Plot Summary
After the Civil War, Aunt May is shot by a sniper hired by the Kingpin of Crime. Peter finds himself in a place he has never been before. He dons his black costume and goes on a rampage to find his aunt's shooter. May has fallen into a coma and she is in critical condition. Eventually Peter discovers that the Kingpin is the man responsible and tracks the crime-lord to Riker's Island Prison where he savagely beats Fisk to a bloody pulp but decides to leave him with his humiliating defeat as it is for Fisk worse than death. Peter warns the other inmates to stay away from his family and tells Fisk that when May dies, Peter will come back and finish him. Since Spider-Man is a fugitive, he is unable to get proper help for May and he is forced to commit felonies to try and save his aunt before realizing that he has finally become what he has spent his life fighting, a criminal.
Full Plot
Back in Black
Aunt May shotAfter the Civil War, Spider-Man is still a fugitive and goes on the run with his family. However, the Kingpin, now knowing Spider-Man's alter-ego, hires a sniper to track him down and kill him along with his loved ones. May and Mary Jane stay at a motel under fake names while Peter goes on patrol. Unknown to them, the Kingpin's sniper has them in his sights and waits for the Kingpin's order to pull the trigger. When Peter returns home, the sniper, targeting Mary Jane shoots but Peter's Spider-Sense has warned him and he manages to get MJ out the way. However, the bullet meant for MJ hit Aunt May instead and she bleeds intensely.
As Peter holds a bleeding Aunt May in his arms, two more bullets come in. Peter keeps on screaming "No More!" and heads out, picks up a jeep, and throws it at the building the sniper is at. Peter, still in civilian clothes, carries an unconscious and bleeding May to a hospital. After arriving at the hospital, Peter has been identified as Spider-Man and is prevented from assisting any further due to his status as a fugitive and he sits outside in extreme anguish. .
In prison, Wilson Fisk receives a message that only one of the secondary ones has been taken out. Fisk is pleased as he has prolonged Spider-Man's pain.
Peter meets up with MJ and tells her where May is and that she's been stabilized. He tells her to go and sign any papers and use May's maiden name at the hospital. When she asks him what is he going to do, Peter replies that he's going to hurt someone.
The sniper survived his encounter with Spider-Man and managed to escape. The police block off the building he was in but Peter appears, and after webbing up an officer who was trying to stop him, goes into one of the rooms where he spots the scope of the gun used in shooting May and it has a specific brand on it. He later invades a warehouse full of arms dealer and in
Peter recovers his black costumeno mood to crack jokes and pull his punches,in an attempt to locate the hitman who purchased the hardware, viciously beats the thugs. Peter brutally interrogates the last standing thug who tells him that the gun is very high end and very few dealers carry it. He gives Peter the names and address of four black market dealers.
At the hospital Mary Jane is told by the doctors that May is in a coma and the only things keeping her alive are the machines but sooner or later she is going to die.
Peter heads to a building and recovers a cloth version of his black costume as it represents his current state of mind. He wants to wear it to show this new dark side and he's willing to kill the ones responsbile for harming his family. Spider-Man tracks down the gun dealers and after threatening to kill the last one to throw him out of his penthouse's window, he is informed that the man who shot his aunt is named Jack Martino. Spider-Man goes to Matino's apartment and finds it empty but he is informed by the landlord that Jack left for Grand Central Station. Peter tracks him down there and mercilessly beats him but before Martino could tell Peter his employer's name, Martino is shot by another assassin. Spidey tags the fleeing gunman with a spider-tracer and follows the ambulance that took Jack to the same hospital May is at.
At the hospital, MJ tells Peter of May's current status and as Peter looks in on May, Jack dies on the operating table. However, Peter senses the spider-tracer nearby and finds the killer talking to his employer on his cell phone. He webs the killer's mouth, takes the phone and recognizes the voice on the other end: the Kingpin. Peter vows to kill the Kingpin but the latter is not intimidated. Peter then hangs up on Kingpin and continues interrogating the Kingpin's hired assassin. The man denies knowing anything about what happened with Peter’s aunt. Peter believes him but instead of killing him, he decides that he’s going to send a message. When he hears MJ coming, he swings off into the night with the thug in tow. Peter takes the hitman underneath the city in the middle of a sewer pipe where Peter tortures him until the man promises anything to be set free. Peter tells him to tell all the other criminals to stay away from his family or else he will hunt them all down
Spider-Man goes after the KingpinThe next morning Peter is back in the hospital and MJ tells him that the cost of Aunt May’s care is substantial and since they’re paying in cash, they could soon be discovered. Peter reminds MJ of the time he gave his aunt a blood transfusion that saved her life and he plans on giving her another transfusion. After performing the procedure, Peter becomes tired and weak but despite MJ's protests, goes to Ryker's Island prison where a riot has been successful and the Kingpin, dressed in his classic white suit and holding his trademark cane, prepares to leave. Spider-Man infiltrates the prison and confronts Kingpin in the center of the prison block where the other inmates have gathered around them and Peter says "End of the Road Fisk. You, Me, RIGHT NOW!". The Kingpin, still unhinged by Spider-Man's anger, continuously taunts him, calling him a loser and a fool for following Tony Stark. Spider-Man then leaps at Kingpin and savagely beats the crime-lord who is unable to fight back against Peter's overwhelming strength. The Black clad hero tells Fisk that Spider-Man is not here to kill him because his costume opposes killing. Instead, Peter rips off the upper part of his costume, revealing his face and torso, and tells Fisk that Peter Parker is there to kill him. As he continues to brutally pummel the Kingpin, Peter tells
End of the road Fiskhim that he is nothing but a fat man with a bad attitude, a big balloon waiting to be popped by a needle, and Peter is that needle. An angered Kingpin attacks Peter who easily dodges all his attacks before hitting him with a powerful blow to the jaw. Kingpin is completely humiliated before all the inmates. Peter threatens to fill his lungs with webbing and suffocate him and after Kingpin tells him to just kill him and get it over with, Peter instead smashes him to the ground and tells him that he will kill him after May dies but for now he will leave him with his defeat which is, for Fisk in the story, more painful than death. Before leaving, Peter threatens the other inmates that he will kill them all slowly and painfully if they ever harm his family. Peter reunites with Mary Jane at Aunt May's hospital room.waits for the inevitable.
Peter continues to blame himself for what happened to Aunt May and discovers that the blood transfusion has failed. Then, the Parkers' cover is blown and Peter is forced to attack police officers and use questionable means to move May to a different hospital. That night, Peter has committed 9 felonies and after finally moving May to a new hospital under false names, Peter finally comes to the realization that he has become what he has spent his whole life fighting, a criminal.
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