For a Few Fists More!

Peter Parker is sitting down in a diner for a meal that is suddenly interrupted when Iron Fist kicks the mugger through a window into the restaraunt. Parker watches in awe as Iron Fist easily disarms the knife weilding man and steps out once the fight is done. Curious about this martial artist, Peter slips into a nearby alley to change into Spider-Man and follow after him so he can snap photos for the Daily Bugle. As Spider-Man follows after Iron Fist, he is unaware that the both are being observed by a strange man who speaks backwards. This is Drom the Backward Man, and he believes that these two heroes can provide him with enough power to continue living and follows after them. In order to accomplish this, the man uses a ray device to snap Spider-Man's web and cause him to land on top of Iron Fist.

Thinking that this is an attack, Iron Fist strikes back. Spider-Man's speed allows him to dodge a kick that is powerful enough to knock down a lamp post. Sure enough the two heroes begin to fight each other, much to Drom's delight. However, Spider-Man has a cooler head and uses his webbing to tie up Iron Fist. After explaining that someone shot his web, the pair agree to compare notes. Iron Fist rips free of the webbing and the pair sit down at a nearby playground to compare notes. Furious that they are no longer fighting, Drom uses his weapon to transform the sand around them into a massive four armed sand creature. Iron Fist is knocked out in the opening salvo, but Spider-Man manages to get the upper hand when he wraps the sand creature in webbing. Suddenly it is destroyed by Drom who reveals himself to his two targets. Spider-Man tries to fire a web at their foe, but it disinitgrates before making contact with Drom. While Spider-Man is still confused, Drom blasts him, knocking the hero out.

Spider-Man later wakes up in Drom's lab and finds himself tied to a chair. Using a device that translates his words, Drom explains his origins to the confined hero. He explains that after his birth, due to some bizarre twist of fate, he turned from an infant to an old man. Drom quickly learned that he was aging backward and began inventing the technology he needed to keep himself alive, from devices that transform food into material his reversed metabolism can eat, and drain the energies from people and objects that is reflected back at a specially made mirror that slows his reversed aging process. That's why he instigated the battle between Spider-Man and Iron Fist, in order to draw the power he needed. Now with Spider-Man his prisoner, Drom will drain the hero of all his energy. As Drom activates the device, Iron Fist comes crashing through the wall, having followed Drom from the scene of their battle.

After knocking Drom aside, Iron Fist frees Spider-Man and after Iron Fist is warned not to touch Drom, the pair quickly figure out a way to defeat their foe: the mirror. Grabbing the looking glass, the pair smash it on the ground. Suddenly, Drom begins to rapidly de-age until he no longer exists. In the aftermath of the battle, Spider-Man and Iron Fist find it hard to remember their ordeal, as though all memory of Drom is being erased. Hoping to keep some kind of record of the battle, Peter Parker returns to his apartment and records his account in the hope he will always remember this strange battle.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Iron Fist

Continuity Notes

• Seeing Iron Fist's martial art skill reminds Peter Parker of his then recent encounter with Shang-Chi. That happened in Giant-Size Spider-Man #2.