Down Among the Dead Men
The Green Goblin kidnaps a group of churchgoers in order to goad Spider-Man into a fight. . Spidey and the Goblin have a brutal fight and although Spidey was losing at first, he manages to fight back and defeat the Goblin, leaving him webbed up for the police who take him to Ryker's. He then returns home battered and bruised and his injuries are attended to by Mary Jane and Aunt May. Meanwhile, a shadowy figure watches the Parkers from afar.
The next day, while teaching at school, Peter receives a phone call that his Uncle Ben's gravestone has been defiled so Peter goes there to investigate, He is a bit disturbed by the vandalism and then he is called by a mysterious man who threatens
Vulture attacksPeter that he knows his secret identity and he's going after Aunt May, so Peter, in civilian clothes, swings over to May's house but arrives too late and May is gone
Peter convinces MJ to leave town while he finds his aunt. He calls the Black Cat who is unable to help him right now but mentions that Norman Osborn might be responsible for this so Peter quickly goes to Ryker's to confront his old foe. There, Norman starts playing mind games with Spider-Man by telling him that he has told at least one villain of Spider-Man's secret identity. With no useful information provided, Spider-Man decides to seek the Avengers' help but the Avengers will only help Spider-Man if he unmasks something he refuses to do because this whole ordeal was caused by people knowing his identity.
Spider-Man leaves Avengers Mansion, realizing that he has no other choice, he seeks the help of New York's current crime lord, the Owl. In exchange for a favor, the Owl tells Spidey that the Vulture and Electro may be involved.
Peter tracks down both villains to a club and while the Vulture escapes to get his suit, Spider-Man and Electro have a brutal fight causing a lot of property damage and Spider-Man manages to defeat Electro but not without suffering from serious injuries and he is unmasked and taken by the medics to the hospital. There, a nurse takes his photo while his face was
Saved by the Black Catpartially exposed, and informs the media. The Vulture appears in the hospital, kills a nurse, and attacks an injured Spider-Man who desperately tried to fight back but to no avail. Two cops hear the sounds of the battle, burst into the room and fire at the Vulture but the old villain uses Peter as a shield and has him take the bullets instead. The Vulture then flies away with Spider-Man and reveals that he was going to use his shair of the money Spider-Man made him and Electro lose during the last fight to save his grandson from a tumour. Vulture then rips off the bandages covering some parts of Peter's face and is disappointed to see a "nobody" under the mask as he was expecting Spider-Man to be someone famous in his civilian life. Vulture then drops Peter off but he is saved by the Black Cat who fights and defeats the Vulture and reveals that she was hired by the Owl to track him and Electro down. The Owl was just using Spider-Man to track down the two villains because they had stolen money from him. Felicia warns Vulture if he ever attacked her ex-boyfriend again she would kill before brutally scarring hise face. She then goes to check on Peter and takes him to his appartment. Also, MJ has made her way back to New York
Electro is seen being tortured by the Owl as punishment for his betrayal and he is horrified to see a battered and one-eyed Vulture as an example to anyone who would ever betray the Owl.
The photo that was taken by the nurse makes its way to J. Jonah Jameson who realizes that Spidey's face is familiar to him.
The story continues in Venomous.
Collected Editions
Non-U.S. Editions
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