Visionaries

Spider-Island continues from Spider-Island: I Love New York #1….

Reflecting on her own life, Julia Carpenter thinks about how she could never see where her life was going to take her next. First, she was a woman from Denver thrust into a Secret War.[1] She then became an avenging hero.[2] To part of a spider-hunt that hanged everything. As the new Madame Web, Julia Carpenter was once blind to the future but now she can see everything. Her first act was stopping Spider-Man from killing Kraven the Hunter by showing him that his life was at the center of the Web of Life.[3]

Now she is flooded with visions of the future that she doesn’t know where to even start helping the world’s heroes face the coming threats, ones that make the Kravinoff family’s Spider Hunt look like a walk in the park.

Now her visions are focused on two villains that will be central to Spider-Man’s next challenges. One is the Jackal, an expert in cloning that is now spreading a spider-plague across the city through genetically altered bed bugs.[4] The second is the new Hobgoblin, who stole the mantle from the original in a vein attempt to interest a girl.[5]

Now she looks to the future and sees people endowed with powers similar to Spider-Man.[6] What’s more, something is re-weaving the Web of Life into a new pattern into one of deceit ultimately ending in death, with Spider-Man in the middle.[6] She worries that Spider-Man doesn’t yet understand that he’s not just the linchpin of morality between hero and villain, but that he what defines what those concepts mean. However, as much as she is charged with guiding people to meeting their destiny, these strands of death keep on blocking her visions of the future. She’s not overly concerned about seeing into the darkness, but rather how she can steer Spider-Man away from this darkness.

… Spider-Island continues from Amazing Spider-Man #669.

Recurring Characters

Madame Web

Continuity Notes

1. This is referring to Julia’s first appearance as Spider-Woman. See Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6.

2. Spider-Woman later became a member of the Avengers West Coast from Avengers: West Coast #74 until they disbanded in issue #101 of that series. She then joined Force Works, an Avengers offshoot from Force Works #1 to 22. Since then she had resigned to being a reserve Avenger.

3. The original Madame Web was murdered by the Kravinoff family, but not before passing the mantle over to Julia during the Grim Hunt story arc. See Amazing Spider-Man #634-637.

4. Madame Web has a lot to say about the Jackal:

   • That he is best known for making clones of Spider-Man and his “dead girlfriend”, see Amazing Spider-Man #149 for the skinny on that.

   • The “dead girlfriend” is Gwen Stacy, who died after taking a nose dive off the George Washington Bridge. See Amazing Spider-Man #121.

   • As for the Jackal’s infestation of New York, see the back-up stories in Amazing Spider-Man #659-665.

5. She also has to say a lot about Phil Urich, the current Hobgoblin:

   • He is referred to the new Hobgoblin because he usurped the role in Amazing Spider-Man #649. He wanted to impress Daily Bugle reporter Norah Winters with footage of Hobgoblin’s battles.

   • Madame Web states here that Phil killed the original Hobgoblin to take the role. However, as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man #691, Roderick Kingsley is still alive and Phil actually killed his brother, Daniel who has often posed as the Hobgoblin in order to obfuscate the villain’s true identity. For more on this and other Hobgoblins in one neat package check out Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #1-3.

   • It is mentioned how Phil was once a good guy. He was the heroic Green Goblin from Green Goblin #1-13, until his equipment was damaged and he was unable to resume the role. For a while he was a member of the Loners/Excelsior, a support group for young heroes. See Runaways (vol. 2) #1-6 and Loners #1-6.

6. This of course is a premonition about the Spider-Island event which primarily takes place in Amazing Spider-Man #666-673.

7. This is a slight hint that Peter Parker’s life is going to get hijacked by Doctor Octopus. See Amazing Spider-Man #698-700 and Superior Spider-Man #1-31.