Trust Issues

The Vulture has been busy training new recruits in his latest criminal endeavor. However, not everyone is making the cut, one of the recruits — a man named Wormwood — is learning the hard way when the Vulture abruptly deactivates his wings mid-flight because he wasn’t pulling his weight.

Elsewhere in the city, police are welcoming people back into the city, but advise them that the Spider-Island crisis is over and if they are coming to try and get spider-powers, they are going to be disappointed.[1] Covering the story for the Daily Bugle is Randy Robertson, who tells some disgruntled visitors that getting spider-powers weren’t all they were cracked up to be since it turned everyone into the city into spider-monsters. His words fall on deaf ears and the two young goths are then recruited by one of the Vulture’s minions, offering them the opportunity to learn how to fly.

In Washington Square Park, the police are investigating Wormwood’s body. Arriving on the scene to collect evidence is Carlie Cooper. She disagrees with the officers on the scene, who think this is another Spider-Island thing, but her opinions aren’t well received and she is warned by the Captain Pratchet for making him look stupid in front of his men.

At that same moment, a pair of the city’s Anti-Spider-Man Squad have been dispatched to another penthouse break-in. Inside, they finds Spider-Man standing in front of an open safe and two dead bodies. When the web-slinger tries to explain himself the officers open fire on him instead. Luckily, Spider-Man is able to evade their shots, thanking his newly returned spider-sense.[2]

While at Shadowland, the Kingpin is furious that he no longer has spider-powers anymore.[3] His temper tantrum is interrupted by the Hobgoblin who has come to chuckle over how everyone ended up naked when they were returned to human form.[4] That’s when one of the Kingpin’s ninjas informs him that Tiberius Stone — their inside man at Horizon Labs — has arrived. Stone has come to sell the Kingpin plans for the spider-sense jammers that were constructed by Horizon Labs,[5] as they could be useful to him for his crusade against Spider-Man.[6]

Back at the penthouse, the Anti-Spider-Man officers try to apprehend Spider-Man using the super-villain tech built into their Mandroid armor. However, since Peter Parker helped install these devices he is easily able to disable the armor now as Spider-Man. That’s when Pratchet and his men enter the room. Spider-Man tries to get them to stand down by using his Avengers credentials. However, Pratchet is not interested and is actually quite furious with the web-slinger since the Captain blames him for the whole Spider-Island ordeal and tells him to get out of his crime scene. Deciding to call its quits for the night, Peter Parker changes out of his costume, wishing he could have a friend on the police force once.

Meanwhile, the Vulture’s minions take their latest recruits out to rob yet another penthouse safe. The new recruits are impressed and their leader, a woman named Angela Death tells them that they’ll be even more impressed when they get back to the Vulture’s nest.

Elsewhere, at a nightclub called the Wake, Glory Grant takes a date out for a nigh of dancing, telling him that they need to relax after their ordeals during Spider-Island. On the dance floor they run into Mary Jane Watson, who is also enjoying a night out on the town. While at the Coffee Bean, both Peter Parker and Carlie Cooper are at separate tables trying to make sense of their similar cases and are frustraited with their lack of resources. That’s when they become aware of each other and both decide to put aside their differences, in light of their recent break-up, to pool their mutual resources together.

Back at the Wake, the Vulture’s minions arrive and quickly hide their wings before they are spotted by the customers. They brush past Mary Jane and Glory on their way to the back room. There the Vulture is feeding raw pork to his pet vultures. He is pleased that his new charges are back and looks forward to see the riches he has brought to him this evening.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, the Vulture, Carlie Cooper, Mary Jane Watson, Glory Grant, Randy Robertson, Kingpin, Hobgoblin, the Hand, Tiberius Stone

Continuity Notes

1. Did you miss Spider-Island? See Amazing Spider-Man #666-673.

2. Spider-Man had previously lost his his spider-sense in Amazing Spider-Man #654. They were restored during Spider-Island.

3. The Kingpin, like many New Yorkers, was given Spider-Powers. For more on this see Spider-Island: The Amazing Spider-Girl #1-3.

4. The Hobgoblin brags about being in love with a girl who likes him. In his civilian identity, Phil Urich has been using his activities as the Hobgoblin to try and score points with Norah Winters since Amazing Spider-Man #648. He finally convinced her to break up with her boyfriend Randy Robertson during Spider-Island.

5. This design was originally made by Peter Parker and Max Modell in Amazing Spider-Man #654.

6. Mention is made of how the Fisk Tower was recently destroyed. That was in Amazing Spider-Man #651.

Topical References

• Dated pop-culture references: Regis & Kelly