Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #22
Destiny’s Child
This story continues from Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4…
As the creature calling itself, the Other flees, Spider-Man takes stock of his current situation: He had just recently been reborn into a new body with new and enhanced spider-powers, he then witnessed as a collective of spiders consumed the husk of his former body and turned into the Other, and while he was fighting with said creature when stingers suddenly popped out of his wrists. The creature then punched through a thick Vibranium wall and escaped.[1] Spider-Man goes after the Other and tries to grab it, but the spiders that make up its body quickly separate and reform on the ledge of a nearby building. Learning how to speak, it reveals it explains that it is the Other It explains that while he lives the Other lives and when he dies the other dies. Spider-Man isn’t interested in dying again and leaps at the Other. Surprisingly the stingers pop out of his wrists again. While doesn’t make sense to him since spiders don’t have stingers. Evading his thrust, the Other explains that while spiders don’t have stingers now, they will evolve to have them in the future, just as Spider-Man has evolved. The Other explains that Morlun came to kill him and succeeded, but the Great Weaver decided that it was not Spider-Man’s time and helped bring him back to life. However, the angered another deity that decided that there must be a cost and sent it. The Other says he defines her and she defines him as he evolves so will she, evolve or die.[2] With that, the Other leaps off the side of the building and shatters into a pile of spiders upon impact on the street. The spiders then scurry down a storm drain before Spider-Man can stop them.
Spider-Man returns to Avengers Tower where his teammates are waiting for him amid a headquarters covered in spider-webs.[3] They decide that Spider-Man needs to give them some answers. After sitting down and explaining everything he knows to Iron Man and Captain America, however, they are no closer to finding answers. Iron Man tells Spider-Man that he needs to stay put until they can run more tests and get to the bottom of things. Later that evening, Peter is in bed alone when Wolverine comes to pay him a visit. Logan says he has come to see how Peter is doing, saying that his scent has changed since he came back from the dead and warns Peter that this isn’t over. That’s when Mary Jane comes into the room, prompting Wolverine to make his exit. When she asks what Logan was talking about, Peter dismisses it as Wolverine being Wolverine. Noticing that he is glum, she then asks Peter what’s wrong. He admits to her that none of what has happened makes any sense to him. He remembers his battle with Morlun and after the killing blow he remembers seeing some bright lights and thought he was dead until he emerged from his cocoon of webbing. He thinks he should be dead but he’s not and all he can think of is what the Other told him, that he has to evolve or die and wonders what that means. When Mary Jane asks if he remembers anything from being in the hospital, but he doesn’t. When he asks why, Mary Jane says it’s nothing, deciding to keep the truth about Peter turning into a monstrous creature and slaying Morlun for another time. Instead, she says that everything is back is going to be fine and that they should go to bed.
The following day, Spider-Man pays a visit to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange. After a thorough examination, Doctor Strange tells Spider-Man that he senses that the web-slinger is now connected to a cosmic web. When Peter asks if he is the spider or the fly in this instance, Strange says that depending on the perspective he could be either, or both. This causes him to remember the strange dream he had prior to his rebirth. When Stephen asks what he’s thinking, Peter tells him to nevermind. Continuing, the Doctor explains that Spider-Man has disrupted great cosmic forces and this will result in a strong corrective response. Thinking of his encounter with the Other, Spider-Man tells Strange that he’s already encountered her. When Spider-Man asks if there is any good news, Doctor Strange makes an uncharacteristic joke, saying that Peter has bounced back from having his eye gouged out very well. At dusk, Peter is sitting out on the balcony at Stark Tower trying to make sense of everything when he is joined by Aunt May. Knowing that her nephew is troubled, she asks Peter to talk to her. He admits to her that he feel like he cheated the powers that be by coming back from the dead. However, May doesn’t see it that way, thinking that Peter was just given a second chance and that there is a reason for it. However, these are the designs of much grander things and it is not one’s place to question why. Getting to the point, May says Peter is still alive and all that matters now is what he will do moving forward, telling him that his rebirth is a blessing.[4] She concludes by saying she always thought that Peter was special, and his coming back to life proves it. She thinks that Peter is in store for some big things and after everything he’s endured he’ll be ready for it.
As May is saying all this, the Other has spun a cocoon in the archway of a church where she is undergoing some changes.
… This story in Amazing Spider-Man #528.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, the Other, New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, “Spider-Woman”, Luke Cage), Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, “Edwin Jarvis”
Continuity Notes
Spider-Man pretty much recaps the less stupid parts of The Other storyline:
Spider-Man was seemingly killed by Morlun in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3.
Peter’s shed his old body last issue.
He then emerged from a webbed cocoon in Amazing Spider-Man #527.
Later he was ambushed by the Other in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #4.
There is a lot about Morlun, the Great Weaver, and the Other that’s not totally explained here. The details are:
Morlun has come to kill Spider-Man on two different occasions at this point. First in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #30-35 and again in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3.
As explained in Scarlet Spider (vol. 2) #14, Spider-Man was chosen by the Great Weaver to become a receptacle for the Other.
During the Spider-Verse event it is revealed that the Great Weaver has been seeking spider-totems to stop Morlun and his family, a group of hunters that travel across the multiverse stealing the life forces of animal totems, spiders in particular. To “Evolve or Die” was a challenge for Spider-Man to embrace the Other to become one of the components that could stop Morlun and his family once and for all. This is all detailed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #9-15, Superior Spider-Man #32-33, Edge of the Spider-Verse #1-5, Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 2) #5-8, Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3, Scarlet Spiders #1-3, Spider-Verse #1-2, and Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #1-4.
The individuals who appear to be Spider-Woman and Edwin Jarvis here are actually Skrull spies as revealed in Secret Invasion #1 and 3. The real Spider-Woman was replaced in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1, while Jarvis was replaced prior to New Avengers #1.
May envokes Uncle Ben’s death. Amazing Fantasy #15.
Will Spiders Evolve and Get Singers?
That’s an interesting question. When you figure the evolution of a species takes thousands upon thousands of years before there are any noticeable changes that prove beneficial to the species to appear, so you and me, we’ll probably never know. On the other hand, considering that spiders are closely related to scorpions, it probably isn’t such an impossible idea. Needless to say, if you Google the subject, you’ll note a distinct lack of anything to suggest this as a possibility, which just means nobody is really looking into spider evolution at this point. I think we can chalk this all up as artistic license until there is some actual science to back it up.
