Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Orka has brought ashore a sunken, broken Roxxon Oil ship to dump it on New York soil to protest about the fouling of the oceans. Regent turns up, defeats Orka and blows up the ship which burns up the contaminating oil.
Next day at Parker Industries in the Baxter Building Harry Lyman (I can't get used to calling Harry Osborn that) watches it on the news and remembers that Regent saved him and his family (#7). Betty Brant pops in for lunch with Harry. She invites Peter Parker along but Harry shuts that down because they're going to meet Mary Jane Watson.
They leave Pete to the details of running his international company, but he ducks out of that as Spider-Man to meet with his protégé, the other Spider-Man Miles Morales. He's supposed to help Miles improve his webbing aim by firing baseballs at him. But when he gets there he finds that Iron Man is already manning the pitching machine. Not only that but Tony Stark has 'upgraded' Miles' Parker-designed webshooters. When Tony offers to do the same for Spidey's wristlets it's too much for Peter.
At lunch the other 3 catch up. They haven't seen or heard from Flash Thompson lately - it's as if "he's fallen of the face of the Earth". Betty envies MJ's new job working for Tony Stark and Harry working for Peter. And Peter and their old friend Liz Allan are CEOs. While she's stuck in a rut. Harry counters that she worked her way up from J Jonah Jameson's secretary to a Daily Bugle star reporter.
He points to her latest scoop, an interview (last issue) with reclusive Augustus Roman, CEO of Empire Unlimited and in control of the latest supervillain prison, the Cellar. But then he notices the company logo and realises it's identical to the symbol on Regent's chest. And he and MJ saw him survive a direct hit from a villain's weapon (last issue again). And both Roman and Regent are physically big. They all immediately jump to the (correct) conclusion that they are the same man. And Betty has her next story to investigate.
Tony keeps going on about how Parker isn't cut out to run a big company, and he offers Spidey a job when Parker Industries collapses. But Spider-Man punches him in the face (Iron Man has his faceplate open.) Miles tries to restore the peace but the other 2 are soon involved in a full-on battle (well I guess they're probably pulling their punches).
The ongoing fight is of course soon on the Internet, and Roman picks up on it while his chief scientist Dr Stillwell tells him that Orka has been successfully added to the captives whose powers are being siphoned into Regent's costume. He decides it's time to add a public superhero to his collection.
Miles gives up and leaves the other 2 to their fighting and exchange of insults. As he's considering changing his costumed id to distance himself from Spider-Man, he's caught in an energy bubble courtesy of Regent. Who beats him and zaps him. IM and Spidey hear the boom and realise that's the direction Miles went. They rush to his aid, still feuding, but only find a scrap of his costume.
Miles-Spidey is taken to a secret level of the Cellar where they already have some undocumented heroes. Regent changes to Roman and heads up to the surface. Where he's accosted by Betty Brant who's returned for a promised follow-up interview. She asks him outright if he's Regent.