It all began with the unexpected appearance of Deadpool in Spider-Man's life, and after a humorous encounter between the two, the Merc-with-a-mouth revealed that he was anonymously hired to lure away Spider-Man from Mid-town where Ana Kravinoff, the daughter of Kraven fought and captured Spider-Woman aka Mattie Franklin who had just returned to town.
It was revealed that Sasha and Ana Kravinoff had kidnapped Madame Web and are using her to locate their "prey". They are currently holding both Mattie Franklin and Madame Web captives.
Electro
Start of the GauntletWith his life ruined, Electro ran a public movement called "Power to the People" against Dexter Bennett and the New York Stock Exchange. Spider-Man got caught in the middle of this as he tried to stop Electro, but he was criticized by the people for attacking their "hero". Electro made a deal with Dexter Bennett to pay for an operation that could cure his powers. If he accepted, Electro would call off his campaign. The Mad Thinker tried to cure him by increasing his electrical abilities, but Spider-Man interfered with the process, turning Electro into an artificial electrical thunderbolt. Spider-Man attempted to fight the upgraded Electro but was battered and beaten into unconsciousness. Electro double-crossed Bennett and told New York to turn on all electric appliances (thus giving him more power) to permanently end The DB. However, after Spidey woke up, he discovered that the Thinker has disappeared, and Spidey formed a new web compound out of the chemical goop that was used by Thinker to upgrade Electro's powers, he noticed that Electro "flinched when he nearly got hosed with it". Just as Electro was about to finish off Bennett, Spider-Man came to the rescue and used his new web compound as a battering ram that allowed his victory over Electro possible, but the DB! building was destroyed in the process and Bennett was crippled. However, it was a historic event as this building, once known as the Daily Bugle, is no more, which saddened Peter, Betty Brant and Mayor J.J. Jameson. After Electro's imprisonment, the Chameleon introduces him to Sasha Kravinoff, Kraven's widow and they join forces.
Sandman
Return of SandmanPeter´s friend Carlie Cooper is accused of having lost important evidence in three murder cases and the city hall wants to blame her. As Peter works for the city hall he can't make up his mind about the situation. He finds clues that make him assume his old foe Sandman is involved. After investigating on his own, Peter finds out that all three murder cases can be connected in some way. But what is more, one of the victims had a child that is now missing. Exceptionally, this victim had a love interest in villains. Peter tracks down the Sandman to Governor's Island where he finds out that the Sandman has evolved in a way that puts Spider-Man into a big fight. The Sandman can now split up into different personae each with it's own mind. But he is not aware that he has killed anyone, and he loved the mother of the kidnapped child. He just kidnapped the girl because her mother didn´t want her to meet him, although she called him Daddy right after his first visit. She loves her "Daddy" and doesn´t want to leave. During the fight, the many Sandmen tell the real Sandman that they killed all the people after he felt asleep. Sandman can´t believe that and Spider-Man escapes with the girl. But as she is given in the care of an orphanage, she is desperately sad because Sandman was the best father she could have imagined.
Mysterio
Quentin Beck returnsNext, an apparently alive and healthy Quentin Beck resurfaces, working with the Maggia in their ongoing gang war with Mr. Negative. Carmine, the consigliere of the Karnelli (formerly Manfredi) family, hires Mysterio to fake the return of important Maggia leaders, including Silvermane. Carmine hoped to take control of the Maggia, through the robotic Silvermane duplicate controlled by Mysterio, from the bumbling Don Bruno Karnelli. Soon, however, Mysterio kills Carmine and sets up most remaining Maggia members to be killed by Mr. Negative's gang while he escapes with the Maggia's vast fortune. While Mysterio made his escape, blowing up the opera house that was the site of the gang war's most recent standoff in the process, Spider-Man was able to catch Mysterio's fleeing boat and destroy it, along with the stolen money. Beck is later seen being approached by Chameleon, who is apparently organizing a revenge scheme against their longtime foe with other villains.
Mr. Negative
Spider-man and Black Cat versus Mr.NegativeDue to the deaths of many of Maggia leaders, Negative was given the chance to finally crush the last remaining pieces who are foolishly being lead by Bruno Karnelli. May Parker accidentally witnesses Negative punishing one of his thugs and he used his touch to bend her to his will. Unable to handle the fact that Negative could kill him with his gas, Spider-man calls up Black Cat to help him steal the vial of blood that he needs to make it work on him. They are successful and replace his blood with pigs blood.
Morbius
The Ballad of MorbiusSpider-Man discovers that Black Cat sold the vial of his blood they stole last issue. He tracks it to Morbius with the help of a mysterious woman. When he gets to Morbius' lair, the mysterious woman arrives and telekinetically forces Spider-Man to let her in. She is revealed to be Martine, who Morbius shoves into a wooden stake Spider-Man was holding up. Spider-Man begins to beat Morbius for dragging him into a murder, but Morbius claims that she died a long time ago. He also apologizes for getting the vial of blood without Spider-Man's permission, but was merely using to it to find a cure to the disease. Spider-Man volunteers to give him more.
The Vulture
Electro breaks out the new Vulture from prison, who flies away to find Jimmy Natale, who was the man responsible for turning him into the
The New Vulturevulture, and is told by a mob boss that J. Jonah Jameson did this to him. The Vulture mistakenly thinks that Jonah made him like this so he attempts to kill him. Spider-Man arrives just in time and fights the Vulture outside of City Hall, and the battle is going Spider-Man's way until he runs out of web fluid. The Vulture manages to escape, but is convinced that it was not Jameson, but the mob that made him. The Vulture then goes back to attack the gangsters, who confess that they were responsible for what happened to him. Meanwhile, Peter doctors a photo to prove Jameson's innocence but this act violates Jonah's ethics and as a result Peter is publicly fired.
Rhino
The New RhinoIn this story, Peter is now working for the Front Line following Ben Urich's advice. After hearing this, Norah quickly calls dibs on him and he becomes her "photo monkey". His first assignment is take Norah to a party, where he meets Aleksei Sytsevich aka the Rhino. However, he seems to have turned over a new leaf, he's not a villain anymore and works as a guard, behaving very politely which surprises Peter. During the evening, a new Rhino crashes the party looking for Sytsevitch in order to engage him and "ascend". Peter gets into his Spider-Man costume and fights the Rhino but the villain shows his strength when he "broke a horse" on Aleksei's head. After seeing the carnage this Rhino has done, Aleksei drops on his knees, gives up and proclaims him as the new Rhino. The Rhino, disgusted with Aleksei, sees him as a weak old man, and that there is no honor in defeating him. He tells him to be ready and that he will return. Spider-Man attempts
Rhino vs. Rhinoto fight him, but he is able to escape. Later on, Aleksei fills a report to the police and Peter is astonished to see the love Aleksei has for his wife Oksana. We then see Aleksei in front of a Butcher shop, where he stashed his old Rhino costume. Spider-Man tracks him down with a spider-tracer on his left sock. Aleksei wanted to become the Rhino and kill the new one in order to protect his wife. Spidey convinces him otherwise, telling him that if he does become the Rhino again, he will lose his wife and his old life will come back. Aleksei thanks Spider-Man and leaves with his wife. The new Rhino is revealed to be working for Sasha Kravinoff, and he is angered at her, she reveals that this was all a trial and that it is not over. He would later return and attack Sytsevitch and murders his wife Oksana. This forces Aleksei to re-take his mantle and fights the Rhino and manages to destroy his armor. Despite his pleas, Aleksei kills him.
The Scorpion
The New Scorpion meets Spider-ManCarmilla Black, the new Scorpion, who has taken up work as a superhuman mercenary, is sent to New York to retrieve the armor of the original Scorpion, now in the possession of the Hood. Now dressed in her own version of the classic costume, Carmilla tangles with the friendly neighbor-hood Spider-Man when he stumbles onto a gladiatorial contest between many of New York's common criminals for the honor of becoming the new Scorpion and getting a seat in the Hood's gang. Seeking to remove all interference, she temporarily disables his powers with SPIN Tech before going for the costume, but is caught by the Hood and badly beaten. Only saved by Spider-Man, having shaken off the effects of the nanites, Carmilla aids him in bringing down the assembly of criminals, before escaping with her prize. That night, she gives the costume to the Kravinoff family, who hired her to obtain it based on her totemic connection to the costume.
The Juggernaut
Somebody stopped the JuggernautJuggernaut was shown to have a serious encounter with a new Captain Universe and he also met his old foe, Spider-man, again. After landing into one of Manhattan's parks, he was found by Spider-man and then by police,who delivered him into the inwood armory in Upper Manhattan. Spider-man found Juggernaut and asks who did this to him. Juggernaut described the appearance of the attacker, when suddenly the one they were talking about appeared - Captain Universe, with host being unknown. He attacks Spider-man and then throws the platform with Juggernaut into the Jersey Palisades. While Spider-man took care of Captain Universe, Juggernaut woke up and took out two policemen nearby. Noticing that his helmet was destroyed, he created another by using the Crimson Magic. He found Spider-man bound, and despite Spider-man's worst expectations, he doesn't kill him but frees him. Suddenly, Captain Universe appears again, wanting revenge on the Juggernaut. However, this time he was not so lucky as Juggernaut quickly handled him and was about to land a finishing blow. Spider-man tells Juggernaut not to kill Captain Universe, but the latter takes advantage of Cain's distraction and teleports them both to an unearthy realm. There he reveals his story and true identity to Juggernaut. In fact, the host was an office worker, William Nguyen, whose life was ruined when Spider-man and Juggernaut busted through the building where he worked. William was chosen by the Enigma Force in order to correct all wrongs in the world, so he decided to start with Juggernaut. He
Juggernaut as Captain Universeknew that once the Juggernaut starts moving, he cannot be stopped , so he decided to take Juggernaut by surprise, grabbing him from behind and flying with him in orbit. He tried to use a mental assault on Juggernaut, but his helmet was an impediment. So William blew it up and threw him back to Earth. After telling this story, Juggernaut wanted to fight Captain Universe again, now in a fair fight. William teleported them back to Earth. While his original purpose was to repair tectonic plates that were damaged by Juggernaut, he decided to kill Juggernaut first, leading to the disappointment of Enigma Force. The repair must be done, and for that Captain Universe is needed. Absolutely surprisingly, Juggernaut becomes the new Captain Universe. Enigma Force choses him to repair the damage he did a long time ago. After fulfilling his purpose, Enigma Force left the Juggernaut and disappeared. So did the Juggernaut, after apologizing to Nguyen for the accident.
The Lizard
The violent Lizard returns againMeanwhile, Curt Connor s' life soon began to spiral out his control once again. After getting a new job at a company called Phelcorp he begins to hear a voice (most likely the Lizard) telling him to behave violently. He finally cracks when his boss Brian King slept with his assistant whom Connors was attracted to. He felt himself turning into the Lizard again and tried to take a drug to halt the change, but Brian stopped him, believing he was trying to turn into the Lizard on purpose. Emerging, the Lizard devoured Brian. Spider-Man ran into Connors and fought him - while in his mindless Reptilian form, Connors kills his son Billy Connors, which has the added effect of removing the presence of Curt in the Lizard's mind. Spider-Man, at the sight of Billy's death feels extreme remorse and fights the Lizard again who has developed the ability to control the Lizard part of the mind in other people, and he makes Spidey run away from the fight. Spidey goes to Phelcorp and drinks Connors' serum making him invulnerable to the Lizard's power. When he returned to fight again, Lizard has taken over the people in New York and chaos erupts. Spider-Man spits half the serum in the Lizard's mouth and injects a handful of syringes onto the Lizard, but he doesn't seem to be affected since the Connors personality was completely destroyed when Billy died. Then a group of civilians attack Spidey and are about to kill him until the Lizard saves him. Even though killing Billy and Curt have made him stronger, the emotions passed on to the Lizard have made him weak as he feels extreme remorse for what he has done. The Lizard then leaves after returning everyone to normal.
These events set the stage for the Grim Hunt.
Collected Editions
Non-U.S. Editions
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