Peter Parker: Spider-Man #51
Just Another Manic Monday Part 1
Peter Parker wakes up on Monday morning after a late-night, cursing the fact that he has to be up so early. As he gets ready for the day ahead, Peter figures that his villains get to sleep in. However, Peter would be wrong as at that moment, Herman Shultz — aka the Shocker — wakes up and listens to the morning news. When they name off the super-villains currently active in the city, Herman is insulted when his name is not part of the list. Elsewhere in the city, Hydro-Man wakes up in the bathtub, getting out just in time before a leak drains him into the sewers.
As Spider-Man web-slings across the city, traffic is snarled by Stilt-Man who refuses to stop his rampage until Daredevil accepts his challenge. Unfortunately, New Yorkers don’t care and his demands are drowned out by honking car horns. Unfortunately for him, Spider-Man hears all the noise and attacks. Stilt-Man is furious that the wall-crawler is interfering. Adding insult to injury, Spider-Man spends his time making jokes at Stilt-Man’s expense until he trips the villain up and leaves him webbed to a lamp post.
By 9 am the Shocker and Hydro-Man are punching in at the same time at their jobs working for Hammer Industries. The pair exchange pleasantries before parting company. In one of the labs, Herman is fitted with an upgraded set of gauntlets but is warned about the boosted power as his costume cannot provide adequate protection against its vibrations. However, Schultz refuses to let them examine his costume, fearing that they could easily replace him if they knew all of his secrets. While in another room, Hydro-Man is testing the limits of his ability to absorb additional liquids into his body. He manages to absorb all the water in an inground pool. After letting go from the strain, Hydro-Man asks why they are doing this and is told that learning the limits to his powers will make him a better team player. This makes Hydro-Man long for the days when he used to clash with super-heroes by himself.[1]
By this point, Spider-Man has just finished stripping off Stilt-Man’s armor and handing him over to the authorities. However, the police aren’t that interested in dealing with the web-slinger because the traffic jam is going to complicate their jobs for hours, prompting an insulted web-slinger to leave without making one of his trademark jokes. Meanwhile, the Shocker and Hydro-Man are called into a meeting and are told that they are being let go.[2] Leaving the office, the Shocker remarks about how he wouldn’t allow himself to be talked to like that a decade ago.[3] Hydro-Man could care less although he will miss the paycheques. That’s when they witness the Constrictor beating up on the office manager who fired them. The Shocker remarks that that used to be him back in the day.
The Shocker isn’t the only one being introspective as that evening Peter Parker is in silent reflection when he is having dinner with Aunt May. When she asks what’s wrong, Peter tells her how he went to visit Flash after work and it got him thinking.[4] He tells her how he battles with is foes it’s always about their last battle. He remembers when he used to use his powers to do some good and help people out.[5] Peter lightens the mood by making some bad jokes and bungling a web-sling. After a good laugh, May tells Peter that he shouldn’t take responsibility for every evil villain that he clashes because it could easily lead to an excuse to do nothing. While Peter knows this, he still feels disenfranchised and feels that Flash’s coma has only put things into perspective.
At this same moment, the Shocker and Hydro-Man are at a diner trying to figure out what kind of crime they should work on together. The Shocker suggests that they do something small scale. When Hydro-Man asks why Herman explains that before he became the Shocker he was the best safe-cracker in the city. However, after that, he became a villain and is tired of always clashing with Spider-Man instead of getting paid. Hydro-Man isn’t sure he wants to things up as he doesn’t seem to be aging and intends to live his life like a rockstar.[6] The Shocker then suggests one last score, saying how life is too short, reminding Hydro-Man how paranoid he became when the Scourge of the Underworld was on the loose.[7] The pair agree on one final score and killing Spider-Man when the waitress comes to tell them to keep it down. In response, Hydro-Man floods the entire diner, drowning the staff and other patrons. As the two villains leave the diner, Hydro-Man tells Shocker to figure out their last score and leave dealing Spider-Man with him.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Shocker, Hydro-Man, Aunt May, Stilt-Man, Boomerang, Whiplash, Constrictor
Continuity Notes
Hydro-Man states here that he hasn’t had much luck on teams. At the time of this story, Hydro-Man has had short-lived tenures on the following super-villain teams:
Hydro-Man first joined the Sinister Syndicate in Amazing Spider-Man #280-281. He also operated on the team in Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-18, Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4, and Web of Spider-Man Annual #8/Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #12/New Warriors Annual #2
He also had a short-lived stint as a member of the Frightful Four in Fantastic Four #326-333.
He had an even shorter tenure on the Assembly of Evil which lasted from Cloak and Dagger (vol. 3) #8-9.
He has been employed by Hammer Industries since Spectacular SPider-Man Annual #12.
The office manager quips that Justin Hammer is either dead or frozen. This is a reference to Hammer’s apparent demise in Iron Man: Bad Blood #4. As I write this (June 2020), Hammer hasn’t been thawed out so let’s assume he’s dead for now until someone decides to bring him back.
The Shocker first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #46, per the Sliding Timescale he has been active as the Shocker for roughly 9 years at the time of this story however as his origin points out he was a criminal prior to becoming the Shocker.
Flash was put in a coma by the Green Goblin who orchestrated a car accident, landing him in the hospital in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #45.
Peter quips that if he wanted to wear tights and fight people all day he would have still been a wrestler. When Peter first got his powers in Amazing Fantasy #15, he wanted to get into show business and started off as a wrestler. His wrestling career is explored in greater detail in Spider-Man: With Great Power #1-5.
Hydro-Man blames Spider-Man for the accident that gave him his super-human powers. He’s not wrong as he was accidentally knocked into the ocean by Spider-Man during the test of an experimental generator which caused his transformation, this happened in Amazing Spider-Man #212.
The Scourge of the Underworld was the name of a number of assassins that were used to eliminate super-villains that was founded by Thomas Halloway, who used to be the wartime hero known as the Angel, as was explained in US Agent #2. At the time of this story, the various Scourges killed over 30 villains, 18 of which were notoriously mowed down at the Bar With No Name in Captain America #319. That particular massacre made the Shocker paranoid that the Scourge might come after him next as seen Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1-4 and Amazing Spider-Man #364.
