Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #149

Having just learned that the Jackal is actually Professor Warren, Spider-Man begins to lose consciousness, succumbing to the drugs that lace the Jackal’s claws! He thinks about the events that led him here, as he finally blacks out. Later, Spider-Man awakens in an abandoned tenement, strapped to a table. He’s greeted by the Jackal, who announces his final revenge is coming soon. Spider-Man breaks free of his restraints and attacks the Jackal but finds himself too groggy from the drugs, allowing Jackal to dance circles around him and slice him up repeatedly with his claws! Jackal then stuns Spider-Man and smashes the table over his head. Spider-Man tries to stand but slumps to the ground defeated. The Jackal then takes the opportunity to explain to Spider-Man why he hates him so. He reveals that he hates Spider-Man because he let Gwen Stacy die!

Warren explains how he always had a fondness for Gwen, from the moment he saw her, claiming he felt a fatherly need to protect her. And then, when he saw the news of her death, it broke him. The day after that, his assistant Anthony Serba had shown him the successful frog they’d cloned, which gave Professor Warren an idea! He gave Serba the cell samples he’d gotten from Peter and Gwen and told him they were samples from a rat. Weeks later, after successfully cloning Peter and Gwen, Serba came to Professor Warren in shock, telling him they had to be destroyed! Professor Warren panicked and tried to silence Serba, accidentally killing him in the process! As Warren disposed of Serba’s body, unable to believe what he’d done, he suffered a mental break, deciding that someone else killed Serba: the Jackal! Over the following months, Professor Warren built his Jackal gear and trained, all while taking care of the Gwen clone until she was finally ready to be released from her clone casket. As he took her from her casket, Professor Warren promised Gwen that he’d punish the man who killed her, and spent the next few months re-educating her to reality through hypnosis.

The Jackal then escapes, while telling Spider-Man to come to Shea Stadium at midnight for the final phase of his revenge! Shortly after, at the Daily Bugle, Mary Jane, Jameson, and Robbie try to console Betty who’s been distraught after Ned and Gwen both vanished the previous night. Peter then arrives and when they ask him what happened to Ned, Peter pretends not to have seen Ned recently. This only angers Jameson more, and Peter heads back out, promising to find Ned. At midnight, Spider-Man heads to Shea Stadium as promised, while thinking about how after all of the confusion this has caused him, he finally knows what, and who, is important! As soon as Spider-Man arrives, he’s clawed from behind once again by the Jackal, and as Spidey quickly loses consciousness, he sees the Jackal coming at him with a syringe! Some time later, Spider-Man awakens to find another Spider-Man there, both of them confused about what’s going on! The Jackal reveals from the stands that he cloned Peter Parker as well as Gwen Stacy, and each one thinks they’re the real deal! However, only one is, and that’s the one that can save Ned from the bomb he hangs beneath before it goes off, specifically coded to the real Spider-Man!

Both Spider-Mans move to save Ned, but end up attacking each other, neither one wanting to risk Ned’s life. The two Spider-Mans fight while the Jackal and Gwen watch, him in glee and her in confusion. As the time ticks down, the Spider-Mans realize they need to find another way but don’t know what to do. Realizing exactly what’s been going on, Gwen rejects the Jackal, seeing him for what he really is, a murderer! This hits a spot deep within Warren’s soul, and he admits to himself that he killed Serba, not the Jackal! Deciding that’s not who he wants to be, he frees Ned, who is caught by the two Spider-Men. At that moment the bomb goes off, seemingly killing Warren and dropping a mountain of debris onto the field! Spider-Man crawls from the debris, with Ned safe as well, and sees that the other Spider-Man wasn’t so lucky. Gwen runs up to him and he tells her that the other Spider-Man is dead. When she asks him how he can tell he’s the real one, Spider-Man realizes that he doesn’t have an answer!

Epilogue one: Peter and the Gwen clone visit the real Gwen’s grave. Gwen says she needs to treat the real Gwen as someone else, and thinks it best if they don’t try to pretend that they’re the same people they were. Gwen says goodbye and leaves to start a new life for herself somewhere else, and tells Peter not to look back. Epilogue two: Peter returns to his apartment, feeling the pain of losing Gwen yet again, even if it’s what he wanted this time. He opens his door to find Mary Jane waiting for him and tells her that he’s so glad to see her! He tells her he’s going to show her how much, as he closes the door with a “click”!