Web of Spider-Man #72
The Reckoning
Spider-Man is assisting Silver Sable and Dominic Fortune in the capture of Nazi war criminal Simon Steele.[1] Unfortunately, the trio find themselves trapped within Steele's 5th Avenue townhouse with a live bomb. Before the device can go off, Spider-Man uses his strength to toss the explosive through the skylight above them where it explodes above them. Quickly, the wall-crawler uses his webbing to pull a highly durable glass window that shields the others from the blast and falling debris. As the Wild Pack evacuates the building, Silver Sable begins questioning Steele's minions who were left behind. By this point the strain of discovering that his former lover, Sabbath Raven, is married to Steele causes Dominic Fortune to suffer a heart attack. With the authorities arriving on the scene, Dominic tells Spider-Man and Silver Sable to leave him for the paramedics so they can continue their hunt for Steele. Spider-Man feels bad because he wanted to avoid seeing Dominic hurts and offers to swing Fortune to a hospital. The elderly adventurer assures the web-slinger that he is fine and to go get Steele.
Returning to the Symkarian Embassy, Spider-Man waits around while Silver Sable makes calls to her informants. When he sees a transmission coming in, he is surprised to see that it is in code.[2] Sable explains that it is in code to keep the information away from the eyes of amateurs. She is angry at the wall-crawler for his interference in her operation and tells him to go home and let the professionals deal with capturing the escaped war criminal. Angered at this rejection, Spider-Man goes out to find some criminals to beat up, but can't find any. Frustrated, the hero decides to head back home. While at the New York Hospital, staff come to complain about Dominic Fortune's hired men standing guard outside the door, as they are upsetting the other patients. They decide to talk to administration staff to convince them that the security is needed to protect Dominic. As soon as they are gone, a would-be assassin enters Dominic's hospital room and shoots the person sleeping in the bed with a silenced pistol. As the assassin flees the hospital, Peter Parker has arrived to see how Dominic is doing. As they pass each other, Peter's spider-sense goes off, but he dismisses it as a false alarm. He comes to regret this decision when he finds a doctor who tells him that Dominic Fortune has been murdered.
Feeling like he did when he let his Uncle Ben down, Peter angrily storms off.[3] He changes into Spider-Man and goes looking for the man who set off his spider-sense. Finding no sign of the killer, the wall-crawler heads to the Symkarian embassy where he discovers Silver Sable and her Wild Pack are mobilizing to investigate a lead. Spider-Man offers his aid, promising to follow Sable's orders this time, and she reluctantly agrees to let him come along. Meanwhile, the limo carrying Dominic's would-be assassin travels across the city unaware that it is being followed by yet another vehicle. Inside, are Fortune's hired men, including the "hospital staff" that made a commotion about the armed guards, and the "doctor" who told Peter that Dominic Fortune was dead. As it turns out, this was all an elaborate ruse to follow the assassin back to Simon Steele's hideout. Leading this operation is Dominic Fortune himself, who is alive and well, having faked his heart attack to begin with so he could set the whole thing up. To their surprise, the limo leads them to the pier where Sabbath's old ship, the Mississippi Queen is moored. Dominic and his soldiers sneak aboard and knock out the guards and begin searching for sign of Simon Steele.
Dominic manages to find Sabbath Raven first and confronts her in her room. Dominic demands to know what happened to Sabbath after they parted company during the war. Raven tearfully explains that after their last argument in Europe. The war kept her on the move and she ultimately ended up in Holland. There she met and fell in love with a German who was against the Nazis, Heinrich von Lundt, Simon Steele's brother. The pair fought alongside each other during the war, but by the time it was all over, Sabbath had suffered a nervous breakdown. She explains that Heinrich was there to nurse her back to health and the pair soon fell in love. They eventually had a daughter together, Elena von Lundt, the one who Simon Steele now calls Sabbath Raven. However, those still loyal to the Nazis tracked down Henrich and killed him outside of the home that he and Raven shared in London. Spiraling out of control, Sabbath and Elena were taken in by Heinrich's brother Wolfgang, the man who would later become Simon Steele. Feeling war crimes, Wolfgang convinced Sabbath to marry him so he could obtain United States citizenship and flee Europe. In the states, Simon Steele took Elena under her wing and began training her to be a ruthless soldier for fortune. Sabbath realized that this was all part of Steele's long-sought revenge against his late brother. Seeking help, she even looked up Dominic to seek his help. However, seeing Fortune had since married and was raising a family of his own, she decided against it, thinking that he finally found happiness. Hearing all this, Dominic still sees the same old Sabbath and insists that she come with him, and now that his wife is dead, they can have a life together.
Their tearful reunion is suddenly interrupted when armed guards come crashing through the door and take the pair prisoner. As it turns out, Raven's room was being monitored and Elena and Simon were aware of Dominic's presence the moment he walked into her room. They are brought before Simon Steele, who tying up loose ends after losing his immunity to the United States government.[4] Elena insists that they kill bother Dominic and Raven before leaving. However, before Elena can shoot them, they are ambushed by Spider-Man, Silver Sable, and her Wild Pack. In the ensuing battle, Simon Steele and Elena attempt to flee, but are pursued by Dominic. Not willing to admit defeat, Elena fires her gun and seemingly hits her mother in the back, sending her falling overboard. Thinking Raven is dead, Dominic disarms her daughter and is about to kill both her and Steele, when suddenly Spider-Man swings up from the side of the ship. As it turned out, Elena missed hitting her mother but damaged the railing on the side of the ship causing her to fall overboard. Since Spider-Man saved the love of his life, Fortune softens his desire to kill and is satisfied with Simon Steele and Elena seeing justice for their crimes instead.
With Steele and Elena wrapped up, Spider-Man leaps in to help the Wild Pack take down the rest of their minions. In the aftermath of the battle, Sabbath tries to tell her daughter that she forgives her, but Elena doesn't want to hear it, explaining that she would have killed her mother years ago had Simon Steele not had a sentimental attachment to her. Soon, Dominic and Sabbath try to figure out where their lives will go next. Raven isn't sure if she wants to leave Simon and her daughter's side, since they were there for her when Dominic was not. Dominic understands and suggests that they take things a day at a time. Meanwhile, Spider-Man thanks Silver Sable for allowing him to help out. However, he is insulted when she tells him that she will pay him his usual fee and he swings off. Although Spider-Man thinks that Sable puts on a tough act, he knows it is a ruse since she is always on the right side. While Sable wonders why she snapped at Spider-Man like that since he was a worthwhile ally to have in her business, even if he does act like a total amateur.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Dominic Fortune, Silver Sable, Simon Steele, Iron Monger, Sabbath Raven (Von Lundt), Wild Pack, Sabbath Raven (Morelli)
Continuity Notes
How Simon Steele, Dominic Fortune, and Raven Sabbath could still be alive in the modern age, due to the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, is unexplained. Given their association with wartime individuals and organizations that had various means to slow aging, it is entirely possible that they gained access to these processes.
This transmission is depicted as coming in via a fax machine. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616 as fax machines are an obsolete technology.
Peter's Uncle Ben was murdered by a burglar he could have stopped earlier. As seen in Amazing Fantasy #15.
Steele lost his post-war immunity following the events of Iron Man #212-213.
