Appearing in "The Truth is Out There!"
Spider-Man #60
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Blake Tower
- Mr. Locker
- Judge Sandra Franklin
- Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius) (Mentioned)
- Jackal (Miles Warren) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- None
Synopsis for "The Truth is Out There!"
Spider-Man #60
This story continues from Amazing Spider-Man #403...
Having tracked down Kaine, Stunner overpowers him and intends to kill him in order to avenge the death of her beloved Doctor Octopus.[Continuity 1] Since Spider-Man was attempting to bring Kaine to justice to clear Peter Parker of a murder charge, he tries to get between the two.[Continuity 2] Stunner is furious that Spider-Man is interfering, especially after Doctor Octopus saved his life, and strikes him away.[Continuity 3] As the pair struggle, Kaine attempts to put his hand on Stunner's face and give her the Mark of Kaine. Unfortunately, Spider-Man recovers and splits the two apart again. Spider-Man tries to convince Kaine to come with him, explaining that he is needed to clear his name. However, Kaine isn't interested and tells the wall-crawler to go back to his wife and unborn child and leave Ben Reilly to rot in prison.[Continuity 4]
Stunner slams Kaine into an abandoned building where the two start to fight. Their fight compromises the structural integrity of the building. Although Spider-Man tries to pull Stunner out, Kaine drags the wall-crawler before he can. Pulling free, Spider-Man goes digging through the rubble for Stunner. When he finds her, the web-slinger is shocked when she suddenly vanishes. Kaine tries to use this opportunity to escape, but Spider-Man goes after him. Kaine warns Spider-Man that he is far stronger than the hero and he will defeat him in an all-out fight. Spider-Man agrees but manages to knock Kaine out with an unexpected sucker punch and webs him up. Meanwhile, at the courthouse, District Attorney Blake Tower is concluding his final arguments. Watching these proceedings is Mary Jane, who is showing her support even though nobody knows that the man on trial is actually Ben Reilly, Peter's clone. Tower insists that Peter Parker is guilty and demands that the judge give the maximum sentence.[Continuity 5]
While outside, Spider-Man tries to drag Kaine into the courtroom to force him to confess to the murders that Peter Parker has been accused of. Unfortunately, Kaine breaks free and tries to fight himself free. News of the battle quickly reaches the courtroom, much to the show of Mary Jane and Ben Reilly. Also hearing this is Jacob Raven, who pulls out his gun, hoping that Spider-Man finally captures Kaine. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Kaine's battle take them into a vacant courtroom, where the pair battle it out. Kaine is furious that Spider-Man would assume that he knows nothing about suffering. Kaine decides that fighting off the wall-crawler isn't enough, that he needs to show him the truth. Kaine then takes off his mask, revealing the horribly scared face of Peter Parker. Kaine then explains that he is not just a clone of Peter Parker, but Miles Warren's first attempt at cloning him. He explains that he is suffering from the same degeneration factor that plagues Warren's other clones. However, even though the Jackal tried to kill him, Kaine turned out to be much stronger than the real Spider-Man and managed to escape. He explains that he vowed to watch over Peter's life to make sure that it turned out happy and that nobody would ever interfere in it, it is why he spent years hunting down Ben Reilly, and later framing him for murder.[Continuity 6]
Still, Spider-Man refuses to let Ben Reilly go down for a crime he did not commit and is willing to reveal his true identity in order to prove him innocent. The wall-crawler storms into the courtroom and is about to remove his mask in front of everyone gathered. Kaine, not wishing Peter to throw his life away, stops him by demanding that he has a confession to make. Blake Tower is outraged by this interruption and demands that the judge have Kaine and Spider-Man arrested until they can complete the trial. However, Kaine isn't phased by the district attorney's demands and slams his head onto a nearby table. He then threatens to snap Blake's neck if they do not listen to him. Kaine then admits to the murder of Jacob Raven's partner, and to prove it he uses his Mark of Kaine to burn a hand imprint into to the table that matches the marks left on all his victims. Despite this, Kaine refuses to allow himself to be arrested, fighting off the police officers on the scene. He then decides to make himself Ben Reilly's executioner and lunges at him, ready to kill the man he has haunted for years.
... The Trial of Peter Parker concludes in Spectacular Spider-Man #226.
Appearing in "The Final Verdict"
Spectacular Spider-Man #226
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Ben Reilly (See chronology)
- Mary Jane Watson-Parker (See chronology)
- Daily Bugle Staff
- Detective Jacob Raven
- Seward Trainer
Antagonists:
- Kaine
- Jackal ("Miles Warren")
- Peter Parker (Clone)
Other Characters:
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- United States of America
- New York State
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Foley Square
- Daily Bugle Building
- Peter and MJ's Brownstone Home
- Ryker's Island (Mentioned)
- Manhattan
- New York City
- Salt Lake City (Mentioned)
- New York State
- United States of America
- North America
Items:
Synopsis for "The Final Verdict"
Spectacular Spider-Man #226
This story continues from Spider-Man #60...
Peter Parker's murder trial has just been crashed by Kaine, who knows that Ben Reilly took Peter's place and has come to kill him.[Continuity 7] Ben wonders how he can stop Kaine without revealing his powers and compromising Peter Parker's double identity. This worry is taken out of his hands when Spider-Man arrives to stop Kaine. Still, when Ben tries to slip away and change into the Scarlet Spider, he is stopped by Mary Jane. She knows the look in his eyes and tells him not to blow her husband's chance at freedom.[Continuity 8] That's when the courtroom guards enter the room and try to restrain Kaine. However, he easily fights them off as he is much stronger then they are. Spider-Man manages to bowl Kaine over with a single punch. This puts him into the gun sights of Detective Jacob Raven. Raven tells Kaine to surrender or he'll shoot. Surrounded and outgunned he surrenders. However, Kaine is unphased by this, vowing to break out of custody later. Ben and Mary Jane then congratulate Spider-man for helping catch Kaine.
Peter Parker is cleared of all charges, and when they news reach the Daily Bugle the staff celebrates. Everyone except for J. Jonah Jameson, who tells everyone to get back to work. However, when Jameson is alone in his office it allows himself to celebrate Parker's exoneration. The news also reaches the secret lab of the Jackal. Watching this is the man who thinks that he is the real Peter Parker.[Continuity 9] This Parker is itching to get revenge against both Spider-Man and the Scarlet Spider. The Jackal assures him that the time will come soon as he is almost finished making alterations to his Carrion Virus. While at the police station, Kaine confesses to all them murders he committed.[Continuity 10] Watching this on the other side of the one-sided glass. Finally hearing Kaine admit to killing his parents in Salt Lake City three years previous.[Continuity 11] While at the same time, Seward Trainer has finished going over the data he got from examining Peter and Mary Jane's unborn baby.[Continuity 12] He is concerned about how this data is going to impact the lives of Peter Parker and Ben Reilly.
Meanwhile, Ben Reilly -- still posing as Peter Parker -- returns to the Parker brownstone with Mary Jane. They are joined inside by Peter, who came in through the skylight as Spider-Man. With Jacob Raven off Ben's trail, Ben can finally start a new life. However, Ben isn't sure what to do next, as this is the first time he has not been on the run. That's when they get a call from Seward Trainer asking Ben and the Parkers to come to his lab right away. At that very moment, Kaine is being led away by the authorities. Suddenly, he has another precognitive flash of Mary Jane getting murdered, and wonders who the killer might be.[Continuity 13] There, Peter feels uneasy that Ben has been so open with his secret identity to someone he hardly knows. Seward is surprised to see how much they resemble each other. He tells the Parkers that his tests on their baby are done and that their baby is going to be healthy. He then explains that the strange readers were due to a genetic shift, pointing out that he discovered that the man they always thought was Peter Parker was a clone and that Ben Reilly is the original.[Continuity 14]
Peter becomes angry, refusing to believe this, accusing Ben of trying to steal his life, pointing out that Seward is in league with him. However, Seward insists that his tests are accurate, offering Peter and Ben to use his equipment to verify his finding. After hours of work, Ben and Peter come to the same conclusion that Seward Trainer did. Upon this discovery, Ben apologizes to Peter for this revelation. However, Peter refuses to believe it and attacks Ben, accusing him of trying to steal his life. Ben is also upset, pointing out that Peter stole his and lived it for the past five years. Ultimately, Peter overpowers Ben and begins choking him with a pipe. Mary Jane pushes past Seward Trainer and tries to get her husband to stop, telling him that he might kill Ben. Without thinking, Peter knocks his wife aside, sending her crashing into a wall. Realizing what he has done, Peter storms out the door. At that moment, the Jackal has perfected his new version of the Carrion Virus and is ready to get started. He then gives his Peter Parker a newly designed costume, telling him that once he has replaced the world with clones he will be the one and only Spider-Man.
... The Clone Saga continues in Spider-Man: Maximum Clonage Alpha Vol 1 1.
Appearing in "The Amazing Spider-Man"
Amazing Fantasy #18
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Flash Thompson
- Liz Allan
- Sally Avril
- Mac Sanders (First appearance)
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Thing (Ben Grimm) (Only in recap)
- Human Torch (Johnny Storm) (Only in recap)
- Burglar (Only in recap)
- Ben Parker (Only in recap)
- Joey Pulaski (Only in recap)
- Mongu (Only in recap)
- Monster from Mars (Only in recap)
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Only in recap)
- Thor (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Lyman Hilliard (Only in flashback)
- Doug
- Karen Little (Mentioned)
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Mentioned)
- Ant-Man (Henry Pym) (Mentioned)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers) (Mentioned)
- NASA (Mentioned)
- Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) (Referenced)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Asgardians (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
- Spiders (Only in recap)
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis for "The Amazing Spider-Man"
Amazing Fantasy #18
Peter Parker sits in class trying to convince himself that he is not a hero. However, his classmates believe otherwise, as they discuss how Spider-Man stopped a Joey Pulaski from committing acts of sabotage. Peter thinks about how fate led to a radioactive spider biting his hand and giving him his powers. How he tried to use his powers for personal gain until a burglar he failed to stop later murdered his Uncle Ben, teaching him to use his powers responsibly.[Continuity 15] He doesn't think he's a hero, only because he feels that he needs to use his powers to help people in need. Later that evening, Spider-Man assists in the efforts to rescue people trapped in a burning building. After getting a child to safety, Spider-Man doubles back to save a firefighter who almost falls through the roof of the burning building. When members of the media attempt to interview the wall-crawler, Spider-Man tells them to interview the firefighters, pointing out that they are the real heroes. The wall-crawler hangs back on the nearby rooftops until he is certain that he is not needed anymore and leaves. As he goes, he wonders why he puts his life on the line like this. When Peter Parker returns home, he finds his Aunt May struggling over their bills. When he expresses his concerns over their finances, May assures her nephew that they will find a way to manage.
Peter then begins his homework in front of the television, thinking about how his Aunt has been struggling since her husband was murdered. He watches an episode of the television series "It's Amazing" which highlights some of the activities of the various superheroes who have appeared on the scene recently.[Continuity 16] One report is on how Thor assisted the government in testing new defensive missiles.[Continuity 17] He thinks Thor is a real hero, while his own problems are closer to home. With Aunt May struggling with money, Peter realizes that he is going to have to bite the bullet and do something to resolve the problem. The following day, Spider-Man pays a visit to Maxie Shiffman, his agent, looking for work. Shiffman was looking forward to this as he has been working to get the wall-crawler on the television show "It's Amazing". When news that the wall-crawler is going to appear on the show hits the media, Flash Thompson and his friends are excited and have purchased tickets to be part of the live studio audience.
However, not everyone is happy about Spider-Man's upcoming television appearance. Newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson is furious to learn that his son, astronaut John Jameson, is being pulled from the show in favor of the wall-crawler. When Spider-Man arrives at the studio with Maxie Shiffman the production crew call him a hero. However, Spider-Man corrects them, telling them that he is not a hero like the Fantastic Four, Thor, or wartime hero Captain America, pointing out that he is just someone who can do some tricks.[Continuity 18] As J. Jonah Jameson walks out in disgust, his criticisms are overheard by the wall-crawler. When Spider-Man asks Shiffman who the man was, Maxie tells Spider-Man not to worry about Jameson because he is a nobody. Still Jonah joins the studio audience with his son John and spends the whole time complaining about how they bumped his son in favor of featuring Spider-Man on their show. John tries to convince his father that he doesn't mind being bumped from the show, but Jonah still sees it as an insult. He becomes more annoyed when Flash Thompson overhears his complaints and expresses his opinion that Spider-Man is much more interesting than an astronaut.
When the show starts, host Mac Sanders begins with a report about the activities of the new hero calling himself Iron Man.[Continuity 19] Mac's opening monologue is interrupted by a costumed being calling himself Supercharger. With his power gauntlets, Supercharger blasts Mac aside and tells the audience that he intends to use his powers to kill them all. As Spider-Man wonders what to do, Supercharger orders the camera crews to continue recording as he wants his activities to be recorded on life television. Supercharger then explains that he was a normal person like them and was fascinated with the superheroes that have begun appearing in their world. His father, a scientist, wanted to learn if there was a way to induce superpowers in normal humans. However, his experiments ended in an accident. In the ensuing explosion, Supercharger's father was killed and he was forever changed, given amazing powers. The experience convinced Supercharger that there were no heroes, that these superpowered beings were nothing more than monsters and freaks.
By this point, Spider-Man has run into one of the offices to try and call the police but discovers that the phones are down. With no other choice, he goes back to the studio to face the villain just as he is grabbing his first would-be victim from the audience. The wall-crawler swings in and pulls the woman away and then swings back to face Supercharger. At first, Spider-Man is overwhelmed by Supercharger's electrical powers and is about to give up. However, hearing Flash Thompson cheer him on convinces Spider-Man to keep on fighting. Realizing that Supercharger is absorbing electricity from the equipment around him to replenish the power he expands he gets one of the technicians to assist him in stopping the villain. With a wire rigged up into the broadcasting system, Spider-Man snares Supercharger. This completes the circuit, draining his energy and harmlessly discharging it out of the broadcasting tower atop the television station. With the villain defeated the studio audience cheers Spider-Man for his victory. In the aftermath of the battle, the damage done to the studio guarantees that "It's Amazing" will have to be canceled. Talking to Maxie Shiffman, Spider-Man learns that he hired Supercharger in the hopes of creating a more spectacular show, unaware that he intended to murder the studio audience. Upon hearing this, Spider-Man orders Maxie to give back the money they were paid for the appearance, telling him that it is the responsible thing to do.
Overhearing this conversation is J. Jonah Jameson who thinks that Spider-Man did all of this for money. He ignores John's attempt to speak sense and vows that he never rest until everyone knows what sort of menace Spider-Man really is. As Spider-Man swings home from the studio, he is proud of he has done that day. He finally realizes that he is a hero, despite all of his personal problems he is doing what superheroes do: they find a way.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
See Also
Links and References
References
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