Tomorrow the World

In the undersea hideout of the Sinister Six, Mysterio and Electro put the finishing touches on the new suit of armor for their leader, Doctor Octopus.[1] Doctor Octopus is pleased with their work and tells them that this isn’t just his new look, but his last, while he carries out his final triumph. In the training room, the Sandman and Rhino fight against each other so that they are their fighting best. The pair talk about what Doctor Octopus has offered them in exchange for their help. The Sandman hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Kemia, but the Rhino refuses to reveal the deal he made with Octavius.[2] They are then called back into the control room where Doctor Octopus is getting a status update from the Chameleon. The Chameleon reports that he has successfully infiltrated the Intelligencia and that their experiment is happening within the next 48 hours. After Mysterio tells the others that the Intelligencia is a group of the world’s smartest super-villains, the Sandman asks why Doc Ock wasn’t invited to join. Otto responds that it was a mistake that the Intelligencia are going to pay for.

At that moment, in Promyshlennyi, Russia, the Winter Guard has arrived at an abandoned automobile factory thinking that it is the secret hide out of the Intelligencia. They smash through the building looking to apprehend the Red Ghost for crimes against humanity. They are greeted by holographic projections of the Red Ghost and his allies, MODOK Superior, the Mad Thinker, the Wizard, the Awesome Android, and the Super-Apes. They inform the Winter Guard that they have escaped and use their new weapon, a gravitational beam from their Zero Cannon to send the Soviet heroes into space.[3] The Intelligencia celebrate their victory from their new hideout located at AIM’s Geo-Base #1 at the North Pole.

While they are distracted over their next set of plans they don’t notice the Chameleon — who is disguised by Klaw — deactivate the shields protecting the facility. That’s when the Sinister Six attack the facility in one of the Octo-Tank built by Doctor Octopus. As they make their move, the Mad Thinker deduces that they have been betrayed by “Klaw” and exposes the Chameleon’s disguise. The Chameleon manages to use his make-shift sonic blaster to destroy MODOK Supreme’s psonic blaster before getting knocked out by the Lizard. That’s when the Sinister Six emerge from the Octo-Tank and battle the Intelligencia directly.

Doctor Octopus battles with MODOK and, since they are evenly matched physically, they decide to match wits by both working on the Zero Cannon to use their teammates like chess pieces. Not far away, the Mad Thinker orders his Awesome Android to tackle the Rhino, confident that its ability to adapt the abilities with others will lead it to victory. When Electro tries to attack the Thinker from behind, the genius has a device ready to incapacitate his foe, reminding Electro he was the one who gave him his recent power boost.[4] At the same time, Mysterio is fighting the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. Although he cannot harm the Ghost while he is intangible, Mysterio proves he’s not an easy target either by generating an army of holographic images of himself. This leaves the Sandman to deal with his former teammate, the Wizard. The two are reluctant to fight given their long history, but at that moment, Doctor Octopus manages to use the Zero Cannon to send the Wizard into space.[5]

However, when MODOK attempts to use the device on Electro, he doesn’t account for the fact that Max Dillon can still fight without his powers and he shoves the Mad Thinker into the Zero Cannon’s beam. The Rhino then knocks the distracted Awesome Android into the beam, intending on ending his own life as well, but the Sandman pulls his teammate back before it is too late. Moments later, Mysterio — who was never physically in the battle to begin with — uses his illusions to trick Red Ghost and his Super-Apes into the beam as well. With his teammates defeated, MODOK surrenders, admitting that Doctor Octopus has a superior intellect. As he leaves, MODOK assures the last Super-Ape, Peotor, that he will rescue the rest of the Intelligencia and they will have their revenge. With the Intelligencia defeated, Doctor Octopus blows up their base.

When the Sandman asks what the point of this mission was, Doctor Octopus explains that they prevented the Intelligencia from trying to conquer the world this year because he plans to conquer the planet next year.

Recurring Characters

Sinister Six (Doctor Octopus, Chameleon, Electro, Sandman, Rhino, Mysterio), Intelligencia (MODOK Superior, Red Ghost, Mad Thinker, Wizard), Awesome Android, AIM, Winter Guard (Red Guardian, Darkstar, Crimson Dynamo, Ursa Major), Super-Apes (Peotor, Igor, Gregori)

Continuity Notes

1. Mention is made of how Mysterio made a robot duplicate of Silvermane. See Amazing Spider-Man #618-620.

2. The Sandman and Rhino get into their personal lives:

   • The Sandman mentions his daughter, Kemia. See Amazing Spider-Man #615-616.

   • The Rhino was married to a woman named Oksana in Amazing Spider-Man #617. Tragically, she was murdered by a would-be successor in issue #625.

3. Although it appears as though the Winter Guard are meeting certain death they reappear in Secret Avengers #35.

4. For more on Electro’s power boost see Amazing Spider-Man #612-614.

5. A lot of Sandman history is mentioned here:

   • The Sandman and the Wizard were founding members of the Frightful Four back in Fantastic Four #36.

   • The Wizard mentions how the Sandman went straight for a while. This started in Marvel Two-In-One #86. During this period of time he managed to get reserve status on the Avengers starting in Avengers #329.

   • Later, the Wizard used his ID Machine to make Sandman evil again. That happened in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #12.

Topical References

• Dated pop-culture references: The Big Bang Theory

• Doctor Octopus states that it is the year 2011 and he will conquer the world in 2012. These dates should be considered topical references.