AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #88-90 (1970): Death of Captain Stacy

Probably the most famous story of this team’s run.  So, who remembers who killed him?

Well, it started on a rooftop…

Yeah–it was Doc Octopus, who dislodged pieces of wall and nearly killed a child, who Stacy saved–at the cost of his own life.

death of captain stacy

This is a powerful death scene–easily the best Marvel had done thus far–and it had long-lasting ramifications for Spider-Man and Peter Parker. There’s a reason that the Lee-Romita era is remembered as possibly the best Spider-Man era of all time, and this a big part of that.

(Ignore the continuity problem showing Stacy crushed under bricks that fell to the sidewalk, but dying on a rooftop.)

There is a continuing story across these issues, but #90 can be read on its own as one of the best single-issue stories of all time, according to this objectively accurate list.

2 thoughts on “AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #88-90 (1970): Death of Captain Stacy”

  1. Actually, there’s plenty of blame for Captain Stacy’s death here to go around for everybody. Octavious only dislodged the chimney because Spider-Man slammed it into him so hard. Octavious is responsible for quite a bit of mayhem, but not this. Poor Captain Stacy died simply because he was an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did like the touch where Captain Stacy reveals with his dying breath that he knows that Spider-Man is Parker. Nice touch. Stan Lee at the top of his form. As for the “discrepancy” of having Captain Stacy die on a rooftop instead of on the street where Spider-Man found him, well……check the cover scene where Spider-Man is carrying Stacy up the side of a ( the ) building. Seems rather self-explanatory, here. I had always assumed that cover scene was a part of the story, specifically the climax. No mistake here to me.

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