captain_oblivious

If you mean "big things to make up for" as a sign of remorse, I agree. But so far SpOck hasn't shown any remorse for previous actions. I would say a hero has some level of altruism. Luke Cage may be for hire but I'm sure he would cut his rate or work for free depending on the circumstance. SpOck is motivated (I would say brainwashed) into doing good because of what Parker did to him, he has no choice. It's his arrogance in still trying to show that he can beat Parker by being "better" at Spider-Man that he does the things he does. When confronted with the possibility there's still some remnant of Parker, instead of working with him or devising a way to separate themselves, he reverts to his old self and kills him again. Despite his actions in helping people and working with the authorities, I don't believe he would qualify as a "hero".

Well, that's annoying. It was supposed to be an animated gif from the Chappells show.

As one of the few people who enjoys this roller coaster of a story arc, I would like to take the liberty of answering in Slott's place. The reason is

@punyparker: I think he's implied he would harm her and others. Whether he would go through with it, I don't know as Peter has always caved.

(to go on a tangent- I forgot during this story run is when Jameson was replaced by the Chameleon. People knew he was acting strange but no one considered him being a different person)

Venom/Eddie has killed innocents. He really didn't become an anti-hero (if that) until later. If it meant getting to Parker, he had no qualms with knocking people off.

It's implied he would even go after Aunt May.

I agree about Watanabe. I don't think Slott thought the name up. I meant I think the realtor Watanabe may be related to the detective. At some point we will see them together (Parker, MJ, Carlie, Det Watanabe, Realtor Watanabe) and the realtor may remember Parker, but would probably remember MJ since she was a popular model. I was joking about the living in sin part but was wondering if Parker and MJ were living together around that time. Still not sure how BND/OMD effected past situations between them. It's been mentioned Slott's been doing long term stories so I don't think that name was pulled out for no reason other than to name drop. Though I could be wrong.

@animehunter: I'm really screwing up my spider facts. I'm going by Parker's perspective. Though Carpenter told him she is alive, in his mind he believes she is dead as we saw when he went to "Heaven".

@punyparker: I don't know if it's intentional but I'm wondering if Slott is showing the superhero wall, kind of like the police blue wall of silence. And that superheroes really don't have an internal investigations unit or procedures for when one of their own goes beyond what they tolerate. I'm sure there's evidence that shows SpOck shooting Massacre and witness statements, but they'll say it's justified case closed. It's Slott showing how far SpOck will go to protect innocents.

Interesting about Watanabe. That guy was introduced when Parker and MJ were married. It's unlikely he would remember them but considering MJ was a famous model at the time, maybe. Would they have been looking for a place together? An unmarried couple living in sin? Did that get retconned with BND/OMD or is Slott hinting about what could happen when Parker returns?

@punyparker: It's still an ongoing investigation. It's not like they're going to find solid evidence immediately. They have to search without raising SpOck's suspicions they're investigating him. He's already shown he'll go after Parker's family in ASM 700. Carlie can't go to the Avengers with her exchange with Doc Ock. The Avengers don't know her and she doesn't know who on the Avengers Parker has trusted with his civilian identity. She can't go to MJ as there is no evidence. Even if MJ believes, she can't do anything about it without becoming a target herself. Any accusation presented to a super-hero by MJ or Carlie now would result in super-heroes either confronting SpOck directly, giving away their hand, or following SpOck around, which won't reveal anything other than SpOck going after villains instead of sitting around waiting for villains to attack.

Remember, there's no real evidence that SpOck is not Parker. Mood/attitude changes are not enough to justify holding a person and doing invasive searches into their mind and body. If every week you went out to drinks at a bar with friends and one person always drank beer and spent his time checking whatever game the bar had on the tube and one week it changed, would you freak out? If instead of drinking beer he ordered long islands and instead of sitting watching the game he was speaking to some of the other patrons and hitting on some of the women, would you call the police and demand an investigation saying your friend has been replaced?

From the Spider-Man angle, he has not disappeared to cause suspicion of a body switch. At the time of the personality change, he had Doc Ock die, a person who was one of his first villains and rarely has a Spider-Man villain died in battle with him. Coupled with the death of Marla Jameson and the recent death of Silver Sable, could easily be explained he is being more mature in super-heroing. No more jokes, more efficient at utilizing the tools he built at Horizon, doing what he has to to protect innocents. The Avengers have tools to detect known threats and have confronted him regarding out of the norm behavior. They aren't his father and even their actions would come under circumspect at times. And I'm sure they prefer the lack of jokes in a time of seriousness.

From the Parker angle, Carlie has circumstantial evidence to support her thinking. MJ should know something is off when Parker called her "woman" in ASM 700 and subsequent denigrating comments about others from SSM 2. With the beat down of Jester and Speedball, she should know something is not right. Aunt May is getting a nephew who finally has his act together. A good job at Horizon (which she helped him get) and is pursuing his doctorate. She doesn't have to worry about him trying to get dangerous photos to pay his rent. He may be too busy to call her but it's a busy she feels comfortable with since she knows where he should be.

Until Carlie's investigation comes up with something solid linking SpOck to Doc Ock or a hero questions why SpOck is acting like they never met before, there is no evidence of any body switching or mind tampering having taken place. (Kaine should have been wondering why SpOck referred to himself as Spider-Man when they fought)

I wonder how much the writers keep in touch to stay on the same page. Avenging Spider-man/Superior Team Up Yost has SpOck creating a new Sinister Six, I wonder how much that might conflict with Slott's plans for Superior. Also, it looks like the writers may be trying to cut off some of the arguments about why MJ, Aunt May and the rest haven't noticed the change. In Superior Team Up, SpOck comments that the events in Avenging Spider-Man 16 (with the X-Men) only happened a few days ago. Obviously the time's off but I'm guessing the writers will try to pull off SpOck's only been in Parker's body a few weeks at most so no one's been around him enough to actually see the changes.

@punyparker:

I read Superior Carnage #2 and this storyline is ongoing with the Scarlet Spider/Superior Team-Up crossover. Unless something happens in the next few issues, it's SpOck. And since the solicitations reference the Wizard's mind controlling helmet, I wonder if that means it's also mind reading? Wizard's having some mental issues because of something Black Bolt did to him and I don't know if the other heroes know it. But if he can see into SpOck's mind and sees it's not Parker, would this be the impetus for the heroes to finally realize something's up? Or would they think he's just crazy? I just realized I don't think there's any real bad guy telepaths in the marvel universe. I'm surprised there isn't at least one who uses his/her powers to black mail to keep civilian identities secret.

But you're still stuck with a dead Parker, a lonely Aunt May, and MJ. Ultimate Parker at least got an acknowledgment of his sacrifice and all his good deeds, nobody knows what's happened to Parker. I kind of doubt they'll put Miles in 616-Parker's suit as that's essentially the ongoing Ultimate storyline. Maybe when Parker comes back Miles will be the Amazing Spider-Kid?

Slott's been comparing Ock to Walter White from Breaking Bad. Like The Godfather and Sopranos, these are bad guys people watch to see what they do next, they don't always relate to them. I think he used Ock because his character would fit this storyline. He does have his own intelligence to pass off as Parker, he's human who's just acquired super powers. He's a long time villain who would fit.

Can you have a spider-man comic without spider-man? I think that's what Slott's been writing and why we have Superior instead of Amazing. Sandman wasn't in every comic of Gaiman's run and usually appeared near the end of the storyline. I'm still seeing this as Amazing just with other characters for the time being.

As for the supporting characters? Will really have to suspend my disbelief for when they realize there's something going on. I don't see "we thought you were having a bad or or were just really busy" will cut it for accepting a 180 degree turn in a person's behavior.