A Blind Eye

Jamie Maldonado spends another sleepless night awake with his son, Leo. Neither of them have been able to sleep since their apartment is near Shadowland, the Kingpin’s criminal stronghold where he commands ninjas from the Hand. As he wonders when this nightmare is going to end, the entire room begins to shake. Looking outside, Maldonado is shocked to see a giant mechanical spider heading toward Shadowland.

Inside the criminal stronghold, the Kingpin is holding a meeting with the Hobgoblin and his Hand ninjas. They are planning strategies against Spider-Man, who has spent the past few days cracking down on organized crime. They are drawn outside by an explosion and the Kingpin goes out to confront Spider-Man to demand to know what the wall-crawler plans to achieve attacking his kingdom. They find Spider-Man and his new militia — the Spiderlings — waiting outside in armored spider-tanks. Spider-Man — clad in a brand new costume — explains that he has come to commit regicide and orders his armies to attack.

While Spider-Man and the Spiderlings begin begin their attack, other squads of Spiderlings surround the nearby buildings to protect the civilians, who are pleased to see someone doing something about Shadowland. As the battle rages, Spider-Man vows to take down the Kingpin and the Hobgoblin before this is done. Spider-Man then leaves the fight to the mechanical spider-arms built into his costume so he can answer a call from the mayor’s office. J. Jonah Jameson is demanding to know why Spider-Man is launching a militarized strike on Shadowland without his authorization. Spider-Man reminds Jameson about the atrocities that have been committed within Shadowland and demands that Jameson sanction this strike.[1] When Jonah balks at this, Spider-Man reminds him of the incriminating video he has of Jameson ordering him to kill the Spider-Slayer, something that could ruin his political career if it got out.[2]

Jonah pleads with Spider-Man to stop, but Spider-Man refuses to stop until the Kingpin and the Hobgoblin are both death. He makes a point to send this portion of the video feed to the Kingpin so he knows what is coming. Watching this, Fisk is disturbed by the change in Spider-Man, and suspects that this is a completely different man even though Spider-Man still sounds the same.[3] However, Wilson Fisk has already come up with a contingency plan for this situation. He takes the Hobgoblin into a secret room below Shadowland where he has a man named Smedley Kornfield hanging out with all the food he can eat and endless entertainment. Kornfield is the spitting image of the Kingpin. After Fisk snaps Kornfield’s neck, he explains to the Hobgoblin that Smedley was genetically altered to pass for the Kingpin down to a genetic level so he can fake his death and rebuild his criminal empire. The Kingpin then escapes in his personal submarine in the sewers. Noting that there is only room for one, the Hobgoblin wisely heads out the way he came.

The Hobgoblin realizes that the jig is up and is trying to make his escape when he comes across one of Spider-Man’s spider-bots. Fearing it will alert Spider-Man of his location, he is surprised when the drone disengages because of something it calls the Goblin Protocol.[4] By this time, Spider-Man and his milita have finished clearing out Shadowland. With the battle over, Spider-Man addresses the people of Hell’s Kitchen and tells them that he did this with full co-operation of the mayor’s office. Watching this through a video feed, Jameson is mortified that the wall-crawler is blackmailing him like this.

The following morning, Jamie Maldonado is happy that Spider-Man shut down Shadowland believing that this will make his neighborhood safer for his son. However, a new drug dealer has set up shop on the corner to replace the Kingpin’s usual pushers. These ones however are invisible to Spider-Man’s spider-bots because of the Goblin Nation tattoos they all wear. Meanwhile, the few surviving Hand ninjas who fled when Shadowland fell have been recruited by the Goblin Nation, who accepts them with open arms even though they have disgraced themselves by abandoning the Hand. With these new recruits, the Goblin King tells his growing army that he will soon become the next kingpin of crime without having to lifting a single finger thanks to Spider-Man, proclaiming that the city is already his.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, the Kingpin, Hobgoblin, the Hand, J. Jonah Jameson, Goblin King

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man mentions the various heroes that have had dealings with Shadowland in the past. This was during the Shadowland event. See Shadowland #1-5, Daredevil #508-512, Shadowland: Blood on the Streets #1-4, Shadowland: Power Man #1-4, Shadowland: Moon Knight #1-3, Shadowland: Daughter of the Dragons #1-3, Shadowland: Spider-Man #1, Shadowland: Elektra #1, Shadowland: Bullseye #1, Shadowland: Ghost Rider #1, Thunderbolts #148-149, and Shadowland: After the Fall #1.

2. J. Jonah Jameson wanted the Spider-Slayer executed after he mudered Jonah’s wife. Later, Spider-Man killed Smythe on Jonah’s orders. See Amazing Spider-Man #652-654 and Superior Spider-Man #11-13.

3. If you already haven’t figured it out, Doctor Octopus took over Spider-Man’s body. See Amazing Spider-Man #698-700.

4. The Spider-Bots have been hacked by the Goblin King so they ignore anyone who resembles a Goblin. See Superior Spider-Man #10.