Failure is not an Option!

While coming to the rescue of Jill Stacy, Spider-Man, Arthur Stacy and Ranger are confronted by Stewart Ward and his Z’Nox allies. The Z’Nox pathogen that has been coursing through his body for years has now reached maturity and he is going to unleash it on an unsuspecting world. Fighting back against their foes, both Spider-Man and Ranger are blasted by Ward. While the two are down, the Z’Nox grab Arthur Stacy and they all flee the scene. Jill then attacks Spider-Man, blaming him for her father getting captured and calls him a poison on their family.[1] Spider-Man insists that she’s wrong and promises to find her father. As Spider-Man prepares to leave, Ranger tries to stop him saying that he can’t face Ward and those aliens alone. Spider-Man refuses to listen and goes searching the city.

When his spider-sense begins going off, Spider-Man thinks he has found them but instead finds two other aliens, members of the Badoon race. When they attack him, Spider-Man prepares to defend himself but they suddenly flee the scene, making Spider-Man wonder why there are so many aliens in town.[2] Exhausted after the night’s ordeals, Spider-Man decides to go home and get some rest. Later that evening, the Green Goblin appears at the offices of Osborn Industries which is being attacked by a member of the Aakon race. Although he is blasted off his goblin glider, the Green Goblin kills the alien with one of his pumpkin bombs. When the police try to arrest him, he holds them at bay with a gauntlet blast and flees the scene.[3]

The next morning Peter Parker wakes up feeling even more exhausted than ever. Getting up, he finds his roommate Randy Robertson and Glory Grant watching television. The news is reporting that the planet has been invaded by aliens. The pair tell Peter that they’re going to the Daily Bugle to find out more about what’s going on. After they leave, Peter notices that he has a rash on his back and it is very itchy. Later, Peter pays a visit to his Aunt May and loses himself looking through an old photo album and taking stock of all the friends and family who have died.[4] Aunt May realizes what' he’s doing and tells Peter that none of their deaths is his fault and that everything happens for a reason. That’s when Peter discovers that there is someone lurking in the back yard. Excusing himself, Peter goes outback and is surprised to see that the intruder is Ranger. Ranger reveals that he knows Spider-Man’s secret identity but promises that he’ll keep it a secret. He tells him that it is important that they work together to find Arthur and stop Stewart Ward. He then shows Peter that he has the same kind of rash he does, saying that it is a symptom of being infected by the Z’Nox pathogen that has infected Stewart Ward. He also says it is highly contagious and will infect anyone they came into contact with. As Ranger explains how contagious the virus is, Randy and Glory arrive at the Daily Bugle spreading the infection with every person they come into contact with and leaving traces of the virus on every surface they come into contact with. Realizing how grave this situation is, Peter agrees to work with Ranger.

They eventually arrive at the United Nations Building, it’s there in one of the sub-basements that the Z’Nox has set up their secret base of operations. As they travel there, Ranger tells Spider-Man how Ward got infected, escaped quarantine, and where the Z’Nox and their pathogen came from.[5] There they find Arthur Stacy strapped into a massive machine. When Spider-Man tries to save him, Arthur stays he is not important and to get the antidote from Stewart Ward. That’s when Ward and his Z’Nox allies appear, and Stewart reveals that he does have a cure, which he is wearing around his neck. He explains that the Z’Nox left the pathogen to gestate in his body until the recent incarceration of various Z’Nox criminal scientists on Earth gave them the opportunity to unleash the virus. Ward intends to use the virus to enslave the entire world. As for himself, he intends to transfer the virus into the body of Arthur Stacy, since his own has been ravaged by the illness. While Spider-Man and Ranger are dealing with the Z’Nox warriors, Stewart than approaches Arthur to prepare the final preparations for the transfer. As Ward gloats over his victory, Arthur quickly realizes that Stewart was doing all of this out of jealousy because Arthur ended up marrying his wife, Jean, a woman whom both men courted for a time. He then starts mocking Stewart for using such a pathetic motivation to take over the world. This angers Stewart, who is too distracted to notice Arthur rip out one of the wires from the machine and throw it at him.

This jolt causes a reaction in Stewart Ward’s body causing it to bloat and grows in size. With Ward about to burst, there is the risk that he’ll spread the infection even further. However, there is one chance at stopping a city-wide infection and cure everyone else who is infected. While Ranger keeps Ward busy, he tells Spider-Man to grab the antidote and jam it into a major artery. After the wall-crawler does this, Ranger tells him to get Arthur Stacy out of there. They make a run for it, Stewart Ward suddenly explodes sending a cloud of the antidote all over the city. Emerging from the sewers, Arthur Stacy tells him that they just succeeded in saving the world, not just from the Z’Nox virus, but the machinations of the man they all knew as Stewart Ward. As they walk away, Stacy has a good laugh as he never learned Ward’s real name.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Stewart Ward, Z’Nox, Arthur Stacy, Ranger, Jill Stacy, Glory Grant, Randy Robertson, Ben Urich, J. Jonah Jameson, Badoon, Aakon

Continuity Notes

1. Jill Stacy invokes the names of his dead family members. Her Uncle George died saving a kid from falling debris during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus in Amazing Spider-Man #90 while her cousin Gwen was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.

2. The presence of so many aliens in this story is due to the fact that this story takes place during the Maximum Security Event. In that story, the planet Earth is briefly turned into a planetary maximum-security prison for alien criminals. The primary story is chronicled in Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet #1, and Maximum Security #1-3 and has tie-in issues in Avengers (vol. 3) #35, Bishop the Last X-Man #15, Black Panther (vol. 3) #25, Captain America (vol. 3) #36, Captain Marvel (vol. 4) #12, Gambit (vol. 3) #23, Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #21, Iron Man (vol. 3) #35, Marvel Knights #6, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #24. Thor (vol. 2) #30, Thunderbolts #45, Uncanny X-Men #387, X-Men Unlimited #29, and X-Men (vol. 2) #107.

3. This is not Norman Osborn but Peter Parker dressed up as the Goblin. As revealed in Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #1-3, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #25 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man #25 that reveals that Norman Osborn has been drugging Peter so he goes out in his sleep dressed as the Green Goblin.

4. Peter goes through the inventory of all the people in his life that have died. They are:

   • His parents, Richard and Mary Parker who were government agents killed in the line of duty while Peter was still a baby. Their deaths were detailed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.

   • Peter’s Uncle Ben, who I shouldn’t have to tell you was murdered by a burglar that Peter could have stopped earlier. That was in Amazing Fantasy #15.

   • Peter thinks Harry Osborn died in Spectacular Spider-Man #200 due to a side effect of the Goblin Formula. He actually survived and was secreted away to Europe by his father as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #581. Peter will learn that Harry is still alive in Amazing Spider-Man #546.

   • Lastly, there is Mary Jane who everyone thinks died in a plane crash in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13. However, she is still alive as Peter will discover in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29.

5. Ranger mentions that these Z’Nox were stranded on Earth after a failed invasion of Earth. That happened in X-Men #65.