Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #30
Transformations, Literal & Otherwise
The phone rings at Peter Parker’s new apartment but there is nobody to pick it up and eventually the voice mail kicks in.[1] It’s Aunt May who is checking to see how Peter is doing since he’s still dealing with Mary Jane leaving him.[2] As she leaves this message, Peter is changing into Spider-Man in order to go web-slinging across the city and blow some steam. Trying to keep his mind off his worries, Spider-Man thinks about why he hasn’t designed pockets on his costume. Arriving at the scene of a building slated for demolition, the wall-crawler can’t keep his mind off his problems and begins venting by punching through the walls of the condemned building. He gets even angrier over the fact that there aren’t any villains around to beat on. When his temper tantrum starts affecting the structural integrity of the building, Spider-Man decides to leave before he gets hurt. Moments later, the building collapses prompting the site foreman to order his crew to go on break. Deciding to go for lunch, Peter walks into a diner realizing that this is one of his old hangouts when he was younger.[3] Peter soon finds himself outside Midtown High, his old school. He remembers how awkward those years were and how he struggled to fit in.[4]
That’s when he notices a student named Joey Gladstone being bullied by some of his classmates. When Peter tells the bullies to leave Joey alone, they threaten to call for a cop but quickly leaves. Unfortunately, Joey Gladstone is not happy that Peter intervened on his behalf since now the bullies will torment him worse than before. This whole exchange is witnessed by Kyle Jacoby, the school gym teacher who tells Peter that he respects Peter’s sentiment, these kids need to learn to get through life by standing on their own two feet. When Peter points out that it’s hard to stand up when someone is always tripping you and Jacoby shrugs, saying that people have to evolve or die, especially in a dump like Midtown High. Peter admits that Kyle Jacoby is right, some things may never change until someone else changes them.
Later that evening, Spider-Man is following the bullies who picked on Joey Gladstone. Catching them trying to break into a car, the wall-crawler puts a good scare into them sending the hoodlums fleeing. That’s when someone asks if he feels proud of himself right now. Looking over his shoulder, Spider-Man is shocked to see an older man clinging to the side of a building just like he does. Even more shocking, the man also calls him Peter. As if reading his mind, this stranger knows that the web-slinger is trying to figure out if he is a friend or a foe. The man then leaps up onto the rooftops with the same speed and agility that Spider-Man has. The man introduces himself as Ezekiel and he has come to tell Spider-Man that he has no idea that power that he wields, likening him to a child finding a gun. He then playfully leads Peter on a chase through the city along the way asking probing questions. Knowing that this man knows more about him than he lets on, Peter admits that he got his powers after he was bitten by a radioactive spider. Ezekiel scoffs at this idea pointing out that Peter never performed an autopsy on the spider and never saw it before, so there is no scientific conclusion that the radioactive spider bite was the source of his powers.[5] Ezekiel then poses a mind-blowing question: Was it the radioactivity that gave Peter' the spider’s powers or was the spider trying to pass on its abilities to him before the radiation killed it? When Spider-Man stops to consider this he is shocked to discover that he has no idea. Ezekiel decides that this is enough revelations for one night and makes a quick retreat. Spider-Man is surprised the old man managed to elude him, once again being reminded how this stranger can move just like he does. Peter calls out to the strange asking why he has come now. Ezekiel replies back saying that it is the proper time and what he has to tell Peter will save him from the danger that is coming.
As he leaves, Spider-Man can’t help but be reminded of his Uncle Ben after his encounter with Ezekiel. However, he can’t bring himself to trust anybody right now after all the many manipulations he’s experienced recently.[6] As Peter tries to make sense of his encounter with Ezekiel, a strange man named Dex pays a shipping manager for the right to park his ship in his port, bribing him to ensure that customs stay away from the ship. Dex returns to his master, a withered being calling himself Morlin. After learning that the business has been dealt with, Morlun decides to feast on the last of his supplies. They open a cell deep in the bowels of the ship where a German superhero known as Bundesadler has been kept prisoner.[7] Morlun absorbs the last of the German superhero’s life force, killing him. The process restores Mourlin’s vitality and he orders Dex to prepare for Bundesadler’s replacement, Spider-Man.[8]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Ezekiel Sims, Morlun, Joey Gladstone, Kyle Jacoby, Dex, Aunt May (voice only)
Continuity Notes
Peter’s phone is depicted as having an old fashioned built-in answering machine. This should be considered a topical reference since these types of machines have been rendered mostly obsolete thanks to the advent of voice mail.
Mary Jane was recently spent months as the prisoner of a deranged Stalker from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13 to 29. After Peter rescued her as Spider-Man she decided she needed time away from him to sort out her life in Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2001.
Peter’s memory of being at the diner while he is younger depicts Peter having lunch with Gwen Stacy while being teased by Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn. The odd thing about this is the fact that Peter is depicted as wearing glasses here. Peter wore classes in high school until they were broken by Flash Thompson in Amazing Spider-Man #8. At the time he worse glasses, Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn were not part of his social circle. They did not meet Peter Parker (outside of encounters with Spider-Man) until Amazing Spider-Man #31. One could assume that Peter’s recollection here is mistaken.
Peter attended Midtown High from Amazing Fantasy #15 to Amazing Spider-Man #28. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Peter would have graduated from high school roughly 10 years prior to this story.
Peter states that the spider that bit him in Amazing Fantasy #15 was basically smashed after it bit him. That’s not entirely accurate. After biting Peter, the spider later bit Cindy Moon as seen in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #1, and its remains were later eaten by Carl King, one of Peter’s bullies as seen in Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #1.
Spider-Man specifically mentions how Norman Osborn attempted to adopt him has a son. That’s putting it mildly. Norman Osborn attempted to brainwash and manipulate Peter it becoming heir to the Green Goblin legacy as seen in Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #1-3, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #25 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man #25.
Bundesadler is not named here. His identity is revealed in the Morlun entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7
There is a lot about Ezekiel Simms and Morlun that is left a mystery here. It’s later revealed during the Spider-Verse event that Morlun is part of the Inheritors, interdimensional beings that go to various realities to feed on the animal totems of each reality, particularly spider totems. Ezekiel, on the other hand, gets Spider-Man involved to protect Cindy Moon, Morlun’s real target. See Superior Spider-Man #32-33, Edge of Spider-Verse #1-5, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #8-15, Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 2) #5-8, Spider-Verse #1-2, Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3, Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #1-4, and Scarlet Spiders #1-3.
