Amazing Spider-Man #667
The Amazing Spider-Manhattan
It’s morning in Manhattan when Peter Parker receives the shock of his life time. His girlfriend Carlie Cooper has mysteriously developed spider-powers. As Peter struggles to try and understand how this could be, Carlie shows off her abilities, willing to tell him all about this secret because they are a couple. When Peter suggests they get her to a doctor to be cured, she refuses, asking him what he would do if he suddenly woke up with super-powers. Carlie is so excited but Peter shoots down her ideas to have him develop her equipment and pair her up with Spider-Man. He then reminds her that they have to take his Aunt May and her husband Jay to the airport.
In the Bowery, Madame Web is observing a building and tells the man watching her to come out of hiding, reminding them that she can see the future and knows that he is there. This man is Shang Chi, aka the Master of Kung Fu, and he wants to know why Madame Web called him to this location. She points him to a gathering of crooks below that are meeting in the building. When Shang Chi tries to go down and break up the gang, Madame Web stops him with her psi-webs just as the Jackal arrives with his two hideous enforcers, the Tarantula and the Spider-King. Inside, things get heated as rival gang members begins beating on each other with their newly acquired spider-powers until the Jackal orders his minions to break things up. With everything back under control, the Jackal explains that he has gathered them all together so that they can use their spider-powers in a coordinated effort to sow chaos in the city. He then smashes open a shipping crate revealing that he has a massive supply of Spider-Man costumes for them all to wear while they do it as well.[1]
By this time, Peter Parker is saying his goodbyes to Aunt May and Jay Jameson before their flight to their new home in Boston. May takes the time to tell Peter once again how proud of him she is and after telling him that she loves him the elderly couple leave to catch their flight. May and Jay are looking forward to starting the next chapter of their life and May hopes they can get out of New York before anything crazy happens.
At that same moment, an army of Spider-Man are running amok in the city. In the panicked crowd is Mary Jane Watson, who risks her life to push a child to safety.[2] When one of the Jackal’s Spider-Men — wearing a version of Spider-Man’s Future Foundation costume — approaches her, she mistakes him for the real Spider-Man until the Thing arrives to knock the impostor out.[3] The Thing is joined by Mister Fantastic, Cloak and Dagger, the Young Allies (Gravity, Firestar, and Spider-Girl) as well as the members of the Avengers which include Hawkeye, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, and Iron Fist. Mary Jane is glad to see Reed Richards and asks what’s going on and what happend to Peter Parker.
At that moment, Peter and Carlie are heading back into the city in a taxi, but they end up stuck in a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge as mayor J. Jonah Jameson has ordered a lock down of Manhattan in light of the chaos caused by the Jackal’s minions. Hearing this, Carlie decides that she can do something to help with her new powers and web-slings off thanks to her organic web-shooters. Peter quickly pays for the cab fare and rushes for cover so he can change into Spider-Man and follow after her.
Meanwhile, at the NYC Emergency Command Center, J. Jonah Jameson orders officials to shut down the whole city and mobilizes his Anti-Spider-Man Squad to deal with the sudden flood of people with spider-powers. Jonah has been looking forward to a moment like this and believes that historians will look back at this incident as his finest hour as mayor of the city.
Back at the scene of the battle, the assembled heroes find themselves facing an army of Spider-Men but luckily none of the criminals have the experience the real web-slinger does. When the real Spider-Man arrives on the scene, Ms. Marvel mistakes him for one of the criminals and is attacked. As Spider-Man recovers from the blow he is then attacked by both the Thing and Iron Fist. Watching from the sidelines are Madame Web and Shang Chi. Realizing that this is what Madame Web was alluding to, Shang Chi refuses to sit on the sidelines as fate unfolds and leaps in to join the battle. Madame Web decides to let him go because the web of destiny will allow for it. However, as she surveys the scene of fallen Spider-Man she remarks how her champion has learned the first lesson of Spider-Island: “Even though he shoulders great responsibility, while he’s here all of his great powers are absolutely meaningless.”[4]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Jackal, Carlie Cooper, Aunt May, Jay Jameson, J. Jonah Jameson, Tarantula, Spider-King, Madame Web, Shang Chi, Mister Fantastic, Thing, Avengers (Iron Man, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Red Hulk), Cloak, Dagger, Young Allies (Gravity, Firestar, Spider-Girl), New Avengers (Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel)
Continuity Notes
It should be noted that the Jackal that appears in this story is actually a clone as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #673. The crooks all wear variations of the costumes that Spider-Man has worn over the years. I’m just going to list them all here to get that out of the way. These costumes are….
Spider-Man’s classic red-and-blue costume that he has worn from the very beginning back in Amazing Fantasy #15. The crooks wear a number of variations of this costume, some have webbing under the arms, others don’t.
Others are wearing Spider-Man’s black-and-white costume patterned after the Venom symbiote. This look was first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #252.
The Captain Universe costume that Spider-Man wore when he was the host for the Uni-Power in Amazing Spider-Man #329.
Also seen is the costume that was once worn by Ben Reilly when he was the Scarlet Spider. First seen in Web of Spider-Man #118.
The Spider-Man costume that was worn by Ben Reilly that was first seen in Sensational Spider-Man #0 until his death in Spider-Man #75.
The “Iron Spider” armor that was developed by Tony Stark. It was first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #529.
A costume patterned after Spider-Man’s stealth suit, first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #650.
Another costume is based on the ballistic armor that Spider-Man wore in Amazing Spider-Man #656.
A version of the white-on-black Future Foundation costume first given to Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #658.
Mary Jane says that if this is a “clone” thing, she is going back to Los Angeles. This is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the much maligned Clone Saga that ran from Web of Spider-Man #117 to Spider-Man #75.
The Thing knows who Mary Jane is because Peter revealed his identity to the Fantastic Four back in Spider-Man/Human Torch #5 and their families spent time together. Although the FF were among those who were made to forget Peter’s secret identity post Amazing Spider-Man #545, Spider-Man re-revealed his identity to the group in Amazing Spider-Man #591-592.
From here, Spider-Island continues in Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #1, and Spider-Island: Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #1.