WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #3 by Chip Zdarsky, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
The first title in the new incarnation of Marvel’s What If? series, Spider’s Shadow, answers the question of what would happen if Spider-Man bonded with his alien costume. It hasn’t been pretty. His monstrous transformation has had deadly consequences for his rogue’s gallery.
After murdering the Hobgoblin in retaliation for the death of Aunt Many, Spider-Man has wracked up a body count that includes The Shocker, The Scorpion, and The Kingpin. An ad hoc version of the Sinsiter Six were next.
Electro, Rhino, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter were joined in what they hoped to be a climatic battle with Spider-Man by two men who also wanted to see him dead; J. Jonah Jameson and Eddie Brock. Spider-Man violently attacked Jameson after the Daily Bugle reported on his murder of the Hobgoblin. His worst fears about the wall-crawler finally confirmed, Jameson put aside his distaste for the Sinister Six to stop what he considered the greater threat.
Brock had the same grudge against Spider-Man he did in mainstream Marvel continuity. He blamed him for losing his job as a reporter after he was revealed to have accused the wrong man of being the Sin-Eater. Without the symbiote to bond with and become Venom, Brock sought his revenge by murdering Doctor Octopus and stealing his arms.
With their team complete, this incarnation of the Sinister Six prepared for battle. Their plan was to lure Spider-Man out of the city, where other heroes could help him, and ambush him in the woods. Spider-Man learned about it from one of his victims, the Beetle, after some “persuasion.” Hanging Beetle’s body from his webs, he attacked his would-be killers.
The symbiote enhanced Spider-Man threw a wrench in his enemies’ plans by blending into the ground and avoiding the image inducer Mysterio hoped would disorient him. Mysterio was the first to go down. Spider-Man shattered his helmet with the symbiote’s tendrils and killed him off-panel. Taking a more direct approach, he took out a charging Rhino with one blow. He mocked them for how predictable their trap was after so many fights.
Brock was the only wildcard in the Six’s equation. In this reality, he’d never fought Spider-Man before. After kicking him in the chest so hard that he disabled Doctor Octopus’s arms, he added insult to injury by letting Brock know he had no idea who he was. Spider-Man dismissed him as a joke before quickly dispatching him.
It took Kraven’s discovery of the symbiote’s weakness to fire to finally turn the tide. He and Jameson, operating a Spider-Slayer robot, isolated a weakened Spider-Man in a barn. Jameson had Spider-Man restrained in a net when he realized Peter Parker was the man underneath the murderous costume. He knocked Kraven out before he could deliver a finishing blow and escaped with an unconscious Parker. Jameson, Kraven and Brock all survived their encounter with the symbiote-powered Spider-Man, although “Brock Ock” was seriously injured. With half of the Six down, Spider-Man’s body count is up to 14.
Even though Jameson was quick to realize that Parker was under the suit’s influence, there’s no guarantee Spider-Man can come back from this. Beyond how heavily Parker’s famous guilt will weigh on him, his identity was revealed to the police upon The Kingpin’s death. The symbiote is also still on the loose, and has now possessed Mister Fantastic and The Thing as part of its quest to save people. If Spider-Man can get through all of that in one piece, he’ll be operating in a world without many of his villains.
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