Unnatural Enemies

After returning home from his trip to California, Peter Parker discovers that his phone bill is overdue and he forgot to buy a lotto ticket on the day his usual numbers were finally drawn. He tries to go to bed and he ends up tossing and turning because his mind won’t stop thinking of things. Suddenly, Peter falls quickly asleep. He soon discovers himself approached by Doctor Strange in his dreams.[1] Strange explains that he wanted he had to force Peter to fall asleep in order to reach out to him in his dreams. Strange says that he couldn’t contact Spider-Man in person because he has important matters to attend to.[2] When Peter realizes he’s naked he quickly grabs a Spider-Man costume. After assuring Spider-Man he has no desire to learn Peter’s secret identity he gets down to business. Doctor Strange reminds Spider-Man of how he helped the wall-crawler access the astral plane to stop Shade and how he warned him to stay on the path. Spider-Man remembers and admits that he did stray from the path. Strange then calls up the memory, showing Spider-Man’s encounter with the Great Weaver.[3] He warns Spider-Man that when he strayed from the path he alerted forces that will try and hunt him down and destroy him. Doctor Strange then says he has others need him and tells Spider-Man to look on page seventy-five of his book on etymology he has in his room and to pray.

When Peter wakes up he goes to his bookshelf and checks the book and finds an entry on spider wasps. Reading how these insects eat spider’s legs before carrying them back to their nests horrifies Peter and he begins praying. At that same moment, a mystical portal opens in an alley where a homeless man is looking for recyclables. Suddenly a dark creature with glowing eyes emerges from the vortex and kills the homeless man.

Three days later, Spider-Man is out on patrol wondering when this threat is going to show itself. That’s when he suddenly gets a powerful jolt from his spider-sense. Turning around he is shocked to see a black-clad wasp woman flying behind him. The being introduces itself as Shanthra and that she followed him from across the darkness to hunt him. When Spider-Man says he’s not interested and tries to web-sling away when Shantra fires a stinger that severs the webbing, making him land in the middle of a construction site. .Spider-Man turns to face Shanthra but she quickly slashes his back with her long talons. He quickly recovers and grabs a girder, the wall-crawler hits Shanthra with enough force to send her crashing into the building that is under construction, making it collapse on him. Spider-Man tries to get away but Shanthra quickly digs herself free and ambushes the hero from behind. Knocked to the ground again, Spider-Man tries to lose her in the New York subway system but the monster keeps on following him. She clings to the side of the subway car that Spider-Man has fled into. As she is telling him that she got his scent and can follow him anywhere she is struck by the train passing the opposite way. However, Spider-Man is chilled when her last words were that she can smell Parker.

Exhausted after his ordeal, Spider-Man decides to return home and get some rest. As he gets ready for work the next day, Peter wonders what Shantra is and if he really is as much as spider as this hunter says he is. He decides not to think about it too much and leaves his apartment. Watching from the rooftops is Shantra who decides to change her methods as she is enjoying the hunt. Assuming human form, Shantra goes to the Daily Bugle and tells an eager reporter that she and Spider-Man are lovers and he has many weird sexual habits that she’d like to share.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Shanthra, Doctor Strange

Continuity Notes

1. The dreams feature a number of billboards they are:

   • billboards of Uncle Ben and the burglar that killed him with the phrase “Never Forget” under them. That’s another Amazing Fantasy #15 reference. Cue Tobey Maguire.

   • There is also a billboard of the Twin Towers on file, as I’ve said a billion times before on this site: References to 9/11 are topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.

   • Lastly, there is a billboard of Morlun that says “I’ll be back”. Morlun was seemingly killed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #35. He will return in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1. How he cheats death is explained in Scarlet Spiders #1-3.

2. The footnote says “As seen in… Oh nevermind, just take our word for it!” That’s because Doctor Strange wasn’t doing much of anything at this time. He didn’t have his own series and was reduced to guest appearances in other books.

3. Spider-Man’s battle with Shade in the astral plane and his encounter with the Great Weaver happened in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #42.

Continuity Errors

1. There’s a continuity glitch here. The Doctor Strange that Peter dealt within Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #41-42 was the Doctor Strange of the future (from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 to be exact) The Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Amazing Spider-Man graphic novel attributes this appearance of the present-day Doctor Strange and not his future self. This is likely due to the fact that the “future Doctor Strange” plotline was a sudden change to fit the editorially mandated One More Day story arc. So how does present-day Doctor Strange know what his future self did for Spider-Man and the warnings he gave? It’s not explained. I’m guessing Future Strange left a note or something.