Superior Spider-Man #19
Event Horizon
On the island of Grand Tauró, in the Grand Caymans, the Wraith has tracked down Antoine Morant, the infamous banker to various criminal organizations and super-villains. The Wraith manages to get some of her fear gas into the vents of the car but is forced to retreat due to the armed guards on motorcycles defending Morant’s vehicle. She leaps back onto a following jeep driven by Carlie Cooper. When the Wraith suggests they wait, Cooper refuses to give up the chase as they are getting close to finding out where Spider-Man is getting the money to fund his private army.[1]
Back in New York City, a build up of chronotons in Horizon Labs is threatening to destroy the facility. Their only savior was the future Spider-Man from the year 2099. Unfortunately, the present day Spider-Man arrived and just knocked the time-traveller with a sucker punch before he could tell everyone what to do. That’s when Grady Scraps explains everything he saw in the past. He tells them that three different acts of sabotage caused by Tiberius Stone have led to this moment where the time door has become a literal time bomb.[2] Spider-Man quickly learns that this situation was caused by Stone’s past tamperings with Sajani’s artificial Vibranium, Grady’s time door, and Peter Parker’s Alpha Energy Generator.[3] He quickly has the Horizon staff get samples of Reverbium and the Alpha Energy Generator, but Bella Fishbach refuses to stop tending to Spider-Man 2099 insisting that he is an important key to stopping the disaster from happening. Otto however, refuses to accept this, telling them that he is the superior Spider-Man.
Taking charge, Spider-Man begins removing the webbing that has bound Tiberius Stone. He orders Stone to assist in creating a counter device, threatening his life if he refuses to comply. That’s when Max insists that they need Peter Parker’s help because he helped find a harmonic frequency to cancel out the Reverbium’s power in the past. Otto realizes that he is stuck in this situation and begins trying to access Peter Parker’s memories for the first time since he seemingly purged them from his system.[4] He tells Max to be quiet while he thinks and filters through the memories of Peter Parker’s that he still retains,[5] but realizes that he has to dig even deeper. In the deep recesses of Peter Parker’s brain, someone begins to dig out of the rubble.
When Max Modell snaps Spider-Man out of his deep concentration he is shocked to discover eight minutes has elapsed and the equipment he asked for is almost set up. As Spider-Man struggles to figure out the correct frequency, his future counterpart begins to wake up. When it starts to become apparent that Spider-Man can’t figure it out, everyone makes a run for it. However, before Tiberius Stone can escape, Spider-Man 2099 grabs him and refuses to let him go. The future Spider-Man has decided that he is going to sacrifice his own existence to make sure that Tiberius Stone dies in the blast, thus preventing Alchemax from taking over the world in his future. In the future, Tyler Stone discovers that his existence is starting to unravel again and demands to know what his Spider-Man is doing. That’s when his scientists inform him that it’s not just the Stone family that is being written out of existence, but their entire era. Back in the present, Spider-Man 2099 tries to justify this, thinking that his family and loved ones will be safe in whatever future will replace his own timeline. Tiberius, however, questions the web-slinger’s faith.
With minutes left until the explosion, the Horizon Labs staff have retreated outside. There, Max Modell is confronted by mayor J. Jonah Jameson who wants to know what Modell’s company has done this time to endanger his city. Back inside, Spider-Man realizes that he cannot figure out the correct code and for the first time he begins to wonder if he is in facy, inferior. Suddenly, Spider-Man 2099 leaps out of the building with Tiberius Stone just seconds before Horizon Labs is annihilated in a temporal implosion. Everyone is safe, but there is no sign of the modern era’s Spider-Man.
In the year 2099, Tyler Stone is pleased to see everything is back to normal and decides to smash the time machine, stranding his Spider-Man in the past where he cannot interfere with Alchemax any longer. However, when Spider-Man 2099 discovers that he is trapped in the past. He realizes that he can’t kill his grandfather but quickly comes up with a new plan.
Eventually, Liz Osborn completes her mergers of Alan Chemical with her son’s holdings in Oscorp, and their acquisition of Horizon Labs. In light of the merger, the company is rennamed to Alchemax. Liz celebrates with her son, Tiberius, and her bodyguard Mason Banks. They are interrupted by a man named Miguel O’Mara, who tells Tiberius that he has been hired on as his personal assistant. This man is actually Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, who has decided to keep close tabs on his grandfather and Alchemax and steer them away from becoming the tyrannical mega-corporation they are in the future.
Later, at the ruins of Horizon Labs, Max Modell meets with J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson decides to drop charges against Modell as long as he agrees to never set up operations in New York City again.[6] However, after Jameson and his entourage leaves, Max has Grady Scraps activate a device he hopes will bring back Spider-Man from wherever he went when Horizon Labs imploded. The device works and Spider-Man reappears in a mid-rant with a foe. He almost lets slip that he is Doctor Octopus when he realizes where he is and stops himself. When Grady and the others ask where he was, Spider-Man suddenly realizes that he doesn’t remember.[7] Modell then tells Spider-Man that this makes him even with the web-slinger as well as Peter Parker. Max realizes he was wrong about both Parker and Spider-Man and is looking forward to starting a new chapter of his life without them.
Realizing that he had been gone for six hours, Otto returns to Peter Parker’s apartment to find he has sixteen new voice mails waiting for him. Inbetween increasingly concerned messages from Mary Jane Watson, there are reminders from Aunt May about dinner and another from Anna Maria Marconi. Annoyed by Mary Jane, Otto decides to call her and deal with her once and for all. Mary Jane receives the call as she is busy making repairs to her nightclub.[8] However, it’s Mary Jane who takes control of the conversation. She is furious that Peter didn’t bother checking on her after the fire, and while she understands that he’s been through a lot of things lately, she believes he has changed and has decided that it is time to move on and hangs up on him.[9]
Meanwhile, Max Modell is saying his goodbyes aboard his mobile lab, the Zephyr. He is inviting most of the Horizon Labs staff along with him. However, Uatu Jackson’s parents won’t let him go and Max has refused to invite Sajani Jaffrey, because he can’t trust her anymore. That’s when “Peter Parker” gives Sajani a call offering her a job. He muses that when one door closes another one usually opens.
At that same moment, in Grand Tauró, Carlie Cooper and the Wraith burst into Antoine Morant’s office as the criminal banker is trying to shred all of his documentation. Carlie puts a bullet into Antoine’s paper shredder and manages to save a document that gives her all of the evidence she needs. It reveals that Spider-Man has been getting funding for Spider-Island, his Spiderlings and all of his equipment from a bank account owned by Doctor Octopus.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Wraith, Carlie Cooper, Max Modell, Hector Beaz, Grady Scraps, Sajani Jaffrey, Bella Fishbach, Uatu Jackson, Liz Osborn, Normie Osborn, “Mason Banks”, Tiberius Stone, Normie Osborn, Tyler Stone, Lyla, Living Brain, J. Jonah Jameson, Anna Maria Marconi, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Peter Parker
Continuity Notes
Unknown to everyone, Doctor Octopus took over Spider-Man’s life circa Amazing Spider-Man #698-700. However, Carlie is suspicious and has been investigating the wall-crawler since Superior Spider-Man #3.
Tiberius Stone used to work for Horizon Labs circa Amazing Spider-Man #649 to 697 when it was revealed that he was a mole for the Kingpin and was fired.
Tiberius tampered with these inventions in Amazing Spider-Man #648, 678, and 692 respectively.
When Otto first took over Peter Parker’s body he had access to Parker’s memories. However, he cut off his access when he discovered a remnant of Peter’s consciousness when he discovered it was fighting to win back his body in Superior Spider-Man #9.
The various memories that Otto digs up are:
Peter’s early days of being Spider-Man circa Amazing Fantasy #15.
The death of George Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #90
Peter’s first meeting with Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man #42.
Spider-Man freeing himself from under debris from Amazing Spider-Man #33.
The death of Gwen Stacy from Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Spider-Man freeing himself from the grave Kraven the Hunter buried him in from Web of Spider-Man #32.
There’s another scene of Peter Parker holding debris up with his street clothes shredded to show the Spider-Man costume he is wearing underneath. I know I’ve seen this but what specific issue that happened in escapes me at a moment. If you know what issue that was in send me an e-mail.
Jameson says that he is doing this out of respect for his late wife, Marla Madison. Marla was a colleague of Modell. She was murdered by the Spider-Slayer in Amazing Spider-Man #654.
Otto was pulled forward in time and got involved in the Spider-Verse event. See Superior Spider-Man #32-33, Edge of Spider-Verse #1-5, Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #7-15, Spider-Verse #1-2, Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3, Scarlet Spiders #1-3, and Spider-Woman (vol. 5) #1-4.
Mary Jane’s nightclub, MJ’s, was attacked by three members of the Goblin Nation in Superior Spider-Man #10.
Mary Jane mentions a number of recent tragedies that Peter had experienced recently they are:
The alleged death of Silver Sable. Sable seemingly perished when she helped Spider-Man stop Doctor Octopus from the destroying the world in Amazing Spider-Man #682-687. However, Sable survived as explained in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #33.
How Spider-Man almost killed the Lizard. Spider-Man was horrified when the Lizard killed his own son, Billy Connors. When he resurfaced again he almost killed the Lizard when a cure for his condition didn’t appear to work. See Amazing Spider-Man #630-633 and 688-689.
Lastly, she mentions how Doctor Octopus recently kidnapped everyone Peter cared about. That was in Amazing Spider-Man #698-700. This is an error. See below.
Topical References
The present day in this story is stated as being the year 2013. This should be considered a topical reference.
Continuity Errors
In this story, Mary Jane makes reference to how Doctor Octopus kidnapped all of Peter’s friends and family in Amazing Spider-Man #698-700. This is accurate, but what’s wrong is how Mary Jane fames it. Doctor Octopus had already taken control of Peter Parker’s body by this point and stashed all of Peter Parker’s friends and family away while Peter was trapped in Otto’s dying body as a means of keeping Parker at bay until Otto’s body finally gave out. She couldn’t have known she was a prisoner of Doctor Octopus at the time. This is obviously an error on the part of the writer.
Making Sense of 2099 in this Story
As I’ve stated before, it’s my view that the events of this story created a divergent version of Earth-928, the 2099 universe. I believe the divergence occurred immediately following the events of Spider-Man 2099 Meets Spider-Man #1. See my explanation at the end of my summary of Superior Spider-Man #17.
