Spider-Man: The Mysterio Manifesto #2
Even the Dead Can Lie!
Having captured Spider-Man, Daredevil, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Smith, and Betsy Schneider, Mad Jack is pleased how their revenge scheme is going. They tell this to Mysterio, who is standing quietly in the middle of the room saying nothing. With their revenge well underway, Mad Jack decides to look into how their victims are doing.
Most everyone is hooked up to sensory deprivation tanks and virtual reality headsets and are now living out hallucinations of their most ideal lives. For Spider-Man, it’s having his old life back living with his wife Mary Jane and their baby daughter.[1] Seeing his baby daughter, Peter remarks on how beautiful the baby. That’s when Aunt May comes into the room and tells Peter that there is a report about Doctor Octopus attacking the city. Peter is surprised to learn that May knows that he is Spider-Man and before he can ask any questions May is pushing him over to his costume reminding him of his sense of responsibility. As Spider-Man swings to the scene of the battle, he thinks about how he’s a lucky guy that has it all. However, as he attacks Doctor Octopus he can’t help but shake the feeling that something is wrong.
At that moment, in the waking world, Betsy Schneider finds Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Joe in their suspension tanks and wants to know what’s going on. That’s when she is approached by someone in a Mysterio costume who looks like and claims to be Quentin Beck. Betsy can’t believe it, because she heard that Quentin had died recently.[2] The man claiming to be Beck explains that Mysterio is a master of illusion and could easily faked his own death. Despite this, Betsy doesn’t buy it because this man keeps calling her Betty, when the Quentin she knew always called her Betsy. Watching this on a monitor screen are Mad Jack and J. Jonah Jameson. At first, Jonah believes that Quentin Beck is still alive but then remembers that he has been manipulated the whole time since his capture and doubts everything Mad Jack says to try and convince him otherwise. Amused, Mad Jack pretends to be hurt because Jameson won’t believe them. When Jonah points out that he doesn’t know who Mad Jack really is, the villain tells him that he does know. Dropping his Irish accident and taking off his mask, Mad Jack reveals that he is none other than Daniel Berkhart, who was once hired by Jonah to masquerade as Mysterio in a failed scheme to defeat Spider-Man.[3] When Jonah calls Daniel a failure, Berkhard appears to grow in size and begins slapping Jameson around. He accused Jonah of being no better than Betsy Schneider, exploiting the memory of Mysterio for his own gain. However, Berkhart studied Mysterio’s techniques and mastered them. To demonstrate all this, Daniel — still appearing to be a giant — hits Jonah out into the orbit with a golf club and into a catchers mit being held by himself. He then used this knowledge to create his Mad Jack identity. When Jonah asks how this is all possible, Mad Jack explains that he has been using computer imaging and virtual reality. What appeared to be a real-life encounter is just another fantasy created by Mad Jack’s machines.[4]
The real Mad Jack watches this with amused pleasure but pauses to wonder what happened to the real Berkhart, who they remember was a friend of the original Mysterio.[5] Dismissing this question, Mad Jack then focuses on his victims wishing they could see what they are imagining.
In his own fantasy, Daredevil is fighting the Ani-Men with ease thanks to his enhanced senses. As he battles these foes he reminds himself that he’s due back at his law firm to meet up with his partner Foggy Nelson and his secretary Karen Page. For some reason, thinking about Karen gives him an odd feeling.[6] However, he puts this concern aside as the Ani-Men renew their attack. He quickly defeats his foes and looks forward to getting back to his civilian identity, wondering why he’s worried something is wrong with Karen since she’s his secretary and they are both in love. This makes Daredevil’s face twitch in the real world, a movement that Mad Jack notices and they figure they’ve been subject to his illusions long enough to turn things up a notch. By this point, both Spider-Man and Daredevil begin putting two-and-two together regarding the reality of their situation.
Outside the tanks, the man who is claiming to be Quentin Beck accuses Betsy Schneider of betraying him for writing her tell-all book about him.[7] Betsy tries to explain that she only wrote her book to preserve his memory when, suddenly, the twitching forms of Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Joe Smith manage to break out of their enclosures,[8] Mysterio manages to flee in the confusion, however when Spider-Man and Daredevil try to follow after him, both discover that they have been stripped of their powers somehow. Not far away, Mysterio confronts J. Jonah Jameson and tells him that the man he thought was Daniel Berkhart was actually a robot and then douses the newspaper published with hallucinogenic gas. When Spider-Man and the others arrive, they find what appears to be Mysterio all by himself. However, when Spider-Man strikes “Mysterio” his blow shatters his fishbowl helmet revealing that it was actually J. Jonah Jameson. Watching this from their control room, Mad Jack revels in this constant deception and decides to initiate the next step. Lost without his enhanced senses, Daredevil tells Spider-Man to be his eyes. When the smoke in the room finally clears, Spider-Man tries to find the best way of explaining that they are now surrounded by an army of their foes.[9]
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Daredevil, Mad Jack, Mysterio, Betsy Schneider, Joe Smith, J. Jonah Jameson, Betsy Schneider
Continuity Notes
Peter’s life is the exact opposite of this at the time of the story. The facts:
Previously, Mary Jane was pregnant starting in Spectacular Spider-Man #221. However, that child was stillborn in Amazing Spider-Man #418.
At the time of this story, Peter believes Mary Jane died in a plane crash in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13. In reality, she is being held captive by a stalker as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29/Peter Parker: Spider-Man #29.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years after this story their marriage will be erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the now timeline they never got married but remained engaged. Usually, I’d say that reality was altered to reflect this, but since this is a hallucination of Peter’s ideal life there’s no reason for Peter not to imagine he and Mary Jane are married in this fantasy.
In this hallucination, Aunt May knows that Peter is Spider-Man. However, at the time of this story, May knows no such thing as this story takes place prior to her learning Peter’s secret in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #35.
The narrative of this story states that in Peter’s fantasy he works in a lab with his pal Harry Osborn. Not only is this not true in the real world, at the time of this story Peter thinks that Harry died due to complications of exposing himself to the Goblin Formula in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. In reality, Harry survived as detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #581-582, he will resurface again in Amazing Spider-Man #545.
This is not Quentin Beck, but his cousin Maguire in disguise as we’ll learn next issue. The real Beck indeed died in Daredevil (vol. 2) #7. Beck is indeed dead although he will return to life eventually in Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3, it’s a long story but his resurrection is explained in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #1.
Jonah hired Berkhart to masquerade as Mysterio in Amazing Spider-Man #141.
Daniel Berkhart did operate as Mad Jack from Spectacular Spider-Man #241-258. The statement made here that Berkhart learned all of Mysterio’s secrets after his defeat in Amazing Spider-Man #141 not entirely accurate, see below.
Daniel did have a past history with Quentin Beck. As per Amazing Spider-Man #198, Beck taught Berkhart some of his tricks before faking his death in prison. As explained in the Mysterio entries (for Berkhart) in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8, Mysterio later took Berkhart as a protege.
This fantasy is based on the early days of Daredevil’s career as Karen Page only worked as Murdock’s secretary from Daredevil #1 to 63, she quit due to her strained romance with Murdock due to his double identity and went to LA to become and actress. The reason why thinking of Karen gives him an odd feel is that in the “real world” Karen Page is dead., having just recently been murdered by Bullseye in Daredevil (vol. 2) #5.
Mysterio’s past history with Betsy Schneider, the forming of her relationship with Joe Smith, and the publication of her book were all detailed in Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #1-3.
Spider-Man mentions how Mysterio recently pulled a similar trick on him. This is a reference to Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #7-8 when Berkhart (as Mysterio) trapped Peter Parker and his friends in a virtual reality simulation in the hopes of learning Spider-Man’s secret identity.
This is obviously another illusion when you consider a number of these foes were dead or inactive at the time of this story. They are:
The Buglar who shot Uncle Ben in Amazing Fantasy #15, he died of a heart attack after discovering Spider-Man was Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #200.
The Mister Fear depicted here, based on the costume, is Zoltan Drago, the original Mister Fear. Drago died behind the scenes prior to Daredevil #55, having been murdered by Star Saxon who usurped that identity.
The Gladiator, aka Melvin Potter, was originally one of Daredevil’s foes until he reformed in Daredevil #166. He will remain reformed until forced back into a life of crime in Daredevil (vol. 2) #70.
The Owl who, at the time of this story, was still trapped in Hell following Daredevil/Spider-Man #4. He will resurface again in Daredevil/Bullseye: The Target #1.
The Fixer, aka Rooney Sweeney, is basically Daredevil’s version of the Burglar as he murdered Matt’s father and also died of a heart attack when confronted by Daredevil. That all happened in Daredevil #1.
Nuke, aka Frank Simpson, at the time of this story was believed to have died after going on a rampage in Hell’s Kitchen in Daredevil #233. However, it’s later revealed that he is still alive and imprisoned for years at the US Embassy in Chile until he was found by Wolverine in Wolverine: Origins #1-2.
The original Kraven the Hunter, Sergei Kravinoff, is depicted here as well. He committed suicide in Amazing Spider-Man #294. He will be resurrected but not until Amazing Spider-Man #636.
The Kingpin is depicted as having his sight. At the time of this story, the Kingpin was blind following Daredevil (vol. 2) #14. His vision will be restored in Daredevil (vol. 2) #46.
The Sandman, who at the time of this story was believed to have died in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #22 after Venom at a chunk of his body in issue #16 of that series. He survived and will turn up again in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #42.
Lastly, there is the original Jester — Jonathan Powers — who reformed following his defeat in Daredevil #218. However, he will revert back to villainy in Superior Spider-Man #6.