This series has been so action-packed, you might have forgotten that Aunt May was kidnapped and Spider-Man still hasn’t rescued her. In this story, Peter finally meets the mysterious kidnapper—and it’s Scorpion.
Mac Gargan tells Spider-Man to buy him lunch and, since he doesn’t know where Aunt May is being held, he really doesn’t have much choice. Over lunch, much is revealed: Norman Osborn shared Peter’s identity with Gargan a year ago as part of a master plan involving very wealthy people who have vested interests in the constant battles between superheroes and villains. Yes, it’s clearly very meta—Mark Millar is, at heart, an indie creator.
Osborn is now being targeted by these wealthy, powerful people because he’s in prison and they’re afraid he’ll rat them out. So, through Gargan, Osborn demands that Spider-Man bust him out—or Aunt May dies.
After lunch, the two characters go their different ways and the alien symbiote—which got separated from its host last story arc—shows up at Gargan’s apartment.
With Black Cat at his side, Spider-Man does engage in the prison break. He disguises himself by wearing black clothes over his costume.
Of course, after freeing him, Osborn betrays Spider-man—with the help of Hydro Man and Sandman and 9 others…The all-new “Sinister 12.” As seen on the cover, above.
Except Scorpion is missing, until he shows up as Venom.
Big fight of the villains vs Spidey and Black Cat. This is all written well, so just accept that the two heroes are able to survive the fight despite being outnumbered and outpowered long enough for the cavalry to show up.
They’re there thanks to Mary Jane, who called Nick Fury to let him know what Spider-Man was doing and why. This of course begs the question why Spider-Man didn’t just ask for help in the first place, before busting Osborn out, but whatever.
While the heroes fight the villains, Spider-Man races off to save Aunt May—with Venom close behind. They fight until Osborn appears on top of the GW Bridge with MJ—ready to throw her off.
Along the way, we see that in addition to Osborn, Otto Octavius has managed to escape from Riker Island as well. He’s mad at Osborn for stealing his super-villain “Sinister” group and not including him—so he’s also racing towards the action.
There’s an awful lot to keep track of in this book, which is definitely part of the fun.
Peter manages to save MJ while Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin fight each other, and then races off and rescues Aunt May—who was buried alive in Ben Parker’s grave.
Gruesome.
At the end, Osborn is on the loose but the other villains are captured.
So, all is mostly restored. Mark Millar and Terry Dodson ride off into the sunset, a job well-done, and a new creative team arrives next issue.