Spider-Verse Team-Up #3
Too Many Spider-Men (Part Two)
Spider-Verse continues from Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #3…
From their bunker on Earth-3145, the gathered army of spider-totems from across the multiverse have just received a number of scrolls from the Master Weaver.[1] In it they have found information on Karn, an Inheritor who was exiled from the rest of the family. The Superior Spider-Man shoots down an idea of tracking Karn down as he has previously encountered him.[2] However, he changes his mind when Spider-Girl tells him that Karn hates his family, especially his father.[3]
At that moment, Karn is on Earth-3123, threatening that world’s Peter and Ben Parker. That’s when May reveals to them that she's actually Spider-Ma’am. She willingly offers to sacrifice herself because she has lived a long life. This causes Karn to pause because he’s never had a spider-totem willingly give up their life so easily. That’s when a Spider-Girl arrives with the Spider-Punk, Spider-Man India, the Ashley Barton Spider-Woman, and Spider-UK to confront Karn. Instead of fighting, they confront him with everything they have learned from the Master Weaver’s scrolls and ask him to join them to fight back against his family.
Karn fights anyway, prompting Spider-Man India to try and convince him that his family sent him away not over the death of his mother, but because they feared him for questioning them.[4] They also suggest that there might be other means to stay alive over than feasting on spider-totems. Lastly they remind him how he wanted to explore the multiverse and celebrate its endless variety, not bring it endless death. They appeal that hope for another path is still possible because the Master Weaver was the one that gave them the scrolls.
Karn wants to consider the alternatives but his hunger is ravenous. That’s when the assembled spiders offer a portion of their collective life forces to replenish him. They take the risk of trusting Karn not to kill them all and after he has drained the energy he needed he agrees to join their armies. This entire scene is watched from around the corner by this world’s version of the Parkers. When the spiders and Karn all leave through a dimensional portal, Peter muses about how weird this whole encounter was.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Girl (Corazon), Spider-Punk, Spider-Man (Prabhakar), Spider-UK, Spider-Woman (Barton), Karn, Spider-Man (Parker), Spider-Man (Octravius), Spider-Ma’am, Uncle Ben-3123, Peter Parker-3123
Continuity Notes
These scrolls were sent to Spider-Man by Spider-Woman in Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #3.
The Superior Spider-Man encountered Karn in Superior Spider-Man #32-33.
This is because Otto Octavius hated his own father. See Spider-Man Unlimited #3.
Karn’s exile was covered in Superior Spider-Man #33.
Bugged
Spider-Girl shoves through all her new comrades because she intends on going to Loomworld to save her baby brother.[1] Feeling like she failed her father, she refuses to let the Inheritors kill Benjy either.[2] The others try to calm her down and she calls them phonies, saying that her father was the only true Spider-Man. She then demands that they hand over a dimensional transporter if none of them are willing to go with her, as she wants to go alone.
That’s when the Ben Parker of Earth-3145 tries to convince her it is a suicide mission. She won’t accept advice from a version of Uncle Ben that cowardly hid in a bomb shelter while his world died in a nuclear holocaust and bounds off, saying that her father would be ashamed of this version of Uncle Ben.[3] Ben patiently follows after her until she has burned off her anger and grief.
May leaps around not understanding why the other spiders don’t all want to save Benjy, since saving people is what they do. She then begins to break down in tears when she comes to the conclusion that none of them are related to her brother and that his capture is on her. Her sadness turns to anger as she lashes out at one of the walls. That’s when Ben catches up to her and tries to remind her that she is not the only one who has suffered losses.
May doesn’t care and says that Ben doesn’t know her pain or knows her family. Ben responds by asking her to tell him about them. This angers her and she attacks but Ben easily evades her lunge. He is impressed by her moves and says that his late wife would have been proud of her. She once against calls this Ben Parker a coward, reminding him of his old truism, with great power comes great responsibility. Ben corrects her saying that with great power must also come great responsibility, a subtle distinction. As he continues to evade her attacks he explains that there is no guaranteed link between power and responsibility and that too many focus on the power without considering the responsibility
May knows exactly what he is talking about, since she is looking at someone like that right now. Ben admits that he ran away after his version of Peter Parker died, but has had enough of her judging him, as she doesn’t have the right. He can’t believe that May could be so egocentric since his Peter was as real as hers. She sarcastically apologizes for not getting the whole alternate reality situation. When Ben tries to relate, pointing out that he thought he was the last man on Earth, she reminds him that’s only true because he failed to save his world. Ben is impressed with May’s impact webbing and is interested in learning about her Uncle Ben.[4]
However, before the conversation or the fight can go any further the hole in the wall made by May’s punches suddenly bursts open and a horde of mutated spiders begins pouring into the shelter. As they try to fight off the swarm, Spider-Girl tries to use them as an analogy for the Inheritors and since they have only one life to live they should fight them head on no matter what. When her stingers and impact webbing fail to work, May tells Ben to get up on the ceiling as she uses her ability to “magnetize” objects to make the spiders stick to the floor.[5]
The two then work together wrapping up the mutant spiders in webbing and eventually seal the crack in the wall. Once the danger has passed, Ben points out that it was May’s temper tantrum that put them all at risk and that when they do make their final attack on Loomworld she is going to need to learn to keep her emotions in check. He then reaches out his hand to shake her. However, May turns away and walks off, telling him that he can’t understand what it’s like living without her baby brother because he is all she has left. She hopes that somewhere in the multiverse that there is a version of her who hasn’t had to experience all the horror she has. She also vows to rescue her brother and kill Daemos, the man responsible for destroying her family.[6]
… Spider-Verse continues in Spider-Man 2099 (vol. 2) #8.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Girl (Parker), Ben Parker-3145, Spider-Man (Parker), Spider-Girl (Corazon), Spider-Punk, Spider-Man (Prabhakar), Spider-UK, Spider-Ham, SP//dr, Supaidāman,
Continuity Notes
Benjy Parker was taken by the Inheritors in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3 )#12.
The Peter Parker of Earth-982 died protecting his family from Daemos in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #8.
The Ben Parker of Earth-3145 gave up being Spider-Man after the death of his family. Later, his world was blown up by Doctor Octopus. See Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #13.
This would be Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker. May states that he died a hero. Just like on Earth-616, Ben Reilly was a clone of Peter Parker and was even Spider-Man for a while until he died battling the Green Goblin. See Amazing Spider-Man #149, Sensational Spider-Man #0 and Spider-Man #75 for a very-very-very abridged accounting of Ben Reilly’s life.
May appears to be the only spider-totem in the multiverse who has greater clinging powers. Not only can she cling to surfaces but she can also reverse that process to launch herself off surfaces or repel smaller objects like projectiles. She can also cause whatever she touches to become “sticky” as well. May first started discovering these unique applications in Spider-Girl #12.
At this point, May thinks that Daemos not only killed her father, but her mother Mary Jane and her boyfriend Wes Westin. However, as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #15, Mary Jane and Wes managed to survive the attack by Daemos.
