Taking Wing Part Two

Years Ago[1]

Adrian Toomes has brought his brother Marcus — who is confined to a wheelchair — to the pier to watch the sunset. When Adrian suggests they go see a movie, Marcus asks his brother to kill him. Adrian thinks his brother is joking, but Marcus is very serious. Since the motorcycle accident that paralyzed him, Marcus has lived a miserable life. However, Adrian refuses to kill his brother, since Marcus helped raise him after their parents died. When Adrian tells his brother how his teachers are saying he is smart enough to get a scholarship, Marcus scolds his brother for being so stupid, Marcus can’t live a normal life and wants to die. Adrian refuses to follow his brother's wishes because he’s not an animal. Marcus says that humans are just like all other animals inside and that in the wild, the sick and crippled creature would either be left behind by the pack or killed and devoured. When Adrian still refuses to kill his brother, Marcus calls him a coward who is weaker than he is and, disgusted with his younger brother, orders him to take him home. Along the way, Marcus tells Adrian to grow a backbone and learn to be an animal.

Now

Adrian Toomes — aka the Vulture — waits atop the Barnes & Barnes bookstore where Debra Whitman is signing her tell-all book Two-Faced: How Peter Parker Ruined My Life. He has been released from prison in order to hunt down and capture Spider-Man, who is an outlaw following his renouncing of the Super-Human Registration Act.[2] Contacted by his handlers, the Vulture tells him that he is prepared but seeks cover, knowing that Spider-Man’s spider-sense will warn him of danger and avoid the trap he has set for the web-slinger.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker has been using an image inducer to hide in plain sight with a false identity named after Ben Reilly. He calls Mary Jane to tell her that he is going to confront Debra Whitman over her tell-all book.[3] Mary Jane doesn’t understand why Peter cares what an old girlfriend wrote about him. However, Peter has a lot of complicated things going on in his life at that moment that he can’t do anything about right now but feels that this is something that he can. When Mary Jane asks him what his plan is, Peter doesn’t have one but tells her that he’ll think of something.

At that moment, Debra Whitman has arrived at Barnes & Barnes and his surprised by the number of people who have come to have her sign their copies of her book.[4] Before doing the signing, an interview has been arranged with the Daily Bugle, since they are the newspaper owns the publishing house that put out Debra’s book. The reporter turns out to be Betty Brant.[5] Once the two women are alone, Betty asks if she can record their conversation. Debra agrees but changes her mind when Betty asks who the hell Debra thinks she is. Whitman quickly realizes that Betty isn’t actually the reporter the Bugle was sending. Betty admits that she deceived Debra because she could look her in the eye and see the kind of woman who would betray Peter Parker. Debra can’t understand why Betty is defending Peter since both of them dated Parker.[6] Betty isn’t outraged in the slightest as the revelation that Peter is Spider-Man is a relief because now her life makes sense. She explains that her whole life, her she originally saw Spider-Man as a creature who cursed her life particularly in light of the fact that the web-slinger was involved in the death of her brother Bennett and her husband Ned Leeds, and was prominent when she was tormented by the Hobgoblin.[7] When Debra jumps to the conclusion that Peter is to blame for these tragedies, Betty realizes that Whitman doesn’t get it. Betty explains that Peter Parker isn’t the disguise that Spider-Man hides behind. In fact, it is Peter wearing the costume and Peter Parker has always been a good, decent, caring man. She admits that Peter’s public unmasking came as a shock, but it made her realize that she was afraid of Spider-Man in the past because she didn’t know what his motivations were. Now that she knows the wall-crawler is actually Peter, she knows that he has always operated out of love, compassion, and decency. She then asks Debrah what her excuse is.

While at Midtown High, Flash Thompson asks Miss Arrow — the school’s nurse — out on a date, but she tells him that she is busy working. When she tells him some other time, he notices the newspaper story about Debra Whitman’s book signing and decides to go and give her a piece of his mind. As he leaves he doesn’t notice as Miss Arrow snatches a spider lowering itself from the ceiling on a web and eating it.[8]

Back at the bookstore, Peter Parker is waiting in the autograph line disguised as Ben Reilly. When a woman is getting her book signed by Debra, she asks what she should do if she suspects that her boyfriend is a super-villain. Whitman suggests that she call SHIELD now that they are actively apprehending unregistered superhumans. Peter can’t believe that there are now snitch lines and likens the current climate to that of Nazi Germany during World War II. This is overheard by a man who accuses “Ben Reilly” of being a bleeding heart liberal. After listening to the man rant for a few moments, Peter suspects that this man is actually a popular late-night talk-show personality. When he tries to ask, the man denies it and decides to duck out of the book store. That’s when Flash Thompson comes barging through the line to confront Debra Whitman over her book. Seeing this, Peter decides to sit back and watch since it should prove entertaining. As Flash is telling Debra off,[9] Betty spots him and is happy to see him and kisses Flash on the lips.[10] Debra finally recognizes Flash and quips that her book signing is turning into the old home week. Betty is glad to see Flash because the last time she saw him he was in a coma. That’s when Flash tells her that he has had some problems with his memory, but he assures her that he still remembers their past relationship but tells her not to ask him for specifics because he’s just as bad at remembering those details as any guy.[11]

Suddenly, Peter’s spider-sense begins going off and a moment later, the Vulture comes crashing in through the skylight looking for Spider-Man. Flash tries to stop the Vulture but is tossed aside with ease. When the villain begins threatening Debra Whitman, he is shot by Betty Brant who was carrying a gun concealed in her purse. Before the Vulture can harm her, Spider-Man arrives. Slamming the Vulture into a pillar, Spider-Man begins webbing his enemy up while also telling Debra that he came to chat with her about her book. However, the Vulture uses the talons on his costume to cut himself loose and flies outside. When the web-head tries following after him he is ambushed by his foe. As the two fight it out, the Vulture revels in the new status quo, gloating that this time Spider-Man is the outlaw and he is the hero. Eventually, the Vulture manages to slash Spider-Man’s leg with his talons, drugging the web-slinger with a powerful hallucinogen. As Spider-Man falls to his ground, the Vulture is in the middle of reporting to his handler when suddenly, he feels a pain in his chest. Thinking he has been betrayed, the Vulture seized up and begins falling as well.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Vulture, Debra Whitman, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson, “Miss Arrow”, Mary Jane Watson (voice only)

Continuity Notes

1. How many years ago this flashback takes place is unspecified. Based on the topical reference. I’d say this flashback happened about 54 years ago. See “How old is this flashback?” below.

2. At the time of this story, Peter Parker revealed that he was Spider-Man in Civil War #2 to show his support for the SHRA. However, he later renounced his support in Amazing Spider-Man #535 making him a fugitive from the law.

3. Debra was part of Peter Parker’s life from Amazing Spider-Man #196 until Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #74. During that period of time she and Peter had a brief romance. However, Debra was suffering from mental illness stemming from an abusive marriage. Peter basically gaslit her by revealing he was Spider-Man, snapping her out of her delusional behavior and convincing her to go home and sort out her life. After Peter revealed his identity she wrote a book about her past relationship with him, as we saw last issue. However, the publishers hired a writer to punch the book up and make it more lurid.

4. One of the bookstore employees says that Neil Gaiman recently did a book signing. Usually, references to real-world people are considered topical. However, Marvel Comics creators actually exist in the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe and exist in the relative prime of their lives.

5. Debra is delighted to see that Betty is a reporter for the Bugle now. Back when Debra was part of Peter Parker’s life, Betty was an on-again-off-again secretary for J. Jonah Jameson. Betty later moved up to become a reporter in Web of Spider-Man #91.

6. Betty Brant dated Peter Parker from Amazing Spider-Man #7 to 18. In fact, one of the underlying reasons why Betty’s romance with Peter ended was due to his alter-ego, Spider-Man.

7. There is a lot of family drama on display here the facts:

   • Betty’s brother was seemingly killed by Black Gaxton in Amazing Spider-Man #11. However, unknown to Betty at this time, her brother actually survived this encounter. How he survived is explained in Venom (vol. 2) #21. He will resurface again as the new Crime-Master in Venom (vol. 2) #1

   • Betty started dating Ned Leeds after she and Peter broke up and they got married in Amazing Spider-Man #156. Tragically, Ned was murdered in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1.

   • Since Amazing Spider-Man #289, it was believed that Ned Leeds was secretly the original Hobgoblin and that was why he was murdered. However, Betty later uncovered the truth, learning that Roderick Kingsley was the real Hobgoblin and brainwashed Ned to take his place as seen in Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #1-3.

8. “Miss Arrow” is actually the Other, an entity that is pushing Spider-Man to totally embrace the Spider. We’ll learn this in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #21-22.

9. Debrah asks if Flash is a member of Spider-Man’s fan club. He, in fact, is. Flash started a Spider-Man fan club back in high school as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #17

10. Betty and Flash have had an on-again-off-again relationship dating back to Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #98.

11. Flash was in a car accident circa Peter Parker: Spider-Man #44-47. He was in a coma until Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1. He remained in a catatonic state until Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3.

Topical References

• In the flashback, Adrian Toomes suggest that he and his brother go see the new Gary Cooper movie. This should be considered a topical reference as it would greatly advance the age of the character. Particularly since Gary Cooper died in 1961.

• Betty is depicted using a pocket tape recorder to document her interview with Debra. This is topical since this technology is obsolete.

• The man that calls Peter Parker a “bleeding heart liberal” is depicted as Stephen Colbert, a comedian who, at the time, was the host of the Colbert Report a parody of right-wing political talk shows. This should be considered a topical reference for a number of reasons: (a) Stephen Colbert is a real-world person. (b) This depiction is the Colbert character, not the real comedian who is actually fairly liberal in real life and (c) the Colbert Report ended its run in 2014. Around the time this issue was published Colbert was running a joke campaign for the 2006 Presidential Election. Due to Colbert’s tongue-in-cheek promotion of Captain America on both the Colbert Report and the Daily Show, Marvel “endorsed” Colbert’s “run” for President resulting in various references to Colbert’s campaign as well as cameos of the comedian in various Marvel publications.It was a much simpler time.

How Old is This Flashback?

So far as I know, I don’t think there has been a single story featuring the Vulture that specifies how old he is in the Modern Age. Based on his physical appearance I’d say that Toomes is in his 70s in the Modern Age. Identity Disc #1 has a definitive flashback that happens 20 years prior to that story. Toomes had an infant daughter and a full head of hair that was brown. I’d assume that he was around 50 at the time. The flashback in this story, Adrian states that his teachers say he can get a scholarship, so I’m assuming that he’s finishing high school, putting him at least 18 years old at the time. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, about a year has passed between the “present-day” events of Identity Disc and this issue. So that would make the flashback in this story as happening probably about 43 years prior to the main events of this story.

This would work if you examine all the topical references that are at play here.

Identity Disc published in 2004 states that the flashback in that story takes place in 1984 = 20 years.

In this issue, the big clue is that Adrian suggests they go to a Cary Grant movie. Grant’s career spans from 1925 to his death in 1961.

Assuming that Toomes was 50 in 1984 and 18 in this issue’s flashback that would place 32 years between the two flashbacks. 1984 - 32 = 1952, which would put it in the era when Cary Grant was still making movies. The 1950s also fit the rest of the esthetics in this issue’s flashback. Both Adrian and his brother are wearing sweater vests with button-up shirts underneath, that was a common fashion in the 1950s. Adrian’s brother was also crippled in a motorcycle accident, motorcycles were pretty popular in the 1950s.

So based on all of those facts, this flashback happened 54 years prior to this story. 2006 - 1956 = 54.