Legs Out From Under You

At the Goblin Underground, the Goblin King watches the media coverage of his gang’s attacks on the city. That’s when Menace returns with Anna Maria Marconi as her prisoner. That’s when they catch an interview with Sajani Jaffrey from Parker Industries. She fears that Peter Parker has died in a roof collapse after the facility was attacked by the Monster. Although Menace is concerned that Carlie Cooper has died, the Goblin King assures her that if she hasn’t survived, he will make her a new sister.

Also watching the news coverage is mayor J. Jonah Jameson and the staff of Alchemax. With New York’s superhero community stretched thin, Tiberius Stone insists that now is the time to activate the Spider-Slayer robots. However, owner Liz Osborn wants make sure they are combat ready first. However, Jonah refuses to activate the robots until Spider-Man shows his face because he knows the wall-crawler has something to do with this. This upsets Glory Grant, who decides to quit on the spot, reminding Jonah that he made a promise to his late wife to end his vendetta with Spider-Man.[1]

Meanwhile, Mary Jane Watson and her new boyfriend Pedro Olivera have taken May Parker and Jay Jameson to Mystic, Connecticuit to get away from the Goblins. May worries for Peter after hearing news reports that he may have died, however Mary Jane is certain that Peter is safe. Mary Jane then gets ahold of “Peter”, but Otto tells her to deal with Aunt May’s hysterics because he is too busy. When Mary Jane tries to remind him that she is not going to be his alibi anymore he hangs up on her. Unaware that he ex’s body has been taken over by his greatest enemy, Mary Jane assumes that Peter can’t handle a woman raising her voice at him.[2]

At that moment, Otto and Sajani Jaffrey are trying to examine the Monster, aka Carlie Cooper, and find a way to cure her of the Goblin Formula she has been exposed to.[3] That’s when Otto gets a call from the Goblin King, who — although knowing that Otto Octavius now inhabits Spider-Man’s body — wants to know who Spider-Man really is and tells Otto to come out and fight him.[4] He then tells Sajani to deal with the situation and leaves the lab, much to her chagrin. He also tells the Living Robot to keep the Wraith occupied when the robot tells him that she is starting to wake up.[5]

By the time that Otto has changed into his costume, the Goblin King contacts him again. The Goblin admits that he was foolish to think that Octavius would join forces with him and has decided to destroy everything about his life. Hacking into Spider-Man’s goggles, the Goblin then shows Spider-Man the destruction of the Octavius family home, and Otto’s former employer the US Atomic Research Center.[5] He then destroys the Boneyards, a facility where a lot of Otto’s inventions were being held. Lastly he blows up the Mocha Cola warehouse — killing the staff he saved from Massacre —,[6] and lastly he blows up the HEART Clinic where Otto helped Cardiac with experimental medical procedures.[7] Spider-Man vows to kill the Goblin, who tells him to meet at Empire State University where he has a someone dear to the wall-crawler prisoner, warning that they too will die in an explosion if he doesn’t come. With the pressure mounting, Otto wonders what the real Peter Parker would do in this situation.

At that moment, in the mindscape, the remnants of Peter Parker continues to be pulled through the memories of Otto Octavius. Having very little of his memories left, Parker has completely lost his identity and has come to believe himself to be Otto Octavius. He now relives all of the defeats that he faced at the hands of Spider-Man.[9] That’s when Peter lives the moment when doctors told Otto that all of his battles have caused serious brain damage and that he has less than eighteen months to live.[10]

In the real world, Spider-Man races for ESU and tries to call Anna Maria Marconi, but she doesn’t answer his phones. As he passes Goblin Nation members committing crimes on the street he calls Chief Prachett and tells him to do something, but the police chief — under orders from mayor J. Jonah Jameson — refuses to comply. Jonah then asks Liz Osborn to send her Spider-Slayers to Spider-Man’s location. When Tiberius Stone turns to his assistant, Miguel O’Mara, he discovers that Miguel took off while nobody was looking.

By this time, Spider-Man has arrived at the science building at Empire State University. There he finds the Goblin King who doesn’t have Anna Maria prisoner, but hold former professor Dr. Don Lamaze. Otto thinks this is a joke, but the Goblin King is convinced that Spider-Man considers Lamaze a friend since he saved his life recently.[11] Spider-Man tries to attack the Goblin with his mechanical arms, but the Goblin has hacked into his tech and uses them to attack their creator instead. Spider-Man tries to tell Lamaze to run for it because his mechanical arms are striking to kill. Instead, Lamaze dives into the path of one of the mechanical arms before it can fatally stab Spider-Man. Furious that Lamaze would sacrifice himself in such a way, Otto rips off the ball gag keeping Don quiet and asks why he did it. Don explains that when Spider-Man saved him and Anna Maria, he ran like a coward and since then he realized that he was a pompus ass until that point and it took Spider-Man to teach him what it was like to be a hero. Don dies in his arms soon after and Spider-Man vows to get revenge against the Goblin.

Unfortunately, as Spider-Man tries to leave ESU he is ambushed by J. Jonah Jameson’s army of Spider-Slayer robots. Jameson intends to kill the wall-crawler. However, before he can succeed in doing this, the Spider-Man from 2099 arrives and shuts them down before they can complete their task.[12] However, Spider-Man 2099 refuses to let Spider-Man free until he starts answering questions about what’s going on in this time. Unfortunately, before the future web-slinger can get any answers, Norman Osborn takes control of the Spider-Slayers and has them attack both Spider-Man.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Goblin King, Anna Maria Marconi, Sajani Jaffrey, Living Brain, Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker, Don Lamaze, Menace, Goblin Knight, Carlie Cooper, Captain America, Spider-Woman, Cardiac, Liz Osborn, Tiberius Stone, Glory Grant, Aunt May Jay Jameson, Pedro Olivera, Wraith

Continuity Notes

1. Marla Madison was killed by the Spider-Slayer in Amazing Spider-Man #654. Her dying wish was for Jonah to stop blaming Spider-Man for everything. Jonah eventually went on to actually promote Spider-Man, as seen in Superior Spider-Man #2. However, his opinion has changed after Spider-Man (now Doctor Octopus controlling Peter Parker’s body) blackmailed him into doing his bidding in Superior Spider-Man #13.

2. Mary Jane reminds “Peter” that they aren’t together anymore. Peter and Mary Jane dated on-and-off for years starting in Amazing Spider-Man #42. They split for good circa Amazing Spider-Man #545. See Amazing Spider-Man #638-641 for details.

3. Carlie Cooper was exposed to the Goblin Formula in Superior Spider-Man #24. Sajani mentions how the straps they are using to hold the Monster down were the same ones used to try and restrain Venom. This was in Superior Spider-Man #23.

4. For years, the Green Goblin did know who Spider-Man was after learning his identity in Amazing Spider-Man #39. However, Osborn, like virtually everyone else, lost knowledge of Parker’s secret identtiy when he had all evidence erased. See Amazing Spider-Man #545 and 641.

5. It’s here that the events of Superior Spider-Man Annual #2 take place.

6. Otto Octavius worked for US Atomic Research and it was there he was in the accident that turned him into Doctor Octopus back in Amazing Spider-Man #3.

7. The Mocha Cola warehouse was here Massacre held hostages until Spider-Man saved them and then killed Massacre. See Superior Spider-Man #4-5.

8. Spider-Man has had a brief association with Cardiac and his HEART Clinic. See Superior Spider-Man #7-8.

9. A lot of these battle scenes are rather generic. However, there are two very specific battles that are depicted here. First, is one where Spider-Man blinds Doctor Octopus with his webbing. This dates back to their first battle in Amazing Spider-Man #3. Another shows Spider-Man ripping off Doc Ock’s mechanical arms. This battle was from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #75. Peter ripped off Otto’s mechanical arms after he used them to harm the Black Cat.

10. Remember, despite the mechanical arms Otto Octavius was just a normal guy and after years of being punched in the head by everyone from Spider-Man to the Hulk he suffered serious brain damage. This prognosis was made in Amazing Spider-Man #600.

11. Spider-Man saved the life of Don Lamaze and Anna Maria Marconi when Stunner attacked ESU in Superior Spider-Man #20.

12. Spider-Man 2099 has been trapped in the modern age after preventing his grandfather from being killed by Spider-Man. Since then, Miguel O’Hara has posed as “Miguel O’Mara” at Alchemax in order to prevent the company from becoming the tyrannical mega-corporation it is in his time. See Superior Spider-Man #17-19.