Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #118

The Smasher barrels through the wall of the Daily Bugle offices to attack Joe Robertson! Thankfully, Spider-Man arrives in the nick of time to save Robbie from the Smasher’s wrath! Spidey distracts the Smasher and plants a tracer on him, goading the Smasher into chasing him so that Robbie can escape. The Smasher chases Spidey, while Spidey wonders what his goal was in attacking Robbie. Spidey eventually loses the Smasher and notices Harry, Gwen, and Mary Jane in the crowd below doing some last-minute campaigning for Richard Raleigh. He changes to Peter Parker and joins them, and the four of them drive around in a van promoting Raleigh. However, the Smasher suddenly appears in the road in front of them and the four of them just barely exit the van before the Smasher completely demolishes it!

The Smasher stomps off on a single-minded mission to destroy Raleigh, prompting Peter to slip away and change to Spider-Man in order to follow him, aided by his spider-tracer. Spider-Man follows the Smasher back to his hideout and discovers the Disruptor as the one controlling the Smasher! The Disruptor uses his control module to order the Smasher to attack Spidey, and Thaxton warns that continued use could cause the circuits controlling him to overload! The Disruptor continues to use his module anyway and it eventually does overload, causing him to lose control of the Smasher! The Smasher lashes out and ends up bringing the whole wall down, killing the Disruptor and Thaxton in the process! With only the two of them left, the Smasher attacks Spider-Man yet again.

Meanwhile, the election results begin to pour in, looking more and more like Raleigh will win, with J. Jonah Jameson voicing his “objective” support. Spidey continues to dodge around the Smasher before getting an idea. Realizing the Smasher was being controlled electronically, Spidey reasons there must be some kind of implant near his brain. Spidey lands a powerful strike near the base of the Smasher’s skull, hoping that will do the trick. At first, it seems to have no effect, before the Smasher’s head suddenly starts to throb and short circuit and he collapses to the ground, dead. Spidey unmasks the Disruptor, proving his hunch that he was actually Richard Raleigh the whole time. Hearing sirens approaching, Spidey removes the Disruptor costume from Raleigh so that no one will ever know that he was anything more than an upstanding man. Jameson and Robbie arrive and find the scene, with Jameson promising to honor Raleigh in an editorial, while Spidey swings away, content in his decision to turn Raleigh into a martyr and symbol in death, deciding that’s what really counts in the end!