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

Peter that he knows his secret identity and he's going after Aunt May, so Peter, in civilian clothes, swings over to May's house only to find it trashed.

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 but he refuses because this whole ordeal was caused by people knowing his identity.

Spider-Man leaves Avengers Mansion, realising 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 villaines 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 Cat

partially unmasked, 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 villaines because they had stolen money from him. Felicia warns Vulture if he ever attacked her ex-boyfriend again she would kill before brutally scarring him in the 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 shows him 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.

Venomous

Venom/Angelo Fortunato

Peter wakes up to find his half-unmasked face on the front page of the Daily Bugle and Jonah Jameson is offering a reward for whoever reconizes him. To make matters worse, Peter and MJ discover that they are broke. Spidey then goes on his daily patrol and he is receiving a negative reaction from the public. Then Doctor Octopus appears and attacks Spider-Man, and their battle causes a lot of property damage until Ock is knocked out by cops using a sedative dart and they blame Spider-Man for the damage caused by the battle. Then a SWAT team attacks him, hoping to take his mask off to claim Jameson's reward. but they are called off by Captain LaMont, an ally of Spider-Man. Spider-Man swings off and the cops take the unconcious Doc Ock away for some unusual testing.

Peter meets up with Mary Jane in a Cafe and she tells him that Felicia has discovered that Venom is back in town and is arranging a meeting of super-villaines. Peter urges MJ to leave town again but she refuses, revealing that she is now carrying a gun, and although Peter is uncomfortable with this, he eventually agrees and lets her stay.

Peter then goes to the Daily Bugle where many Spider-Man imposters attempt to cash in on Jonah's reward by revealing their own identity. Peter presents Jonah of a photo of his fight with Doctor Octopus and Jonah gives him 500$ for the photo because he knows about Peter's money problems.



Spider-Man versus New Venom

Spider-Man then visits Osborn in jail again and asks him weither or not May is dead, hoping that Norman would give him some clues but Osborn just taunts Peter and tells him that he will never help him because he has endangered him by putting him in jail because the cops are planning to have a brainwashed Doc Ock kill him.

Spidey then heads for the X-Mansion to asks the telepath, Rachel Summers for help. Using her mutant powers, Rachel is unable to find May and thinks that she might be dead.

Elsewhere, Eddie Brock is back in town and is auctioning off the symbiote suit to a large group of super-villaines. Don Fortunato wins the auction and plans on giving the symbiote to his son, Angelo, hoping that his son would make a name for himself.

Three weeks later, after a brief fight with the Lizard in the sewers, Spider-Man meets up with the Black Cat who informs him about the super-villain auction and the new owner of the Venom symbiote. Peter has become more worried now that Aunt May has been missing for almost five weeks.

Death of Angelo

Peter goes with MJ to a high school reunion where the new Venom, Angelo Fortuanto, knowing Spider-Man's alter-ego attacks Peter, hoping to make a name for himself by killing Spider-Man, and in his attack, he kills a jock who used to bully Peter in high school and overheard Venom calling Peter Spider-Man. Angelo has quickly mastered all of the symbiote's abilities and his fight with Spider-Man continues onto some rooftops and Venom apparently kills Spider-Man. However, the man he killed was actually a Spider-Man imposter who was trying to claim Jonah's reward and while Venom is distracted by the imposters' assistant, Spider-Man springs his attack and pummels Venom who decides to retreat. Disgusted with Angelo's cowardly actions, the symbiote leaves Angelo while in mid-air, leaving him to fall to his death and Spider-Man was unable to save him because he was out of webbing in his Web-Shooters.

Peter then goes to the Daily Bugle, determined to remove the bounty off his head, he brings Jonah some photos that he claims proves that Jonah's son, John is Spider-Man and tells him that him and John made a deal a long time ago so that Peter could take pictures for him. Johna believes Peter and gives him half a million pounds and decides not to publish those photos. Not knowing what to do with the money, Peter ends up donating it to the Vulture's ill grandson since he felt sorry for him. Peter then gets a call from May's kidnapper who tells him that it's time to meet.

The Last Stand

The Sinister Twelve

Peter is confronted by Mac Gargan aka the Scorpion who tells Peter that Norman Osborn is the mastermind behind the whole scenario and told him Spider-Man's secret identity about a years ago. The Scorpion continues to tell Peter about the history of super-villaines, as they were formed in the 1950's by ruling class big buisness individuals who were afraid that super-heroes would discover their hidden agendas and questionable methods. They invested heavily in super-villaines and even contracted them to fight specific heroes. Norman Osborn was one of their favorites who build his fortune thanks to their fundings until his Goblin personae became unstable and now that he's in jail, he has become a liability since he can expose the doings of many high profile individuals. So now, Osborn is vulnerable in jail and Doc Ock has been brainwashed to kill him this weekend. Norman has orchestrated the kidnapping of Aunt May in order to solicit Peter's help in breaking him out of prison and if he doesn't May dies.

Spidey and Black Cat fight off the Sinister Twelve

Though reluctant, Spider-Man teams-up with the Black Cat and successfully break Osborn out of jail. However, Norman, dressed as the Green Goblin, double crosses them and introduces to the newly formed Sinister Twelve which consists of himself, Chameleon, Shocker, Lizard, Rhino, Hydro-Man, Sandman, Vulture, Electro, Boomerang, Tombstone, Hammerhead and Scorpion who has become the new Venom after he bonded with the symbiote after it left Angelo to look for a new host. The Green Goblin then orders the twelve to attack Spidey and the Cat while he goes to murderer Mary Jane, pleased that Spider-Man's last act was a criminal one. Spidey and Felicia desperately try to fight back against the villaines but they are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers and Cat is struck down by Electro, much to Vulture's displeasure because he wanted to get her first for what she did to him. Before the final blow was about to be struck, Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four appear thanks to MJ having called S.H.I.E.L.D and they neutralize the villaines. Peter goes to rescue Mary Jane from the Goblin but he is ambushed by Venom who continuously taunts Spider-Man about what they're going to do to MJ. Angered, Spidey defeats Venom by dropping a building down on top of him using his webbing.

Spider-Man then comes across the Green Goblin holding Mary Jane the same way he held Gwen Stacy years ago on top of the George Washington Bridge. The Goblin tells Peter that May is still alive but that could change in the next 45 minutes and tells him that he's not "amongst the dead men" yet. As Norman is taunting Peter, a brainwashed Doctor Octopus appears and distracts him, giving

Goblin and Ock are struck down

Peter the chance attack and bring Mary Jane to safety. As they fight, MJ pulls out the gun she's been carrying and shoots the Goblin in the chest but the impact causes her to fall off the bridge, only to be saved by Spider-Man who uses multiple strands of webbing to minimize the impact so that she wouldn't die like Gwen. The Goblin attempts to impale Spidey with his Glider but he is attacked by Doctor Octopus again and they are both struck down by a lightening bolt and end up crashing down into the waters below.

Peter and MJ embrace and he finally figures out where Aunt May is. Following Norman's clue about being "Amongst the Dead Men", Peter goes to Ben's grave and finds his aunt buried alive in Ben's grave site, sustained by oxygen.

Ock was found by the Avengers and the police and Norman has disappeared. Gargan has been arrested and wants to be called Venom from now on and his old Scorpion suit has been auctioned off. Peter visits Black Cat in the hospital and he realizes that she still has feelings for him. Thinking that Spider-Man is his own son John, Jameson is now using his paper to back-up Spider-Man.

In the conclusion, May tells Peter that she's proud of him and he receives a letter written to him by Norman, thanking him for providing the intellectual and physical challenge as Spider-Man as they have provided his life with both structure and meaning.



