Poisoned Souls

In the state of Wyoming, a racist terrorist group calling themselves the Fist of Freedom are planning a series of attacks that they think will start a revolution to eliminate non-whites from the United States. Their meeting is then intruded upon by the Scorpion, who is now an operative working for the government. After smashing this racist militia, the Scorpion is told that his next assignment will be in New York City.

There, Peter Parker is reading the news on the Scorpion’s bust to Mary Jane. He’s concerned that the Scorpion has resurfaced, reminding Mary Jane how the villain was given his powers thanks to an experimented financed by J. Jonah Jameson and how Mac Gargan has a grudge against Jameson and his family as a result. He recalls how the Scorpion had recently fought Ben Reilly during his short stint as Spider-Man and that time Gargan was equipped with new weapons. That time it took the combined efforts of Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist to stop him. Peter points out that the Scorpion is the only villain that was created for the sole purpose of destroying him and how he’s only narrowly won all their past encounters. He fears that this time, with all the Scorpion’s advanced weapons, Spider-Man might not be able to defeat him this time.[1] However, Mary Jane is confident that Peter will eventually think of something like he always does.[2]

Meanwhile, at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson and his wife Marla Madison are worried when the nightmare of the Scorpion will end. That’s when Jonah gets a call from Mac Gargan who tells to be at One Roxxon Plaza at 7:30 the following evening as his new employers are going to make a press conference about why he is in New York and he wants Jonah to have a good seat.

The following evening, Spider-Man is swinging over to the Roxxon Building. Along the way, he knows that Roxxon cannot be up to anything good if they are funding the Scorpion’s vigilante activities. He recounts his recent encounters with the shady oil company and how they managed to evade any real punishment for their crimes.[3] After setting up his automatic camera, Spider-Man peeks into a window and sees that the place is packed with various journalists. Soon the press conference begins and they are addressed by Terence Gerard, an executive of Roxxon Oil. He tells the gathered members of the press that Roxxon has partnered with the United States government to create a program to reform and rehabilitate super-villains by putting them into government service. He then introduces their first candidate, the Scorpion. Suddenly, Spider-Man’s spider-sense begins going off, warning him of a man wearing a trench coat among the other reporters. That’s when this man rips open his coat to reveal that he’s strapped himself with dynamite and threatens to blow everything up as some kind of protest. However, before Spider-Man can act, the Scorpion blasts the bomber with a stinger blast from his tail. Spider-Man comes crashing in as the bomb has not been disarmed. Everyone gathered thinks that Spider-Man is in league with the bomber and the Scorpion tries to attack him. Luckily, Spider-Man manages to get the bomb and tosses it high into the air where it harmlessly explodes.[4] Later, Terence Gerard has contacted the Black Tarantula and confirms that everything is going according to plan and soon Spider-Man will be crushed. However, the Black Tarantula is not convinced and wants nothing but success.[5] That’s when the Scorpion enters the room and asks when he’ll be able to get his revenge. Gerard assures the Scorpion that he’ll get his chance in due time.

The next day, Peter Parker is upset that J. Jonah Jameson is blaming Spider-Man for the attempting bombing at the press conference as Jameson knows how dangerous the Scorpion is. He and Mary Jane go to a lecture on genetics that is being given by Marla Madison. When he sees Jameson in the crowd, he takes the opportunity to tell Jonah how disappointed he is in him. He reminds Jameson that he used to be an investigative reporter and he should know that there’s something fishy going on since the Scorpion is being backed by Roxxon. He asks if Jonah is afraid the Scorpion will come after his family again or if it’s guilt as though he hopes Gargan will really become informed. This angers Jonah, who assures Peter he’ll report the facts once he knows them. That’s when the lecture is suddenly attacked by an army of mercenaries. Peter notices they have a spider-shaped emblem on their costumes that resemble the one on the Black Tarantula’s mask and wonder how they are connected to his one-time foe. While Mary Jane helps people get out of the tear gas, Peter changes into Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he is unable to stop the Black Tarantula’s men from kidnapping Marla Madison. This is witnessed by J. Jonah Jameson who is then ambushed by the Scorpion. While not far away, Spider-Man is dealing with the mercenaries that are still on the scene and tags the mercenaries fleeing helicopter with a spider-tracer. That’s when the police arrive on the scene, but luckily for the wall-crawler one of the officers is Detective Connor Trevane, who decides to work with Spider-Man instead of arresting him.

Once they have relocated to a quiet place on the Empire State University campus, they compare notes.[6] The pair both know that Roxxon is shady and there is something crooked going on. Spider-Man assures Trevane that he’ll soon be able to figure out how to find out when they want with Marla Madison.[7] Later, the Scorpion and his allies are flying in a private jet to the nation of Bolivia. With them are the Jamesons who are not getting answers as to where they are being taken. Unknown to everyone else on board, Spider-Man has also stowed away on board. When the plane lands, Jonah and Marla are taken to a government-funded Roxxon facility. They are introduced to Curtis Henshaw the head of Roxxon R&D, Colonel Gunderson of the Defense Department, and the masked crimelord known as the Black Tarantula. They are then taken on a tour of the facility where Roxxon is using assets taken from the Brand Corporation to try and create an army of super-humans that can then be put to work for the government.[8] The only thing they are missing is the expertise of Marla Madison. When she refuses, the Scorpion stings Jonah a second time, activating a poison in his system that will kill him in six hours unless she complies. That’s when Spider-Man ambushes the Scorpion.

Needing space to fight, Spider-Man goes outside only to discover that they are surrounded by desert. Still, Spider-Man lays into the Scorpion and seemingly beats him into submission. However, the Scorpion is only playing possum in order to sting Spider-Man. Still, Spider-Man continues to fight on, trying to convince Gargan that he is only being used. Ultimately, the web-slinger is able to beat the Scorpion into submission. By this time, federal authorities have arrived on the scene after being called by Marla Madison in the ensuing confusion. As it turned out, Marla was wearing a wire and recorded everything that was said to them. As the authorities arrest the members of Roxxon’s staff they notice that the Black Tarantula managed to escape.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Scorpion, Black Tarantula, Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Madison, Ben Urich, Ken Ellis, Betty Brant, Megan McLaren, Connor Trevane, Raymond Royton, Trish Tilby, Glory Grant (voice only)

Continuity Notes

1. Whew, there is a shit ton of exposition here, let’s get down to the details:

   • J. Jonah Jameson funded the experiments that turned Mac Gargan into the Scorpion in Amazing Spider-Man #20.

   • Over the years the Scorpion has taken time aside from his criminal career to try and get revenge against Jameson for turning him into a “monster” as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #29, Ms. Marvel #1-2, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #21, Marvel Team-Up #106, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18, and Amazing Spider-Man #342.

   • Ben Reilly took over as Spider-Man in Sensational Spider-Man #0 until his death in Spider-Man #75.

   • During his tenure as Spider-Man, Ben Reilly battled the Scorpion with Luke Cage and Iron Fist in Spider-Man Unlimited #13.

2. Mary Jane states that she and Peter are married. 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.

3. Spider-Man is referring to Roxxon’s attempt to flood the Savage Land in Sensational Spider-Man #13-15 and their recent activities in Latveria in Spider-Man Unlimited #16.

4. Spider-Man laments that his being hunted by the law again, mentioning Norman Osborn’s Spiderhunt. The Spiderhunt story arc occurred in Sensational Spider-Man #25, Amazing Spider-Man #432, Spider-Man #89, and Spectacular Spider-Man #255.

5. The Black Tarantula mentions his last encounter with Spider-Man was an indecisive battle. The pair fought in Amazing Spider-Man #432.

6. Trevane says he owes Spider-Man for saving the life of his son. This was first detailed in Spider-Man #44.

7. Spider-Man hopes that Trevane can explain what the bees were all about in the X-Files movie. This is a reference to the film X-Files: Fight the Future a feature film based on the popular television series of the same name. The movie had come out a few months prior to this issue’s publication. If you had not been watching the X-Files television show you would not know what was going on in the movie as the film takes place between the fifth and sixth season of the series and directly ties into the long-running alien conspiracy that is the central plot of the show. In the series alien colonizers were preparing to take over Earth. Part of this plan involved genetically modified bees that contained a virus that would kill any human who was stung. Why? Well, the X-Files was never particularly good at providing explanations. At any rate, I probably shouldn’t have to tell you that this is a topical reference.

8. Reference is made of the Brand Corporation being shut down and re-opened as a subsidiary of Roxxon. Brand was shut down following Amazing Spider-Man #236 as people don’t take kindly to a company turning a criminal into a giant tarantula. The Roxxon owned version of Brand opened in Spider-Man: The Mutant Agenda #1.