When we last saw him, the original Rhino was madly in love and retired. Kraven the Hunter’s mother created a second, more bloodthirsty version who tried to kill the original and assume his mantle as the one true Rhino. (Why can there be only one? He’s not Highlander or anything.)
In this issue, Rhino 2 still wants to kill Aleksei. Aleksei still wants to be retired. Spider-Man still wants to protect Aleksei, and he does. So Rhino 2 kills Aleksei’s new beloved instead.
So Aleksei puts on his old suit and kills new Rhino.
This issue kind of makes Amazing Spider-Man #617, where the original Rhino did NOT come out of retirement, pointless. No, worse–it pretty much erases all of the development for the character. That’s too bad.
This review of this issue is brilliant. Totally spot on.