Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #34
Nothing Can Stop the Rhino
In the back parking lot of the motel they have been hiding out in, the Black Cat meets with Aunt May and Mary Jane to ask how Peter Parker is doing.[1] May — not liking the Black Cat in the slightest — assures Felicia that his family is doing everything to look after him. When the Cat asks where Peter is, they tell him that he’s out presently. When she asks if he’s gone after the Rhino, both May and Mary Jane think Peter has bigger priorities than getting revenge. The Black Cat is pleased to hear this because she has time to kill. As she turns to leave, Mary Jane warns Felicia that the Rhino is not someone to trifle with, telling her that Peter was nearly beat into a coma by the villain and that she doesn’t need to go after him. Felicia appreciates the concern but assures Mary Jane that she can handle the Rhino as she has faced much worse. As the Black Cat walks away, Aunt May expresses her dislike for Felicia, saying she is a bad influence on Peter. Mary Jane agrees, saying that the Black Cat is crazy. Felicia can hear them talking about her behind her back, and she decides to let them indulge themselves since she believes a woman should do whatever it takes to make herself feel better. She knows all about making herself feel better, hence why she bought herself a brand new motorcycle.
As she gets on the motorcycle, she calls the Puma to get an update on his hunt for the Rhino. The Puma says that he managed to track the Rhino to the Animal Club, an abandoned business that just happens to have been owned by the Chameleon. As it turns out, the Rhino was one of the villains recently hired by the Chameleon to try and take out Spider-Man. With the Chameleon in prison, the Rhino has been on a tear to vent the anger of not getting paid. So far he has broken into an ATM machine and stolen a number of kegs of beer from a liquor store. Presently, the Rhino is in Central Park getting drunk. Felicia heads that way, telling the Puma to meet him there. She tells Fireheart that Spider-Man hasn’t been located, unaware that at that very moment the web-slinger is in a planning session with Captain America and his anti-registration forces.[2] On her way to Central Park, the Black Cat figures the Puma is another person who thinks she is crazy, but none of them understands the bond she and the Spider share. She thinks back to the time they fought Doctor Octopus together. During that battle, Felicia was seriously injured and Peter got so angry that he ripped the mechanical arms off Doc Ock’s body in retaliation.[3] She remembers how Spider-Man rushed her to the hospital and remained by her side until she awoke from her coma. Felicia was touched to see Spider-Man crying over her when she woke up. From then on, Felicia believed that she and Peter formed a bond that can never ben broken. She thinks the bond didn’t break when Peter attempted to break up with her, because she couldn’t accept his life as Peter Parker. The rejection angered her and she acted as though she was more than happy to end their relationship.[4]
Parking her motorcycle, she thinks there is less of the Spider now that Peter Parker publicly revealed his identity, and figures his wife must be very happy for that.[5] Heading for the park, Felicia thinks about the next that Spider-Man dumped her. She returned home wondering who she was and wondered what she allowed the Kingpin to do to her body.[6] Feeling dirty from head to tow, Felicia stripped off her costume and took a long hot shower hoping the scalding water would burn everything away until there was nothing left. Felicia is snapped back to reality when the Puma radios in to tell her that the situation is about to get volatile as the Rhino has happened upon a group of drunken sailors on shore leave. When the Puma asks if he should act, Felicia tells him to stand by as he is her back up and she wants the first crack at the Rhino. By this point, the drunken sailors — angered by the Stamford disaster[7] — make the ill-advised decision to try and pick a fight with the Rhino. Before the villain can strike them, the Black Cat wraps up his hands in a grappling hook and convinces the sailors to run for it. Before a fight can break out, Felicia surprises the Rhino by asking if they can just talk. Felicia admits that she was originally spoiling for a fight and has faced worse than the Rhino in the past.[8] However, she doesn’t want get into a bloody fight. In fact, she has been thinking about how almost everything she’s done in recent times was for Spider-Man, or more importantly Peter Parker. She now realizes that the bond she felt with Peter has never been a two-way street and that he has his own life and people in it that take precedence over her and that she has now come to accept that.
The Rhino is confused by all of this and asks if she wants to fight him. The Cat says she doesn’t want to and won’t if he agrees that his rampage stops here and now. If he doesn’t, she’s going to call the Puma and the two of them are going to take him out with a bazooka that was designed by Reed Richards. In case this bluff doesn’t work she goes further explaining that she doesn’t have to act like the crazy ex-girlfriend any more than the Rhino needs to act like an easily manipulated idiot and suggests that Aleksei go home and sober up. After considering her words for a moment, the Rhino turns around and walks away without further incident. That’s when the Puma comes out of hiding and says she is really lucky. Later, Felicia returns to the motel where the Parkers are staying and tells Mary Jane what happened. Hearing the whole story, Mary Jane admits that she’ll never understand superheroes. Felicia admits they aren’t that complicated and as she turns to leave, Mary Jane asks if she has a message for Peter. This causes Felicia to pause as she thinks about what she could say. She decides there is no message, and leaves. However, she thinks how it took Peter Parker taking his mask off to remind her that it is never too late to find out who you really are.
Recurring Characters
Black Cat, Puma, Rhino, Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson, Spider-Man, Captain America, Luke Cage, Vision, Patriot
Continuity Notes
Let’s all get on the same page here:
Peter Parker publicly revealed his identity in a show of support of the Super-Human Registration Act as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #532-533 and Civil War #2.
He later renounces the SHRA making him an outlaw as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #534-535 and Civil War #5. Peter, Mary Jane, and Aunt May have been living out of a motel ever since.
Peter was recently beat senseless by the Rhino in Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #32.
Prior to this, in Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29-31, the Chameleon organized a group of villains to go after Peter Parker and failed. Last issue, we learned that the Rhino was one of the Chameleon’s leftover minions who was still on the loose, unaware that his employer had been arrested.
This story takes place during the events of Civil War #5.
Spider-Man ripped off Doc Ock’s mechanical arms to avenge the Black Cat in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #76.
Spider-Man and the Black Cat broke up in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #100. Peter originally revealed his identity to Felicia in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #87.
Mary Jane is referred to as Peter’s wife here. However, not long after this, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such, Mary Jane would be referred to as Peter’s fiancee instead of his wife.
By Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #89, Spider-Man was having second thoughts over allowing Felicia being his partner in fighting crime because she had no powers. Deciding to get powers of her own, she ended up making a deal with the Kingpin which endowed her with the ability to cause those around her bad luck. Unfortunately, this had the drawback of eventually affecting Spider-Man as well. Both of these issues contributed to Peter eventually breaking up with her in issue #100 of that series.
The Stamford disaster, which occurred in Civil War #1, was an explosion caused during a battle between the New Warriors and a bunch of villains that killed hundreds of people. It was the catalyst that brought about the SHRA.
Felicia is thinking of a time she beat Sabretooth in battle. Sabretooth broke Felicia’s nose in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #116. She eventually got revenge, defeating him in a battle in issue #119 of that same series.
