Amazing Spider-Man #686
From the Ashes of Defeat
Spider-Man and his allies the Black Widow and Silver Sable have failed to stop Doctor Octopus from launching the final satellites in his Octavial Lense device.[1] To punish his foes Doctor Octopus has trained the weapon on the nation of Symkaria, much to the horror of Silver Sable. The Black Widow tells Spider-Man that they need to get going if they want to save the world, callously saying Sable is no use to them in her current state.
Spider-Man goes into Symkaria and begins helping to rescue people but the Black Widow convinces him to stop, pointing out that this is a lost cause and it is more important to stop Doctor Octopus until he does this to the entire world.
Meanwhile, aboard the Zenith, the staff of Horizon Labs are still no closer to cracking the cloaking device that Doctor Octopus is using on his satellites. They have however determined that the devices utilize some of the principals of Sajani’s artificial Vibranium and Grady’s time portal.[2] That’s when Uatu determines that they could track the location of the Sinister Six’s hideout by waiting for one of Otto’s regular broadcasts and tracing it back to his source. Elsewhere, Mysterio and the Chameleon are watching as Spider-Man continues to argue with the Black Widow about saving the innocent people trapped in town. They are unaware that this is a massive illusion orchistrated by Mysterio and the Chameleon to distract Spider-Man while Doctor Octopus finally completes his satellites. To prevent the pair from discovering the truth, the Chameleon goes out disguised as Doctor Octopus to further distract them.
Back at the Sinister Six’s secret hideout, Doctor Octopus is furious that various heroes across the world are still trying to impede on his final plan.[3] He contacts the world again and tells the people of Earth to stop these heroes from stopping his plans to save the world. With this done, Doctor Octopus checks in with Mysterio and is furious to see that the Chameleon is posing as him to battle Spider-Man. Otto’s ego will not allow his greatest enemy to be defeated by a proxy. By this time, Silver Sable has recovered from her shock and planted a bomb on the fake Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man, meanwhile, has deduced that they aren’t fighting the real Otto Octavius. However, this is corrected when the real Doctor Octopus takes control of the suit to destroy Spider-Man personally.
Its by this time that Spider-Man and his allies have figured out that this whole thing is an illusion. Using his magnetic webbing, Spider-Man incapacitates the Doctor Octopus suit that the Chameleon is wearing. The Black Widow then threatens to reveal the truth about the Chameleon’s true face if he doesn’t agree to help. Spider-Man then appeals to Mysterio’s sense of greed, asking him to help becase Doctor Octopus might use his device to destroy the world, destroying all the money the billions of dollars that the master illusionist worked hard to obtain. This convinces Mysterio to help stop Doctor Octopus’ phone.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Mary Jane has just finalized her purchase of the Wake night club, as she intends to throw a massive party for a friend. While in Boston, Jay Jameson calls his son to try and make amends in case the world ends, but J. Jonah Jameson hangs up on his estranged father. His wife, May Parker, consoles Jay as she hopes her nephew Peter Parker is okay as she has been unable to get ahold of him.
Meanwhile, Mysterio leads Spider-Man and his allies to Doctor Octopus’ hideout located in an ancient Mayan temple. However, Doctor Octopus is prepared for them and has the Avengers, who are under mind control from his octo-bots, down the ship. As Spider-Man fights his fellow Avengers he suddenly realizes that Doctor Octopus has been using technology that Peter Parker developed for Spider-Man’s crime-fighting efforts and consumer products to be sold by Horizon Labs. He suddenly realizes that this is all his fault.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Black Widow, Silver Sable, Sinister Six (Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Chameleon, Rhino), Max Modell, Grady Scraps, Sajani Jaffrey, Bella Fishbach, Uatu Jackson, Tiberius Stone, J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, Jay Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Red Hulk)
Continuity Notes
1. Spider-Man lists off a number of people he has lost over the years. They are:
Uncle Ben, because obviously, Amazing Fantasy #15.
Captain George Stacy, who died pushing a child out of falling debris during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus in Amazing Spider-Man #90.
His daughter Gwen Stacy, who was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Billy Connors was murdered by his own father, the Lizard, in Amazing Spider-Man #631.
Most recently, Marla Madison was murdered by the Spider-Slayer in Amazing Spider-Man #654.
2. For more on Sajani and Grady’s inventions see Amazing Spider-Man #648 and 678 respectively.
3. For more on the superhero community’s efforts to stop Doctor Octopus see Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth #1.
Topical References
References to this story taking place in the year 2012 and the 2012 End of the World conspiracy should be considered topical since you know, the 2012 doomsday was utter bullshit that didn’t actually happen.
