and asks them to send him to another point in the past. While Bella, Sajani, and Uatu argue over the ethics of going into the past to spy on people. That’s when they notice “Peter Parker” ordering his assistant, the robotic Living Brain, to clear out equipment from his lab. When they ask for his help, “Parker” tells them that he is busy.
Outside, “Parker” is caught in the act by Hector Beaz and Max Modell, who are just returning to the office. Both men are upset that “Parker” is removing his equipment when the company is under federal investigation on top of a hostile take over. Incredibly, “Peter” ignores them to take a phone call. It’s a call from the Spiderlings who have just located what appears to be the original Hobgoblin on a rampage. What they are unaware of is that this is actually the Goblin King in disguise, hoping to bate Spider-Man into coming out of hiding. Ending the call, Parker orders the Living Brain to take his equipment to Spider-Island. When he refuses to offer explanations to Modell and Baez, “Parker” is told that when he leaves not to bother coming back.
By this point, Layla has just informed Spider-Man 2099 that the acts of sabotage created by Tiberius Stone leads to the destruction of Horizon Labs and the rise of Alchemax. This destruction is quite literal and tells him that the date the explosion happens is today. That’s when Max Modell enters Horizon Labs and is furious to see that his staff are using Grady’s time door and orders them to pull him out of the past from now on. Meanwhile, Otto is changing into his costume in an alley when he gets a call from Mary Jane Watson, who has been trying to get ahold of him for some time. He tells her he doesn’t have time for her and hangs up, noticing Spider-Man 2099 swing by with Tiberius Stone. He suddenly finds himself conflicted as to which situation he should deal with.
Back at Horizon, Grady Scraps emerges from the time door and explains that the chronotons that are coming out of the time door are connected to everything. That’s when Spider-Man 2099 arrives with Tiberius Stone and warns them of the impending explosion. However, before he can explain the situation, the present day Spider-Man arrives and ambushes him from behind. Spider-Man is pleased to finally land a punch after this time-traveller started meddling in his affairs. This is a shock to everyone, prompting Spider-Man to ask what’s going on.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Tiberius Stone, Tyler Stone, Liz Osborn, “Mason Banks”/Goblin King, Normie Osborn, Max Modell, Hector Beaz, Grady Scraps, Sajani Jaffrey, Bella Fishbach, Uatu Jackson, Living Brain, Peter Parker, Lyla, Gabriel O’Hara, Anna Maria Marconi, Mary Jane Watson
Continuity Notes
Spider-Man 2099 previously met the Spider-Man of the modern era back in Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man #1.
Otto Octavius stole Peter Parker’s body in Amazing Spider-Man #698-700. He managed to maintain this deception because he kept all of Peter Parker’s memories. However, he was recently forced to erase them in Superior Spider-Man #9 when he discovered that a vestige of Peter Parker’s consciousness had survived and was trying to take back his body.
Spider-Man had just recently defeated the Hobgoblin in Superior Spider-Man #15-16.
Miguel O’Hara learned that Tyler Stone was his biological father in Spider-Man 2099 #25.
Grady Scraps almost destroyed the city with his time window in Amazing Spider-Man #678-679.
This device was originally created by Peter Parker to stop the Spider-Slayer’s Slayer Swarm which had similar abilities back in Amazing Spider-Man #652-654.
There is a lot of backstory behind Otto’s need to write a thesis as Peter Parker. They are:
This all began when May Parker injured her hip when Terminus attacked New York back in Amazing Spider-Man #694. May has since needed a cane to get around.
When Otto discovered May’s condition he began working on a cybernetic implant to help her walk normally again. However he was barred from using the device because Peter Parker did not have his doctorate. This had forced Otto to start attending classes at Empire State University in order to complete Parker’s education. See Superior Spider-Man #4.
Grady has gone back in time to witness the accident that turned Andrew Maguire into Alpha. See Amazing Spider-Man #692-694.
Topical References
The present day of this story is referred to as happening in the year 2013. This should be considered a topical reference
Making Sense of 2099 in This Story
As explained at the end of last issue, it is my theory that the 2099 universe experienced a divergence between the events of Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man #1 and Spider-Man 2099 #27 as depicted below:
