Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17

Dec 2

Dec 2 Superior Foes of Spider-Man #17

Goodbye, Farewell and Good Riddance

Having stolen a shape-shifting formula from the Chameleon, Boomerang has taken the place of star pitcher Demang Pendak. This is because Pendak is about to break Fred Myer’s old pitching record and wanted to relive his glory days. As he steps up to the mount he begins tying up loose ends of his grand scheme.

First: Who is the guy in the Boomerang costume that is currently getting the shit beat out of him by the Owl and Chemelon’s gang? As it turns out, this is Abner Jenkins, aka Mach-VII. Using his new shape-changing powers, Fred had tagged him with a tracker and later drugged Mach-VII’s food while posing as a waitress. He then made Abner drink the same formula. Since the Chameleon’s formula copies other by touch, Fred then had Abner shape-shift to look like Boomerang, leaving him to get caught by the Owl and the Chameleon.

As he prepares for the pitch, Fred thinks about his motivations for everything. He recounts how when he was in jail he thought about the last time he did something that meant anything to him. This turned out to be when he made the Major League’s strikeout record for a rookie player, before the scandal that ended his career. He realized that he missed his baseball career all the time.[1] It took the bartender he was dating recently to make her realize that. He then decides to give her a call from his hands-free headset. She is unhappy to hear from Fred, but he convinces her to turn it on to the game. He then proves that it is him standing on the pithcer’s mound by putting on the pair of Groucho glasses he wore on their first date.[2] He apologizes for the stuff he pulled on her with the Bullseye LMD and says that it was a habit he had from being a super-villain and that being with her makes him want to change his life. He tells her he wants to change his life and begins telling her about the painting that he has.[3]

Fred admits that the painting he has been using to manipulate everyone is a fake. That said he actually stole the real one, thanks to the criminal known as Mirage. He made a deal with Mirage when he met him at a Vil-Anon meeting. When the Owl sent an army of villains to steal the painting back from the Chameleon Mirage went to work. While the Chameleon tied up one of Mirage’s doubles, the real Mirage swapped out the real painting with a fake.[4] Fred was impressed that Mirage managed to keep his mouth shut after being tortured by both the Owl and the Chameleon afterward. However, Mirage did all of this in hopes of securing a spot on the Sinister Six. Unfortunately for him, when Mirage handed over the painting to Boomerang he then shoved him off a building, sending him falling to his death.[5]

He tells the bartender about the painting and suggests that they sell it and make a new life for themselves someplace else. She is reluctant to accept, and he tells her to think about it while watching him make Demang Pandak’s record. After she ends the call the bartender strips off her disguise. As it turns out, this was the Black Cat the whole time and she was seducing Boomerang in order to steal the painting from him. He has given her the location of the real painting and she takes it from Boomerang’s apartment and leaves.

Back in the dugout, Fred is told he has a call from Pendak’s father. However, when he takes the call he discovers that it’s actually the Owl. Apparently, the mobster is in the stands watching the game as he was onto Boomerang’s scheme. In fact, the Owl that is beating on Mach-VII is actually another Life Model Decoy created by the Tinkerer. However, instead of killing Boomerang, the Owl has decided to use this deception to his advantage. He has placed a sizeable number of bets against “Demang” beating Fred Myer’s record and tells him to throw the game. Fred realizes that he is stuck in the same situation that first sent him down the road to becoming a super-villain. If he throws the game he’ll repeat the cycle, and if he refuses the Owl will kill him. Either way, he’ll lose. With that in mind, Fred makes the next pitch……

…. As it turns out, Fred Myers has been telling this whole story to a man in a bar. He makes a dramatic pause deciding to leave the story with an ambiguous ending. However, the man listening to the tale tells him that that won’t work with this story and insists Fred explain what happened next. He realizes that he doesn’t have a choice and continues his story…

Things actually turned out pretty well for the other members of the Sinister Six. For Speed Demon, he skipped out on the whole gang war because he had a court date. As it turned out, his lawyer managed to file a lawsuit against Luke Cage and Iron Fist for injuring his ankle.[6] Surprisingly, the jury ruled in favor of Speed Demon and he was awarded a large settlement. For Mach-VII, the Chameleon’s formula wore off while he was still being beat by the Owl and Chameleon’s men. Luckily, he was rescued by Iron Man who decided to come to help him out after all. Abner was delighted to be rescued by an a-list superhero like Tony Stark. Meanwhile, the Beetle and Overdrive fled the gang war with the counterfeit painting of Doctor Doom as a consolation prize. Unfortunately for them, they run into Doctor Doom who has come to recover the painting. The battle raging at the docks got further complicated when the Punisher arrived to eliminate all the feuding mobsters. However, they were saved when the Shocker arrives in his new Shocker-Mobile and blasts the vigilante away with his vibro-gauntlets. Impressed to see the Shocker finally standing up for himself, Silverman orders everyone to bow before him as he is the new leader of the Maggia.

Concluding his story, Boomerang admits that while he didn’t get everything he wanted and even lost in the end, he is still proud of what he accomplished. While the original Sinister Six are considered the “real team”, he wouldn’t trade places with them in a million years.[7] They are nothing compared to Boomerang’s version of the Sinister Six because it was founded by a guy with a dream and nothing else. With his story finally over, Fred reminds the man he told this story that he owes him a drink. The man introduces himself as Peter, and unaware that this man is actually his nemesis Spider-Mand, Fred is impressed by the guy and even though he just met him, figures they could become great friends.

Recurring Characters

Sinister Six (Boomerang, the Beetle, Overdrive, Shocker, Speed Demon), Peter Parker, Mach-VII, Owl, Mirage, Chameleon, Black Cat, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Doctor Doom, Punisher, Hammerhead, Silvermane

Continuity Notes

Fred was a Major League baseball player until he was caught in a gambling scandal and was banned from the league, as we learned in Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1.
Fred and the bartender went on their first date in Superior Foes of Spider-Man #6.
Boomerang begged for his life and offered the Bullseye LMD his girlfriend instead. This was in Superior Foes of Spider-Man #9. She was pretty pissed about it.
The Sinister Six originally stole this painting from the Owl in Superior Foes of Spider-Man #5. The Chameleon then stole the painting in issue #8. The Owl in turn hired the Sinister Six to steal it back, providing a number of additional criminals, including Mirage to do so in issue #12.
Boomerang doesn’t feel bad because Mirage, according to him, has died seventeen times. That’s an exaggeration. Here are the facts:
- Mirage has actually died twice. The first time he was among a number of villains killed by the Scourge of the Underworld at the Bar With No Name in Captain America #319.
- He was later resurrected by the Hood along with other Scourge victims in Punisher (vol. 7) #5.
- Mirage died a second time when the Punisher put three bullets in his head in Punisher: In the Blood #2.
- Somehow Mirage came back to life, as we learned in Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3.
Speed Demon injured his ankle when the Sinister Six was ambushed by Luke Cage and Iron Fist in Superior Foes of Spider-Man #4.
The scene of the original Sinister Six is taken from their first appearance back in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.