Epilogue

The war against the Inheritors is over and the army of Spider-Men are the victors. Now everyone is being sent back to their proper realities all over the multiverse. The next to get sent home is May Parker, the Spider-Girl of Earth-982. As she is saying goodbye, she apologizes to the Peter Parker of Earth-616 for suggesting that only her father was worth of being Spider-Man. Peter understands, as May was put through a lot since her brother was one of the Inheritors and tells her to head home and look after her brother.

Crossing the portal to Earth-982, May appears in front of her family home, which is in ruins after it was set on fire by Daemos.[1] She is greeted there by the Ben Parker from Earth-3145, who saved her brother Benjy’s life in the final battle. He takes her next door where she discovers that her mother, Mary Jane and boyfriend Wes Westin are alive and well. As it turns out, Mary Jane pulled Wes to safety before the house collapsed. After they are tearfully reunited, Mary Jane asks Ben to look after her son while she talks with May. Ben looks forward to this because it makes him feel like a grandfather. Mary Jane then goes through some boxes and pulls out her late husbands old Spider-Man costume. With this world’s Peter Parker now gone, Mary Jane thinks it is fitting that May wear it. May agrees, however she decides that after everything she has endured it is time to start calling herself Spider-Woman.

Back on Loonworld, the other spiders are returning home in droves. Soon it’s time for Miles Morales and Jessica Drew to return to their native reality of Earth-1610. Miles is disappointed he didn’t get to spend more time with the 616 Spider-Man. However, Peter assures him that they’ll see each other again some other time. As Spider-Punk leaves for his homeworld, he warns Spider-UK to keep an eye of Karn, reminding UK that before they switched Karn over to their side, he was responsible for killing countless Spider-Men.

Just as Peter Parker is about to send Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, to his home era their spider-senses all start going off painfully. Karn explains that someone is doing something to the great web. That’s when they spot the Otto Octavius Spider-Man using Morlun’s sacrificial dagger to start cutting threads from the Web of Life. Thet tell the Superior Spider-Man to stop, but Otto refuses to go back to his own time now that he knows that he will lose control of Peter Parker’s body.[2] He has decided that if he doesn’t get to win, then nobody does, even if it means destroying the entire multiverse in the process.

At that moment, on Earth-616, Julia Carpenter wakes up in the coma ward as she feels that the threads of the Web of Life being severed and now she can see nothing.[3]

On Loomworld, Spider-UK’s dimensional transporter is detecting portals being cut off to them. Spider-Man tells Spider-Gwen and Spider-Man 2099 to head back before it’s too late, saying that the remaining spiders from Earth-616 will stay behind and stop Octavius.[4] As Spider-Man leads Spider-Woman, and Spider-Girl to stop Octavius, Spider-UK opens portals to send Spider-Gwen and Spider-Man 2099 home.[5] The pair still want to stick around and help, but Spider-Man 2099 assures Gwen that Otto Octavius wins because he was pulled forward in time to be here and he will be put back in his proper place and defeated. This satifies both of them and they pass through the dimensional portals.

However, Otto Octavius refuses to give up with out a fight. As he struggles with the others, Spider-Girl notices that there is writing on the dagger like the scrolls that told them about the prophecy. She manages to get close enough to read it and it says that there will always be a Master Weaver weaving at the center of the great web.[6] Hearing this from the ground, Silk recalls that the Inheritors kept calling her that when she was their prisoner and wonders if she can repair the damage done to the Web of Life. The others manage to wrest the knife away from Otto so Spider-Girl can read what is written on the other side. It explains that whoever takes the Master Weaver’s place does it until death. Since Cindy had been imprisoned for over a decade until recently, she is reluctant to take on such a confinding role again/[7] That’s when Karn steps up and agrees to accept the sacrifice as penance for all of the death and destruction he has caused.

That’s when Otto Octavius attacks his enemies again, calling them hypocrites for talking about wanting to preserve life when dooming him to death. Peter Parker tells Otto that he made his own bed and that’s the way it has to be. Meanwhile, Silk removes the Great Weaver’s mask and Karn recognizes its face as his own, only much older. Removing the diving helment that has shielded his face for years, Karn realizes that it was his destiny to become the Great Weaver.

By this point, Otto demands that he and Parker fight to the finish. Spider-Man agrees, and as he throttles Octavius, he points out that a real hero would never sacrifice others in order to save his own skin and that is what makes him the superior Spider-Man. While this is going on, Karn discovers that his staff acts as a key that opens the spinnerette of the Great Weaver, further confirming that this is his fate. Eventually, Otto Octavius relents and surrenders. However, he asks his AI assistant, Anna, to intitiate his back-up plan. She initiates a sleep mode that will activate in 100 days.[8] The new Master Weaver is certain that he can repair the damage done to the Great Web, but it will take time and that will affect the spiders across the multiverse, namely their spider-senses won’t be quite as strong. He then decides to set things right by sending Otto Octavius to his proper place in time. Octavius continues whining over how they are sentencing him to death and vows to do everything to prevent it. However, the Great Weaver explains that his mind will be addled by being returned to his own time. Otto refuses to believe this and Peter Parker uncermoniously shoves Octavius through the time portal. This sends Otto back to Earth-616, but a few months into the past. He materializes in the ruins of Horizon Labs with no memory of what transpired.[9]

Back on Loomworld, the Master Weaver makes reparis to Earth-616. However, before he sends Spider-Man, Spider-Girl, and Spider-Woman back home the Weaver has some unfortunate news for Spider-UK. His own reality, Earth-833, is gone. Spider-UK figures that this was due to the Incursions that have been happening throughout the multiverse and how the Captain Britain Corps was trying to stop them when he embarked on this mission.[10] Still, Peter thanks Billy for his help since he was instrumental in helping stop the Inheritors. That’s when Silk wonders if banishing their foes to Earth-3145 was a death sentence. That’s when the Master Weaver reveals that they all managed to retreat to the bunker and are subsisting off the mutated spiders that live there.[11] Spider-Man wishes there could have been a better fate for his clone, Kaine, who was murdered by the Inheritors when he became the other. Getting back to his own situation, Spider-UK decides that he will use the Great Web to look for worlds that lost their Spider-Man and help them out. Anya Corazon also decides to stay behind and lend a hand as well.[12] Spider-UK figures that the will do well, particularly since they have a lot of friends across the multiverse to call for help if they need it.[13]

With all of this out of the way, the Master Weaver says it is time for Spider-Man, Silk, and Spider-Woman to return to their own reality as they will be needed there. After seeing them off, the Great Weaver, Spider-UK, and Spider-Girl begin getting to work. As they turn their back on the corpse of the Other they fail to see the hand of Kaine bursting out of the corpse.

On Earth-616, Spider-Man and his allies have finally returned and they realize that they have been gone for days.[14] While the two women are worried about what state their lives are in, Peter is unphased about leaving his company unattended for days. He thought he wasn’t ready to run his own business, but after his experience with the Inheritors, he figures he can take on anything. As Spider-Man swings for home, he happens upon a mugging out front of the Flatiron Building. He quickly stops the mugger and returns his victim’s purse, who thanks Spider-Man for his help. At first, Spider-Man thought he wouldn’t be able to go back to doing with small-stuff, but as he is being thanked he realizes that there is no such thing as “small stuff” and this is exactly where he belongs.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man (Parker), Spider-Man (Octavius), Web-Warriors (Spider-UK, Spider-Girl (Corazon), SP//dr, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Punk, Spider-Man (Morales), Spider-Mobile, Ultimate Spider-Man-12041, Black Widow (Drew), Supaidaman, Mego Spider-Man, Cowboy Spider-Man, Spider-Horse, Master Weaver/Karn, Spider-Hulk, Spider-Man ‘67, Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman (Parker), Spider-Man (Prabhakar), Spider-Man-90266, Magnaverse Spider-Man, Spider-Ham, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man J, Silk, Ben Parker-3145, Spider-Man 2099, Scarlet Spider), Mary Jane Watson-Parker-982, Wes Westin, Benjy Parker, Madame Web, Max Modell, Grady Scraps, Hector Baez, Inheritors (Morlun, Brix, Bora, Verna, Jennix, Daemos), Spider-Man Noir

Continuity Notes

1. Daemos attacked May and her father in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #8.

2. Otto Octavius took over Peter Parker’s body from Amazing Spider-Man #698 to Superior Spider-Man #31. Prior to that, he was pulled forward in time in Superior Spider-Man #17-19, which is where he’ll be put back later in this issue.

3. Julia Carpenter, aka Madame Web, ended up in a coma when she was overwhealmed with visions in Amazing Spider-Man #695.

4. It’s mentioned that Spider-Man 2099 has been trapped in the modern age of Earth-616. That also happened in Superior Spider-Man #17-19.

5. Spider-UK states here that Spider-Man 2099 comes from the future of Earth-616 in 2099 AD. However, the 2099 AD that Miguel O’Hara comes from is actually a separate reality designated Earth-928. For my thoughts on this see below.

6. When Otto accuses the others of ganging up on him, Peter reminds him that he was the founder of the Sinister Six. That happened back in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.

7. Cindy was locked away by Ezekiel Sims in an effort to start the whole Spider-Verse thing from happening. It obviously didn’t go as planned. See Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3 ) #4-5.

8. Otto Octaivius completed a computer back-up of his mind and personality in Superior Spider-Man #32-33 in the event he lost Peter Parker’s body. This back-up was hidden within his robotic assistant, the Living Brain. Otto’s personality will resurface in that robot in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 4) #1.

9. As we originally saw in Superior Spider-Man #19.

10. The Incursions are events that cause three different realities to collide with one another destroying each other. They started in New Avengers (vol. 3) #1. Spider-UK first heard about them in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #7.

11. These are the same mutant spiders that Ben and May Parker fought in Spider-Verse Team-Up #3.

12. Anya points out that Earth-616 won’t miss her because there’s always another Spider-Girl popping up. That’s not exactly correct as Anya was the first person on Earth-616 to go by the name Spider-Girl. On the other hand there have been other Spider-Women. Other than Jessica Drew, there were:

    • Julia Carpenter (now Madam Web) who started her career as Spider-Woman in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 until she became Madame Web in Amazing Spider-Man #637.

    • The third Spider-Woman was Mattie Franklin who got her powers during the Gathering of Five. She took on the mantle of Spider-Woman in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5. She carried this title until she was murdered by the Kravinoff family in Amazing Spider-Man #637.

    • There was the villanous Charlotte Witter who was given her powers by Doctor Octopus she first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5. Her current activities are unknown but as I write this (December 2020) she’s still out there somewhere.

13. This is a teaser for Secret Wars: Spider-Verse #1-5. That series was less a Spider-Verse sequel than it was about various multiversal spiders being trapped on a specific part of Battleworld. It was really inconsquential really, but I digress.

14. This teases the upcoming Silk #1 as well as Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #5.

Is 2099 AD the Future of Earth-616?

It’s been clarified in multiple other places that the 2099 universe is a separate reality designed Earth-928. The reference to it being the future of Earth-616 here is not correct. However, the mistake could be understandable since 2099 AD is a possible future of Earth-616. As we’ll see in Spider-Man 2099 volume 2 and 3, that future is constantly in flux, changing whenever Miguel O’Hara does something in the present day. Ultimately, Earth-928 gets replaced as a possible future of Earth-616 by a new version of 2099 AD as seen in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #33-36 as well as 2099 Alpha #1, Fantastic Four 2099 (vol. 2) #1, Conan 2099 #1, Ghost Rider 2099 (vol. 2) #1, Venom 2099 #1, Doom 2099 (vol. 2) #1, Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 4) #1, and 2099 Omega #1.