This story continues from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #15….

The Great Weaver sent Spider-Man 2099 back to his home era. However, instead of seeing the world he knew, Spider-Man is shocked to discover a world that has been laid waste in a nuclear holocaust.[1] His mind can hardly comprehend what happened to leave Nueva York a lifeless ruin. Suddenly, he spots movement among the ruins and is grazed by an energy blast.

Spider-Man has been knocked to the ground. Two men named Ash and Sonner approach the body. However, Spider-Man is playing possum and quickly webs the two men up. He then demands answers from the men, threatening to shred Ash’s face with his finger talons. They tell him that they are scanners who look for salvage to bring back to Dystopia. Miguel finds this name familiar but can’t place where he’s heard it before.[2] Spider-Man decides to go to this city and cuts Ash and Sonner free and orders them to lead him there.

After a hike, they come upon a small settlement that appears to be deserted. That’s when they are ambushed by the Gravity Police who order them to surrender. Spider-Man refuses to surrender and begins fighting the armed soldiers. That’s when Spider-Man is knocked away by a powerful sonic boom. That’s when Spider-Man sees the Maestro standing over him and he realizes why this seems all so familiar to him. However, this Maestro has never met him and confuses Miguel for the Spider-Man of his past. Miguel, on the other hand, remembers his last encounter with Maestro and recalls how that was an alternate reality he visited with Rick Jones and Captain Marvel. He is more confused then ever because he doesn’t understand how he could be here instead of his own native world of 2099.

When Spider-Man calls him by name, Maestro deduces that Spider-Man must have gotten here via time travel. This is good news to the former Hulk and tells Spider-Man that when he goes back to his own era, he will take Maestro with him. When Spider-Man agrees without any opposition, Maestro knows he is lying and attacks. Luckily, Miguel is much faster than Maestro and is able to evade his blows. Unfortunately, his luck runs out when Maestro grabs his let and slams him around the ruins of the city before he grows bored and stops. Broken and beaten, Spider-Man can’t even get up. Maestro then orders his men to take Spider-Man with them back to the city.

Along the way, Maestro tries to get answers out of Spider-Man, but all Miguel wants to know is what happened to turn this world into a wasteland. Maestro says this is a funny story and asks the wall-crawler if he’s ever heard of a company called Alchemax. He tells them that the company started a program in the first half of the century and something went horribly wrong. Suddenly, nuclear bombs were flying and they decimated the entire planet. As they reach Dystopia, Ash and Sommer demand to know what happened to their people. Amused by the request, Maestro says he used them for a bit of artistic inspiration. He then turns their attention to a massive sign that spells out Maestro’s name. The two scanners are horrified to see the bodies of their fellow villagers strung up on the sign. As Ash and Sommer look at this grotesque spectacle in horror, Maestro sneaks up behind them and crushes their heads with his bare hands.

Maestro then takes the battered Spider-Man into his palace. The Maestro tells him that his arrival is fortuitous because he has recently taken an interest in alternate realities. He already has someone else prisoner that he hopes to use to bring him to another world, but so far she has not been cooperating. Maestro then tosses Spider-Man into the cell with his other prisoner. The Maestro then leaves them alone, hoping that Spider-Man’s’ broken body will convince his other prisoner to comply with his wishes. When Miguel looks up he is shocked to see that the other prisoner is Strange, the sorcerer supreme from his timeline.[3]

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man 2099, Maestro, Gravity Police, Dogs of War, Strange 2099

Continuity Notes

1. This world should not be confused with a similar reality of Earth-9200 first seen in Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2. This is Reality-15329, a similar reality first seen in All-New X-Factor #20.

2. This is because Miguel has visited a version of Dystopia, aka Earth-9200, in Captain Marvel (vol. 4) 27-30.

3. Spider-Man first met Strange 2099 in Spider-Man 2099 #32-33. There are some issues with continuity with that, see below.

How Does Spider-Man 2099 Recognize Strange 2099?

As I’ve stated previously, the events if Superior Spider-Man #17-19 diverged Earth-928, the reality where Spider-Man 2099 comes from. This divergence occurred between Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man #1 and Spider-Man 2099 #27.

This causes some issues with continuity, particularly since Spider-Man recognizes Strange 2099. However, Miguel did not meet Strange 2099 until Spider-Man 2099 #32-33, a point after the divergence created by the events of Superior Spider-Man #17-19.

My theory is that Miguel was sent back in time when time was “Broken” (see Age of Ultron #1-10.AI) It’s my thought that Miguel saw glimpses of what his future might have been having he not gone back in time, thus he has memories of Strange even though they never met.

It’s later explained next issue that Strange 2099 knows Spider-Man 2099 because when the timeline changed she was the only person who wasn’t erased and retains all her knowledge of the way the timeline used to be. Thus, she not only remember the 2099 that Miguel originally left, but she also remembers the events of the pre-divergence, hence she knows that she met Spider-Man in a different timeline.

Is Earth-928 Erased?

The following is speculation on my part and should be taken with a grain of salt as there is no official explanation has been provided at the time of this writing (December 2020)

Another question that is raised is what happened to Earth-928? A recurring theme in Spider-Man 2099 volume 2 and 3 is that the actions in the modern age of Earth-616 affect and change the future that Miguel later visits. In this case, Earth-928 was replaced with Earth-15239. There is precedence for this actually.

In some cases, events caused by either time travel or reality manipulation has caused one reality to replace another one. Two prime examples of this principle in play. The first example is the Legion Quest event (X-Factor #109, Uncanny X-Men #320-321, X-Men (vol. 2) #40-41, Cable #20) which saw Legion go back in time and accidentally kill his own father. This caused Earth-616 to be temporarily replaced by Earth-295, aka the Age of Apocalypse. Ultimately, in X-Men: Omega #1, the timeline was restored although Earth-295 still exists independently of Earth-616. The second example is when the Scarlet Witch used her powers to alter reality, replacing Earth-616 with Earth-58163, aka the House of M from House of M #1-11 until it was restored to normal. Earth-58163 also exists independently of Earth-616 as well.

That said, the same principle applies here, only instead of replacing the modern age of Earth-616, the events have caused Earth-616’s possible future to change. Often, when a character goes from a future timeline to Earth-616’s modern age to change events they cause the possible future of Earth-616 to change. The best example of this is Earth-811, aka Days of Future Past. In that reality, the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly led to a dystopian future where the Sentinels rule the world and mutants are either eliminated or imprisoned in concentration camps. As seen in Uncanny X-Men #141-142, when Kitty Pride sent her mind back in time into her younger self to prevent the assassination of Kelly she caused a divergence where Earth-811 is no longer the future of Earth-616. Earth-811 still exists, but it is no longer connected to Earth-616.

With that in mind, the events of Spider-Man 2099 volume 2 & 3 change the future of Earth-616. Prior to that point, Earth-928 was a possible future of Earth-616, but events have changed and other realities replace Earth-928. This is still the case as seen in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #32-36 which saw the Earth-928 replaced with a new version of 2099 AD that is similar, but different and distinct.

Does that mean Earth-928 is gone? Probably not, as we’ve seen with Earth’s 295, 811, and 58163, those realities have continued to exist even when they are no longer connected to Earth-616. As such Earth-928 is probably still out there. Miguel probably cannot reach his true home due to the complexity of time travel/interdimensional travel. Remember, by this point, Spider-Man 2099 no longer has a dimensional jumper he had from Spider-Verse and is working will end up working with a time machine of his own design, which is probably not precise enough to reach the reality he’s looking for and can only key into whichever one has the greater probability of being the future of Earth-616.