Down Among the Dead Part Three

With no help from the superhero community, Spider-Man was forced to go to the Owl to try and find out who was responsible for kidnapping his Aunt May. The trail had led him to an underground brothel and face-to-face with Electro one of the alleged kidnappers. After sending away the prostitute he was just about to sleep with, Electro and Spider-Man get into it. The fight is seen by Adrian Toomes, the other foe implicated in May’s kidnapping and he decides to flee the scene, leaving Electro to deal with the wall-crawler on his own. However, Spider-Man fires a web-line at the briefcase that the Vulture is holding popping it open and causing all the money inside to dump out onto the street. Since that was all of their money from their most recent job, Electro becomes furious and unleashes a powerful jolt of electricity. Electro then orders Toomes to go and get his Vulture costume and come back so they can both finish off Spider-Man once and for all.

As Spider-Man and Electro trade blows, the villain takes the opportunity to boast about his new costume, particularly the fact that it is insulated unlike Spider-Man’s. He then unleashes a powerful jolt of electricity. The web-slinger resists the urge to blackout and continues to fight back. Electro tells Spider-Man that it was a mistake getting involved telling him that he couldn’t guess what villains get up to between battles. With that, Electro uses his powers to become an electromagnet and throw every piece of metal that not tied down at Spider-Man. The web-slinger shields himself with a car door and tells Electro to stop before someone gets hurt, but his foe is uninterested since Spider-Man just cost him twenty-million dollars. He then unleashes another powerful jolt of electricity, killing a car full of kids. Spider-Man again pleads with Electro to stop, but the electrified freak continues to let loose telling him that he had a lot of time in prison trying to figure out new ways to use his powers. Before crashing Spider-Man under a pile of cars, he tells the web-slinger that ionizing metal objects was an idea given to him by Doctor Octopus.

Electro then takes the lull in the battle to call the Vulture and see what’s taking so long. Unfortunately, the Vulture hasn’t made it back to their hotel room yet because without his wings he can only float. That’s when Spider-Man ambushes him and the tricks Electro into taking the fight onto a construction site where he has opened a bunch of propane canisters. Caught in the blast, only Spider-Man is left standing and he demands to know what Elector did to May Parker. At first, Electro has no idea what Spider-Man is talking about and when the web-slinger explains that he was told by the Owl that Electro kidnapped May Parker, the villain realizes that Spider-Man was being played for a fool. He tells the web-slinger that the Kingpin used to produce movies in his spare time. Not out of any interest in the art form, but filmmaking is an easy way to launder money. He then says that the Kingpin recently bankrolled a film that did not take back his investment. He then goes on to say that Electro and the Vulture were later hired by the Owl to collect this old debt. Instead, they decided to steal the money themselves. As Spider-Man begins to realize how he is being played, Electro sends the full current through a puddle that Spider-Man is standing in. The powerful jolt stuns Spider-Man and he falls onto the street below.

Soon an ambulance arrives on the scene and Spider-Man is rushed to the emergency room. There a photographer from the Daily Bugle tries to get a photo of the web-slinger but the EMT bringing Spider-Man in kicks him out.[1] Spider-Man is then rushed into surgery where the head doctor orders the web-slingers mask taken off. When one of the nurses raises concerns about Spider-Man’s secret identity, the doctor points out that this is an emergency and he may suffocate with the mask still on his face and has it peeled off. By this time, Mary Jane calls home from the motel she ran to on Peter’s request. However, she tells him that she can’t sit by and in a motel waiting for word on the search for May and she leaves a voice mail telling Peter that she is coming back home. That’s when she turns on the news and learns that Peter has been taken to the hospital.

Back in New York, as the hospital staff try to keep the media circus at bay, Spider-Man is taken out of surgery, his face all bandaged up from his injuries. That’s when the Vulture comes crashing in to finish off the wall-crawler. When one of the nurses chastizes him for coming to kill an injured man, the Vulture reminds her that this is exactly what Vultures do.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Electro, Vulture, Mary Jane Watson, Yekaterina, Saul Fischer, (in flashback) Kingpin, Owl

Continuity Notes

1. One of the doctors on the scene says he hoped it was Paste-Pot Pete of the Frightful Four brought in. This was the previous nom de plum of the Trapster when he first appeared on the scene in Strange Tales #104. He later changed his name to the Trapster in Fantastic Four #38, although he doesn’t live down his old name.

Topical References

• Spider-Man states that Electro’s costume is so Queer Eye For the Straight Guy. This should be considered a topical reference because the original run ran for only five seasons. The show has also shortened its title simply to Queer Eye to broaden its scope. Yes, even though the show was revived on Netflix it’s still topical since it is a real-world show.

• The photographer from the Daily Bugle is shown using an early model digital camera. Obsolete technology.

• The Parkers are depicted as having an old answering machine attached to their phone. With the advent of voice mail these machines are obsolete.

• The Vulture tells the nurse to watch the Discovery Channel. This is topical because it is a real-world television network.