Extreme Measures

Having stumbled upon Hydra’s plot to poison the largest aquifer in America, Spider-Man tries to sabotage the missile when he is confronted by Hydra’s super-agents: Bowman, Hammer, Militant, and Tactical Force. Although he is outnumbered, Spider-Man manages to hold his own due to the fact that Hydra agents have no experience working as a team.[1] This all stalls for time for the rest of the New Avengers to arrive.[2] While Captain America and the others are busy with the Hydra super-agents. Spider-Man and a rogue Hydra agent named Simon continue heading for the missile that is carrying the deadly payload.[3] However, they can’t get there on foot fast enough, so Spider-Man calls on Iron Man to carry him there.

Spider-Man clings onto Iron Man’s body while he flies past an army of Hydra agents until they reach the missile. There Spider-Man tries to override the launch protocols but another Hydra agent manages to beat him to the punch and launches the missile prematurely. With no time to lose, Spider-Man fires a web-line into the missile and tries to disarm it directly. Captain America calls out to Spider-Man to stop, but it is too late.[2] As the rocket launches from a silo hidden on a construction site, Iron Man races after it to save Spider-Man before its too late. Smashing open the control panel, Spider-Man reroutes the missile so that it will crash into the fly high into the air, freezing all the biological organisms onboard and then crash into the ocean where they will harmlessly dissolve. Spider-Man holds on a long as possible until he’s certain the missile will crash into the ocean.

Thinking this is the end of his life, Spider-Man makes a silent goodbye to Mary Jane and Aunt May as he lets go of the missile just moments before it hits the ocean with enough force to set off the warhead.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, “Spider-Woman”), Hydra (Edgar Lascome, Bowman, Hammer, Militant, Tactical Fort)

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man makes jokes about the “evil twin” aspect of these Hydra agents. He hopes they aren’t clones saying he is sick of clones. This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Clone Saga.

2. The woman that is identified as Spider-Woman here is actually a Skrull spy named Veranke, as revealed in Secret Invasion #3. She took the real Spider-Woman’s place in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.

3. Seeing Spider-Man riding the rocket reminds Captain America of when Bucky sacrificed his life trying to disarm a flying drone plane in 1944 as seen in Avengers #4. Bucky survived as Cap learned prior to this story in Captain America (vol. 5) #8-14.