Web of Spider-Man #129
By My Hand, Mary Jane Must Die
This story continues from The Spectacular Spider-Man #228...
The Scarlet Spider pays a visit to the Crash Pad headquarters of the New Warriors. He is surprised to see that the only member of the team present is Hindsight, the team's technical support.[1] Hindsight tells the Spider that the team had gone out to assist a woman who called the team for assistance. Shocked, the Scarlet Spider demands more details.
Elsewhere in the city, Mary Jane flees from her husband, Spider-Man, as the masked hero is trying to kill her.[2] This is because a post-hypnotic suggestion planted in his mind years ago by the Jackal has finally been triggered.[3] When attempting to contact the Scarlet Spider for help, she was only able to reach his teammates in the New Warriors and they came to her rescue. Despite their superior numbers and powers, the Warriors are unable to slow the much more experienced Spider-Man, who threatens to destroy anyone who gets in his way.
The most horrifying thing for the wall-crawler as he knows that this is just as lasting legacy of the Jackal put in place after his death and tells Mary Jane to flee.[4] As Mary Jane flees out of the subway station, Justice and Firestar of the Warriors try to keep Spider-Man from pursuing his wife. The other Warriors don't fare very well either, prompting Speedball to tell all his teammates to stand back while he tries something.[5] Using his kinetic abilities, Speedball bounces around the wall-crawler in an attempt to slow him down. However, thanks to his spider-sense, the web-slinger is able to predict where Speedball will land and knocks him out with a single blow. Upon the streets, Mary Jane is joined by the Scarlet Spider who has just arrived on the scene. As Spider-Man comes up to the streets, Mary Jane hops into a cab. When her husband tries to leap after her, he is ambushed by the Scarlet Spider.
Although Spider-Man almost catches his wife, the combined might of the Scarlet Spider and the New Warriors slow up the wall-crawler to put some distance between Mary Jane and Spider-Man. This gives Mary Jane a glimmer of hope that her plan to stop her husband's programming. Ultimately, Spider-Man manages to break free from his attackers and follow after his wife's cab. Seeing it cross the Williamsburg Bridge, he knows exactly where she is going. However, he is once again ambushed by the New Warriors. However, Spider-Man manages to flee into a nearby sewer and escape them. That's when they notice that the Scarlet Spider has disappeared as well. Arriving outside his Aunt May's home, Spider-Man wonders why Mary Jane has lured him here.[6] Inside, he finds Mary Jane sitting in a chair and tells her to run. However, Mary Jane refuses to keep running from her husband. She explains that she lured Peter here hoping that his memories of his family will prove stronger than the Jackal's programming. Sure enough, when surrounded by photos of his entire life, Peter is flooded with memories of his family and the love they share for him, and it overrides the Jackal's orders.[7]
Free from the Jackal's control, Peter rushes to Mary Jane and the two embrace. This is watched from the window by the Scarlet Spider who is glad that everything worked out for Peter and Mary Jane in the end and takes off so he can try to explain himself to his teammates in the New Warriors.
... The Clone Saga continues in Amazing Spider-Man #406.
Continuity Notes
At the time of this story, the Scarlet Spider had just recently joined the New Warriors as seen in New Warriors #62.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
At the time of this story, Peter Parker was convinced that he was a clone, and Ben Reilly was the real Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man #226. This hypnotic implant was likely placed while Spider-Man and his clone were knocked out in an explosion in Amazing Spider-Man #149. As revealed in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1, the Jackal intended to swap Spider-Man with his clone as part of some complicated revenge scheme, unaware that the Green Goblin undid the switch around.
At the time of this story, everyone believes that the Jackal died in Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Omega #1. However, as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 4) #22, this was actually a clone of the real Miles Warren.
Everyone thinks that this Speedball is Robbie Baldwin, however, this is an impostor taking his place as revealed in New Warriors #68-69. He took Speedball's place in New Warriors #50.
Spider-Man states that his Aunt May is dead. At the time of this story, everyone thought Aunt May had died in Amazing Spider-Man #400. However, the woman who died here was not the real Aunt May, but an impostor who took May's place time sometime circa Amazing Spider-Man #392. This is not revealed until Spider-Man #97.
Among the photos and one of Peter's memories are of his and Mary Jane's wedding day. The couple was married in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. However, after Mephisto changed history in Amazing Spider-Man #545, one can assume this photo and memory was replaced with some other meaningful memory of Peter and Mary Jane.
