Superior Spider-Man #28
The Fall of Spider-Island
Spider-Man attempted to best the Green Goblin at his own game. However, the Goblin has outthought Otto Octavius at every turn. While Spider-Man was busy confronting the Goblin with a holographic projection of himself, the Goblin Nation managed to slip past Spider-Island’s security. Now as his Spiderlings are being slaughtered by the Goblins, Otto find that he cannot think about what to do next. After his favorite soldier is killed in a blast, Spider-Man decides a retreat is in order and uses his robot, the Living Brain, to ferry him back to Manhattan. Spotted by the Goblin Nation, Spider-Man refuses to allow the Living Brain to release the equipment he is bringing with them and orders the robot to submerge.
Meanwhile, in the mindscape, Peter Parker has attempted to hide out in the memories of Otto Octavius. Instead of hiding from his enemies detection, Peter has found himself reliving the life of Otto Octavius and struggling to maintain hold over his own identity. As the memories play out, Peter experiences the early life of Otto Octavius. He finds himself caught between a smothering mother and an abusive father. The whole time he continues to remind himself that these are not his memories and that he is Peter Parker.
Back in the real world, the Goblin King arrives at the ruins of Spider-Island and commends his minions for a job well done.[1] He expected that Spider-Man would have escaped and orders his army to seek out and capture those who are closest to the wall-crawler.
While in Midtown Manhattan, mayor J. Jonah Jameson holds a press conference and tells the media that he has developed a means of dealing with the Goblin Nation. With members of Alchemax, he unveils his new robotic army of Goblin Slayers.[2] This press conference is being watched by Mary Jane Watson and her new boyfriend Pedro Olivera. Mary Jane knows that these are actually Spider-Slayers and wonders what Jameson is up to. That’s when two of the youngest members of the Goblin Nation comes crashing through the window to capture them. While Pedro fends them off, Mary Jane rushes to her wall-safe where she has kept a pair of Spider-Man’s web-shooters and uses them to web up the Goblins. As they flee the apartment, Mary Jane reveals that she is the ex-girlfriend of the guy who makes Spider-Man’s tech and regularly gets targeted by his foes.
Meanwhile, “Peter Parker” and the Living Brain arrive at Parker Industries. Sajani Jaffrey is furious that “Peter” has gone missing for a month and tells him how the NYPD came around asking about the disappearance of Carlie Cooper.[3] That’s when the Wraith arrives to question Parker about her disappearance. As she tries to interrogate Parker, the Monster arrives to kidnap him for her boss. The Monster quickly knocks out the Wraith and then reveals that she is actually Carlie Cooper. Seeing this is a shock to Otto because it leads him to believe that the Goblin King knows everything about him now.
At that moment, former ninjas of the Hand break into Jay Jameson and May Parker’s apartment and find it deserted. This is because Mary Jane and Pedro beat them to the punch and are now rounding up all of Peter Parker’s friends and loved ones in order to keep them safe. As they race off to their next pick up, Mary Jane calls her Aunt Anna and asks her to take a plane out of town and call her when she has landed. When May and Jay ask about Jonah and Peter, Mary Jane figures that Jameson will be under constant guard since he’s the mayor, and assures them that Peter is safe.
Back in the mindscape, Peter Parker continues to re-life the life of Otto Octavius. As these memories play out, Peter finds it increasingly difficult to separate his life from those of Doctor Octopus. He lives the moments after the death of Tobert Octavius and has trouble keeping these images from replacing Peter’s memories of his Uncle Ben.[4] He then flies through the years that Otto spent pursuing his education and eventually getting his job at US Atomic Research. He then witnesses as Otto creates his mechanical arms and then the accident that turned him into Doctor Octopus.[5] Living this himself is the final straw that breaks the fleeting parts of Peter Parker’s memory of himself and he now thinks of himself as Doctor Octopus.
In the real world, Otto and Sajani Jaffrey retreat from the Monster back into Parker Industries. Otto assures Sajani that this will be different from their time a Horizon Labs as he has created defenses to protect against attacks like this. As the Monster tries to enter the building she is attacked by mechanical arms similar to those once worn by Doctor Octopus. The Monster easily breaks through these defenses. Since Carlie knows all of his secrets, Otto pushes Sajani in a lab to split them up so he can prevent her from overhearing any revelations.[6] Sure enough, the Monster continues to pursue “Peter Parker” after they have split up. The two fight it out, giving the Monster to destroy the listening device that the Goblin King planted on her. That’s when Carlie reveals that she has been fighting the influence the Goblin Formual has on her and, although she knows that she is really dealing with Otto Octavius, begs him to cure her before she loses control again. She tells him to hurry because she has to tell him what the Goblin has in store for him and the entire world.
Meanwhile, at Empire State University, the dean has decided to shut down the campus until the Goblin crisis is over and tells her students to be safe. As Anna Maria Marconi prepares to leave a car pulls up in front of her. The person driving says that she was sent by Mary Jane Watson to round up all of Peter Parker’s friends and loved ones out of harms way until this situation blows over. This woman is Lily Hollister, aka the Menace, and she tricks Anna Maria into getting in, saying that she and Peter are old friends.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Goblin King, Menace, Monster, Goblin Knight, Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson Parker, Pedro Olivera, Aunt May, Jay Jameson, Sajani Jaffrey, Anna Maria Marconi, Living Brain, Wraith, J. Jonah Jameson, Liz Osborn, “Miguel O’Mara”, Tiberius Stone, (flashback) Mary Octavius, Torbert Octavius, Don Lamaze
Continuity Notes
The Goblin King mentions how he knows what it is like to have an empire fall. He is likely referring to when he became America’s top cop after killing the leader of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #8. He eventually fell from grace following a faild coup of Asgard in Siege #1-4.
Jameson mentions the various threats he faced since becoming mayor of New York City. A lot of these are generic but he references both Spider-Island and Shadowland events. See Amazing Spider-Man #666-673 and Shadowland #1-5.
Carlie Cooper was kidnapped by the Goblin Nation in Superior Spider-Man #21 and later tranformed into the Monster in issue #25 of this series.
Torbert Octavius was a construction worker and died after being seriously injured on the job, as explained in Spider-Man Unlimited #3. Ben Parker, on the other hand, was murdered by a burglar that Peter failed to stop as Spider-Man back in Amazing Fantasy #15.
The accident that turned Otto Octavius into Doctor Octopus was explored back in Amazing Spider-Man #3.
Otto refers to Carlie Cooper as his “ex-girlfriend”. This is not entirely accurate, Carlie did date Peter Parker, but this was before Otto took over his body. The pair were a couple from Amazing Spider-Man #647 until issue #673 when she discovered that he was Spider-Man. After Otto took over Spider-Man’s body circa Amazing Spider-Man #698, Carlie was suspicious of Peter’s change in personality and investigated him, eventually discovering the truth in Superior Spider-Man #20.
