Amazing Spider-Man #594
24/7 Finale
Blinded by acid, Spider-Man scrambles to pinpoint the new Vulture who is swooping down upon him for the kill. Spider-Man tries in vain to defend himself but the Vulture continues to strike. Calming down, Spider-Man thinks how Daredevil would handle this situation and focuses on only his spider-sense.[1] This allows Spider-Man to catch the Vulture off guard, spraying his webbing into the Vulture’s face. After failing to pull the webbing off, the Vulture then flees the scene, much to Spider-Man’s relief.
Meanwhile, in Queens, May Parker and her new boyfriend Jay Jameson stop for some ice cream before meeting up with Betty Brant for lunch. Jay feels he owes Betty a lot for introducing him to May.[2] When the two get to talking about how quickly their romance has worked out, Jay decides to take a risk and proposes to her. Even though they have only known each other for a few weeks, May and Jay both agree that they are a good fit and she accepts.
By this time, Spider-Man has made it back to his apartment. His vision is still blurry, but he hopes that his enhanced healing will restore his vision to normal.[3] Ignoring his spider-sense, Peter strips off the remains of his costume and, completely nude, goes into the kitchen to look for something to eat. That’s when he is caught by Michele Gonzales, the sister of his roommate Vin. She demands to know who he is and Peter explains that he is Vin’s roommate. She wants to know how he got in without her noticing as she has been living in the apartment for the past six weeks. Peter opts to explain everything to her after he gets some clothes on.[4] As Peter retreats to his room to get some, Michele expresses her displeasure with Peter living in the apartment — considering she co-signed the lease. After telling him that she has a meeting with the District Attorney to discuss her brother’s case, she tells Peter that there going to have a serious talk about rules when she gets back and warns him not to eat her food.
That evening, Spider-Man pays a visit to Adrian Toomes, the original Vulture, to see if there is any connection between him and the new Vulture terrorizing the city.[5] Toomes says he has no connection to the new Vulture but tells Spider-Man that the villain preys on mobsters as revenge because it was organized crime that was responsible for his transformation into the freak he is today.[6]
Taking the information that he got from Adrian, Spider-Man webs a purse snatched to the side of a wall. As expected, this mugger is fearful of the Vulture and cries for help. These cries draw the Vulture, bringing him right into Spider-Man’s trap. Cutting through Spider-Man’s webbing, the Vulture tries to escape but Spider-Man manages to snag him with a web-line and gets dragged along for the ride. While at the nearby Yankee Stadium,[7] where J. Jonah Jameson is attending a game.[8] That’s when the Vulture comes flying into the stadium with Spider-Man in tow. Trying to shake off the wall-crawler, Spider-Man is thrown through the windows of one of the private observation boxes. Inside is Norman Osborn who contemplates calling his own Spider-Man to deal with this, and then decides against it when he sees that the other baseball fans are getting upset with Spider-Man crashing the game, deciding to let Spider-Man damage his own reputation.[9]
Back on the ground, Spider-Man realizes that there is only way to stop the Vulture and webs his own feet to the ground. When the Vulture swoops in for the attack again, the web-head grabs him in a bear hug and refuses to let go. The Vulture tries to spray him in the face with acid but Spider-Man was able to evade them. Realizing that Norman Osborn is watching and with the cops coming in to try and arrest him, the Vulture points out that Spider-Man is stuck and once he gets free he will rend the hero to pieces. Instead, Spider-Man squeezes the Vutlrue hard enough to break his arms and then, after tossing him aside, webs the villain up. By this point, the baseball fans are furious that Spider-Man has crashed their game and begin pelting him with drunk cups and food. With the police coming to arrest him, Spider-Man is forced to abandon his boots in order to free himself and flee the scene.
Later that evening, Spider-Man is reading the newspaper which has gone back to vilifying the wall-crawler again. The web-slinger figures that it is just as well that the status quo was restored after his whirlwind. After seeing Norman Osborn at the baseball stadium, Spider-Man realizes that Osborn is the one he has been angry over after all this time and vows that nobody will stop him from bringing Osborn down once and for all.[10] As Spider-Man swings away he doesn’t see a number of glowing tentacled spheres that have come spilling out of a window.[11]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Vulture, Aunt May, Jay Jameson, J. Jonah Jameson, Michelle Gonzales, Adrian Toomes, Norman Osborn
Continuity Notes
As seen in Daredevil #1, Daredevil’s heightened senses came at the loss of his vision when he was doused in the face with blinding chemicals. Spider-Man has been aware that Matt Murdock and Daredevil are the same guy (and thus that he is blind) since the two shared their identities with one another in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110.
Betty Brant met Jay Jameson in Amazing Spider-Man #583 and thought he and May would make a good match and gave him May’s phone number.
Peter hopes he doesn’t have to wear glasses again. As seen in Amazing Spider-Man #-1, Peter has worn glasses since a young age. Peter wore glasses well into high school until they were broken by Flash Thompson in Amazing Spider-Man #8. Peter stopped wearing glasses by this point because his spider-powers had corrected his vision, as explained in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #4.
Peter moved in with Vin Gonzales back in Amazing Spider-Man #561. Vin later was exposed as one of the conspirators behind the spider-tracer killings in Amazing Spider-Man #584-588. In Amazing Spider-Man Extra #3, with Michele acting as his lawyer, Vin agreed to name other officers involved and has been in protective custody since. The reason Peter hasn’t been around to notice Michele has been living in the apartment for the past six weeks is explained in Amazing Spider-Man #590-591. While on an adventure with the Fantastic Four into the Macroverse, Spider-Man discovered the two months of time passed on Earth while he was gone.
Spider-Man mentions how the Vulture has taken on proteges in the past. That’s not entirely accurate. He is referring to Blackie Drago who stole the Vulture’s identity in Amazing Spider-Man #48-49. When Toomes escaped from prison he forced Dragon to work with him to prove who was the better Vulture in Amazing Spider-Man #63.
The origins of the new Vulture — aka Jimmy Natale — are revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #623-624.
The announcer at the baseball game states that this is the new Yankee Stadium. This story was published shortly after the opening of the new Yankees stadium that opened in April of 2009. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Jameson’s aid warns Jonah about his heart. Jonah had just recovered from a series of heart attacks that required a quadruple bypass to treat. See Amazing Spider-Man #546, 554, and 577.
Norman Osborn has been put in charge of SHIELD (renaming it Hammer) and the Avengers after he killed Queen Veranke, the leader of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #8. He formed his new team of Avengers in Dark Avengers #1, using villains disguised as known heroes. This included Venom who is operating as Osborn’s version of Spider-Man.
Unfortunately for Spider-Man isn’t the one to bring down Norman Osborn this time. Osborn ends up creating his own downfall by trying to manufacture a war between the United States and Asgard in Siege #1-4.
These small drones are the creations of Doctor Octopus as we’ll see in Amazing Spider-Man #600.
