Spider-Verse continues from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #12…

In the year 2099 of Earth-928, Spider-Man 2099 and Lady Spider have just trapped Daemos in a containment unit in one of Alchemax’s labs. Daemos fights to get free, but his prison exponentially multiplies the force used against its prisoner. Spider-Man is confident that Daemos will be contained long enough for them to perform an autopsy on his old body.[1]

However, before they get to work, Spider-Man has to meet with Alchemax’s CEO, Tyler Stone. It’s a tense meeting because Spider-Man is still furious over Stone abandoning him in the past.[2] Expecting trouble, Tyler has also set up defenses in his office to keep Spider-Man from taking his anger out on him. Spider-Man convinces Tyler to also give him access to the adjacent lab so he can perform an autopsy on Daemos’ old body. Stone agrees and sends Winston, his assistant, to recover the body where Spider-Man stashed it.

With the body delivered, Spider-Man and Lady Spider prepare to perform the autopsy. They have the monitors set on the real Daemos in his cell. He is still trying to get out, but Spider-Man tells him that the containment field will kill him before he get out. Daemos finds this interesting and then changes the subject, mocking the two spiders on the futility of their mission. Daemos vows that his family will hunt them down until they all spiders are dead beneath their feet. Before getting down to work, Spider-Man has Lady Spider work on a dimensional jump device he recovered from the dead body of one of his other counterparts.[3] With Lady Spider’s technical prowess and Alchemax’s advanced technology, he is confident that she can make the device work properly. As Lady Spider works on repairing the device she is unaware that Tyler Stone is watching and collecting all the data on the dimensional jumpers.[4]

Sometime later, Daemos makes the two spiders an offer: Set him free and he and his family will spare them so they can live until old age. By this time, Lady Spider is almost finished with the dimensional jumper. Unfortunately, Spider-Man isn’t any closer to finding some other means for the Inheritors to ingest other than the life-forces of spider-totems. Hearing Daemos’ offer, Spider-Man refuses his offer, not willing to sacrifice the others just to save his own neck. Upon confirming Spider-Man’s refusal, Daemos warns him that he will escape and then he will kill them both. As Daemos goes into a state of meditation, Spider-Man fears the worst and rushes to the nearby bio-lab to get something. As he leaves, he orders Lady Spider to keep an eye on their prisoner.

In the next lab, Spider-Man learns from the technician that an illness he is interested in was cured in the year 2040 and asks for a dose to be synthesized.[5] Lady Spider then calls Spider-Man, telling him that Daemos has come out of his trance. Suddenly, Daemos charges at the containment barrier and continues pushing as hard as possible intending to kill himself so his mind will be downloaded into a new clone body. Spider-Man and Lady Spider then race back to their lab to try and finish their work as quickly as possible before Daemos comes back in his new body. However, Spider-Man has contacted an ally that will hopefully slow their opponent down.

At that same moment, Daemos has returned to Earth-928 and with a stolen Public Eye hoverbike, is speeding toward the Alchmax Building. However, his vehicle is blasted out of the sky by the Punisher of 2099. The Punisher orders him to surrender or suffer the consequences, but Daemos is hardly phased. The Punisher then pulls out a massive gun and blasts the Inheritor. He shrugs off the blast and quickly disarms the Punisher of his gun. However, Jake Gallows has more than just guns at his disposal. He quickly pulls out his titanium baseball bat and begins beating Daemos with the weapon. Once his foe is disorientated, the Punisher pulls out a plasma gas cannon that sets Daemos ablaze. Although this hardly phases the powerful Inheritor, it increases his body heat so much it causes him to melt through the roof of the building they are standing on. The Punisher then reports back to Spider-Man and says he bought the wall-crawler some time and to get while the going’s good.

By this time, Lady Spider has completed their dimensional jumper and Spider-Man decides to that the best place for them to go is the Safe Zone where all the other spider-totems have been gathering. Lady Spider is 75% sure the device will work and they take the risk anyway. When they arrive on Earth-13’s Safe Zone, they are horrified to discover a number of dead Spider-Men and realize that the Inheritors got here first.[6]

… Spider-Verse continues in Scarlet Spiders #3.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man 2099, Lady Spider, Daemos, Tyler Stone, Winston, Punisher 2099, (corpses) Captain Universe (Parker), Captain Spider, Prince of Arachne, Arachnosaur

Continuity Notes

1. As explained in Scarlet Spiders #1-3, when a member of the Inheritors dies their mind is downloaded into a clone body, making them virtually immortal. Daemos was killed in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #11 hence how Spider-Man could have him contained in a cell and also have a body to autopsy.

2. Spider-Man was sent to the modern age of Earth-616 to prevent the death of his grandfather, Tiberius Stone, in order to preserve his timeline. Tyler Stone then stranded him in the past. See Superior Spider-Man #17-19.

3. That would be the Spider-Man 2099 from Earth-6375. He was a member of the dimensional hopping Exiles from Exiles #75 to 99. He became aware of the Inheritor’s murder of spider-totems across the multiverse and attempted to assemble his counterparts from across the multiverse only to be killed by Morlun. See Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 2) #5.

4. Tyler Stone will later use this technology to flee back to the modern age of Earth-616 and form the Fist. See Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 3) #1-25.

5. This would be a rare form of cancer that Tempest Munroe is dying of. Miguel learned about her terminal illness in Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 3) #2.

6. The Spider-Men of the multiverse have been hiding on Earth-13 since Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #9, because Captain Universe was its defender. However, this sense of security was shattered in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #11.

Topical References

• This story states that Spider-Man 2099 was dumped in the year 2014. This year should be considered a topical reference.