Stuff of Legends

Now

Unmasked, Peter Parker is being grilled over his recent activities and doesn’t even know where to begin. He tells the person at the other end of the table that the whole situation is weird, even for him. When he says that he’s Spider-Man, the other person points out that much is obvious. They then pull out an hourglass and tells Peter that he has until the sand runs out to explain himself and suggests that he starts from the beginning….

Then

It was the start of a perfect day for Peter Parker. He got out of bed and began getting ready for his day. As he got dressed he got a phone call from his Aunt May reminding him that he was coming over to dinner and she was not accepting any cancellations.[1] Peter assures her that he’ll be there and she tells him dinner will be ready at seven. Peter then went to teach his classes at Midtown High.[2] It was then that he was interrupted by Kelly Cox, the new assistant principal at the school. She has come with a package that just arrived for him. Opening it and taking a look, Peter is shocked to see photos of him as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man as well as pictures of Aunt May and Mary Jane. Attached is a note telling Peter to meet him on the roof immediately. The whole time, Kelly Cox is trying to hit on him and Peter manages to use this flirtation to trick her into watching the class while he goes up to the roof to see who is trying to blackmail him. Upon the roof, Peter is hardly surprised to see Nick Fury waiting for him. Fury sarcastically apologizes for pulling Peter away from his class but says that his country needs him. He then gives a verbal command to make the ship drop its cloaking. The sheer size of the aircraft catches Peter off guard. Fury then tells Peter to hop aboard and they’ll talk.

Now

Peter pauses his story to ask for some water and while his interrogator is up to get him some, he flips the hourglass over. When he’s given the water, he admits that this all sounds strange, but then again his entire life is when you think about it.[3] The interrogator tells Peter that time is wasting and asks him to talk more about Nick Fury. Before continuing his story, Peter says that Nick Fury is like a cancer and the only option is to face it head-on and hope it doesn’t come back….

Then

… Soon Peter was brought aboard the SHIELD helicarrier where he is told that he is needed to help recover a government assett. When Peter asked why Fury had come to him, Nick pulled open Peter’s shirt revealing his Spider-Man costume underneath. Once in Fury’s private office, Nick explains that the issue hasn’t officially fallen in his jurisdiction yet because the government isn’t jumping into conflicts that don’t directly involve them at the present time. However, he can’t wait for politicians to make up their mind otherwise things will be messier than they are now. When Peter asks what will happen when he refuses, Fury tells him that blackmail is a very ugly word and suggests he think about it.

Now

Peter tells the person questioning him that for a moment, he considered refusing, but he reminded himself of the motto he lived by his entire life as Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility.

Then

When Spider-Man agrees to this mission he’s flown over an island in the Pacific where he is told he is to rescue a hostage. When the web-slinger asks who he is looking for, Fury assures him he’ll know who he was sent to rescue once he sees them. He’s then shoved out of the plane.

On that island, a privately-held location off the coast of Japan, a warlord named Takeshi Kishimoto tells his prisoner that he has built his criminal empire for this day for something his prisoner did to him twelve years earlier. He then begins besting on the prisoner. That’s when Spider-Man arrives and covers Kishimoto in webbing. He then suggests the soldiers put their guns down while he frees the prisoner, but the begin opening fire on the web-slinger. Luckily, Spider-Man’s agility allows him to leap out of the way. He webs up all their guns but uses up the last of his webbing in the process.

The prisoner then asks Spider-Man to untie him and after some deliberation does so even though it means giving the guards time to get their guns free. It soon turns out that the prisoner is none other than Wolverine and once his hands are free he is able to extract his adamantium claws.

Now

When the interrogator asks what happened next, Peter admits that it was all a blur to him and, just as Wolverine enters the room, say they’ll have to ask him instead.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Wolverine, Aunt May, Takeshi Kishimoto (unidentified), SHIELD (Nick Fury)

Continuity Notes

1. Peter states that sometimes he was both happy and sad. This statement is framed around a panel showing Peter looking at a photo of Mary Jane Watson. This story published around a time where Peter and Mary Jane were going through a separation that lasted from Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2001 until Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #50. This story, according to the Marvel Chronology Project, happens between the events of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #54. At that time Peter and Mary Jane had patched things up but were not yet living together again, one could assume that’s what Peter means by both being happy and sad at the same time.

2. At the time of this story, Peter was working at as a science teacher at Midtown High started in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #31.

3. Spider-Man mentions the Clone Saga in passing. That story arc ran from Web of Spider-Man #117 until Spider-Man #75.

Topical References

• Dated pop-culture references: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, The Detroit Tigers