Fear Itself: Spider-Man #3
Day Three
Hour Forty-One of the Fear
For Doctor Shahrzad Rafiee of New York General Hospital, the day is a never-ending stream of people coming into the emergency room with injuries. She can’t save them all, and she knows it is only a matter of time before they turn on her. Elsewhere, Norah Winters follows Spider-Man in her car. She ignores her every instinct that tells her to flee the city because Norman Osborn is going to use this opportunity to kill her.[1] While Spider-Man swings across the city, he carries Karen Anderson in her arms. She is in mid-labor and thinks she and her unborn baby are going to die. While back on the ground, the Thing has touched a mystical hammer that fell out of the sky and has been transformed into a nightmare version of himself called Angrir, Breaker of Souls. He is now a slave of the Serpent, the fallen deity responsible for sowing global chaos. His only desire is to follow his master’s commands.[2]
Spider-Man arrives at New York General moments later and sees that it is just as crowded as the church he came from. He calls out for doctors to help and Doctor Rafiee takes control of the situation. At first, the doctors think Karen is dead, but Spider-Man insists that she was breathing a minute ago. This is good news, but the baby is in breach and they need to surgically remove it. That’s when Angrir blasts a hole through the emergency room. When the behemoth enters the room, Spider-Man recognizes him as his old friend Ben Grimm, aka the Thing. None of this makes sense to the wall-crawler, but it becomes painfully clear that the Thing is now a threat and he leaps into fight his Future Foundation teammate.
On top of attacking Angrir, Spider-Man also pushes people to safety while also providing cover for Doctor Rafiee and her team as they wait for the elevator. Unfortunately, Angrir blasts the elevator, trapping the doctors. Shahrzad asks Spider-Man to keep Angrir away from them as they’ll have to perform the c-section where they are. Spider-Man tries to reason with the Thing. However, when the Thing finally speaks in English, all he says is “Spider-Man… Die.” Before striking the wall-crawler with his lightning charged hammer.
The blow is so powerful it not only knocks the wind out of Spider-Man but also stops his heart. Recognizing that Spider-Man is suffering from cardiac arrhythmia, Doctor Rafiee rushes to his side with a defibrillator. However, before she can jumpstart the wall-crawler’s heart, Angrir is on top of them and ready to land the killing blow. That’s when Norah Winters arrives and hits Angrir from behind with an IV stand. While this doesn’t hurt him it does turn Angrir’s attention away from Spider-Man. As Norah runs for her life, the doctor manages to get Spider-Man’s heart beating again.
This near-death experience has diminished all hope Spider-Man had left and he is about to give up. He looks at the crowded emergency people and he sees that everyone is expecting him to save them. He also sees that the doctors continue to try and save both Karen and her unborn baby. Lastly, he sees Norah Winters fighting to stay alive even though the chances are slim. This renews Spider-Man’s sense of hope and he leaps into battle once again. This time he manages to yank Angrir’s hammer out of his hands. With his foe weaponless, Spider-Man hammers into him with all of his strength until he can’t fight anymore. Unfortunately, Angrir isn’t even phased and recalls his hammer. However, as he raises his weapon to strike, Spider-Man quickly fires a web-line at some exposed wires and yanks them down onto the suspended hammer. This causes an electrical surge so powerful that it staggers Angrir to the ground. Spider-Man is then relieved when Angrir turns around and leaves instead of continuing the fight.
As Norah Winters congratulates Spider-Man for saving them all, the web-slinger collapses on the floor out of sheer exhaustion.
Hour Forty-Eight
Thanks to Spider-Man saving his life, Naveed Moshtaghi manages to make it hope to his family. They now sit and pray for an end to the chaos from the sanctity of their home. Roxxon CFO Robert Christensen has returned to his wife after Spider-Man prevented him from committing suicide. Reunited with his wife he tearfully tells her everything that happened. For John Russel, Spider-Man stopped him from hurting more people after he shot a man, and now in St. Mark’s Church he finds his fear lift from his troubled mind. Lastly, Karen Anderson was brought back from the brink to learn that she had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl.
Norah Winters will go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the crisis. While Peter Parker — as Spider-Man — will be hospitalized just long enough to treat his wounds before going back out and continuing to help others until the crisis ended. Seventy-Two Hours after the carnage began, Peter will discover his Aunt May was safe and that she left him a number of voice mails by calling from her husband’s phone. Her messages were urging Peter not to give up and no matter how much fear grips his heart, to never give up the hope.
… Fear Itself continues in Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #521.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Angrir the Breaker of Souls, Norah Winters, Robert Christansen, Karen Anderson, John Russel, Navee Moshtaghi
Continuity Notes
Back when Norman Osborn was still the top cop in America, Norah Winters was working on an exposé on his American Son program. When Osborn found out, he threatened her life if she didn’t bury the story. See Amazing Spider-Man #595-599.
For more on the Thing’s transformation into Angrir see Fear Itself: FF #1.
Errors
In issue #1, Robert Christansen is identified as the CFO of Roxxon. In this story, he is referred to as the CEO of Roxxon.
