Spider-Woman #33
Yesterday's Villain!
Happening upon a protest outside the home of a developer who wishes to tear down an old hotel and replace it with a shopping mall, Spider-Woman saves the man from a fall when a projectile is thrown by a protester knocks him off the balcony. Returning to her partner Scotty McDowell's home, Scotty provides her with their next mission: Go to San Francisco and capture Turner D. Century.
Century is a man garbed in early 1900's clothing who has been terrorizing San Francisco using violent means in order to restore the apparent decency and tradition of the early 1900's. Traveling to San Francisco, Jessica Drew takes in the sights of the city. She has her first encounter with Turner D. Century when he attacks a bar. Changing into her Spider-Woman costume, she has to stop her attempt to capture the crook when the bar's patrons are endangered by the fire set by Turner. That night, Scotty calls Jessica and gives her a hard time for letting Turner get away, causing her to angrily hang up on him. While out on another patrol of San Francisco, Spider-Woman spots Turner D. Century as he is setting an adult theater ablaze, and attacks him. Once more, she is forced to stop when some children are endangered when a fire escape breaks, allowing Century to escape once more. This leads to yet another angry phone call between Jessica and Scotty, who believes that she still could have caught Century.
After Turner burns down a section of Chinatown, Spider-Woman and Scotty track down a lead that takes Spider-Woman to the abandoned home of Morgan McNeil Hardy. Entering the home, she finds a vast complex underneath it fashioned after the early 1900s. There Spider-Woman and Turner clash until they are interrupted by Hardy himself. Spider-Woman learns that Hardy created this world so that he could relive what he believed were better times. As Spider-Woman explains to Hardy what Turner D. Century has been doing, Century is sent into a frenzy and attacks her. During the fight, a fire breaks out. Forced to flee on her own, the house explodes behind Spider-Woman, seemingly killing Hardy and Century.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Woman, Scotty McDowell, Turner D. Century, Morgan Hardy
Continity Notes
Morgan McNeil Hardy, in this story, is stated to have survived the fires in San Francisco in the 1906. It is also stated that he was a politician in the 1960s. These are both factual references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 due to the nature of McNeil. As revealed in Avengers #218, "Hardy" is actually an immortal mutant known as the Forever Man. Every time he dies he is reborn with no memory of his past lives. Forever Man's profile in Avengers Assemble #1 states that while he ages at a normal rate, his abilities probably explain how he could have been "born" in the 1900s and live until this point of the Modern Age.
Although both Turner D. Century and Hardy appear to die here, they both turn up alive and well in Marvel Team-Up #120 and Captain America #264 respectively.
