Peter and Mary Jane are finishing up a date, when they
decide to head back to Peter’s place. The two playfully banter as they make
their way back and approach Peter’s apartment. As soon as Mary Jane starts to
unlock Peter’s door, his spider-sense goes crazy and he pushes her out of the
way just as his whole apartment explodes! A few stunned seconds later, Peter
checks on Mary Jane to find that she’s just unconscious but otherwise unhurt.
He runs inside to discover that his apartment has been completely demolished!
He finds a detonating fuse on the floor just as he hears sirens approaching.
Not wanting the cops to find his spare Spider-Man costume in the wreckage, he
webs it up and tosses it onto the roof of the building net door, before heading
back out to Mary Jane to look appropriately shocked for the arriving police!
Later, Peter checks on MJ at the hospital and something about her lying in the
hospital bed reminds him of Gwen. He’s reminded of several months ago, when the
Green Goblin killed the love of his life, Gwen Stacy, before the Goblin lost
his own life battling Spider-Man.
Peter changes to Spider-Man, this little incident
giving him the nagging feeling that although Norman Osborn may be dead, that
the Green Goblin lives again! Spider-Man swings over to the Goblin’s old
warehouse, where they had their final battle, to look around. In the warehouse,
Spider-Man finds no immediate signs that anyone has been there, with a thick
layer of dust over everything. Thinking he may have been mistaken, Spider-Man
turns to leave when he suddenly considers something. He thinks about how movies
use a special spray to create a dust-like effect, and checks the dust the only
way he can, by tasting it! This confirms the dust is fake and that someone has
indeed been there. Spider-Man sets up a web hammock to wait for the Green
Goblin to come back, unfortunately having a pretty good idea of who the new
Goblin could be!
Hours pass, and finally the new Green Goblin returns,
as Spider-Man comes face to face with the new version of his hated enemy! The
new Goblin swears revenge but Spidey isn’t having it, knowing right away that
he’s really Harry! The Goblin attacks Spidey, firing at him with his finger
lasers, while Spidey keeps out of range. Spidey snags onto the Goblin’s glider,
and he grabs onto a doorframe, letting the glider pull Spidey along into some
boxes! The Goblin gets close and Spidey stops holding back, laying into Harry,
and trying to talk some sense into him. The Goblin’s glider then swirls around
the two and Spidey realizes too late that the glider’s exhaust contains a drug
that leaves him weak and helpless. With Spider-Man at his mercy, the Goblin
prepares to finish him off, but discovers his finger lasers have run out of
power! Deciding this just gives Spider-Man a temporary respite, the Goblin
flies off, swearing that, be it physically or spiritually, he’ll bring about
the end of Spider-Man! Nearly an hour later, Peter angrily exits J. Jonah
Jameson’s office after being denied a leave of absence, and angrily tells Betty
that from now on, he’s going at things alone! To be continued!
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