Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #7
Venomous Part Three
After being told his Aunt May is probably dead,[1] Spider-Man has been losing himself in his work. First, he tracks down Curt Connors, who turned into the Lizard again and escaped prison.[2] This time, the Lizard is able to excrete a hormone that activates the r-complex in people leading to mass rioting in the Bronx before he is taken down. The next day, he takes down Hydro-Man who have been hitting ATM machines to pay his gambling debts. The day after that, it’s stopping the Sandman from fighting a busload of college kids while on a drunken bender.[3] The day after that, Spider-Man rescues a French singer that the Rhino is obsessed over. Following this, Spider-Man is almost unmasked by the Enforcers, who are seeking to claim the reward being offered by the Daily Bugle to anyone who can find reveal Spider-Man’s secret identity.[4] Near the end of the week, Spider-Man stops a bunch of kids who stole a replica of the Spider-Buggy from the Smithsonian.[5]
This is followed by two weeks of nothing, leaving Spider-Man to think about how he recently saw Doctor Octopus all drugged up and wondering what was going on with him.[6] Checking in with the Black Cat, she tells him how she has just learned that Don Fortunato just won an auction for the Venom symbiote from Eddie Brock.[7] She explains that Brock found religion and auctioned the thing off to the highest bidder, Don Fortunato bought the symbiote to give to his son Angelo. Unfortunately, she has no evidence that links Venom to Aunt May’s kidnapping. As Spider-Man continues his web-slinging he needs to stop to use a bathroom. He stops at the Millar Diner, where the waitress, a woman named Ramona, working the counter tells him that the washroom is for customers only. She convinces Spider-Man to sit down and order something, so the web-slinger orders a cup of coffee. He tells her how uneventful his night has been. When he remarks how quiet this diner is. Ramona says that people are more interested in going to fancier places and her boss is too cheap to pay for things like air conditioning. She’s concerned that this shift will be canceled which is a problem since she has a son that is special needs who needs all her time during the day. Spider-Man admits that he can relate to her money problems. That’s when Ramona tells him that they have a friend in common, Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture. She explains that she used to date the Vulture’s son and that her son is his grandson. The web-slinger immediately feels bad because he prevented the Vulture from using a bunch of stolen cash for his grandson’s medical treatments.[8] He feels even worse when she talks about how Adrian promised to help with her son with a nest egg he was collecting. Thankfully, some passing police cars give Spider-Man the opportunity to get out of this uncomfortable conversation.
However, it turns out the police were responding to the scene of an accident where someone trying to imitate Spider-Man ended up falling off the side of the Chrysler Building. Afterward, Peter returns home to continue going over the various people who know he is secretly Spider-Man.[9] That’s when Mary Jane comes into the room and tells Peter that he needs to take a break and tells him to come with her to his high school reunion, at least for her.[10] At that moment, at Our Lady of Saints Church, Eddie Brock finishes his transaction with Don Fortunato. When the Don asks how much time Brock will have without the symbiote keeping his cancer at bay. Brock says he can’t be sure.[11] When Eddie asks Angelo Fortunato what he thinks about taking over his burden, Angelo is looking forward to it since he is a scrawny weakling and looks forward to be the new host to the Venom symbiote because the creature is insanely popular with women. When they ask if the symbiote knows Spider-Man’s identity, Brock confirms this, saying if you ask really nice it’ll even tell you.[12]
Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane have arrived at Midtown High for Peter’s high school reunion. There he mingles with Liz Osborn and his old science teacher, Mister Warren.[13] As Peter introduces everyone to his wife,[14] Mary Jane, some of Peter’s old bullies watch and are jealous to see that Peter managed to marry a supermodel when he’s nothing more than a high school science teacher.[15] Pulling Liz Osborn aside, Peter admits that he can’t understand why everyone is acting like his best friend when, back in high school, people either bullied him or didn’t give him the time of day. When she asks why he became a teacher at the school where he was constantly bullied, Peter figures he wanted to have good memories of the place. That’s when the pair of them get to talking about all the weird things that happened in their lives, she has to admit that Peter is the most normal person she knows.[16] That’s when Peter is asked to participate in a picture with some of his classmates in the gym. Peter reluctantly agrees, and Peter’s former tormentors decide to play a prank on behalf of Flash Thompson for old times sake and try to give Peter a wedgie.[17]
That’s when Venom comes crashing through the wall looking to kick Spider-Man’s ass. Peter is forced to use his spider-powers to get away from Venom, whom he learns is now bonded to Angelo Fortunato. When Seymore O’Reilly realizes that Peter Parker is actually Spider-Man, Venom snaps his neck and prepares to do the same to Parker.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Venom, Black Cat, Mary Jane Watson, Liz Osborn, Raymond Warren, Seymour O’Reilly, Lizard, Hydro-Man, Sandman, Rhino, Enforcers (Montana, Fancy Dan, Ox), Eddie Brock, Don Fortunato
Continuity Notes
Aunt May was kidnapped in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #1. Marvel Girl revealed last issue that she thinks May is dead. However, Rachel is proven wrong in issue #12, as is revealed that May was actually buried alive at the site of Uncle Ben’s grave.
Here, Peter states that he has been fighting crime as Spider-Man since he was 18 years old. This is an error on the part of the writer. Per Civil War #2, Peter has been Spider-Man since he was fifteen. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Peter has been Spider-Man for roughly 11 years, making him about 26 at the time of this story.
Peter states that he skipped classes to fight the Sandman. At the time of this story, Peter has been a science teacher at Midtown High, having recently got the job in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #31.
J. Jonah Jameson put out this reward in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #4.
The Spider-Buggy was built by Spider-Man and the Human Torch in Amazing Spider-Man #130 as part of a publicity stunt by Carter & Lombardo to promote a new non-polluting engine. It was ultimately smashed to pieces in Amazing Spider-Man #160 and given back to Carter & Lombardo. After it’s brief appearance here, the Spider-Mobile is back in the Smithsonian as we’ll see in Amazing Spider-Man #600.
Spider-Man encountered a drugged up Doc Ock in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #5. What’s going on? Apparently, this is all part of some mysterious conspiracy, as we’ll learn in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #9.
The Black Cat mentions Don Fortunado’s other son, Jimmy-6. Jimmy was a sometime ally to Spider-Man first appearing Spider-Man #70. He was last seen in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #28. As I wrote this (June 2020), he hasn’t been seen since.
The Vulture’s need of money for his grandson’s medical needs was detailed in Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #4.
Of the people that know Spider-Man’s double-identity, Peter lists off:
Kaine (first appearance in Web of Spider-Man #119) is a clone of Spider-Man that has all of Peter’s memories up to the point the DNA sample was collected, so of course, he knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
Thor - I honestly can’t think of when Thor would have learned Spider-Man’s secret identity prior to the post-Brand New Day era. My guess is that it was Thor (vol. 2) #8, but I could be wrong. If you know the answer and want to school me before I find out myself, shoot me an e-mail.
Kraven - This is the first Kraven the Hunter, Sergei Kravinoff, who learned Spider-Man’s double identity during the Kraven’s Last Hunt story arc, but he promptly blew his brains out shortly thereafter. Check out Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132.
Wolverine - Wolverine’s enhanced senses allowed him to dope out Spider-Man’s double identity in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1.
Ezekiel - Ezekiel Sims revealed that he knows Spider-Man’s double identity in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #30. However, at the time of this story, Sims was eaten by a spider totem in Amazing Spider-Man #508.
The Chameleon - He learned Spider-Man’s secret identity in Spectacular Spider-Man #242.
Ben Reilly - another clone of Peter Parker, first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #149. At the time of this story, Reilly is dead after being murdered by the Green Goblin in Spider-Man #75.
Peter Parker graduated from Midtown High in Amazing Spider-Man #28. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Peter graduated from high school roughly 11 years prior to this story.
Eddie Brock believes that he is dying of cancer here since he was diagnosed in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5. However, this is all part of an elaborate scheme by the symbiote to make Eddie more dependant upon it, as we’ll learn in Venom (vol. 4) #11.
Some details about the symbiote and its knowledge of Spider-Man’s secret identity:
The symbiote knows Spider-Man’s secret identity because he wore the symbiote as a costume from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 until he discovered it was alive and trying to permanently bond with him and abandoned it in Amazing Spider-Man #268.
As per Amazing Spider-Man #300, when the symbiote first bonded to Eddie Brock it revealed all its secrets to him, including Spider-Man’s secret identity.
That said, Brock has forgotten that Peter Parker is Spider-Man after a blow to the head in Spider-Man: The Venom Agenda #1. The symbiote still knows (as evident in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1-5) but kept this from Eddie.
Liz mentions how Peter used to wear thick glasses. Peter used to wear glasses until they were broken by Flash Thompson in Amazing Spider-Man #8. It’s later revealed in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #7 that the spider-bite that gave Peter his powers in Amazing Fantasy #15 eventually corrected his vision.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, not long after this, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the altered timeline, Peter would be introducing Mary Jane as his fiancee instead of his wife.
Mention is made of how Peter is a science teacher at Midtown High. He took the job in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #31.
Liz Osborn lists off a number of events in her life, not all of them having to do with her time at Midtown High, but all of them out of the ordinary for the average person. They are:
Killer robots in the school - that’s a reference to the Living Brain a computerized robot that ran amok at Midtown High in Amazing Spider-Man #8.
Harry Osborn becoming the Green Goblin - This happened after Peter graduated and started attending ESU, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #136. Harry would become the Goblin on and off for years. Liz later went on to marry Harry, as revealed in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #63. She first experienced Harry as the Goblin in Spectacular Spider-Man #179-183.
Mark becoming the Molten Man - She is referring to Mark Raxton, her step-brother, who became the Molten Man in Amazing Spider-Man #28. Although we didn’t learn that he was Liz’s step-brother until Amazing Spider-Man #132-133.
Lastly, she mentions Norman Osborn being outed as the original Green Goblin. Norman has been the Goblin since Amazing Spider-Man #14. By this point, he has been publicly outed as the Goblin twice. First in Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil #1 when Ben Urich wrote an expose on the Osborn family. Osborn managed to discredit this book in Spectacular Spider-Man #250 when he was part owner of the Daily Bugle. This didn’t last as he was once more publicly outed in The Pulse #1-5.
Mention is made how Flash Thompson was recently in a car accident. That happened in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #44-47. It put Flash in a catatonic state and he has been in a catatonic state since and has been living in the apartment under Peter and Mary Jane in Spectacular Spider-Man (vol. 2) #3. He will snap out of this state in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3.
Topical References
Ramona’s son is stated of having leukemia that requires expensive medical treatments. This should be considered a topical reference due to advances in medical science since this comic was published in 2004.
The high school reunion banners at Midtown High have the year obscured but starts with 19. This should be considered topical as the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 pushes the Modern Age forward it becomes increasingly impossible for Peter Parker to have graduated in the 20th century.
One of the bullies states that Mary Jane was a FHM babe. FHM, aka For Him Magazine, is a lifestyle magazine for guys too embarrassed to buy actual pornography I guess? Anyway, it’s a reference that should be considered topical because they actually haven’t printed a magazine version of the publication since 2015. The still have a website though, again for people who are too embarrassed by actual porn?
