The Extremist Part Two

Many Years Ago….[1]

Professor Charles Xavier is informed by his student, Scott Summers, that Mrs. Smithson has returned to the school with her son Tyler. She has run another series of tests on her son and insists that he is eligible for enrollment in Xavier’s School. When she presents the results of Tyler’s results on a Zener Card test as well as Korotkov’s Pertrurbation Technique. However, Xavier points out the flaws in these methodologies and insists that her son is not qualified for be a part of his school. As Mrs. Smithson yanks her son out of the school, Scott asks the Professor if he is sure that Tyler Smithson is not a mutant. Xavier is certain that he scanned the boy’s mind thoroughly and there is no sign that he is a mutant. However, he says that doesn’t make the boy anywhere close to normal.

Meanwhile, the Smithson’s are walking back to the train station, a three mile hike. The whole time Tyler’s mother is ranting and raving that nobody knows how special her son is and vows that one day soon everyone will see what she sees.

Now

After goading the vigilante called the Extremist with his “Spider-Fail” blog, Peter Parker now has a gun to his head, although he can’t see the Extremist. However, his roommate Michele Gonzales can and tells Peter to duck. His spider-sense going haywire, Peter complies ducking out of the way of the Extremist’s shot. Michele then flees into the next room, but this is only to retrieve her rifle. While she is gone, the Extremist looks at Peter and sees his aura, determining that he is a suitable agent for the “grey”, a class of people he thinks that blur the line between black and white, good and evil. That’s when Michelle returns and shoots the Extremist in the shoulder sending him through the window and down onto the street where Flash Thompson is waiting to give Peter a piece of his mind over the Spider-Fail blog

The Extremist examines Flash’s aura and deems him to not be a target. Recognizing him as a soldier, he also thanks Flash for his service to this country. By this point, Peter has managed to slip away and change into Spider-Man and tries to attack the Extremist. However, when he tries to hit the Extremist, his fists pass harmlessly through his opponent. The Extremist is pleased to see that Spider-Man is attacking him proving his opinion that the web-slinger is a champion of the light. However, when he takes a closer look, the Extremist is surprised to see that Spider-Man’s aura is exactly the same as Peter Parker’s.

That’s when Michele arrives, but before she can take another shot the Extremist takes a deeper examination of her aura. He sees that she became a public defender but became tired of it as nobility was its only reward. She since made her life a series of petty vendettas against the people in her life as well as defending corporations that are being sued by families that they have taken advantage of. When she finally shoots, Michele’s bullet passes harmlessly through the Extremist. That’s when Flash gets between them, telling the Extremist that he needs to get through him first. The vigilante sees that Flash used to be a bully until he joined the military and learned to channel his aggression in positive ways. Grabbing the pair, the Extremist decides that Spider-Man needs to make a choice on who to save, the person who went from black to white, or the one who went white to black. Spider-Man follows his foe as he floats up to a nearby rooftop. There he assess Spider-Man’s aura again and determines that he is like the others, only reactive, since his decision making is governed by the guilt of acting so as not to make those who suffer.[2] He then tries to force Spider-Man to make a decision by making Flash and Michele turn invisible and dropping them to the ground to cover his treat. Leaping off the building after them, Spider-Man closes his eyes and relies on his spider-sense to guide him as he blankets the entire street with webbing, saving his friends lives. However, he also webs up officers that have arrived on the scene as well, angering everyone.

Since he’s at his apartment, Spider-Man decides to head to his home away from home, Avengers Tower, where he decides to look into who Extremist actually is. He gets the number for the X-Mansion from Wolverine and places a call to Cyclops to find out the identity of the Extremist, having deduced that he might be some kind of mutant. Cerebra has no files on such a mutant, but after Spider-Man explains his powers, Scott instantly remembers the case of Tyler Smithson, whose mother insisted that her son had these abilities. It also reminds him of group who believed in the so-called Indigo Children, who could see auras and consider them the next step in human evolution, ignoring that mutants are actually a thing.

Meanwhile, the Extremist is back at his family home, where he concludes that Spider-Man is not the moral paragon of the white he once thought and decides that it is time for the web-slinger to die. While trying to figure out how to confront Spider-Man again, he catches a news report about J. Jonah Jameson giving the key to the city to the officers who Spider-Man accidentally webbed up earlier. Mayor Jameson also uses this opportunity to announce that he is putting up a billboard to show how many taxpayer dollars that Spider-Man wastes while active in the city.[3] This gives the Extremist the motivation he needs. When Spider-Man comes crashing in moments later, he discovers the Extremist is gone. When he finds a picture of a the mayor’s office. Moments later, J. Jonah Jameson is trying to justify the expense on his Spider-Debt billboard that is going on in Times Square to his press secretary, Glory Grant. That’s when a number of undercover agents come storming in to get Jonah out of the building because the mail room just received one of the Extremist’s notes and believe that he might be in the building.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, the Extremist, Michele Gonzales, Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, Glory Grant, Cyclops, Wolverine, Professor X (flashback)

Continuity Notes

1. The Marvel Chronology Project places this flashback as taking place following the events of Uncanny X-Men #167. I strongly disagree, I’d argue that this story actually takes place prior to X-Men #1, I explain why in “Chronology Notes” blow. At any rate, based on my assessment this flashback takes place 13 years prior to the main story.

2. Yet another in a long line of Amazing Fantasy #15 references.

3. J. Jonah Jameson has a tally of different things he wants to charge Spider-Man for. This list includes:

   • The cost caused by an attack on the city by “Lizard People” this is reference to the Shed story arc which saw the Lizard controlling people by taking control of the reptilian-brain in Amazing Spider-Man #630-633.

   • Rhinos on the Triborough Bridge is reference to the battle between the Rhino and his would-be successor in Amazing Spider-Man #617.

   • City hall window replacement: Is for when a window got shot out when Spider-Man was escaping Jonah’s Anti-Spider-Man Squad at City Hall in Amazing Spider-Man #592.

   • Mandroid Repair: J. Jonah Jameson has purchased a bunch of surplus suits of Mandroid armor for the Anti-Spider-Man Squad which the web-slinger clashed with in Amazing Spider-Man #602, and 604.

   • Octo-Bot clean-up: Doctor Octopus took control of New York City with an army of octo-bots until he was stopped by Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #600.

Continuity Errors

• On the opening page, the plaque outside the X-Mansion reads “Xavier Institute for Higher Learning” this would be incorrect. When Xavier opened his school he originally called it Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It was later renamed the Xavier Institute in X-Men (vol. 2) #38. The name changed because most of Xavier’s students were now adults. The “School for Gifted Youngsters” was moved to Emma Frost’s Massachusetts Academy circa Generation X #1.

Chronology Notes

As stated above, the Marvel Chronology Project places the flashback in this story as happening after Uncanny X-Men #167 In that story, the X-Men had returned from a prolonged trip in space and Charles Xavier — infected with the Brood — had his mind transplanted in a new clone body. This body was a little younger and had full function of his legs, and no longer needed a wheelchair to get around (at least for a while, writers love re-crippling Charles Xavier) None of this fits with anything in this flashback. On my own assessment, I’d say that this story takes place prior to X-Men #1, placing it before the original team was put together. There are a lot of glaring reasons why this would be the case:

First of all, Charles Xavier — in this flashback — is still confined to a wheelchair in this story, contrary to the status quo post Uncanny X-Men #167. Also, by this point, Charles had just formed the New Mutants (circa Marvel Graphic Novel #4) so it seems odd that Xavier would be turning away Tyler Smithson, particularly since his mental powers aren’t any more or less eclectic than those of Mirage and Karma who were recruited onto the New Mutants.

Second, Scott Summer is depicted wearing a sweater vest and a bowtie in this story. Which is totally a homage to X-Men #1. In that story, when we first see Scott Summers out of costume he is wearing a very similar outfit.

Third point, the artwork in this flashback was done by Pat Olliffe. This was a deliberate choice since Olliffe is best known for his work on Untold Tales of Spider-Man, a series that took place during the early days of Spider-Man.

The last point is that it fits the Sliding Timescale better. In the flashback, Tyler’s mother is trying to get him enrolled in Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. This would make him at least 13 years old. In the present day of these stories, Tyler is a full grown adult. Uncanny X-Men #167 takes place during “year six” while this story takes place in “year thirteen” of the Modern Age. That would make Tyler just barely 20 years old. Whereas X-Men #1 takes place in “year one”, making him a more appropriate age of 26 years old at the time of this story.

Topical References

• When mentioning the Indigo Children, Cyclops states that this was a New Age theory from a “few years back”, this is topical. The idea of Indigo Children was first floated in 1990s. It’s pure bullshit by the way.

• When the Spider-Debt billboard is being added to Times Square there is a visible advertisement for the Lion King musical. This is topical as it’s a real world musical.

Reflections

Jackpot is in the middle of a fight with the Shocker, wondering why she brought her costume all the way with her when she relocated to California.[1] As she beats the Shocker into submission she remembers why, just in case she had the urge to kill someone. However, she has no intention of killing the Shocker. Instead she asks him what he knows about the Eastern Wind’s operation in the area. However, the Shocker refuses to talk, telling her that anyone who goes against that mob gets themselves killed, pointing out that she should know this already. She knows that he is talking about Fred Myers, aka Boomerang, and this causes her to think back to the day of the trail….

Fred Myers was on trail for the murder of Sarah Ehret’s husband, Scott. Brought to the stand, Sarah was questioned by Myer’s defense attorney. During cross-examination Sarah divulges that she operates as the costumed hero known as Jackpot. After explaining how Boomerang murdered her husband while disguised as a deliver man, she is then questioned about how she moved herself and her daughter to an undisclosed location and assumed a new alias. Sarah refuses to go into details on this fishing expedition but it becomes clear that they are trying to suggest that Sarah murdered her own husband. Later, in a meeting with the District Attorney, she expresses her displeasure. However, she is reminded that this would not be easy unless she had her daughter, Mattie, testify.

This is also when she learned that her lawyer’s boss is looking at getting a plea deal with Boomerang to divulge information on the Eastern Wind organization. In exchange for this information, he’s being offered immunity and an opportunity to enter the Witness Protection Program. Sarah is appalled to learn this is even on the table but is told that organized crime takes priority on the “spandex crowd”. That’s when Sarah decides to offer her skills to get the information they need on the Eastern Wind in order to make Boomerang’s offer useless.

Learning that the hit on Boomerang is going to happen tonight, Jackpot hitches a ride on a helicopter to Ryker’s Island where she catches the Black Dragon breaking in.[2] As the two fight it out, Jackpot is unaware that the battle is being observed by Mister Negative and his bodyguard, Qwan.[3] When Qwan suggests that Jackpot’s interference could be a problem with their current operations, his master quips that Qwan needs to stop being so negative.

Recurring Characters

Jackpot, Mister Negative, Shocker, Boomerang, Black Dragon, Madeline Ehret

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place following Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot #1-3, which saw Sara Ehret take down the new Rose and clash with Boomerang. The later killed her husband. She relocated to California under the witness protection program taking on the name of Alana Jobson, the woman who previously carried the Jackpot identity until he death in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #35.

2. Jackpot recognizes her opponent by his previous name, the White Dragon which is the name this criminal operated under from his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #184 until Mister Negative transformed him into the Black Dragon in Dark Reign: Mister Negative #1.

3. Mister Negative recalls how Jackpot previously gave his operative Overdrive some trouble. He is referring to the events of Free Comic Book Day: Spider-Man 2007: Amazing Spider-Man which featured the first appearance of Jackpot.