Skin Deep

Now

It’s been a few days since his ordeal with the Stacy twins and Peter Parker is getting back to his normal life as a school teacher.[1] He’s told he is late as he was asked to come in early to cover for remedial citizenship and social sciences. As he deals with the unruly class, Peter notices a man with blond hair and glasses sitting outside who looks like an old classmate named Charlie Weiderman.

Then

This causes Peter to think back to his days at Midtown High before he was bitten by the radioactive spider that gave him his powers. Charlie Weiderman was a new student that was instantly bullied by the other students. Peter saw this as a relief because now they had someone new to pick on and leave him alone. At first, Peter did his best to avoid Weiderman so he doesn’t end up back in the bully’s crosshairs.[2]

Now

After class, Peter goes out to the parking lot and sure it enough, it is Charlie Weiderman and he’s been waiting outside for Peter. Charlie heard that Peter was teaching at Midtown High and decided to come by to say hi and ask for a favor. Charlie tells Peter how his father had died two years ago and left him some money which he has been investing in his scientific research. However, he needs more money and equipment so he can try and get a military contract. He has come up with an idea to coat soldiers with a liquid metal that would make them impervious to harm. However, his tests have not worked out so well because he can’t find a way to allow oxygen to pass through the material. The other problem is that he needs to find a way for the metal to absorb the impact of bullets without harming the person wearing it. Peter deduces that Charlie would need access to Vibranium, however, the material is incredibly expensive. All he needs is Peter’s name to help get the funding he needs from Tony Stark, whom he is meeting with.[3] Peter isn’t sure if his name will carry much clout but agrees anyway. When he asks Charlie why he looked Peter up after all this time, Charlie says it’s because they used to be such great friends in high school. Peter thinks back to his high school days again and he’s not sure how he would think that.

Then

Back in those days, Peter enjoyed not being the main target of bullies. He remembers how one day, in gym class, he intentionally spiked the ball at Charlie really hard, hitting him in the chest so hard he fell over. Although he was cheered on by his classmates, Peter felt instantly guilty about it. Later, in science class, Peter apologized to Charlie who brushed it off as nothing. He was far too interested in working on an experiment involving steroids and vitamins, thinking he could recreate the super-soldier serum that created Captain America.[4] He said he got the steroids from his father and hinted the fact that his father beats him. Three weeks later, Peter was visiting Charlie at the hospital after a botched suicide attempt. However, Charlie insisted that he actually tried drinking his “super-soldier serum”. When Charlie was released from the hospital the bullying continued relentlessly. Peter always felt bad for Charlie.

Now

Charlie meets with Tony Stark who finds his idea impressive but is concerned about the volatile chemicals he’d be working with. However, when seeing Peter Parker’s name on the proposal, Stark decides to give the funding so long as Parker works with Charlie on the project.[4] With is funding, Charlie went to work but didn’t tell Peter about Stark’s conditions. Peter went about his business, being teacher by day, Spider-Man by night, going to rehearsals with Mary Jane, and having dinner with Aunt May. That is until Peter got a phone call from Stark Industries asking how the project was going. Peter acted like they knew what they were talking about and went to confront Charlie about telling Stark he was personally involved in the project. Peter was furious, and upon seeing the dangerous tests that Charlie was conducting warned Weiderman if he doesn’t stop he’ll tell Stark to pull the plug. Charlie pleads with Peter to let him test his experiment but Peter storms out. In a panic, Charlie went ahead with his experiment anyway and his sloppy work led to an explosion that destroyed the lab. However, Charlie survived as his body was now coated with the experimental metal skin he was designing.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Charlie Weiderman, Mary Jane Watson, Tony Stark, Aunt May

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man encountered the bastard children of Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn in Amazing Spider-Man #509-5014.

2. This story only states that this takes place before Peter was bitten by the radioactive spider that gave him his powers in Amazing Fantasy #15. Per Civil War #2, Peter was 15 years ago. According to Amazing Fantasy #17, Peter started going to Midtown High when he was 13 years old. So this story takes place in the 2-year span in-between. Peter first became Spider-Man during the first year of the modern age so these flashbacks take place a year or two before the beginning of the modern age, making them take place 12 or 13 years prior to this story.

3. Charlie mentions how Peter used to work for TriCorp. Peter started working there in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1 but was later fired in issue #16. So Peter’s not the best reference out there.

4. Charlie Weiderman is going to have a hard time recreating the super-soldier serum since the original version of the formula was destroyed in Captain America Comics #1 and has seldom been replicated since.

5. Tony Stark learned that Peter Parker is Spider-Man in New Avengers #3.

Continuity Errors

1. For some reason, Peter Parker is driving a car in this story when Peter has never had a car, in fact, as detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #130, Peter doesn’t know how to drive. In fact, in Amazing Spider-Man #577, Peter is shown taking a driver’s exam in an attempt to get a job as a taxi driver. He won’t get a full license until Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 4) #1.