Blinded by the Fight

Discovering that his Spiderlings have been infiltrated by an enemy force opens old feelings of betrayal in Otto Octavius. He thinks back to his childhood when he used to be bullied as a child. The only place he felt safe was in his bedroom where he could read his books in peace and quiet. As he grew older that feeling of security turned into power and revenge, these private places soon became lost to memory. Now that his own men are attacking him with super-villain technology, he wishes he could retreat to that special place. He began calling himself the superior Spider-Man, but in the end, he was actually playing a dupe.

As Spider-Man fights for his life alongside Daredevil and the Punisher, Otto wonders who is the mastermind behind this attack. He briefly considers that his allies could be responsible and decides not to trust anybody. When Daredevil pulls Spider-Man out of danger he punches his ally in the face. Daredevil tells the wall-crawler to get ahold of himself so they can get this situation under control. Daredevil is disturbed when Spider-Man doesn’t make a joke about the “blind leading the blind” after he directs the Punisher — who had just been blinded by a flash bomb. However, before he can question Spider-Man any further, the web-slinger pushes Daredevil aside to avoid a pumpkin bomb.

The blast also knocks the Punisher to the floor and he begins shooting wildly, almost hitting his two allies. As Spider-Man scolds Frank Castle for putting them in danger, the Punisher points out he shouldn’t anger the only allies he has left. However, Spider-Man doesn’t believe that these are his Spiderlings, but impostors who have taken the place of his private army. That’s when the trio is rocked back again by a blast from one of the “Spiderlings” piloting one of Spider-Man’s spider-tanks. This allows one of the fake Spiderlings to get the drop on Spider-Man, but Daredevil manages to help by tossing the web-slinger one of his billy-clubs to defend himself. Spider-Man tells the Man Without Fear that he doesn’t need his help. When Daredevil suggests Spider-Man call his actual Spiderlings, the web-slinger discovers that someone is jamming his communications. Worse, all of the codes on the doors have been changed, trapping them with their attackers.

That’s when the Punisher hears the tell-tale sound of the Gobling Glider he repurposed and recently had stolen. This convinces him that Spider-Man took it and was lying the whole time. The Punisher aims his gun at Spider-Man, however, instead of shooting the wall-crawler he uses him to camouflage his shot as he was actually aiming for the “Spiderling” on the Goblin Glider. With his vision coming back, the Punisher recovers the Goblin Glider and uses its built-in drone missiles to take out the spider-tank. Spider-Man protests this destruction of his property, but Daredevil suggests their only way of getting out alive is to activate the self-destruct system. When Spider-Man tells him that there isn’t one, Daredevil knows that he is lying. Spider-Man admits the truth but refuses to activate it because he is here to defend the island. However, Daredevil convinces him that there is no other choice. Daredevil and Punisher keep their foes at bay while Spider-Man activates the device that will flood Spider-Island with seawater. Unfortunately, the codes on this system have been changed as well, forcing Spider-Man to open the floodgates manually.

The chamber is quickly flooded and the “Spiderlings” are washed out to sea. The Punisher manages to rescue Spider-Man and Daredevil thanks to his Goblin Glider. This whole time, Spider-Man’s doubts come crashing down. He finds one of the dead “Spiderlings” and notices something on his neck. When he pulls down the man’s shirt, Spider-Man is shocked to see a Green Goblin tattoo on his neck. Realizing who was responsible, Spider-Man can’t believe he could have been so stupid. When the Punisher suggests that Spider-Man still won the battle, the web-slinger believes that he’s already lost the war.

This story continues in Superior Spider-Man #27……

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher