Masks Part One

Now

Spider-Man is caught in an arm lock while in a wrestling match with El Muerto. Spectators in the crowd include J. Jonah Jameson who is cheering for El Muerto and Flash Thompson who is rooting for Spider-Man. Watching from home is Mary Jane Watson who thinks Aunt May is going to kill her over what’s going on. El Muerto tells Spider-Man to surrender, but the web-slinger manages to flip himself over the wrestler in order to break free from his grip. Although this move sends El Muerto crashing to the mat, he quickly gets up and begins bouncing off the ropes in to build up momentum before attempting to clothesline the web-slinger.

Earlier

J. Jonah Jameson and his son John are victims of a home invasion. The armed men then tie the Jamesons up. One of the men threatens to kill Jonah while making his son watch before killing John as well. They want to kill Jonah because their father was found guilty of shooting a cop. They blame Jonah’s editorial for influencing the trial and preventing their father from later getting a pardon from the governor. When Jonah tries to talk them down, it doesn’t look like they are relenting. Jonah, thinking that his son John is secretly Spider-Man, pleads with his son that this is not the time to keep secrets. John, on the other hand, has no idea what his father is talking about.[1] Before Jonah can explain what he means, El Muerto comes crashing in through the window and with his superior strength takes out the two home invaders. After freeing the Jameson’s, Jonah finds it pretty convenient that they were rescued at the last minute by a luchador. However, El Muerto explains that he has been following Jameson trying to muster up the nerve to ask for a favor. When he witnessed the two gunmen breaking into Jonah’s home, he decided to act.

When Jonah asks what El Muerto wants, the wrestler asks for help location Spider-Man as he wants to utterly defeat and humiliate the masked vigilante in the ring.

Now

Spider-Man easily evades El Muerto’s clothesline, but the skilled wrestler does a back kick that strikes the web-slinger square in the ribcage. This sends him staggering back into one of the turnbuckles. Spider-Man can hardly believe how hard he was hit, admitting that he had never been hit that hard before. However, Spider-Man is only faking in order to get El Muerto close enough to leap over. As Jonah is getting into the fight, Joe Robertson can’t understand why Jonah suddenly wants to see Spider-Man defeated after laying off the wall-crawler for months. Jonah explains that he was tricked into thinking that Spider-Man was his son, John. When Joe points out that Spider-Man and John have been seen together countless times, Jonah says that Peter Parker was the one who tricked him and that he wasn’t done with Parker yet. From nearby, Flash Thompson continues to cheer on his hero.

Earlier

At Midtown High, Peter Parker is scolding a student named Brad for shoving another kid named Jeremy into a locker, making his nose bleed. Asking Brad what he was thinking, the youth tells him that he was following his coach’s advice on how to get his head in the game. Peter is about to tell Brad that he’s going to have words with the new gym coach when that new coach arrives. Peter is shocked to discover that it’s Flash Thompson, who tells Peter that he’s much better and was just hired as the new gym coach.[2] He warns Peter that if he wants to deal with one of the kids he coaches to come to him first. Having an issue with this, Peter calls for a meeting between him, Flash, and Roger Harrington, the school principal. Peter protests over Harrington hiring Flash because he has brain damage. To prove his point, he tells Flash that they are good friends now, but Flash doesn’t believe it. When Thompson crassly asks what Peter does for fun, Peter decides to turn the tables by showing him a photo of his wife. However, Flash doesn’t believe that Peter could be married to someone as attractive as Mary Jane Watson, telling Peter he’d sooner convince him that he’s actually Spider-Man.[3] When the meeting with the principal doesn’t go as planned, Peter tries to get Flash to remember that they were friends. However, Flash refuses to believe it. Peter isn’t surprised that Thompson would forget their friendship, yet maintain his hero-worship over Spider-Man. Mention of his idol, Flash asks Peter if he heard of J. Jonah Jameson’s challenge to face El Muerto in the ring as part of a million-dollar charity event. Peter isn’t sure if Spider-Man will show up, but Flash points out that his hero wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to earn money for charity.

Now

When Spider-Man attempts to leap over El Muerto again, the wrestler grabs Spider-Man’s ankle and begins spinning the hero over his head. He then suplexes Spider-Man into the mat and grabs him in a headlock. El Muerto tells Spider-Man to surrender, however, the web-slinger refuses to do any such thing. As Spider-Man continues to struggle, El Muerto thinks back…

The Past

A cloaked figure had confronted him and his father, the original El Muerto on a stretch of desert road. The cloaked figure called the Gilded One then ordered Marcus Estrada de la Garcia to surrender his mask or his son’s life. When Marcus refuses, the Gilded one reminds him that the time has come, just as it did for Marcus’s father, that his son has to fight for the right to keep the mask of El Muerto and the powers associated with it. When the GIlded One asks if his son is ready, Marcus tells the cloaked figure that Juan-Carlos is ready and trained his whole life for this moment. Looking at the youth, the GIlded One can smell the stink of fear coming from the boy.. However, when ordered to fight, Juan-Carlos pulls free from the Gilded One’s grasp, telling them both that he doesn’t want to fight, that he never wanted to. Marcus tells the boy to stand up and fight to prevent his humiliation, but Juan Carlos still refuses to fight.

The Gilded One decides that the boy has failed and that, as such, his life is in a forfeit. Marcus refused to let his son die. Unfortunately, when attempting to stop the Gilded One, Marcus Estrada has his head ripped clean off. Handing Juan-Carlos his father’s severed head, the Gilded One tells the boy that — out of respect for his father — he has 10 years to train and become a brave fighter. At the end of those 10 years he is to find a masked hero and challenge him to a public due, win, and unmask the hero. If he fails, Juan-Carlos would sacrifice his life.

Earlier

From their kitchen window, Peter and Mary Jane see that J. Jonah Jameson has put up massive billboards to issue El Muerto’s challenge to Spider-Man. The pair think that Jonah must be getting pretty desperate for publicity. Mary Jane tells Peter to dismiss this, but Peter thinks the charity money could really help the homeless, plus he doesn’t want the public to start thinking that he’s becoming afraid of Jameson. When they ask Aunt May for advice, she references an old Damon Runyon quote about not taking the be of a man who claims he can produce a jack from the deck that will squirt cider in your ear as the end result will be ending up with cider in your ear. Entering the kitchen is the Avenger’s butler, Jarvis, who hears this and recognizes the quote.[4] Explaining the meaning, May says that Peter has always fought for noble causes, but to do this to satisfy his ego is a good way to end up with a soggy ear. Still, she tells her nephew that he supports whatever decision he makes. After Peter and Mary Jane leave the kitchen, Jarvis tells May that a friend of his is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his restaurant and asks if May would accompany him to the event. May asks Jarvis if he is asking her out on a date and when he admits that is exactly what he is doing, she happily accepts.

Now

Logan has come into the room where Mary Jane is watching the fight and asks who is winning. Mary Jane then tells Logan that at the beginning of the match El Muerto asked Peter to fight “mascara contra mascara” and asks what it means. Wolverine explains that it was an agreement to fight mask against mask, with the loser of the battle agreeing to be unmasked. This shocked Mary Jane but she figures that her husband only would have agreed if he knew what he was going to win. When Logan tries to bring up the same Damon Runyon quote, Mary Jane tells him that she’s heard it already.

Back at the arena, Spider-Man has decided that he has had enough and attempts to pin El Muerto to the mat. However, the luchador manages to flip Spider-Man over. The two end up in an armlock together and El Muerto tells him that he looks forward to unmasking the web-slinger when he wins the match. It’s only then that Spider-Man realizes at what’s at stake. Between the pressure of the arm lock and this shocking revelation, one of Spider-Man’s stingers pops out of his wrist and stabs El Muerto in the leg. J. Jonah Jameson accuses Spider-Man of cheating, but the web-slinger insists that it was an involuntary reaction. Either way, the venom from the stinger causes El Muerto to pass out. His final words before falling to the mat is an apology to his father for failing. Watching this from the rafter is the Gilded One who looks forward to reclaiming El Muerto’s mask, and his life.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, El Muerto, J. Jonah Jameson, John Jameson, Flash Thompson, Mary Jane Watson, El Dorado, Joe Robertson, Joey Gastone, Melissa Coolridge, Roger Harrington, Aunt May, “Edwin Jarvis”, Wolverine

Continuity Notes

1. J. Jonah Jameson was tricked into thinking John was Spider-Man by Peter Parker in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #8 during a time when Jonah was offering a reward for Spider-Man’s true identity.

2. Peter states that Flash used to be in a coma. That’s not entirely accurate. In Peter Parker: Spider-Man #44-47, Flash was in a drunk driving accident orchestrated by the Green Goblin. While he was initially in a coma, he was out of it since Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1, but was in a vegetative state. He snapped out of it and got a job as Midtown’s gym coach in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3. The reason why Flash is being such a dick he has forgotten many things that happened to him outside of high school, prime among those things is forgetting that he and Peter became friends in the years since graduating high school.

3. At the time of this story, Peter was married to Mary Jane Watson. However, not long after this, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new timeline, Peter and Mary Jane are not married but engaged. As such, Peter would call Mary Jane his fianceé instead of his wife.

4. The man who appears to be Edwin Jarvis here is actually a Skrull spy as revealed in Secret Invasion #1. He took the place of the real Jarvis prior to New Avengers #1.

Topical References

• The two home invaders state that their father was sentenced to death for killing the cop. This should be considered a topical reference because the death sentence has been abolished in New York State since 2004. Modern readers could choose to reinterpret this scene to mean that their father was sentenced to life in prison instead of getting the death penalty.