Amazing Spider-Man #373
The Bedlam Perspective
When FBI agent Charles Shaddock kidnapped the people claiming to be his parents, Peter Parker followed them to an abandoned meat packing plant to save them.[1] Falling from the rafters, Peter finds himself on a conveyor belt heading to an incinerator. Shaddock is unconcerned about killing another person if it means covering up his ties with the Red Skull twenty years ago. Faced with the death of their son immanent, Richard decides to do something. He tries to subdue Shaddock, only to be caught in a headlock. Although Peter has recovered and gotten off the conveyor belt at this point, Richard is now being held prisoner at gunpoint. When the Parkers agree to follow his order, Richard is let go. However, Peter knows that Shaddock is still going to kill them. Using the darkness as cover, Peter manages to slip on one of his web-shooters, Peter manages to snare Charles' foot with a web-line and trip him up. Peter quickly knocks Shaddock out, ending his threat. Once the authorities are called, Peter is pulled aside by Agent Abrahms of the FBI. Recognizing Peter as a Daily Bugle photographer, he asks Peter to kill this story as it could be embarrassing for the Bureau. Peter decides to make a deal. Giving Abrahams one of the tracking devices he took from one of Alistair Smythe's mechanical spiders. Giving him a cover story about it being a school project, he hopes the FBI can figure out how it works faster than he could. Abrahams agrees to help, telling Peter that he will be in touch.
Later, Peter returns Richard and Mary to his Aunt May's house, where May owes her apparent in-laws a debt of gratitude for saving Peter. Pulling his wife aside, Peter tells Mary Jane that the encounter with Charles Shaddock seems to give his parent's story some credibility and perhaps he should give them a chance.[2] Mary Jane then asks how Felicia is doing, after she was injured during Smythe's latest attack. Peter hasn't checked,as he wants to handle this on their own because Smythe almost caused the death of both Felicia and his parents. That's when he gets a call from Agent Abrahams and tells Mary Jane he needs to go. Mary Jane tells Peter that he should let someone else handle it, but he tells her that he has to do this on his own. As Peter leaves, Mary Jane goes outside for a cigarette. She wishes Peter could see how much the risks he takes as Spider-Man hurts her.[3] She tries to justify her taking up smoking again, trying to convince herself that she can quit at any time.[4]
Using his old spider-tracer tracker to follow the signals to Alistaire Smythe's secret headquarters.[5] Sneaking inside, Spider-Man finds himself in a darkened room. Suddenly, the lights go on, and he finds himself surrounded by Smythe's fellow mental patients whom he broke out and confined to restraint chairs. That's when Alistaire Smythe arrives in his own motorized wheelchair. Spider-Man is shocked by how much he has changed since the last time he saw his foe. Smythe explains that after his last defeat at Spider-Man's hand, he was institutionalized.[6] Seething with hatred, he picked the minds of the other patients to develop his army of Spider-Slayers. He then activates the weapons he built in his prisoner's chairs. Suddenly, wires fire out, carring powerful electrical currents. Spider-Man wrapped up in them, but manages to pull the wires loose before he is electrocuted.
That's when Smythe emerges from his wheelchair, much to Spider-Man's surprise.[7] He explains that the development of the biorganic carapace on his outer body has brought him to peak physical perfection and repaired the damage done to his spine. Not only this but as the body begins to grow pincers and spikes, he reveals that he has turned himself into the "Ultimate Spider-Slayer". In the ensuing battle, Spider-Man is overpowered and slammed into one of the restraint chairs, freeing the man trapped in it. The wall-crawler asks him to call the authorities but is told that the room was locked tight the moment Spider-Man arrived in the room. With his newfound strength, agility, and built-in web-shooters, Smythe is able to subdue Spider-Man. Before he can kill him, the freed patient tries to convince Alistair to spare the wall-crawler, only to be killed himself. Seeing Smythe kill the man in cold blood angers Spider-Man. The hero manages to break free from Alistaire's webbing and knock him out with a few quick, yet powerful blows.
Later, Peter takes Mary Jane out for dinner to make up for how he had been neglecting her of late. He tells her that Smythe has been incarcerated and his prisoners returned to the institution. With the tracking device, he and the Avengers were able to track down and destroy the rest of Smythe's tracking devices. Peter then tells Mary Jane that he has decided to reveal to his parents that he is really Spider-Man, confident that they really are his parents. It's a huge risk, but he points out that, much like their marriage, it is worth the risks.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, “Richard and Mary Parker”, Aunt May, Agent Shamrock, Alistair Smythe
Continuity Notes
The people claiming to be Richard and Mary Parker appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #365. Peter's parents were killed while on a mission with for the US Government, as explained in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5. These two are actually impostors, as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #388.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by the demon Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such, they should be considered a common-law couple here.
Mary Jane mentions her marriage to Peter. The pair got married in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. However, in the altered timeline created by Mephisto the pair never got married, but remained engaged as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #638-639. In this new timeline, one could assume that Mary Jane is referring to her engagement to Peter as opposed to being married to him.
Mary Jane started smoking to deal with the stress of Peter risking his life in Spider-Man starting in Amazing Spider-Man #361.
Peter mentions how he last used this device when he temporarily lost his powers. This happened from Amazing Spider-Man #340-343.
Smythe was last defeated by Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #291-292.
Smythe was crippled after his first encounter with Spider-Man back in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19.
The Getaway Scream!
Inside a seemingly abandoned building, the authorities have Venom incarcerated following his recent capture.[1] Trapped in a cylinder of sonic sound, Brock screams in pain. One of his guards is taking a great deal of pleasure turning up the intensity of the sonics that is keeping Eddie Brock and his symbiote incapacitated.
The guard's colleague tells him to stop, turning the intensity down, much to Eddie's relief. Noticing that one of the guards is reading a newspaper. A particular photo catches his eye and he demands to see the paper. The guard scoffs at Brock, telling him to come and get it. That's when Eddie starts screaming in pain again. This is because Brock has sent one of his symbiote's tendrils through the sonic barrier where it has snaked around to the dial that controls the device. It manages to shut down the sonic perimeter, Brock is able to become Venom once again.
Using his symbiote, he crushes the head of the guard who was tormenting him. The other, however, he merely knocks unconscious because he showed kindness. Grabbing the newspaper, Venom breaks out of the facility and escapes. On a nearby rooftop, Venom takes a closer look at the paper. There he finds what he was looking for: the cover story about the return of Peter Parker's parents. Still blaming Spider-Man for ruining his life, Brock sees this recent development as a way of evening the score.[2]
Recurring Characters
Venom
Continuity Notes
Venom has been imprisoned here since his apprehension at the end of the Spirits of Venom storyline.
Venom's hatred of Spider-Man is two-fold. Eddie Brock used to work for the Daily Globe during the Sin-Eater's rain of terror circa Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110. After a series of interviews with the wrong man, Brock lost his job after Spider-Man caught the real Sin-Eater. The symbiote hates Spider-Man after he rejected it from bonding with him in Amazing Spider-Man #258 and later leaving it for dead in Web of Spider-Man #1. Brock and the symbiote later found each other and vowed to get revenge against Spider-Man, as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #300.
