Mr. Parker Goes to Washington Part One

Peter Parker is woken up by Tony Stark over the intercom at Stark Towers and asked to come down to Tony’s lab. There, Peter learns that Tony is putting the final touches on his new costume. Peter asks what was wrong with the old one and Tony says that it was just cloth and now that he has access to so much more, he might as well take advantage of it. Tony itemizes the suits various capabilities which include gliding, kevlar padding, radio scanner, air filters, and a computerized communication system. Although the suit needs some fine-tuning, Stark tells Peter that he is free to give it a test run. Before he leaves, Peter asks how Mary Jane’s broken arm was healed so easily, and Tony explains the procedure of healing the injury, saying he’s had a lot of experience covering up broken bones.

On hour later, a pair of carjackers are being chased by the police. The crook in the shotgun seat is able to keep the cops at bay by shooting out the tires with his uzi. That’s when the driver spots Spider-Man on one of the nearby buildings. However, his friend points out that Spider-Man will not be able to catch him because there is no buildings for him to web-sling from. However, Spider-Man leaps off the building and activates his new costume’s glider function to follow after them. Spider-Man then rips open the roof of the car and is able to evade shots coming from the passenger side thanks to the heat sensors in his mask. Then, when he hears on his police scanner that officers have set up a roadblock on the 59th street exit, Spider-Man uses his webbing to take control of the steering wheel and force a turn off the highway. After forcing the crooks to stop and disarming them, Spider-Man frees the hostage they have in the trunk. As the crooks are getting arrested, one of them grabs the gun out of the waistband of his friend and tries to shoot the hostage. Seeing this, Spider-Man shields her body. When the bullet doesn’t harm Spider-Man — unaware that he is wearing kevlar padded clothing — the crook can’t believe it. That’s when one of the cops tells him that he heard a rumor that Spider-Man is undead and not to cross him.[2] The crook quickly surrenders and Spider-Man goes on his way.

That evening, Peter is telling Mary Jane and Tony how things went over dinner. Everyone is pleased with the results of Peter’s new costume, and Peter asks why Tony decided to make it in the first place. Taking their conversation out to the balcony, Tony admits that he had other things in mind when he decided to make Peter his new costume. He explains that there have been some rumblings in the government and that costumed heroes could be headed for dark times in the near future. He wanted Peter to be his right-hand man in the days to come. He then says he wants to hire Peter Parker out in the open to be his protege in the days to come. However, Tony won’t tell Peter what’s going on until he agrees to work for Tony and promises to keep what he learns a secret from everyone, including Steve Rogers. After some thought, Peter agrees to Tony’s terms and they shake on it. Tony is pleased and gives Peter some reading material before they head for Washington. Looking at the paperwork, Peter sees that it is a letter from the United States Senate asking Tony to attend a meeting of the Metahuman Investigations Committee on an issue of national security.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Tony Stark

Continuity Notes

1. Mary Jane’s arm was broken by Morlun in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3, in all the Spider-Books after that moment, Mary Jane is not depicted with a broken arm. After Tony gives his explanation here there is a panel where both Tony and Peter knowingly look at the reader with no dialogue. This is acknowledging the fact that the omission of Mary Jane’s broken arm was an error and Tony’s explanation was an excuse to explain away the mistake.

2. The rumors of Spider-Man’s death are not entirely exaggerated. Peter seemingly died in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4. In reality, he was in metamorphic process that led to his rebirth as we saw in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #21 and Amazing Spider-Man #527