Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10
The Last Stand Part Two
Spider-Man is paying respects to his Uncle Ben at his recently repair gravestone, apologizing for all the times he let him down. He hopes that Ben can forgive him for breaking the promise he made on the day that Ben was murdered, however, he doesn’t see any other way out of this situation if he wants to ever see Aunt May alive ever again.[1]
When he returns home to tell Mary Jane that he is going to break Norman Osborn out of prison. The very thought of if it makes Mary Jane throw up in the kitchen sink. She thinks this entire thing is crazy, especially since the Black Cat is going to be there, something that Mary Jane is not thrilled about. Getting to tears, Mary Jane points out that Norman Osborn is manipulating him again in order to drive a wedge between them. She pleads with Peter not to go, but Peter can’t do that telling her how he saw Doctor Octopus all doped and won’t let anyone die — not even his deadliest foe — and especially since it means saving Aunt May’s life as well.[2] He believes that Norman Osborn is too afraid to be lying to him this time. Eventually, Mary Jane relents and soon Spider-Man and the Black Cat leave for Ryker’s Island. After they are gone, Mary Jane pulls out a gun she has started carrying and makes sure it is loaded, but hopes that she’s wrong and won’t have to use it.
Later, Spider-Man and the Black Cat are climbing up the side of the rocks to Ryker’s Island. Along the way, the Cat asks Spider-Man what he’s going to do after breaking out Osborn to make sure that this doesn’t keep happening. He tells her that he intends on revealing his identity to the authorities then taking his family and going into witness protection. Spider-Man thanks the Cat for making a black outfit to wear over his usual Spider-Man costume, and she jokingly says she almost considered making Daredevil and Elektra costumes for themselves. Before they go past the fence, Felicia has Peter stop so they can have a moment to talk. The Cat says that she is willing to do this by herself, telling Peter that he doesn’t have to get involved. She says that Spider-Man is one of the few genuinely good heroes out there and she knows that breaking the Green Goblin out of prison would cross a huge line and could be something he’ll regret for the rest of his life. When Peter confirms that the Black Cat is 100% serious that she would be willing to do this to protect his good name, Spider-Man leaps over the fence hoping the Scorpion’s plans on the prisoner are as good as he claimed.
At that moment, inside the prison, a number of guards are trying to convince one of their colleagues to look away from the security monitors for a few minutes. Hayden is reluctant, but they remind him how Norman Osborn manipulated one of their colleagues and put his wife into the grave. Hayden is more afraid of losing his job, but they assure him that nobody will miss Norman Osborn after all the people he’s murdered. They assure him they can kill Osborn by using the bullets that were developed to help them take down the Rhino. Elsewhere, Spider-Man is making his way to Osborn’s cell while the Black Cat is busy disarming the security systems.[3] When he arrives at Osborn’s cell, Norman scolds Spider-Man for being 90 seconds late. Grudgingly, the web-slinger enters in the combination to open Norman’s cell. A few moments later the guards who have come to kill him arrive to discover that Norman’s cell is empty. When they radio in to Hayden, he tells them that Osborn is still in his cell according to his monitors — unaware of the fact that the Black Cat set the security monitors onto a video loop. By the time the alarms go off, the Black Cat and Spider-Man are escorting Osborn through a sewage pipe. When Osborn complains about still being handcuffed, Spider-Man explains that he isn’t taking them off until Aunt May is safe. When they run into a maintenance worker he tries to call security, but Norman headbutts him. Unfortunately, Spider-Man stops to make sure the man is okay, delaying them enough for guards to arrive.
Realizing he left Black Cat alone with Osborn, Spider-Man tries to catch up and ends up in the East River. Suddenly, strong current yanks him to shore, and Spider-Man quickly discovers that the current is actually Hydro-Man. Once on shore, he also sees that Sandman has the Black Cat hostage. When the web-slinger demands to know what’s going on, the Green Goblin appears and tells him that this is an obvious double-cross then orders his allies to keep Spider-Man busy while he deals with his wife.[4] Suddenly, Spider-Man and the Cat are surrounded by Hydro-Man, Sandman, the Lizard, the Shocker, Electro, Hammerhead, the Chameleon, Tombstone, and Boomerang. As he flies away, the Goblin introduces Spider-Man to his team, the Sinister Twelve. That’s when the final addition arrives, at first the think it’s the Scorpion until they realize that Mac Gargan is the newest host for the Venom symbiote.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Black Cat, Sinister Twelve (Green Goblin, Hydro-Man, Sandman, Lizard, Electro, Vulture, Shocker, Chameleon, Hammerhead, Tombstone, Boomerang, Venom), Mary Jane Watson, Blackie Drago, Rhino
Continuity Notes
1. There’s a lot to unpack here:
Uncle Ben: Dead. Amazing Fantasy #15
Gwen Stacy: Also dead. Amazing Spider-Man #121
Aunt May: Kidnapped. Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1
Norman Osborn: In jail also since Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1. He’s known Peter Parker’s identity since Amazing Spider-Man #39
2. As explained last issue, Norman Osborn believes a secret cabal that is allegedly responsible for creating super-villains is going to kill him using Doctor Octopus as their tool. Peter partially believes this since he previously saw a doped up Doctor Octopus on a rampage in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #5.
3. Spider-Man is surprised to see Blackie Drago, saying he hasn’t’ seen him since the “whole Vulture thing a few years back” and wonders if he’s been in prison this whole time. Blackie Drago was a crook who usurped the Vutlure’s identity for a brief period of time, clashing with Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 and 63 until Adrian Toomes took back his costume. Per the Sliding Timescale, Spider-Man last fought Drago about 9 years prior to this story.
4. The Goblin refers to Mary Jane as Peter Parker’s wife. However, not long after this, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new timeline, the Goblin would be calling her his fiancee instead of his wife.
