The Amazing Spider-Man #3

Bitten by a radioactively-altered spider, Peter Parker was granted the enhanced abilities of an arachnid; enhanced strength, speed, agility, endurance, the ability to stick to walls and an innate sixth sense that warns him of danger that he has dubbed a “spider-sense.” Using his inventive genius and some notes from his father’s old research, he also constructed wrist-mounted web-shooters to create his very own webs.

Orphaned as a child, Peter was raised by his older Aunt and Uncle. When his Uncle Ben was killed by a criminal that Peter could have stopped, he learned a very important lesson: that with great power comes great responsibility. Carrying those words with him deeply, Peter Parker decided to become

The Amazing Spider-Man!

Recently, Peter Parker’s life has become even more complicated as his duties as Spider-Man has ostracized him from his Aunt May and oldest friend Mary Jane Watson. Meanwhile, Spider-Man’s fame has never risen higher as he has become a noteworthy and noble hero who protected Justin Hammer from the insane attack of Doctor Octopus. What Peter doesn’t know though, is that Justin Hammer may not be as innocent as he claimed…

On a side note, Sally Floyd draws closer and closer to the truth of Peter Parker’s secret identity…

Face Front True Believer, because this one’s going to be a doozy!



The green-garbed villain raised his purple cape above his head, as if trying to hide for a moment, but then his cape enveloped him like a shroud and soon the domed-headed man disappeared into thin air.

“Oh no, that’s not going to work on me Misty!” Spider-Man shouted, reaching out into thin air and gripping something that refracted the light like a mirage. Yanking hard, and giving a wide weaving punch, a solid blow was heard as the villain was sent flying into one of the many flag poles strewn across Times Square.

“How-how did you find me?” the technological voice echoed through his glass dome of a head.

“Didn’t take long once I saw your trick at work. You spread that mist and then use your cape to project light, causing a specific refraction against the mist, absorbing the light around you. Or you can alter the light refraction to create holograms. Nifty trick dome-head, but you’re going to have to work harder to impress yours truly,” Spidey explained jovially as he picked up Mystero’s fallen form and reared a fist back for a haymaker punch.

“So, you’re pretty smart to figure out my trick, but Mysterio is a man of- SURPRISES!” he shouted, theatrically flourishing his hand with a flick of his wrist.

At first, Spider-Man just gave a laugh at Mysterio sticking to character, but all of a sudden he felt his legs wobbling and his breathing becoming irregular. Mysterio’s body became too heavy for the web-head’s arm and he dropped the faux-magician to his feet, now standing tall above the slinger’s weakened and kneeling form.

“Now, for the final act,” Mysterio said with a flourish, a sword suddenly appearing in his hand, the edge glinting in the light. “Say good night Spider-Man!”

Then Mysterio’s blade came down at Spider-man’s neck with a sudden whoosh of air.



“Hey it’s MJ, sing your song at the beep,” the voice recording said followed by a sudden beep.

“Mary, come on… talk to me. Aunt May finally lifted my grounding and I really wanted to talk to you. Please, please call me back. At least give me a chance to… I don’t know, whine to you in person?” Peter asked, the bottom of his mask being lifted away from his mouth so his voice wouldn’t be muffled by the cloth. “Call me back.”

Putting the cell-phone in a special pouch in his belt, Spidey pulled the mask over his mouth and dived off the top of the Daily Bugle billboard, shooting out a webline before flipping forward and swinging past 87th street.

“I really need something to hit right now,” Spidey mumbled to himself in frustration.



Justin Hammer was studying some paperwork about Stark Industries, his reconstructed office looking perfect to his specifications. Even though it had taken about two weeks to fulfill the position, Hammer’s new secretary was about as efficient as his old one, so there was no real loss. Much like he was before his accident, Doctor Octavius had little effect on Hammer’s business or life despite his grandest efforts.

“Ms. Mitchell, can you please pull up those files on the Stane merger?” Hammer said into his intercom, but after several seconds with no response he tried again. “Ms. Mitchell?”

Getting up from his desk, Hammer walked toward his door and tried to open it, only to find that it had somehow been locked from the outside. Ramming his shoulder into the door, Hammer didn’t even feel the door budge an inch. Hammer whipped out his cell phone, only to see that somehow it had run out of power in the last few minutes, despite Ms. Mitchell promising that she had fully charged it.

“Hey! Hey anyone! Ms. Mitchell?! What’s going on!?” Hammer shouted through his door, now becoming panicked that no one was responding to him. Hammer didn’t like to be ignored.

“What the hell is going on!?” Hammer shouted into the air.

“This is the beginning of your swan song, Justin Hammer!” a bodiless voice shouted, a sudden purple gas filtering through the air, before a dark shape showed up in the middle of the fog, the gas forming into a purple cape. The green figure with his circular bowl of a head, pointed a yellow-gloved finger at Justin Hammer, causing the industrialist to collapse to his knees.

“Today, judgment falls upon you.”



“Peter!”

“Oh! Um… hey Betty,” Peter said sheepishly, nervously adjusting the strap on his satchel bag.

“It’s good to see you,” Betty said with a gentle if not somewhat awkward smile, moving in for a hug which Peter accepted. “The Bugle hasn’t seen any Parker picture originals in a few weeks, did you find another line of work?”

“What, and miss J.J.’s charming tirades? Perish forbid, Betty,” Peter joked with a laugh after pulling away from the hug. “I’ve just been grounded for a while,” Peter explained, flinching as he immediately regretted telling Betty something so embarrassing.

“Grounded? You’re such a quiet guy, what did you do? Insult Aunt May’s cooking?” Betty asked with a raised brow.

“No, no- it’s just a, I mean… it’s a long story,” Peter explained sheepishly.

“Peter,” Betty said while placing an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Just because we broke up, doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. You know you can tell me anything. I really, truly love you Peter.”

“I know, and thank you,” Peter said with a smile, blushing at his luck to have such a great friend. “I’ll always care about you too Betty. I mean, you were my first everything. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the man you-“

“Yo Parker!”

Turning around, Peter and Betty saw Sally Floyd approaching the two with a satisfied smile on her face.

“I got some questions for you, kid!”

“Really? Well, I’m all ears,” Peter said, giving Betty a wave as she went back to her desk.

“I just read something very interesting about-“

“FLOYD! Big brouhaha at Times Square! It’s a supervillain, so bring your internet camera-thing and get me something to post for the evening news! Leeds, head out to Hammer industries and get a response! And where’s Parker!? I need pictures of this freak of the week!”

“He’s right here Jo-“ Sally remarked, turning around only to see that Peter Parker was long gone. “Well, well… curiouser and curiouser…”



The technicians who usually operated the big screens in Times Square didn’t have simple jobs, but they had predictable ones. They made sure the giant television screens were always operational and always showing the proper advertisements as per the programs they were given. Sometimes the programs were controlled by satellite, and all the technicians had to do was make the sure signal went uninterrupted. They had professions of a technical basis that anyone with the proper training could do, but they did it well.

On this day though, they faced a different challenge.

All across every screen in the square, a single glass-bowled head was showing, dictating orders and sending out threats to everyone in New York City. Announcing his greatness and his ability to control and dominate the technological world through sorcery and illusion, Mysterio had effectively taken control of New York’s biggest inter-changing street! Police cars were gathered below the Bertelsmann Building, holding up the traffic for many an angry New Yorker, though with all of the street lights blinking and flickering due to Mysterio’s control, there wasn’t much progress to be had. Atop the tallest building in Times Square, the actual shape of Mysterio could be seen holding the tied up Justin Hammer above the unmoving streets, floating in mid-air.

“Behold! The unlimited power of Mysterio is something to behold! I have control of this very city with little more than a thought! This is what true power is! Many of you know THIS man, Justin Hammer, to be a rich man, a man of power, but I am here to reveal the truth! Justin Hammer is nothing but a user, a monster disguised in human shape who takes advantage of the talented and the beautiful just so he may appease his master, the almighty and eternally greedy dollar!”

“Please, please let me go!” Justin Hammer begged, flapping his arms like that would help keep him suspended.

“What is this? A man of such power, begging ME, for mercy? Expecting me to grant him his final rite?! How very comical! How very droll! And they say that I am the showman! Ahahahahaha!” Mysterio laughed, flourishing his wrist, causing Hammer to wobble dangerously through the air.

“Sir, please put Mr. Hammer safely down next to you! You don’t want to be a murderer! Not in front of the entirety of New York as a witness!” Captain Jean DeWolff reasoned through a bullhorn.

“Oh but I do Captain! I want EVERYONE to see! Mysterio is the greatest being on the planet, nothing less than a demigod itself, and I have deemed Justin Hammer to be the worst epitome of human potential! And so! I deem him judged and found guilty! Watch as I rip this man… Asunder!”

Justin Hammer gave a blood curdling scream, as suddenly an invisible force started to pull on his arms and chest from opposite directions, as if trying to literally tear him down the middle.

“I am power! I am the master! I am Mysterioooooo!”

SPLAT!

“What is this!?” Mysterio shouted as he clawed at the sticky substance that had been sprayed all over his clouded helmet.

“I don’t know about you drama folks,” Spider-Man explained as he grabbed onto Justin Hammer and snapped the invisible stage wires that had been wrapped around him with his enhanced strength. “But in comedy we would call that little diddy a set-up!” Spider-Man continued to explain as he webbed the emergency door of the roof and yanked the it off its hinges, and watched Hammer run toward his new exit.

“So this next part, this would be the PUNCH-LINE!” the web-head shouted as he landed a heavy uppercut into the villain’s stomach, sending him flying off the roof.

“Oh crap!” Spidey shouted, running to the edge of the roof so he could save Mysterio from falling…

… only to find he was gone.

“Did you really think a simple thrust of your fist would fall the greatness of Mysterio?” the master of illusion explained, standing unharmed, though Spider-Man noticed that his green-colored body suit had a very ugly, metal-like dent in his stomach.

“Now….” Mysterio ominously said as a fog of smoke surrounded him, making the villain disappear until Spider-Man could barely see his own hand in front of his face. “Appear!”

Demons and monsters from a children’s tale suddenly appeared all around Spider-Man, claws and teeth bared at him, rushing in to attack. With all of his agility and speed, the web-head could have easily avoided the blows, but instead stood still as the holograms simply passed through him.

“Seriously? That’s the best you-“ but before the web-slinger could finish, one of the goblin-like creatures bit down on Spider-Man’s leg, drawing blood. “YOW!”

“Do not underestimate me! Just because I am a master of the illusionary mind, that does not mean that I am not able to summon my own forces of the deep!”Mysterio exclaimed, suddenly appearing thirty feet in the air, throwing a rounded pellet at Spider-Man’s chest. Gripped on both sides by “demon” teeth and claws, Spider-Man was unable to dodge as the explosive hit and sent him barreling off the side of the roof and toward the ground.

“Ha ha!” Mysterio laughed triumphantly as he fell back to the ground and broke his fall with a burst of air from his boots. “Mysterio has even beaten the so-called might of the superhero Spider-Man! Nothing stands in the way of-“ but Mysterio left the sentence unfinished as he realized that Hammer was no longer on the roof.

“Dammit.”

Giving a quick swipe of his hand, Mysterio disappeared in an explosion of mist.

Moments later, Spider-Man crawled up the ledge to roof and looked around for the mysterious villain.

“Dammit,” the web-head muttered as he found nothing, and then shot out a webline to collect his camera from the wall of the adjoining building he’d planted it on.



“Right this way Mr. Hammer, we’ll get you to safety,” officers of the NYPD calmly explained as two uniforms tried to carefully usher the shaken industrialist into an armored car. “Let’s see that Mysterio freak get you in this steel trap.”

Justin Hammer normally would have made some comment about the idiocy of such a statement, but today after almost being dropped from an eighty story building, he found himself unable to find the words. He barely had the sense to escape through the exit Spider-Man had given him and find an elevator, when the police had found him.

All Justin Hammer needed now was a cold stiff drink.

“Just get me the hell out of here,” he snidely requested as the officers closed the doors and the armored van began to drive.

“Do you really think you can escape me, Justin Hammer!?” the disembodied voice of Mysterio declared, right before all four of the tires on the truck exploded, causing the van to topple on it’s side. “No technological marvel of man can defeat the immortally powerful foe that is I!”

Mysterio now stood upon the fallen truck, and was surrounded by officers, but with a flick of his wrist, two of them were blown onto their backs and another was suddenly being chased by a floating dragon. Even though the dragon was but an illusion, it caused the officer to be startled enough to stumble and hit his head on the asphalt. Punching through the glass of the windshield, Mysterio ignored the unconscious driver and planted a small explosive on the protective wall that separated the drivers from the back cargo, in this case Justin Hammer.

“What do you want from me!?” Hammer shouted in panic, now exposed to his attacker.

“I want justice, I want to see you squirm, I want you to suffer for what you did to me!” Mysterio explained, his voice changing from its booming, mechanical and theatrical tone into a very normal, very whiny voice unlike the grand Mysterio’s. His normally clouded and glowing helmet was now clear and transparent, showing a man with a scar above his left eye and dark bowl-cut hair.

“Beck?! Quentin Beck!? The… the special effects guy?!” Justin Hammer exclaimed in hysteria.

“That’s right Hammer! It’s me! I came to you with my designs, told you that with a small investment I could turn this equipment into the next wave of cinema technology! So many movies are done with CGI now, I offered you a chance to create actual action sequences or impossible physics, with only a small investment! Then you laughed at- look at me! YOU LAUGHED AT ME!!!” Beck shouted, grabbing the startled industrialist by his collar and holding him up off his feet.

“Then, three months later, you developed a new line of tactical weapons that could be used by the highest paying military or paramilitary force! Those were MY DESIGNS! My livelihood! YOU ROBBED ME OF MY WORK AND FOR THAT I WILL KILL YOU!” Beck shouted, his helmet clouding over and beginning to glow once more. Pulling a snake-emblazoned blade from his belt, Mysterio raised it up to slit Hammer’s neck.

“The looooooooooove booooooooaaaaat, exciting and newwwwwwwww!” was all Mysterio heard before being barrel kicked in the head and sent flying into the air and landing fifteen feet from the van, the knife falling harmlessly into the truck, barely nicking Hammer’s cheek.

“Seriously man, I love the look. Where do you shop? PetSmart?” the web-head joked, standing before Mysterio who was scrambling to his feet.

“You! No! I defeated you once, I’ll do it again!” Mysterio shouted, throwing a mini-explosive at Spider-Man, who effortlessly caught it and tossed it into the air to explode harmlessly in the air.

“Dude, you got a cheap shot in. I’m not giving you another one,” Spider-Man explained as he calmly walked toward Mysterio.

“No! Appear!” Mysterio shouted, a cloud of mist leaving his cape, the same monsters coming in to attack Spider-Man.

Using his Spider-sense to its fullest by closing his eyes, Spidey effortlessly dodged the real goblins while ignoring the illusions, before kicking a wide kick to the real “goblin’s” head, causing the robot to fall into pieces. The second was destroyed with a swift karate chop down it’s mid-section. The resulting explosion actually dispersed some of the mist, revealing the not-so mysterious Mysterio crawling away from the battle.

“It’s over, Misty.”

“Never! Mysterio will rise again, another day!”

The green-garbed villain raised his purple cape above his head, as if trying to hide for a moment, but then the cape enveloped him like a shroud and soon the domed-headed man disappeared into thin air.

“Oh no, that’s not going to work on me Misty!” Spider-Man shouted.



Jean DeWolff was a tough chick, plain and simple. Her father had said so himself. Despite that, he also encouraged Jean to explore her more feminine side, so that one day she could become a beautiful bride for a lucky man. That was around her sixteenth birthday.

On her eighteenth birthday she applied to the police academy.

Jean’s entire life was composed of rebellion and alternative living. She always tried to be as tough as possible, and never let her gender get in the way of what she wanted to do. Being a fan of fifties gangsters movies, Jean always tried to dress accordingly no matter what others said, and acted like her life was a film noir piece, but she always preferred fighting for the law over breaking it, which is why she dreamed of being a cop.

Still, even though Jean didn’t like to admit to weakness, she had one… area that she was not an expert in. Marksmanship. She could take a perp down in hand to hand with little to no effort, and she knew her way around an investigation and could spot clues in almost the barest of crime scenes, but she couldn’t shoot the broad side of a barn when she was in it.

Like everything else though, Jean DeWolff rebelled against perceptions, even her own, and took the shot.

BANG! Ting!

“NO!” Mysterio shouted as he held his bleeding hand, his sword falling to the ground with a clatter.

“Step away from the superhero!”

Mysterio was out of tricks, so he began to run away, his cape canisters completely empty of mist and his gauntlets out of paralyzing spike pellets. And Spider-Man had already proved immune to his explosives! So all he could do was run.

Oh, and use the air-pressure cannons in his shoes to jump thirty feet into the air, compounded by a hidden glider in his cape.

Jean DeWolff decided to help Spider-Man instead of impossibly chasing the currently flying assailant. It was the logical choice, and had no bearing on her personal bias toward Spider-Man and his ability to save the day. Of course not.

“You alright kid?” DeWolff asked, helping Spider-Man to his feet.

“I will be, in a second,” the web-head said grimly, struggling to raise his hand into the air, before firing a web-line at the gliding villain. Catching Mysterio by his helmet, Spider-Man gave a yank and crashed the beaten villain into some flood windows by the nearby window before crashing down onto the ground, his armored suit protecting him from breaking an bones, but otherwise knocking the villain out cold, splayed across the asphalt.

“Now I’m peachy.”



Justin Hammer collapsed into his desk chair. After everything that had happened, he was about ready to stroke out, if he didn’t get to relax right now. Supervillains… there was no way anyone should have been treated to such behavior.

“You’ve had a long day.”

Hammer jumped out of his chair to see Spider-Man crouched on his ceiling, staring at Hammer with his reflecting soulless eyes. Never before had Hammer seen something so creepy, and once again he was angry that it was so angry for these “super-beings” to just break into his office.

“Yes I have, so I would appreciate if you just got out of my office.”

“Two supervillains attacking you in the same month. You’re either the unluckiest guy in the world, or you’re the biggest jerk on the planet who keeps angering the crazies,” Spider-Man quipped, spinning his finger near his head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hammer said simply, straightening his tie.

“I heard what Beck said about you, and I remember what Ock was saying about you before I beat him up. I thought Ock just lost his marbles, but you really did all of that to him, didn’t you? Sabotaged his research, turned him into that monster, it was all your fault, wasn’t it?!” Spider-man shouted, getting no response from Hammer. “Well!?”

“Ock destroyed himself. It’s not my fault he couldn’t take the pressure.”

“You turned a good man into a murderer! And for what?!”

“It was just business.”

With a speed that couldn’t be human, Spider-Man jumped from the ceiling and was standing a hair’s length from Hammer, his shorter form appearing quite intimidating as he pointed a finger in Hammer’s face, while his other hand gripped his shoulder like a vice.

“SHUT UP!” the web-head shouted.

“Octavius was a brilliant man, but he wasn’t an ambitious one. He stumbled onto something that would have revolutionized the medical market; a cure-all for disease. One cure for a specific disease is easy to market, but a cure for every ailment endangers the pharmaceutical market. So I took hold of Ock’s research so it would either be under my control, or Ock would crack from being unable to deliver the goods. Who knew the research would turn him into that?” Hammer explained calmly.

“You son of a-“

“And you know what? There’s nothing you can do about it, because I did nothing illegal. The police can’t touch me, and let’s face it, you can’t either. Heroes and villains are the same freaks, but you can’t kill right? You have a reputation to uphold…” Hammer remarked snidely.

For a long moment, Spider-Man just stared at Hammer, ready to just break his neck, but decided to let go before back-flipping onto his desk.

“I can’t touch you yet, but your greed will cause you to make a mistake. You will do something illegal. And then, one of these freaks will get you. So you better pray it’s a ‘hero’ and not another supervillain,” Spider-Man said before standing up and opening Hammer’s window. “I’ll be watching you.”

And with that Spider-Man left…

… and Hammer let out a heavy sigh. Collapsing to the ground for a moment, Hammer gathered himself and pulled out his cell phone.

“Shut up. Connect me to the Big Man.”



“Have you heard the news Blackie? Spider-man saved the day again.”

“Yeah boss, it sure was something.”

“It’s becoming a problem,” The Big Man explained as he blew up the TV with a point of his finger. “We just lost Hammer’s support.”

“Crap. Didn’t we need his funding?” Blackie Gaxton asked the Big Man with a worried tone.

“Yes… so we’ll have to change strategies. Break out the Oscorp shipments we got from our informant.”

“Boss?”

“Spider-Man wants to stop crime in this city, let’s put the pressure on.”

“Yes Big Man.”



Across the city, a very different man with very similar goals calmly closed his laptop and sat in his expensive Armani chair, twiddling his fingers in thought. His two lieutenants knew not to interrupt their boss’s thought, so they calmly sat out the three minutes before Silvio Manfredi gave his order.

“This Spider-Man has become a problem. I thought he was an interloper who would eventually be snuffed out by one of our own, if not by the Big Man. Now though, it’s clear that we must deal with problem directly. Three million on the arachnid’s head. Four million if he’s alive. Tell everyone.”

“Yes Silvermane,” the two lieutenants said simultaneously.

“We will bring the full-force of THE MAGGIA, down on SPIDER-MAN!



Things are heating up in the criminal underworld, and nothing is going to be safe for Spider-Man! Things may be going great for the web-head now, but you know that won’t last! Next issue, we’re going to see as Spider-Man deal with something he’s never had to deal with before: police cooperation! And watch as Peter Parker tries to repair the damaged relationships in his life, though there may be some more surprises for him around the corner. If you want to find out, join us next time for “Wanted! Web-Dead or ALIVE!” ‘Nuff Said.