The Sinister Six

Having broken out of prison, Dr. Octopus gathers Mysterio, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, the Vulture and Sandman to get revenge against Spider-Man as the Sinister Six. Meanwhile, Spider-Man has once more found that his spider powers have faded and has to exercise more caution getting back home, lest someone take advantage of his lost powers to find out his secret identity.

As Peter wanders the city lost in thought over all the stress caused because of his Spider-Man identity, he doesn't go to school. This prompts the school to call his Aunt May. Worried about Peter, she goes to Betty Brant for help, and they, in turn, see if J. Jonah Jameson has seen Peter recently. This makes them a target for the Sinister Six, who have decided to use Betty Brant as bait to lure Spider-Man, and so they kidnap both Betty and Aunt May.

Peter arrives at the Bugle just in time to see the Vulture delivering a message to Jameson. The Vulture tells him that the Sinister Six has gone to six different locations and at each location has a clue to the whereabouts of Betty and May. While super-heroes all over the city try to find Spider-Man, Peter decides that powers or no powers, he's going to save his Aunt May and Betty from his enemies.

At the first location, the local power plant owned by Stark Industries, Peter faces Electro. During the fight, he realizes that his powers have returned. He easily defeats Electro and learns the next location. When Iron Man arrives to offer help, Spider-Man refuses.

His next fight is with Kraven the Hunter who attacks Spider-Man in Central Park with three tigers. Spider-Man easily fights off the attackers and secures the next clue. Along the way, the Human Torch offers help, but once again, Spider-Man refuses. His next location is controlled by Mysterio, who sends robots based on the X-Men to attack the wall-crawler. Spider-Man easily defeats the robots and Mysterio. The next clue is set ablaze, but Spider-Man recovers its contents with his web-fluid.

His next battle is against Sandman, sealed in an airless room. Spider-Man defeats Sandman with his superior lung capacity. Next, he battles the Vulture high over the city and defeats him as well, gaining the location of Dr. Octopus, who has been holding Betty and May hostage. May, completely oblivious to her situation, believes they are Octavius' houseguests.

Spider-Man battles Octopus and his mechanical arms. Their fight takes them to a giant fishbowl, where Octopus battles Spider-Man in his "natural habitat." Spider-Man defeats Octopus by filling the tank with his webbing and tangling Octavius up. Spider-Man frees Aunt May and Betty Brant. Returning to his civilian guise, he meets up with them as Peter Parker. Aunt May remains upset with Peter over his skipping class. Jameson is once more made a fool, when he has to publish a story about how heroic Spider-Man is, and as for the Sinister Six? Forced to share a prison cell, the villains squabble among themselves.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Aunt May, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, Sinister Six (Doctor Octopus, Electro, Mysterio, Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, Vulture), Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp), Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), X-Men (Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, Iceman), Uncle Ben (flasback)

Continuity Notes

• The narrative of this story recounts the origins of Doctor Octopus as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #3.

• As the Sinister Six gather, the members point out how they were previously defeated by Spider-Man. These events happened in Amazing Spider-Man #9 (Electro), 13 (Mysterio), and 15 (Kraven).

• Typically, people cannot see Doctor Strange in his astral form. However, the reason why Flash Thompson and his fellow bullies can see Strange is due to a past encounter in Untold Tales of Spider-Man Strange Encounter #1. This allowed them to temporarily see Strange's spirit form.

• Spider-Man recounts how his Uncle Ben was murdered. That happened in Amazing Fantasy #15.

• The Vulture states that Spider-Man had defeated him twice. This is not entirely accurate. Not only was he defeated in Amazing Spider-Man #2 and 7, he was also defeated by Spider-Man in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #5 and 12. This omission can be attributed to the fact that Untold Tales was published decades after this story. One could assume that the Vulture underplayed how many times Spider-Man defeated him in the past.

• The reason the Sinister Six kidnap Betty Brant is because Doctor Octopus has determined that there is some connection between her and Spider-Man, as he first discovered back in Amazing Spider-Man #11-12.

• The Human Torch uses his powers to write a message to Spider-Man in the sky. A routine he started in Strange Tales Annual #2 whenever he sought out the wall-crawler.

• Spider-Man refers to Iron Man as Tony Stark's bodyguard. At the time of this story, Spider-Man (and the world at large) did not know that Iron Man and Stark were the same individuals. This fact is not revealed until Iron Man (vol 3) #55.

• All references to the 1964 New York World's Fair as being a recent event/construct should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Likewise should Aunt May's complaints about missing the Beverly Hillbillies.