Spider-Man Unlimited #1
Carnage Rising!
In Ravencroft Asylum, Cletus Kasady is being brought in by Officer Resnick and other guards to Dr. Pournella and Dr. Landis.[1] Kasady promises that when he escapes, he will kill Resnick quickly and with minimal agony. Dr. Landis believes that Kasady simply dressed up in some gaudy red costume while calling himself Carnage. Dr. Pournella reveals that they are conducting tests on Kasady because an unexplained anomaly keeps registering in his blood, and when she puts a needle in Kasady's arm, the Carnage symbiote reawakens and kills the guards and Dr. Landis. Carnage reveals that he lied to Resnick about the minimal agony. He then tells Dr. Pournella that he will celebrate his newfound freedom by slaying everyone in Ravencroft.
Meanwhile, Peter, Flash, Felicia, Mary Jane, JJ, Robbie, Aunt May, Peter's parents, Liz, Normie, and Mark are all attending the funeral of Harry Osborn. Felicia is wondering about the truth behind Harry's death.[2] Liz tells Peter that Harry's happiest times were when the two were roommates back in college. Mary Jane mentions that Normie keeps glaring at them. Peter reflects on how Harry saved his life, and that his friends, foes, and family all manage to become jumbled together somehow. Back at Ravencroft, while Carnage is busy with his murder, he hears someone cheering him on and frees the criminal known as Shriek in order to increase his ratio of kills per time. Back with Peter and Mary Jane, Peter is trying to get her to quit smoking so he won't have to attend her funeral as well and to make it equal, he promises her to stop being Spider-Man for a week or two.[3] Across town somewhere, Carnage is telling Shriek how he shared a jell cell with Eddie Brock, and that when the Venom symbiote freed him, a part of it was left behind for Kasady to become Carnage.[4] Spider-Man then used sonics on both symbiotes and Kasady arrived at Ravencroft. He then thinks he sees Spider-Man, but it turns out to be the Doppelganger who teamed up with Demogoblin.[5] Shriek reveals her sonic power to protect the Doppelganger, so he can join their twisted family.
Peter hears that Kasady escaped Ravencroft and goes after him, thinking about all his old foes will never die off and keep coming back. Instead, he runs into Shriek and his Doppelganger. Mary Jane also hears on the television that Carnage escaped, and Shriek reveals both her powers and the fact that she and Carnage are an item to Spider-Man. Spider-Man quickly takes out Shriek, but the Doppelganger jams him in the ribs and off the building they were fighting on. The Doppelganger swings away with Shriek as Spider-Man collapses. Finally, at the Daily Bugle, Kate Cushing alerts Jonah that Carnage is loose. As he goes into his office to collect his passport and leave, he sees Kasady already in there and waiting for him to help him go on a hunt for Venom.
Maximum Carnage continues in Web of Spider-Man #101...
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Carnage, Shriek, Spider-Doppelganger, Mary Jane Watson, Flash Thompson, Felicia Hardy, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Aunt May, “Richard and Mary Parker”, Kate Cushing, Liz Osborn, Normie Osborn, Mark Raxton
Continuity Notes
Kasady has been incarcerated since Spider-Man defeated him in Amazing Spider-Man #363.
There are a few unspoken details to unpack here.
First, Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
Second, these are not Peter Parker's real parents but impostors as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #388. Peter's real parents were killed in action during a government mission as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.
Lastly the time of this story, everyone thinks that Harry Osborn is dead following the events of The Spectacular Spider-Man #200. However, unknown to everyone at the time, Harry survived as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #581. He will resurface again in Amazing Spider-Man #545.
Mary Jane took up smoking as a way of coping with the fact the stress of being married to Spider-Man, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #361.
Venom's escape from prison happened in Amazing Spider-Man #344.
The Spider-Doppelganger was captured following the Spirits of Venom event.
Playback
Peter Parker is woken up in his childhood bedroom by his Uncle Ben. He is surprised to see that his Uncle Ben is still alive.[1] Ben is followed by Aunt May, leaving Peter confused. Getting out of bed and looking at himself in the mirror, and is surprised to see his sixteen-year-old-self looking back at him.[2] Even more surprising, Peter discovers that he still has and needs his glasses. As he gets dressed, he wonders if his entire life as Spider-Man was a dream and this is reality. When he goes downstairs to breakfast, Peter can't believe how realistic everything is. Suddenly, he sees the image of a pile of bricks in his mind. Aunt May notices that Peter is distracted, and muses if he is thinking about the accident he had the day before. Peter doesn't know what they are talking about and asks Uncle Ben to remind him. Ben tells the boy that he shouldn't be worried about such things and sends him off to school. In his mind's eye, he sees Spider-Man's hand emerge from the pile of bricks.
As he walks through the neighborhood, Peter can't help but marvel at how the old neighborhood looked like when he was younger. It's identical down to the finest detail, including buildings that have long since been torn down. He once again gets a brief flash of a memory of Spider-Man being buried under tons of bricks. When Peter arrives at Midtown High, he is knocked off his feet by Flash Thompson and his friends, who are playing football. Peter gets another flash memory, this time of Spider-Man fighting the Scorpion. Flash gives Peter a hard time but hands Parker back his glasses unbroken. Later, Peter attends Mister Warren's science class. There he sees young Liz Allan and remarks how attractive he found her when they were both in high school. The bright-eyed teenager was much different than the adult Liz who went on to marry Harry Osborn.[3] Once again, people are concerned about Peter after his "accident". When he helps Liz with her science experiment, Flash decides to teach Peter a lesson by making his experiment explode. Mr. Warren thinks Peter was being irresponsible and makes him clean up the mess.
After school, Peter is more confused than ever, Peter goes down to the science lab where he was bitten by the radioactive spider. There, he finds that the "accident" was that he was bitten by the radioactive spider. The scientist in charge shows Peter the spider and that he is about to perform an autopsy on it. Realizing that he may never have any spider-powers, to begin with, Peter runs back home and goes back up to his room. There he struggles with the thoughts in his head, of an ongoing battle between Spider-Man and the Scorpion, and the "reality" that is before him. Knowing that Peter is troubled, Uncle Ben comes into Peter's room to have a heart-to-heart with Peter. He figures his nephew is going through changes and tries to convince him that changes are an important part of life. If things always remained the same and never changed, you may as well be dead.
That evening, Peter decides to go out for a walk to get some fresh air. On his walk, he is approached by the local patrolman who warns Peter that a burglar has been spotted in the area. Remembering that this is the night that Uncle Ben would have been murdered, Peter rushes home. When he gets there, he finds that his Uncle Ben is safe. Suddenly, they hear someone forcing their way into the house through the window. Peter tells his uncle to stay upstairs and goes downstairs to confront the burglar. However, this confrontation is interrupted by Uncle Ben, who tells the burglar that he has just called the police. The burglar responds by shooting Uncle Ben in front of Peter. Peter is horrified, as he believed that if he ever had the opportunity to relive this moment he would have been able to stop the burglar.
Suddenly, Peter snaps out of it, his "youth" was all part of a vivid dream when he was buried alive battling the Scorpion. The two continue to battle, and when the Scorpion grabs him by the throat and begins choking him, Spider-Man briefly considers letting go so he can be with his Uncle Ben again. However, he remembers what Uncle Ben said about change, and fights back against the Scorpion and knocking him out with a single blow. Later, Peter wakes up to the smell of wheat cakes cooking and wonders if he is having a dream again. He is relieved when it is his wife Mary Jane comes in to wake him. She cooked up wheat cakes using Aunt May's old recipe. When she asks Peter if he wants something else for breakfast, he tells her the wheat cakes are perfect.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Scorpion, Mary Jane Watson,
Continuity Notes
Peter's Uncle Ben was murdered by a Burglar in Amazing Fantasy #15.
Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Peter's high school years were roughly eight years behind him around the time of this story.
Harry and Liz eloped years after Peter graduated high school, as explained in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #63.
Long Way Down!
Learning that Gerard Anders and Steven Polk were using substandard materials and bilking money from construction contracts that resulted in the death of a child, Cardiac has brought them together with threats of blackmail. In reality, Cardiac actually intends to kill them. After knocking Gerard off the building to his death, he gets Steven to confess his crimes and reveal what other buildings are victim to this shoddy work.
Before Cardiac can kill Polk, the NYPD's Code: Blue team arrives to stop him. He keeps the officers at bay long enough to get Polk to confess for the police. He also damages the structural integrity of the construction site so Code: Blue is forced to pull back while Cardiac escapes. Although he didn't kill Steven Polk, he is satisfied that the appropriate justice will be meted out.
Recurring Characters
Cardiac, Code: Blue (Lt. Stone, Jock Jackson, Rigger Ruiz, Fireworks Fielstein, Mother Majowski, Mad-Dog Rossitano)