Caught in the Act

After his attack on a Brand Corporation lecture on mutation, the Hobgoblin flees the scene, leaving Spider-Man and the Beast to deal with the collapsing ceiling. While the wall-crawler braces the crumbling structure with his webbing, the Beast ushers the attendees to safety. When he comes back, McCoy discovers that Spider-Man has been buried under the collapsed roof and digs the wall-crawler out. Wondering what the Hobgoblin wanted with Brand CEO Herbert Landon, Spider-Man suggests they question the Hobgoblin as he managed to tag the villain with a spider-tracer. Overhearing this from behind a curtain, Landon places a call on his cell phone, ordering the person on the other end of the line to eliminate Spider-Man and the Beast, using any means necessary. The signal leads Spider-Man and Beast to the Brand research lab. While Spider-Man leaps onto the roof to look for his foe, the Beast forces his way into the building as he has other concerns. Their entry is observed by the Hobgoblin, who is watching the scene from the security monitors. He then sets off the alarm, ruining the element of surprise for the two intruders. This alerts the guards while the Hobgoblin tries to make his escape.

Spotting the Hobgoblin, the Beast follows him to a nearby computer lab and watches as the villain steals data from one of the computers. Hesitating, as he wanted to do the same thing, the Beast witnesses Spider-Man catch the Hobgoblin in the act. When the villain tries to attack Spider-Man, he is ambushed by the Beast. With his hands webbed up, the Hogbolin decides to flee. Before the heroes can follow after him, some torn wires cause an electrical discharge, forcing them back. This allows the Hobgoblin to escape in order to continue with his blackmail scheme. The Beast tells Spider-Man to go after the Hobgoblin while he checks to see what data the villain took. This gives Beast the opportunity to confirm his fears that Brand is attempting to create its own slave race of mutants. Hank finds exactly that one the computer files, and while he is deleting the data he is discovered by the facility guards. They knock the Beast out and report back to Landon, who tells them to bring McCoy to the helipad. Meanwhile, Spider-Man catches up with the Hobgoblin at Landon's office. There he overhears the mercenary threatens to reveal the financial shell game that he is playing with the investor's money. He reminds Landon that Brand is trying to rebuild its image as an independent entity after the Tarantula fiasco when it was a subsidiary of Roxxon.[1] Thinking over this situation, Herbert wishes this nightmare would end. He thinks back in the day when his world was destroyed by the Beast, whom he thinks killed Henry McCoy.[2] After seeing mutants as a threat, he continues Hank McCoy's research.

The Hobgoblin isn't intersted in listening to this sob story and demands payment. However, this whole time, Landon has been secretly reaching for a gun in his desk. Seeing this, Spider-Man leaps in to stop Herbert from shooting. He is blinded by the Hoboblin and thrown into the line of fire. The Hobgoblin escapes as security arrives. Realizing that he now has Spider-Man a prisoner, Landon -- incorrectly assuming the wall-crawler is a mutant -- decides to use his research to strip the hero of his powers. Meanwhile, the Beast is taken to a Brand facility in Queens. There he plays possum until they bring him down to a secret lab. There he overpowers the guards but is trapped in an electirfied cage by Doctor Everett Burgos, the lead scientist on the mutant project. After years of research, Everett is looking forward to finally getting to experiment on a live subject.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Beast, Hobgoblin, Herbert Landon

Continuity Notes

1. Brand transformed the Tarantula into a massive spider-monster, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #236.

2. Obviously, Hank McCoy is also the Beast, who transformed himself into the hairy bestial form and ran amok at Brand during Amazing Adventures Vol 2 #11-17. During Hank's time at Brand, his status as a mutant and the fact that he was the Beast was a secret. Hank's double-identity has been known since he joined the Avengers in Avengers #151. The fact that Landon doesn't know this isn't explained, but one could assume either he didn't know this, or is in denial.