Spider-Man/Wolverine #4
Now
Having been put through an intense interrogation, Peter Parker and Logan are told that time is growing short and that for them to finish their story. When they last left off, they had arrived in Switzerland where they were ambushed by Nick Fury and his agents of SHIELD and Logan was shot in the neck. Logan admits that he has a lot to say about the experience but didn’t get a chance to talk because Nick Fury had a lot to tell them…
Years Earlier…[1]
It was a peaceful day in Seatle, Washington, and a young boy is out with his mother when he sees something and runs across the street to get a closer look. Thor was up in the sky battling dragons. One of the creatures breathed a fireball at the hero. When the thunder god evaded the blast it ended up striking the side of a building. Realizing this, Thor rushed to the ground to save the boy’s mother who was in the path of falling debris but was too late to stop tragedy from happening. The young boy watched his as his mother was buried under tons of brick and mortar with tears running down his face.
Then
Wolverine doesn’t understand what this has to do with his getting shot in the neck with a dart by Nick Fury. Logan is still spoiling for a fight, but Fury explains that this had more to do with Logan having an affair with the daughter of a Japanese drug lord over a decade ago. When Wolverine prepares to attack, Fury warns him against doing so as he’ll surely die when he soldiers open fire. Logan is pretty confident that his healing factor will save his life. Suddenly, Fury slashes Logan’s face with a knife and points out that his face hasn’t started healing, saying that his powers have been shut off temporarily. Finally convinced to listen, Logan tells Fury to talk.
Fury tells them about “The Stuff of Legends” the codename for a black-level SHIELD project, of which Logan and Peter Parker became candidates of, even if they weren’t aware of it. The project was formed at the start of the so-called “Age of Heroes” and it had one purpose in mind: how to deal with superhumans if and when the government decided they needed to be stopped. The proposed project was the brainchild of Doctor Edward Brecker and his solution to the problems was met with high praise from the brass in charge of SHIELD at the time.By now the project needed field testing before it was considered a success or failure.
Hearing this angers Logan, but Nick Fury points out that SHIELD had no other choice, asking what they could do if Wolverine ever lost it or turned on them. While Fury would like to believe that this would never happen, he is not ignorant of the fact that Logan has been made offers in the past and has even considered it from time to time. However, despite what he believes, Fury says that the project was greenlit because of the possibility it might happen. That’s when Peter interjects telling Fury to cut through the bull and speak straight. He has already deduced that Fury needs their help for something and tells him to get it out in the open and tell them the truth.[2] Fury gets down to business and tells them that a group of rogue SHIELD agents that are led by Edward Brecker and judging from the set up they found in France he appears to be mass-producing the Stuff of Legends. As an aside, he tells the two heroes that Brecker was the young boy in the story he told them. Needless to say, Brecker has a good reason to hate those with superhuman powers and was never happy with SHIELDs ambiguous stance on them. Regardless, what Brecker has in his hands could trigger another World War and needs to be stopped. Peter doesn’t understand how that could ever happen when Fury says it can pointing to Wolverine as the reason.
He explains that Logan frequently goes on long stretches of being alone and not even his fellow X-Men know where he is during these periods. SHIELD decided to get at Logan during one f these periods and drugged him with a knock out a drug that cost millions to make that could keep him unconscious for an extended period of time despite his mutant healing factor. This project was overseen by Brecker who discovered a means of replicating Logan’s healing factor. Then, recruiting some disgruntled SHIELD agents, he sought money to fund his further experiments and was financially backed by Takeshi Kishimoto who was more than happy to fund the project. The whole purpose of torturing Wolverine and filming it was to literally create a commercial for the product which Brecker would sell on the black market. Right now, Brecker is in his hidden compound about to sell off his work to the highest bidder. However, there is nothing SHIELD can do about it because a number of America’s allies are involved and attacking Brecker now would be seen as an act of war. However, Peter and Logan have no such restrictions, which is why Fury got them involved to begin with. Why Peter is unhappy that Fury created the mess that they have to clean up, Logan decides the time for talking is over and the time to act.
Now
By this point in their story, both Peter and Logan are bickering over who came up with the final plan. Wolverine concedes that they came up with it together and Peter can’t wait to hear how Logan explains it from here….
Then
After climbing up the side of a mountain, Logan decides they have gotten close enough and that they need to change.[3] Moments later, Doctor Brecker is informed that Wolverine has been picked up on the security cameras. The mad scientist orders a group of soldiers to go out a shoot him with a lethal dose of the ampules. When they ask what they should do about Spider-Man, he tells them to let him enter the facility since he’ll probably have an interest in the work they are doing, especially when they use it to kill him. While the soldiers confront who they think is Wolverine, someone in a Spider-Man costume breaks into the facility. When they confront Doctor Brecker, who tells the web-slinger that the room is filled with a gas that will only affect him. As Spider-Man writhes on the floor in agony, Doctor Brecker explains how the gas works against Spider-Man to everyone viewing in the operating theater. However, when he gets close enough to the web-slinger, it turns out that it wasn’t Spider-Man at all, but Wolverine in disguise and this was all a ruse for Logan to get close enough to Brecker to stab him with his claws.
By this time, Spider-Man has dropped his own disguise and quickly webs up the soldiers and forces his way inside the facility. There he finds Brecker laying on the ground, but Logan assures Peter that he is not dead, although it took all of his efforts not to kill him. Peter thanks Logan for keeping his promise, and Logan says that’s what heroes do. That’s when the top of the lab has blown open and Nick Fury arrives to extract them, having convinced the government to finally allow SHIELD to act. After they are out of the facility, SHIELD has it destroyed so the Stuff of Legends never gets used. When Fury asks if there is anything else he can do for them, Peter say there is and punches Nick right in the face. Logan is so impressed he says the first round of drinks are on him.
Now
… Just as Peter is finishing his story, the formula that Fury shot Logan up with wears off and the scars on his face disappear as though they were never there to begin with. By this estimation, Peter figures that this entire adventure wrapped up about twenty-four hours ago. Peter concludes his story by telling the woman interrogating them that he knows he makes frequent excuses for being late, but this time there was a legitimate reason for it.
The woman — who turns out to be Aunt May — tells Peter that he’s finished his explanation as to the roast she had in the oven is now fully cooked. She then tells him that now that she knows he’s Spider-Man he doesn’t need to tell her any wild stories about why he couldn’t make it on time for dinner when a simple apology would do.[4] Since their explanations are over, Wolverine gets up to go, but Peter and May insist that Logan stays for dinner. Glad to stay, Logan pops one of his claws and says he’ll cut the roast.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Wolverine, Aunt May, SHIELD (Nick Fury), (in flashback) Thor
Continuity Notes
The first flashback in this story, according to the Marvel Chronology Project, takes place between Thor’s appearances in the 2nd story in Avengers:Classic #5 and Marvel: The Lost Generation #5. This story happening prior to Thor becoming trapped in the body of Donald Blake (Thor #159) and prior to his emergence in the Modern Age (Journey into Mystery #83) Per the entry on Edward Brecker in Wolverine: Weapon X Files Handbook, this flashback takes place roughly 50 years prior to this story, or roughly 39 years prior to the start of the Modern Age. As a human with a normal life span, his past isn’t associated to a specific date as his lifespan is also governed by the Sliding Timescale.
Peter makes a quip about Fury misplacing his heart sometime around the Secret Wars. He’s likely referring to the original Secret Wars which took place in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12. Per the Sliding Timescale, that happened roughly five years prior to this story.
Here Peter quips that he hopes they aren’t making clones of him. When Logan gives him a funny look, Peter says it is a long story. This is a reference to the rather lengthy Clone Saga which ran from Web of Spider-Man #117 until Spider-Man #75.
At the time of this story, May had just recently found out that Peter was Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #35.
