Marvel Team-Up #142
Foiled!
Peter Parker has been assigned to take photos at the Nassau County Science Exhibition. As Spider-Man, he snaps photos from the ventilation shaft as the tour guide explains the practical applications of Roxxon's latest invention, Technafoil, a new highly conductive metal. The reason he is staking out the location as Spider-Man is that supplies of Technafoil have been stolen lately. While he waits in the vent, and remarks how this caper will be a breeze compared to his recent encounter with the Beyonder on Battlworld. However, the downtime quickly ends as a bunch of armed guards break into the exhibition hall to steal the Technafoil. Armed with gelatin knock out bullets, they gun down the tour guide. That's when Spider-Man swings into action, to try and stop the theft. However, when he starts gaining the upper hand, the thieves suddenly teleport away with the Technafoil.
While in Manhattan, Monica Rambeau -- the Avenger known as Captain Marvel -- spends her time off to visit the Maritime Museum. Monica is particularly interested in the Windstone jewel, an artifact that is said to have been touched by St. Elmo's fire. Suddenly, the same men who stole the Technafoil teleport into the room and knock out the guards. Monica quickly changes into Captain Marvel and confronts the thugs. Unlike Spider-Man, Captain Marvel fares better due to her ability to transform her body into any form of energy imaginable. She incapacitates most of the thieves, but one aborts the mission and flees. Captain Marvel turns into her energy form and follows after him, but when the thief activates his teleportation device, sending himself and his minions away, it also forces Captain Marvel to return to human form while flying high above the city streets. Struggling to activate her powers, Monica manages to save herself just moments before she would have fatally hit the ground. Returning the museum, Captain Marvel tells the museum curator that the thieves managed to escape. Fearing that they will try and steal the Windstone again, the curator agrees to let Captain Marvel take the stone back to Avengers Mansion for safe keeping. Monica also intends to use this time to figure out what is going on with her powers.
Meanwhile, at the Paulson Foundation, Dr. Eric Paulson tries to find answers from the inside of a bottle and finds none. It's then that he is informed that his operatives have returned from the field. He learns from his colleague, Dr. William Lorber, that they secured the needed Technafoil, but failed to obtain the Windstone. Paulson is furious, as the Windstone is a crucial component needed to operate their Population Reduction by Inter-Dimensional Expulsion Generator. Lorber explains that while they Paulson is worried about their methods for obtaining the materials they need, it is a necessary evil for the survival of the human race and the planet Earth. Once the PRIDE Generator completed, they will be able to teleport over a billion human beings to another dimension. At that moment, atop the Daily Bugle, Spider-Man arrives and wills his new costume to change into street clothes. He marvels at how his new costume can operate in such a fashion. Peter Parker then goes down to the Daily Bugle's "morgue" room to check the archives for anything pertaining to the thieves that he encountered earlier that day. Although he finds nothing in the archives, he learns from the archive technician about Captain Marvel's encounter with the same crooks and quickly leaves.
A few blocks away at Avengers Mansion, Captain Marvel locks away the Windstone in a safe. Her teammate, the Eternal known as Starfox, is happy to learn that she has returned so he can go out on a date with the Rockettes. Captain Marvel is glad to see him go, as there is still uneasiness between the two of them because Monica had taken the name of his former comrade, the original Captain Marvel. No sooner is Starfox gone, do the thieves suddenly teleport into the middle of Avengers Mansion. This time they have come with some projector devices that summon a massive alien creature from another dimension. While Captain Marvel is busy dealing with this threat, the thieves are able to break into the safe and take the Windstone. It's at this moment that Spider-Man arrives on the scene. As the pair try to fight off the creature, they become distracted when they have to save the Avenger's butler, Edwin Jarvis from the creature. This allows the thieves the time they need to make their escape, but not before Spider-Man manages to tag one of them with a spider-tracer. Soon, the pair is in a Quinjet and following the spider-tracers signal.
Back at the Paulson Institute, Dr. Lorber installs the Windstone on the PRIDE Generator, completing its construction. Before Dr. Paulson can bring up the courage to activate the device, he notices the spider-tracer on his minion's leg. However, this discovery comes too late, as Spider-Man and Captain Marvel come crashing through the wall. Before a fight can break out, Paulson explains how he wants to try and solve the world's problem by transporting enough people to another dimension so he can fend off the horrors facing an overpopulated planet. The two heroes believe this plan is mad and try to stop Paulson from activating the PRIDE. However, his hired thieves get in the way, allowing Eric to activate the device. The machine goes haywire, causing portions of other dimensions to randomly appear and disappear in their own reality. However, Captain Marvel detects that something is wrong and that the device could destroy the entire world. Spider-Man then leaps up onto the PRIDE and examines the Windstone jewel. He soon decides to try and use his own body to deflect the energies of the crystal back onto itself. Although the process is painful, he succeeds in forcing the PRIDE to teleport itself to another dimension, ending its threat. However, in the aftermath of the battle, Captain Marvel discovers that she is trapped in her energy form and fears that she may never be able to become human ever again.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, PRIDE (Dr. Eric Paulson, Dr. William Lorber) Starfox, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
Spider-Man was one of the many heroes kidnapped by the Beyonder during Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12.
The scale model of Manhattan includes a replica of the original twin towers of the World Trade Center. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
At this time, Spider-Man is unaware of how his new costume, obtained in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, does this. He will later learn in Amazing Spider-Man #258, that his costume is a symbiotic creature that is trying to permanently bond to him.
Peter is depicted as search the records using a microfiche reader. The type of technology used here should be considered a topical reference relative to the time of publication, per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.
Bert the archive technician expresses his interest in the "Steve Canyon" comic book strip and how he met creator Milton Caniff in 1953. Both should be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 — particularly since Steve Canyon ended its newspaper strip run in 1988. Caniff had passed away that same year.
The fact that Monica called herself Captain Marvel is troubling to Eros because his friend, the original Captain Marvel, had just recently died of cancer as seen in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.
