Self-Inflicted Wounds

John Jameson successfully lands the veretex shuttle to the Horizon Labs space station. Once they have landed, John insists on returning to Earth because his father and his family are being threatened by Alistair Smythe, aka the Spider-Slayer. Unfortunately, the shuttle was damaged in the battle between Spider-Man and the Scorpion and it will need twelve hours worth of repairs otherwise the shuttle will burn up on re-entry. Trapped, John figures that Spider-Ma is the only hope to save his family.

At that moment, Peter Parker has returned to Horizon Labs to find a device that will help him cancel out the cybernetic early-warning senses that Smythe’s Slayer Swarm uses to protect themselves. Unfortunately, he is delays when Max Modell asks to speak to him about his connection to Spider-Man. Peter tries to dismiss his connection to Spider-Man, saying that he only used to take pictures of the web-slinger when he used to work for the Daily Bugle.[1] Model recalls how Peter was unaccounted for during Spider-Man’s recent battle with the Hobgoblin at the lab, and thinks he has figured out Peter’s secret.[2] Max has come to the conclusion that Peter has been using his scientific genius to create crime fighting gadgets for Spider-Man. Peter admits to this, since he’s not technically lying, but this also provides him with a cover for his activities as Spider-Man.[3] Hearing how Peter is scrambling to build a device to block out the Slayer Swarm’s early warning senses, Max offers his help and the pair get down to work. As they work, Max tells Peter that he can turn a blind eye to Peter helping Spider-Man since the web-slinger helped save the lab earlier. Once they are done, Max tells Peter to warn Spider-Man that the device will affect everyone with an insectile-sense including Spider-Man himself.

Soon enough, Peter has changed back into Spider-Man is heading back into battle trying to put aside the joy he had playing “mad scientist” with Max Modell. He radios the Thing, who has been defending his Aunt May and Marla Madison at a local spa to tell his teammate that he is on his way. At the scene of the battle, the Thing is starting to tire. Watching from the sidelines, Marla decides to do something. Telling May that she is a scientist in her own right, she begins digging through the remains of an automated Mandroid suit that was part of their security detail.[4] Meanwhile, Luke Cage and Iron Fist have kept part of the Swarm at bay long enough for Mayor J. Jonah Jameson’s limo to escape. Jonah is concerned for his father, Jay, who was injured in the attack but he assures his son that he’ll pull through. That’s when Glory Grant gets a call from Spider-Man. The web-slinger insists that they take the mayor to a safehouse outside of the city, but Jonah refuses to leave his wife and orders the drive to head to the spa.

While at the Daily Bugle, Ms. Marvel and Power Woman are also doing their best to keep the Swarm away from their target, Joe Robertson. However, they are also starting to get tired and so Joe orders a full evacuation. Norah runs out first and while Randy decides to stay behind and stand by his father’s side, Phil Urich takes this opportunity to try and eliminate his competition for Norah by using his goblin strength to knock a support pillar onto Randy. He soon joins Norah in the hall and tells her what happened to Randy (omitting his involvement in the roof collapse) and tells her that it’s not safe and he’s not sure if Randy made it to safety. Phil thinks to himself that if Robertson does survive, he’ll deal with him as the Hobgoblin. Randy did survive but his legs are pinned under the rubble. Joe rushes to his son’s side to try and free him when he realizes that the Slayer Swarm is after him because he is Jonah’s best friend.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man arrives at the Flatiron Building, the location that is equidistant to all the battles going on in the city. There, the Spider-Slayer arrives on the scene in his ship. Inside, Alistair Smythe orders the Scorpion to go out and eliminate the meddlesome wall-crawler once and for all. Mac Gargan is looking forward to this and leaps outside and tries to kill Spider-Man. Back at the spa, Marla manages to rig together a device that scrambles the Slayer Swarm’s senses allowing the Thing to gain the advantage. While at the Daily Bugle, Joe tells Ms. Marvel and Power Woman that the Swarm are after him and orders them to carry him away so the creatures stop attacking the Bugle. At that same moment, the mayor’s limo has just exited the Holland Tunnel where it is strafed by the Spider-Slayer’s ship.[5] While back on the Flatiron Building the Scorpion smashes Spider-Man’s remote detonator, forcing him to activate his device directly, putting him at ground zero of the scrambler. This causes all of the Spider Swarm and Spider-Man to scream in agony as their mutual early-warning senses are affected by the device. Although he is in agony, Spider-Man knocks out the Scorpion and webs him up and leaves, hoping everything is all right.

The device scrambles the Spider-Slayer and his ship, causing it to crash on the road before he can eliminate Jameson. This is out front of the spa and Jonah is quickly reunited with his wife. As Spider-Man arrives on the scene as well, the Thing congratulates the web-slinger for a job well done. That’s when the Spider-Slayer leaps out of his ship, knocking out Spider-Man with a blow to the head. Smythe then easily whips the exhausted Avengers aside and tries to kill Jonah. However, Marla pushes her husband out of the way, taking the killing blow herself. Recovering from the blow, Spider-Man angrily knocks out Smythe.

At that same moment, Jonah cradles his wife, promising he’ll do everything in her power to get the medical aid she needs. However, Marla knows that she is dying and tells Jonah not to blame Spider-Man for this, reminding him that it was Alistair Smythe who was responsible for this. Her dying words are to tell Jonah waste any more of his life on hate. Approaching Jonah, Spider-Man offers his condolences. Breaking down into tears, Jonah tells his mortal enemy that he isn’t going to blame this on Spider-Man this time, because this is all his fault.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Slayer Swarm (Spider-Slayer, Scorpion, Shawna Tyron, Locust Army), New Avengers (Luke Cage, Power Woman, Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist, the Thing, Mockingbird), J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Madison, Aunt May, Jay Jameson, John Jameson, Max Modell, Glory Grand, Joe Robertson, Randy Robertson, Norah Winters, Phil Urich

Continuity Notes

1. Peter has worked on-and-off as a photographer for the Daily Bugle dating back to Amazing Spider-Man #2, making a living selling photos of Spider-Man to the newspaper. At the time of this story, Peter’s days of working as a photographer were ended after he was exposed for doctoring a photo in Amazing Spider-Man #624.

2. Spider-Man fought the Hobgoblin at Horizon Labs in Amazing Spider-Man #649-650.

3. There are two posters hanging in the lab. One is a poster advertising the Spider-Man musical Turn Off the Dark which had a broadway run from 2010 until 2014. The second is the artwork for the cover of Ms. Marvel (vol.2) #31.

4. Marla mentions how when she first J. Jonah Jameson it was to build her own Spider-Slayer robot. This was in Amazing Spider-Man #167 (although the pair actually met earlier in issue #162.)

5. The Spider-Slayer here states that he wants to avenge the death of his father. Alistair blames Jameson for his father’s death because he hired Spencer Smythe to build the first Spider-Slayer in Amazing Spider-Man #25. This led to an obsession with destroying Spider-Man and the years of working with radioactive isotopes to create his robots caused Spencer to contract cancer and die in Amazing Spider-Man #192.

Topical Referen ces

• The “Kevin Bacon Game”, aka “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” or “Bacon’s Law” was a parlor game that posited the idea that are six degrees of separation between actor Kevin Bacon and anyone else currently active in Hollywood.

Rebirth

Flash Thompson is meeting with General Brad Dodge at a military facility. He is offered one last opportunity to back out, but Flash is ready to serve his country.[1] As a lab technician named Aaron MacKenzie helps Flash out of his chair he is reminded how painful this experiment will be. Flash asks why he was chosen for this Project Rebirth 2.0 given his disability.[2] General Dodge explains that Eugene was chosen because he was a good soldier who sacrificed his legs for his country. Plus, he says his dog, Samson, likes Flash and he trusts the dog’s judge in character. Still, Flash isn’t comfortable with being part of Project Rebirth 2.0 because he’s more a Spider-Man fan than Captain America.[3] That’s when Aaron pulls out the holding tank containing the Venom symbiote,[4] telling Flash that his love of Spider-Man was exactly the reason why he was chosen for this project.

Pumped full of drugs so he can control the symbiote, Flash is then bonded to the alien creature. Not only does the symbiote replace the legs that Flash has lost, it has given him powers similar to those of Spider-Man. However, when Flash asks to be called Spider-Man, Aaron informs him he will operate under the name Agent Venom since he will be used for counter-terrorism operations and the enemy is not as afraid of Spider-Man as they are of Venom.[5] Flash is then given a mutli-gun, a weapon that can assume various modes. He is also given knock out drugs, truth serums and chemical weapons that he can deliver using the symbiote itself by fashioning weapons or needles out of its biomass.

That’s when Flsh is introduced to Captain Katherine Glover. When Flash tries his charm on her, she responds by throwing him over her shoulder. She tells him that she is not there to baby sit him but to monitor the symbiote, warning him that she has a kill switch that will fry them both in the event they lose control of the alien. Flash spends the remaining 48 hours training. After which Samson begins growling at him, a sign that it is time to take off he symbiote. Rigging Flash into a sonic purge device, Aaron tells Flash that he can only wear the symbiote for a limited time before it try to permanently bond with him, giving him twenty missions before his tour as Agent Venom is over. Flash is more than okay with this and they activate the sonic device that forces the symbiote to separate from flash and return to its containment cylinder.

With the symbiote removed from Flash’s body, Samson returns to normal. Flash thanks General Dodge for the opportunity and is wheeled away by MacKenzie. Once they are alone, Kate asks Dodge if he intends to tell Flash that he’s the second operative they chose for Rebirth 2.0 and that the first man, Cal Henrickson, had to be eliminated when he lost control of the symbiote. Dodge orders her that discussions about Henrickson are over and that the reason that Flash was chosen as a replacement because he will gladly give his life in service of his country.

Recurring Characters

Agent Venom, Brad Dodge, Aaron MacKenzie, Kate Glover, Samson

Continuity Notes

1. Flash’s dog tag number is “987-08-1962”, 08-1962 is significant because August 1962 was the date Amazing Fantasy #15 (the first appearance of Spider-Man) was published.

2. Flash lost his legs serving in the Army in Amazing Spider-Man #574.

3. Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, was part of the original Project Rebirth which transformed a 90 pound weakling into the pinnacle of human perfection. See Captain America Comics #1.

4. The Venom symbiote was forcibly removed from its previous host, Mac Gargan, in Amazing Spider-Man #648.

5. Flash complains about not being able to call himself Spider-Man, pointing out that (at the time of this story) there were already two Captain Americas and two Hulks, about that….

   • The two active Captain Americas he is referring to are Steve Rogers and James Barnes. Barnes became Captain America in Captain America (vol. 5) #34 after Steve Rogers was killed in issue #25 of that series. Steve was later resurrected in Captain America: Reborn #1-5. Although he no longer operates under the name Captain America, everyone still recognizes Steve as Cap as a sign of respect.

   • Also at the time of this story there were two Hulks active. There was Bruce Banner, the original Hulk, who has been active since Incredible Hulk #1. At the time of this story a new red Hulk appeared in Hulk (vol. 2) #1. This Hulk is later revealed to be Thaddeus Ross in Hulk (vol. 2) #23.