Comic Book / The Amazing Spider-Man (2018)

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And yeah, I know I'll end up regretting this. But as I sat there looking at Boomerang, all I could think about was myself and the people I'd let down so much lately. How so many of them had forgiven me — even given me opportunities to set things rights. If they could do that, why can't I? Bottom line — we all need second chances sometimes.

— Peter Parker, The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #7

The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2018 comic from Marvel Comics, written by Nick Spencer. Relaunched as part of the Marvel: A Fresh Start initiative, it is the fifth overall The Amazing Spider-Man series.

Set in the shared Marvel Universe, the series begins where Dan Slott's Spider-Man run finally ended after ten years. The run revisits a substantial amount of the wall-crawler's history while continuing and revising story elements from more recent years.

Peter Parker is not having a good day. After climbing out of the hole that came out from the destruction of Parker Industries, he's been knocked down again as it's been exposed that a paper Otto wrote in his body was plagiarized (as it happens from Otto's own thesis), his Aunt May is angry with him for not admitting that he did such a thing and the hero community is angry with him because Mayor Wilson Fisk is showering support for him and not the rest of them. All in all, a typical case of Parker Luck. That, or something to do with the mysterious maggot-infested villain who knows so much about Peter lurking in the shadows.

Nick Spencer ended his run on the book with #73, in September 2021, the final part of the Sinister War storyline.

Spencer's run was followed by Spider-Man Beyond, with Ben Reilly as the title's Spider-Man for the first time since The Clone Saga.

Notable storylines created during this run includes:

• Hunted
• Sins Rising
• Last Remains
• King's Ransom
• The Chameleon Conspiracy
• Sinister War

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This run has also produced a number of spin-off titles, and characters as well as AU versions such as:

• Black Cat
• The Amazing Mary Jane

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The Amazing Spider-Man provides examples of:

• Accidental Proposal: Peter gave one to Felicia in the past, when he gifted her a special Spider-Tracer on one of her jewelry boxes, making her think he was proposing for a second which freaked her out. Peter's less-than-sensitive comments after the matter (noting how she wasn't exactly the kind of girl who'd want to get married) added some extra insult and humiliation.
• Actually a Doombot:
  • Mysterio tries this with Kindred to try and slip out of his deal with him, brainwashing his psychiatrist into thinking he was Quentin Beck and using the shrink as a body double, slipping away as Kindred kills the psychiatrist for speaking his name. Kindred isn't happy about having to kill an innocent, but admits the only reason Mysterio didn't get away with it was his inability to resist his old "Ludwig Rineart" disguise.
  • In the previous run, Silver Sable was revealed to have seemingly survived her last encounter with the Rhino in Ends of the Earth. This run reveals that Silver Sable was actually an android avatar, and the real Sable is in critical condition from her injuries and needs the Infinity Formula to survive.
  • Issue #34 gives us an example courtesy of the Trope Namer. Dr. Doom is shot by a sniper, only for Spider-Man to reveal that it's actually a robot.
  See, everybody? No reason to send flowers. Remember—It's always a Doombot with this guy.
• Alien Invasion: The first issue deals with this, with Spidey aiding the Avengers, Defenders, X-Men, the Human Torch and the Thing in repelling them. It's actually a ruse by Mysterio that comes to an end once Spidey takes notice of something odd.
• Amazon Brigade: The new Sinister Syndicate is made up of White Rabbit, Lady Octopus, Scorpia, and the new, female versions of Electro, Beetle, and Trapster.
• Amoral Attorney: Brett Alstettler, the late Jay Jameson's attorney. While telling Aunt May her current financial situation over dinner, he tries to make a move on her. May is not amused, calling him out for betraying the memory of his best client and trying to take advantage of a grieving widow.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Peter opens his heart out and lets loose all his vulnerability as he confesses to Mary Jane how much he loves her and needs her in his life. MJ responds at once with a Big Damn Kiss.
  Peter Parker: We've been through so much together. And I know that on my end at least, if you hadn't been there—I wouldn't have survived it. Because, yeah, I can do a lot of things. Swing from buildings, climb walls. All that stuff. But to do this? And do it right? I need you. I wish I had all the answers. I wish I knew how to make everything better and safer and easier and simpler — but I just— I just can't anymore. Maybe this is a mistake. I'm sorry. This isn't fair to you. Maybe I should—
  Mary Jane Watson: Whoa, whoa. Easy, tiger— [kisses Pete]. We're in this together, Pete. We always have been.
• Arc Villain:
  • Kraven The Hunter for the Hunted storyline.
  • The Sin-Eater for the Sins Rising storyline.
  • While Kindred is the primary villain of the entire run, he personally steps up to face Spider-Man in Last Remains.
  • Madame Masque and a new Crime Master for the Kings Ransom storyline, although Kingpin is the Greater-Scope Villain.
• Arson, Murder, and Admiration: In #16 Kraven is revealed to have raised a number of clones in the Savage Land to be like him and set them free into the world. When he calls them back, only one returns — having killed all of his brothers because he felt they were tarnishing Kraven's legacy. Kraven calls him an abominable monster with tears in his eyes, finishing with how proud he's made him.
• Back from the Dead: Issue 68 reveals that Ned Leeds came back from the dead, apparently having ingested some of Norman Osborn's Goblin Serum before his assassination.
• Badass Normal: Mary Jane and Carlie Cooper prove their chops by outwitting the female Electro long enough for the NYPD to bust in and stop her.
• Bad Boss: Fisk is a downplayed example compared to how he acted in the past. When one of the researchers he hired to decode the map to the Lifeline Tablet fails him, he has the man arrested for unpaid parking tickets rather than just kill him like he usually would.
• The Bad Guy Wins:
  • As Black Cat points out, the Thieves Guild's theft of superheroes' belongings may have been reversed, but the fact that they were able to do it as easily as they did re-established the fear and respect that they had lost, which is what they wanted in the first place.
  • The "King's Ransom" event ends with Kingpin getting his hands on the two tablets and reviving his son Richard Fisk, the Rose.
• Badass in Distress: Black Cat is furious and insulted when Kraven tells her he captured her so she could be a Damsel in Distress for Spider-Man to rescue.
• Bait-and-Switch: At the start of The Chameleon Conspiracy, Peter learns that Betty Brant ran into Ned Leeds and was helping her with something. The comic has Peter hemming and hawing at having to tell Betty that Ned died again only to find out that Ned is alive... again?
• Been There, Shaped History: Felicia states that the New York chapter of the Thieves Guild have been involved in every major heist in New York of the past centuries, including the Lufthansa heist.
• Blatant Lies:
  • When Jameson accuses Spider-Man of repeatedly antagonizing and threatening him in the past, Spider-Man claims to not know what the journalist is talking about even as we are shown flashbacks of Spider-Man doing just that.
  • When Janice Lincoln (aka, the Beetle) shows up to defend him in court, Mysterio threatens to sue her for using the Sinister Six name, claiming it was his idea (it was actually Doctor Octopus' idea).
• Body Horror: Kindred's not exactly easy on the eyes to begin with, but under his sleeves are empty holes that rats freely crawl into and out of.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Mary Jane Watson returns to the series as not only a full time cast member but also Promoted to Love Interest, after having been written out of the book at the end of Superior Spider Man and only coming back as a handful of guest appearances.
  • The Tri-Sentinel, who was last seen being rendered inert thanks to Spidey and Nova in David Michelinie's run, comes back to wreck havoc.
  • Gog, who was last seen during the "Revenge of the Sinister Six" storyline in the (Adjectiveless) Spider-Man title, returns at the end of issue #41
  • Issue #68 brings back The Finisher, a villain Spider-Man faced and thought dead all the way back in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5
• Call-Back: Nick Spencer seems to have read every Spider-Man comic ever written for the number of references he makes to incredibly old, sometimes very obscure, Spider-Man stories. Sometimes these are major plot points, sometimes just a brief reminiscence.
• Can't Spit It Out: Peter gets caught up in a team up with his sister that he fails to see Mary Jane off on her acting stint... and getting the chance to propose to her again.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Whatever Boomerang has on Mayor Kingpin, it's bad enough that just being told what it is makes Beetle immediately call off her manhunt for Boomerang and state that the Syndicate cannot let him fall into Fisk's hands. Turns out he has a mystic map to an artifact needed to resurrect Vanessa Fisk properly.
• Chekhov's Gun: An odd one concerning Nova. Around the time of Infinity Wars, Sam Alexander had his Nova helmet taken from him by a member of the Nova Corps. At the same time, in issue #9, Spider-Man is seen with the helmet awkwardly on his head when he and Black Cat find the heroes' gear stolen by the Thieves Guild. As it turns out, in Champions (2019), Sam learns that his helmet was actually stolen from the Nova Corps around that time by the same group.
• Continuity Overlap: Like Spider-Man runs before it, the Spencer era was likewise running alongside the then-current Marvel Universe (2018-2021) and acknowledges and/or is affected by developments in other books:
  • Chip Zdarsky's Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man: Spencer's run begins shortly after the conclusion of Zdarsky's and so he inherits (and continues) Zdarsky's contributions to the status quo: Peter revealing his identity to JJJ and the return of Teresa Parker.
  • Daredevil (Charles Soule): Spencer, like Chip Zdarsky's post-Soule Daredevil, inherits Wilson Fisk as the new Mayor of New York City. While his enmity is primarily with Daredevil, the Kingpin's own history with Spidey's causing its share of headaches for Peter here in this book.
  • Absolute Carnage: Spencer ties into the event (ASM #30-31). The fallout of Carnage ends up having a massive impact on Spencer's run beginning with Sins Rising — speciically Norman Osborn's pre-Go Down Swinging status quo restored and him ending up in control of Ravencroft.
• Costume Inertia:
  • Black Cat returns to her classic black-and-white costume, ditching her black-and-gold "Queenpin" costume.
  • After its destruction in Venom, Scorpion also returns to his original costume after years of wearing Powered Armor, though this one has an actual stinger instead of the club-tail the old version had.
  • Invoked by Kraven, who prepares Spider-Man for his grand hunt by gassing him and dressing him in a replica of his black suit, i.e. the same costume he wore when Kraven beat him.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In issue #39, J. Jonah Jameson points out that virtually all of Spider-Man's problems with the public and the super hero community could have been avoided if he was a lot more open to the world and Jonah's own slanderous columns about him could have ended if he'd dropped in and just talked.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Much like he once did to the Kingpin, Spider-Man cuts loose and delivers a one-sided beatdown to Taskmaster (who had watched a tape of Spidey's fighting style, mind you) when the latter accidentally blows up a restaurant where Aunt May was dining and tries to interfere with saving her to keep fighting. The resuling "battle", if it can be called such, involves Spider-Man beating him up for a whole page and tossing him out of the window as if he were a mere thug, causing Taskmaster flee. Black Ant points out how humiliating it is for Taskmaster to lose like this.
• Dead All Along: One of many reveals in the penultimate issue of the run is that Harry Osborn, as he once was, died in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. The version that came back after One More Day was a clone, while the original was supposedly "resurrected" as Kindred. The final issues reveal that Gabriel and Sarah Stacy were the actual Kindreds and pretending to be Harry, while the original Harry was burning in Hell ever since, although Doctor Strange saves his soul.
• Deal with the Devil:
  • Mysterio made a deal with a demon to escape from Hell, and now a demon has decided to collect on that debt. Demons tend to not forget when you owe them one, as Mysterio finds out when one decides to collect on the debt Mysterio owes in exchange for coming back to life. Also, because it has been so long Mysterio had practically forgotten about it. Making deals with demons is a very, VERY bad idea. Mostly on account that said deal will more than likely benefit them more than you. Just ask Mendel Stromm. Oh wait you can’t. Because he’s dead.
  • A less literal one involves The Foreigner, Chameleon and Silver Sable. Silver's injuries from the events of Ends of the Earth have left her bed-ridden and on the verge of death, with the only thing that can save her being the Infinity Formula which prolonged Nick Fury's life. In order to get it, she and the Foreigner hired the Chameleon to abduct Davis Albright, a SHIELD agent and partner of Teresa Parker, who knew of the formula's location. Teresa warns Silver and the Foreigner that making a deal with someone like the Chameleon will sooner or later bite them in the ass.
  • Norman is revealed to have made one with Mephisto years ago. Turns out, he was actually a failing entrepreneur, with Mendel Stromm eclipsing him. Mephisto, in the guise of a normal man, offered him a deal, which Norman refused repeatedly. Until he eventually gave in, and made the deal, with Mephisto changing to his true form. Norman wouldn't remember the deal and he would grow immensely successful and wealthy, with the only price being Harry's soul. It's implied through the art that both Norman and Harry's descents into madness and the Green Goblin are due to Mephisto's deal.
• Dirty Coward: After Peter Parker and Spider-Man are split into separate beings, Spider-Man decides to abandon the city when an army of Tri-Sentinels show up, claiming that his survival is more important.
• Divorce Is Temporary: Peter and MJ resume dating for the first time since their Magical Divorce in One More Day. Issue #29 reveals that Peter almost proposed to her again, with the implication that he'll try again in the near future.
• Dramatically Delayed Drug: This is used to explain Ned Leeds' resurrection. Ned had taken the Goblin Formula and, unlike other users, it didn't take automatically, allowing the Foreigner's men to ambush and assassinate him in Spider-Man vs. Wolverine. Once Ned was buried, the formula finally kicked in, healing him and resurrecting him.
• Easily Condemned: The heroes of New York are quick to shun Spider-Man after Mayor Wilson Fisk starts to publicly favor him, despite the fact that Fisk has been Spider-Man's enemy for years. Even Daredevil, who knows Fisk's schemes better than almost anyone, gets in on the act, apparantly never considering that this is exactly what Fisk wants.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • After Kraven kills his family to raise a batch of his clones, his daughter Ana (who participated in the familicide) leaves him in disgust. When it's revealed that one clone killed all the others, Kraven's reaction initially seems to be invoking this — with him breaking down in tears and calling his last remaining "son" a monster — before subverting it by Kraven saying how proud he is.
  • Occurs again in the same arc, when one of the hunters finds Billy Connors and refuses to kill him. The hunter is disgusted at the thought of killing a child and thought they were only hunting super-powered adults.
  • Overdrive is disgusted at his partners brutally murdering a bunch of cops, including one who was a family man.
• Face–Heel Turn: Kraven the Hunter was last seen palling around with Squirrel Girl and turning over a new leaf as the "Unhuntable Sergei". Suffice to say, it didn't stick and he's now back to trying to hunt and kill Spider-Man. The reveal that he created clones of himself in the Savage Land, and accelerated their aging and sent them to different corners of the world implies that "Unhuntable Sergei" was just a clone. And also he's been unceremoniously killed off by one of the rogue clones.
• The Friend Nobody Likes:
  • The other heroes are not too happy taht Mayor Wilson Fisk is showering Spider-Man with praise while kicking them to the curb. Of course, this is part of Fisk's plan.
  • Boomerang is this to New York's criminal circuit, mostly thanks to his his history of betrayal. Mayor Fisk putting a bounty on his head just enflames this sentiment.
• Genre Savvy: In Issue #38, the Foreigner goes to the Palace, a gambling casino run by Chance which caters to unsavory clientele. One of their attractions is a sportsbook for betting on the outcomes of superhero conflicts. When Chance and Foreigner see Spider-Man's battle with some Maggia soldiers, Foreigner passes on betting on the battle, having faced Spider-Man enough times to know the Web-Slinger will come out on top.
• Greater-Scope Villain: One of the big reveals of this story is that Mephisto isn't just the manipulator of this story, but he's been behind a lot of the misery in Spider-Man's life this entire time. He's responsible for Norman Osborn becoming the Green Goblin and and the many subsequent plans that he and Harry were involved in to put Peter through hell. His motivation for all this? Spider-Man and Mary Jane's daughter is so crucial to his defeat in a possible future that he removed their marriage so she wouldn't be born, and he's tried his damnedest to keep them from reuniting. And even then, there's still a significant chance that Spider-Man is going to be that spanner in the works anyways.
• Go-Karting with Bowser:
  • Peter is roommating with the Boomerang, Fred Myers, who he surprisingly strikes up a pretty strong friendship with after his initial hesitations.
  • Peter and Mary Jane end up having dinner with the Connors family in issue 14.
• Heel–Face Turn: Norman Osborn, of all characters, after having been cleansed of his sins by Sin-Eater. Unlike the others, this move sticks — but he's not sure if this will last.
• Heel Realization:
  • After being accused of plagiarizing his thesis, Peter at first denies being at fault of anything, both to others and even to himself. However, after being scorned by Aunt May, Peter realizes that, while it's true that he didn't plagiarize anything, when he saw that Otto had gotten the doctorate for him, he just rolled with it without a second thought. He still took credit for something he didn't earn, and used it to further his career. As he puts it himself, his problem is not that "he may do the wrong thing", but rather that "he may not do the right thing", while the panel references Uncle Ben's death.
  • J. Jonah Jameson gets hit with this hard after seeing how toxic his vendetta against Spider-Man was up until they buried the hatchet. Besides the obvious reasons like his bankrolling the creation of the Scorpion, the Spider-Slayers, and the Human Fly, his relentless anti-Spidey propaganda distorted the truth about deceased Bugle-reporter-turned-crime-boss Frederick Foswell (aka the Big Man) to even his son Frederick Jr.; to the point that Frederick Jr. became delusional and psychotic with his own hatred for the webslinger, and captured both after Jameson's Heel–Face Turn to finally see "justice" done.
  • After trying his level best to get Spider-Man to embrace and unleash his inner spider by killing him — and very nearly succeeding, Kraven realizes just how twisted and wrong his worldview is, cancels his Great Hunt, and tricks his son into killing him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The clone of Ned Leeds ends up protecting Aunt May when a battle between Spidey, the Rhino, Taskmaster, and Black Ant causes the restaurant to collapse.
• He Who Must Not Be Named: The centipede-demon's name is never spoken, and those involved with him apparently can't speak it without his immediately showing up and killing them as we see when he kills an innocent person Mysterio told it to. He gives Peter a name to call him until Peter guesses his real one: Kindred.
• History Repeats: Hunted (ASM #16 V.5) opens with Spider-Man reeling from the death of Ned Leeds' clone, all the while having an unknown sense of dread, while Kraven the Hunter plots behind the scenes, just when Peter and MJ get back together after a break-up. That's more or less how Kraven's Last Hunt opened, when the real Ned Leeds died a few issues back, Peter and MJ just got married, Spider-Man has an unknown sense of dread, and Kraven plots behind the scenes. Also invoked in the arc, as early on Kraven has Spider-Man dressed up in his black costume, which he was wearing during the original story. It also ends with Kraven deliberately invoking the promise he'd made to Spider-Man in Kraven's Last Hunt, with Spider-Man recalling that the last time Kraven promised that he killed himself.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: How do Spidey and the Black Cat drive off the Thieves Guild? Turns out Kamala has the equivalent of the "Where's my iPhone?" app on her cell phone, which was one of the items they stole.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Man Mountain Marko, who once served as Silvermaine's bodyguard, has now been reduced to attempting to rob a book fair alongside perennial d-list villain the Ringer.
• Humiliation Conga: The first issue is just one long one for poor Peter. With the exception of the ending, that is.
• Hypocrite: For all Beetle's posturing about her hatred of Boomerang for selling her out to Fisk, she was intending to do the same to the Syndicate once they'd done her job for her. Boomerang sees right through it, pointing out to the Syndicate that he knows her plan because she stole it from him.
• Illegal Gambling Den: The Palace, a flying casino catering to unsavory clientele which was introduced in The Unbelievable Gwenpool. One of their attractions is betting on the outcomes of superhero battles.
• Impossible Theft: Issue #8 deals with a Thieves Guild who somehow is able to hunt down and steal items from superheroes, even when it is literally impossible. Among the items taken are all of the costumes on display in the Avengers Mansion, Iron Man's entire arsenal, Captain America's shield, Thor's new hammer, Ghost Rider's car, Cyclops's visor, Doctor Strange's Eye of Agamotto, all of the Punisher's weapons, and Spider-Man's web-shooters.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Billy Conners. He can't stand living his life in the sewers because being a Lizard is the only way he can stay alive. He can't even go to the Xavier/Jean Grey Institute because he's technically not a mutant.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Jameson argues that Spider-Man's public image problems are partly the hero's fault as well. While most other superheroes tend to work in teams and communities and are fairly open with the public, Spider-Man is usually a lone wolf and frequently gets into fights with other superheroes before teaming up with them (though as Peter points out, this is very common for other Marvel superheroes). Furthermore, whenever Jameson made a false accusation against Spider-Man, the Wall-Crawler's response was never to reach out and set the record straight but rather to insult, antagonize and sometimes even threaten Jameson. Not a good look if you're trying to convince the world you aren't a public menace. And it isn't as if Spidey's PR issues have vanished now that Jameson is on his side; as Jameson points out, the Kingpin was able to turn half the city's heroes against Spider-Man without Jameson saying a single negative word against the Wall-Crawler.
  • Three issues later, Peter admits that Jameson is right about him keeping people at a distance in a phone message to MJ.
• Knight of Cerebus: Kindred and Sin-Eater bring the comedy in this book down immensely. Kindred looks terrifying and has some of the creepiest imagery whilst Sin-Eater has some of the mostly haunting and terrifying scenes done in an non horror focused comic.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Issue 29 opens with Peter saying that he feels his life is stuck in a cycle, with the same things happening to him over and over again. The fact that Spidey's Status Quo Is God and he is Not Allowed to Grow Up are two of the biggest critisisms the character has received in recent years.
• Literal Split Personality: Peter Parker and Spider-Man are split into separate individuals. However, it becomes apparent that this process isn't perfect due to their physical and psychological traits being split between them — Peter Parker is an ordinary human lacking all his powers and scientific knowledge, while Spider-Man lacks Peter's restraint and moral compass. They eventually merge together after realizing they're incomplete.
• Living with the Villain: After Peter was suspected of plagiarism he returns to college and Fred Myers aka Boomerang ends up being one of his roommates.
• Legacy Character:
  • Kraven the Hunter trains his clone sons in order to follow in his footsteps, the the Last Son taking on his name, title, and vendetta against Spider-Man after Kraven sacrifices himself.
  • In the Absolute Carnage tie-in, the covers for #30 and #31, and panels shown off at SDCC indicate that Norman Osborn rebonds to the Carnage symbiote — still under the delusion that he's Cletus Kasady — and joins Dark Carnage's team.
• The Man Behind the Man: The Kingpin's idea to get to Boomerang by going after his roommate Peter Parker is nixed by an unknown, giant-centipede-carrying third party, who forces Fisk to kneel and remember "who really runs things around here". A second attempt to get Boomerang has his forces back off at the sight of "The Roomate".
• Mayor Pain: The Kingpin actually uses new position as Mayor of New York to pretend to support Spider-Man, giving him praise and benefits, knowing the association between them will jeopardize Spidey’s relationship with other heroes and the public.
• The Missus and the Ex:
  • Spider-Man is working with the Black Cat to take on the Thieves Guild, and at the end of the arc, Peter chooses to trust Felicia with his secret identity. Felicia is not looking to restart anything with Peter, and Mary Jane is not particularly jealous as she is confident of how indispensable she is in Peter's life.
  • Carlie Cooper spots MJ and Peter at Coney Island, and after he webs away she and Mary Jane chat. Carlie notes how the situation has changed from when she saw MJ as her "ex's ex" and now they are reuniting when MJ and Peter are no longer exes anymore.
• Myth Arc: There are two primary long term storylines that has been told over the course of the run.
  • The mystery surrounding Kindred, their connection to Peter, and what caused their creation.
  • The Boomerang's ongoing feud with Mayor Wilson Fisk, who wants to have him killed for screwing him over in a previous deal.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Issue #1 opens with a flashback to Matt Fraction's "To Have and to Hold", an issue that was intended to celebrate the Peter-MJ marriage and love story, and was an intentional Take That! to One More Day that the author knew was in production.
  • Issue #16 has Peter sick in bed with a flu, as MJ tends to him. Peter's narration trails off when he notes "he hasn't felt as sick since—" before he's interrupted. This is a reference to The Night Gwen Stacy Died when Peter was sick during the entire first issue, ASM #121.
  • Kraven creates 87 clones. Kraven's Last Hunt was published in 1987.
• My Greatest Failure: J Jonah Jameson admits to Frederick Fosewell Jr that he knowingly lied about Spider-Man's actions for years, painting him as a criminal and ruining his reputation for his own ego.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Just because you've worked with another mercenary for a long time doesn't mean they won't hesitate to betray you as Black Ant realizes once Taskmaster sold him out for extra cash.
• No Kill like Overkill: After taking control of the Tri-Sentinel, Spider-Man uses it against practically every supervillain he encounters, resulting in massive collateral damage, outraging Peter Parker.
• Non-Indicative Name: During his Villainous Breakdown, Mendel Stromm admits that his chosen alias of "Robot Master" is a misnomer, since he's actually more of a chemist.
  Stromm: I invented the Goblin serum — why the hell am I not the "Goblin Master"?
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted. The global barrier that was the headache of many a hero during Secret Empire ended up in the hands of Arcade. As he explains, the US Government wanted to make sure it couldn't be recreated but he "knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy..."
• Not in This for Your Revolution: In #26, Lady Electro makes it quite clear she doesn't want to join Lady Beetle's Syndicate for any of her Straw Feminist reasons, but because she can get back at Boomerang for getting her arrested.
• Official Couple: After spending so long having Slott repeatedly tease and sink it, Peter and Mary Jane are finally dating again in the main continuity after ten years. This ten year gap is the longest in their history of being apart after they first dating in earnest in 1975, where they were a couple until breaking up in Issue #192 in 1979, and exactly 100 issues after that MJ and Peter got married (in 1987) for the next twenty years.
• Overt Operative: Teresa recruits Spider-Man for a mission to steal back SHIELD technology from a bank owned by the Maggia. The operation is supposed to be a secret, but this being Spider-Man, he ends up the news anyway. It isn't helped when Jameson prints the story exposing SHIELD's attempt to cover it up.
• Pet the Dog: After the F.E.A.S.T. shelter is heavily-damaged in the aftermath of the Syndicate's fight with Spider-Man, Beetle sends some of her father's henchmen down to swiftly fix the place back up, and uses her law connections to speed up their permit request so they can open sooner. The fact that her boyfriend, Randy, works there is a probable reason.
• The Pig-Pen: This is one of many ways in which Boomerang is characterized as an obnoxious roommate. One panel shows Peter discovering Boomerang's underwear among a pile of dirty dishes and his room is shown in a state of disarray. In issue #25, Peter is confident that a spider-tracer he placed on Boomerang's costume weeks ago is still attached to it because Boomerang likely hasn't done his laundry.
• Plagiarism in Fiction: Peter is accused of plagiarizing his work from Otto Octavius, with the fact that it was done when his body was hijacked obviously not being an excuse he can use. And as Peter realizes, not turning that degree in and running Parker Industries while still having an unearned doctorate does make him guilty. And Peter deals with the fallout of this academic disgrace which include being fired from the Bugle's post as scientific editor and having his degree and qualifications revoked.
• Pure Is Not Good: The very first storyline involves Peter being cleaved from his Spider-Man persona, leaving a powerless human Parker and a completely uninhibited and focused vigilante. While initially elated as to how this seemingly solves a lot of his problems, Peter is loathe to find out that his other self is a humongous jerk without him and doesn't even remember Uncle Ben or his tragic death; he's just going through the motions of heroism.
• Putting the Band Back Together: At the end of Issue #65, it’s revealed that Peter’s called in some serious backup to save Boomerang and keep the rest of the Lifeline Tablet out of Fisk’s grasp - Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist, Peter’s old teammates in the New Avengers.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: When he was at The Bar with No Name, Peter was completely disinterested in what was going on until the trivia challenge began. The first question reminded him of a past achievement, and he just had to join when the others were getting it wrong. That question? "Which one of Galactus' Heralds did Spider-Man once defeat with his bare hands?".
  Criminal: Is it the Silver Surfer?
  Peter: "Is it the Silver Surfer?!" Are you serious?! [hits the buzzer] It was Firelord! And it was totally awesome!
• Restraining Bolt: As it turns out, Curt Connors was able to get a working Inhibitor Chip to get the Lizard under control, being able to change him whenever he wishes but stops the Lizard from harming people. As it turns out, it's also Awesome, yet Impractical as Connors can't even protect his students when Black Ant and Taskmaster drops in.
• Retcon:
  • Issue #16 indicates that some of the appearances Kraven the Hunter has made post-Amazing Spider-Man #637 were his clone "sons" impersonating him.
  • Issue #37 has Norah Winters claiming Jonah was a terrible boss, retconning in a period she worked for the original Daily Bugle before she was introduced as a reporter on Front Line (later the new Bugle, but JJJ's only involvement was gifting them the name).
  • Issue #68 reveals that Ned Leeds was a Hobgoblin puppet by Roderick Kingsley and that Peter was partially correct about his death — Ned had ingested some of the Goblin Formula, but it didn't kick in until after he died.
  • Issue #73 does a massive one to the controversial Sins Past storyline as it turns out Norman never slept with Gwen Stacy but was only hypnotized to think he did; and their "children" were cloned beings created by Mendell Stromm at the behest of Harry, with Mary Jane influenced by her "therapist" (really Mysterio in disguise) to believe Gwen had confessed her affair with Norman.
  • Finally, the very conclusion of Spencer's run reveals several things. Kindred was in fact never truly Harry Osborn, and had always been every version of the Stacy Twins that had succumbed to clone degeneration and died, twisted and transformed by Mephisto in hell to each become a demonic reverent. The Harry 'Lyman' Osborn of the Brand New Day era is revealed as just another clone... And he knew all along. Finally, the true motivation for Mephisto's involvement in the infamous One More Day is revealed, as the devil forsees a future in which either Peter or his daughter Spider-Girl will ultimately defeat him, thus prompting his elaborate intervention in Peter's life to ensure that does not come to pass.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Spencer annexes a lot of elements and concepts from X-Men's Rogues and their corner of the Marvel Universe:
  • The Thieves Guild are usually connected to the X-Men, especially Gambit via the New Orleans branch. This is the first time they've shown other branches or interacted with others.
  • Arcade also shows up from #14 onwards, also an X-Men villain but here an ally to Kraven. Peter actually shows some annoyance at how, despite being the first hero to fight him, everyone seems to consider Arcade "part of the X-men's whole deal".
  • Kraven also tussles with the High Evolutionary in the Savage Land, who is a Marvel-wide villain but appeared in many X-Men stories.
  • The Animal Themed Superbeings that Kraven has captured also include the likes of the Owl (a Daredevil opponent) and the entirety of Serpent Solutions (usually foes of Captain America).
  • Madame Masque, traditionally an Iron Man villain, features as one-half of the Big Bad Duumvirate in the King's Ransom arc.
• Secret Relationship: Randy Robertson, son of Joe "Robbie" Robertson, and long-time friend and current room-mate of Peter has a new girlfriend who he doesn't talk about or introduce to Peter and their friends. It turns out she's the Beetle, Janice Lincoln daughter of crime-lord Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln, who is among other things a personal enemy of Randy's father, Joe. Oh and she's a criminal too.
• Series Continuity Error:
  • Mac Gargan was paralyzed by the Carnage-ized Norman Osborn in Absolute Carnage, had a brief stint as a security guard with a scorpion-themed Spider-Slayer wheelchair in Ravencroft, and traded his Scorpion Suit for a suit of War Machine armor as Virus before being imprisoned in the alternate universe of Earth-1051 in Venom (Donny Cates). In Amazing Spider-Man #66, Gargan is shown somehow back on Earth-616 as the Scorpion and no-longer paralyzed, with zero explanation as to how.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Peter and Spider-Man are doubled/split by the same device that irradiated the original spider, they test that they're really identical by... playing Rock-Paper-Scissors, and consistently tying.
  • The Life Foundation beginner's video tutorial on the Try-Sentinel addresses such questions as "is it okay to feed him after midnight."
  • In The Bar With No Name, Peter notes that he read somewhere that "criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot."
• Shrouded in Myth: No one knows when the new York branch of the Thieves' Guild was formed. Some say it started with the City Bank Heist of 1831, while others believe the branch's history dates all the way back to when Dutch merchants "purchased" Manhattan.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: The wraparound cover of issue #1(seen above) does not feature Mary Jane Watson among the collage of familiar faces in Spider-Man's life. Perhaps to add to the surprise when it's revealed that MJ and Peter are officially back together again.
• Small Name, Big Ego:
  • Boomerang refers to himself as a "big time crime boss", and generally acts like he's more important than he really is (in both identities).
  • Mendel Stromm believes himself to be Spider-Man's "oldest, most feared archenemy", who has "taken so much from him".
• Sole Survivor: Ana Kravinoff is the only survivor of Kraven's purge of his family.
• Stating the Simple Solution: When various heroes gather to deal with their weapons and artifacts being stolen by the Thieves Guild, Reed Richards and Tony Stark suggest a complex method of figuring out where the Guild took their items. Ms. Marvel then announces that her cellphone was one of the items stolen, and she just got a ping from her "Find My Phone" app.
  Tony Stark: This is embarrassing.
• Status Quo Is God: You would think that being married to a super-rich man like John Jameson would've left Aunt May well-off after his passing? As it turns out, the man stretched himself too thin between other benefactresses, an unscrupulous agent, and pouring too much money into the ultimately failed Parker Industries. Thus Peter doesn't have a rich relative he can rely on.
  • Peter has not only lost Parker Industries but has also lost his doctorate. Meaning he's back to being a grad student again.
  • Played straight at first with Curt Connors, who has Spider-Man remove the inhibitor chip from his spine so the Lizard can save Billy from Kraven's clone, but Peter manages to track him down and convinces Curt to come back so a new chip can be installed in him.
• Stealth Sequel: The entire run ends up being one to One More Day, although this doesn't become apparent until the Last Remains arc, which is well over fifty issues into the run.
• The Stinger:
  • The first issue ends with Peter being given a second chance at legitimately earning his doctorate and is sent to his first class... Taught by the Lizard?!
  • Issue 25 has a few, including a group of female villains recruiting the female Electro into a group known as the Syndicate while Spider-Man 2099 returns to the present with Curt Conners ominously suggesting the future is dying.
• Straw Feminist: Deconstructed with Beetle and her all-female Sinister Syndicate; yes, they're supervillains, and yes, she's a feminist, but her feminism isn't why she's a villain, but rather informs her approach to villainy (such as aspiring to break the glass ceiling and escape the usual roles female villains are stuck with). They also acknowledge that feminism isn't a solid, singular vision and there are multiple views and approaches on the matter as the other Syndicate members disagree with different sides of Beetle's approach, with one even accusing her of faux-feminism because she had them use their sexuality to trick a SWAT officer.
• Take That!:
  • As explained above, the story starts off throwing a couple of jabs at some of the most controversial left-overs from Slott's run, but there is another blatant one: During her presentation of the Watcher system for detecting plagiarism, Cindy Lawton uses as an example the story of a student who sold his soul to Mephisto in exchange for a passing score, deeming it "the saddest story of them all". Three guesses for which story is Spencer referencing here. The first two don't count.
  • The Life Foundation, a major organization that did battle with both Spider-Man and Venom in the late 80s and most of the 90s, is revealed to have been struck by Chapter 7 bankruptcy with Mendel Stromm lamenting how their desire to survive the end of the world couldn't save them from financial collapse.
  • Much of Peter's discussion with Spider-Man in issue #4 seems to be a criticism regarding much of the problems that dogged the book during Dan Slott's run. That Spider-Man had become more about giant robots and cartoony adventures than actually being true to what Spider-Man means. Spider-Man even retorts that fighting crime should be fun (An often used defense of Slott's run to excuse the more fantastical elements) and that Peter should be a multi-millionaire and the head of his own company (Referencing the controversial Parker Industries storyline). Peter responds by pointing out that Spider-Man isn't about having a good time, and asks what happens when things stop being fun.
    • For that matter, Spider-Man's personality minus-Peter Parker becoming an irresponsible, thrill-seeking profiteer whose trademark quips shift mainly to dated pop-culture references could be considered one to Spider-Man's characterization in his own comics over the last decade.
  • After a decade of constantly pushing Peter away due to the dangers brought by his career as Spider-Man, Mary Jane finally realises that Peter's heroics are also the reason she has remained in love with him and that she cannot want for a normal life for him as that just would not be true to who either of them are. After hearing from Peter that he needs her in his life to be who he is, she decides to give their romance yet another go.
  • Issue #16 has one to the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol. 2 #32 - #35, revealing that the "Unhuntable Sergei" might have been one of Kraven's eighty-seven clone "sons" who was killed off-panel by one of his brothers for being weak and disgracing Kraven's legacy.
  • Issue #16 has Kraven calling poachers cruel monsters for killing entire species for self-profit and trophy hunters weaklings who disgrace the things they kill to try and retain some vigor that was never there to begin with... completely disregarding that he's been both over the years.
  • Issue #60 is one of these to Peter's constant Status Quo Is God, how he never seems to stay constant in anything and if he has anything good in life, he'll somehow end up losing it.
• Take That, Audience!: While heading off to battle the Tri-Sentinel, Spider-Man laments pop-culture's stagnating trend towards nostalgia rather than accepting change — throwing shade at those who complained about the Affirmative-Action Legacy changes that had been taking place since Marvel NOW! and led to many of those changes being reversed in Marvel Legacy and Marvel: A Fresh Start.
• Technologically Blind Elders: Subverted. Peter goes to visit Aunt May, and try to get rid of the printed newspaper so that she doesn't see the headline about him losing his degree. He did it, but it was of no use: she already knows it, because she configured her cell phone to give alerts when the newspaper app mentions him (usually to read his articles, but now it displayed those news).
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Issue 9 reveals that Jarvis had started a outreach program called the "Look-Ups", allowing for those who know superheroes personally to get their problems off their chest without fear of being recognized. Some of those who use the program seemingly include Foggy Nelson, Wong, Peggy Rae, Ganke Lee, Pepper Potts, and Willie Lumpkins.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After everything that happens to Peter in the first issue, he get back together with Mary Jane Watson.
• Villainous Friendship: Black Ant and Taskmaster are always working together, as they were hired to hunt down villains with Animal Motifs for Kraven. After Taskmaster backstabs Ant for the bonus money once their job is done, he shows genuine remorse for having to do it. However, later he ends up saving Black Ant from a group of angry super villains about to destroy him for kidnapping them which ends up reconstructing the trope.
• Weapon Specialization: Normally Montana fights with a lasso, but this series has him using a whip.
• Wham Episode:
  • Throughout issues #30-31. Kindred visits the imprisoned Norman Osborn (who believes he's Cletus Kasady), revealing that his purpose is personal not just to Peter, but to Norman as well; partially because nothing Kindred can do will ever hurt Peter more than Norman did but also for some part of his past, stating that Norman made him "feel so powerless." Kindred goes to leave saying that he intends for Norman to feel like everything he did was All for Nothing, before "Cletus" pipes up saying that he could hear Norman's voice in his head and that he had a message. Said message appears to leave Kindred in a rage.
  Norman: He wants you to know how glad he is to see you. He wants you to know that, try as hard as you might, there is nothing that could be done to him that would make it all feel like it wasn't worth it. All the pain, all the sacrifice - it did serve a greater purpose. There's no escaping that. No way to bludgeon it out of the past. Because all men dream of a legacy, and you are certainly his. Against all odds and expectations, it really was you all along. And to see what you have become, well... If Norman were here, he would want you to know... that I am so proud of you.
  • Issue #60 gives you a two-fer. We learn that Mary Jane is working with Mysterio as part of her own acting comeback and we see Dr. Strange confronting Mephisto and demanding to known what happened to Peter's soul.
  • Issue #66 ends with the return of Betty Brant who is now pregnant. Issue #67 delivers two in the same issue. Betty reveals the identity of the baby's father — Ned Leeds, her long dead husband. Peter initially thinks that this is Ned's clone, who was killed earlier in the run. However, the issue ends with the additional revelation of the original Ned Leeds, alive and well.
• Wham Line:
  • Shown in Issue #4, during a conversation between the separated Peter Parker and Spider-Man:
    Peter Parker: What happens when you have to suffer something bad because you need to do what's right?
    Spider-Man: Not my problem.
    Peter Parker: "Not my" — You realize what you're saying? Remember the last time we sounded like that? It was the night Uncle Ben died.
    Spider-Man: Sorry... who?
  • Issue #60 indicates that they're finally going to address a major elephant in the room after hinting at it for so long, showing a conversation between Doctor Strange and Mephisto:
    Doctor Strange: Tell me, devil — what is wrong with Peter Parker's soul?
• Wham Shot:
  • In issue #29, Peter misses seeing MJ off to the airport after getting sidetracked by Spidey-related problems. Later, after apologizing over video chat, he thinks to himself how he missed the chance the get things right for once, and opens his hand to reveal...an engagement ring.
  • Issue #50(LGY #851) reveals the face of Kindred: Harry Osborn?!
  • Issue #66 shows Carlie Cooper hidden away in a cell with someone else... another Harry?!
• What the Hell, Hero?: The fact that Peter kept the PhD Ock earned while in his body comes back to bite him when he's accused of stealing Octavius's work, causing him to lose his new job at the Daily Bugle and ruin his relationship with Aunt May. Peter even concedes he deserves it.
• What You Are in the Dark: Peter cites this as the reason which makes him realize that his Humiliation Conga is deserved, noting that it's another instance where he failed to do the right thing when he had no one watching him (comparing it implicitly to when he let the Burglar escape). He notes that after getting his body backed he passed by the plaque showing his degree and did nothing when he should have reported it then and there and canceled his own degree. Accepting Parker Industries and Octavius' ill-gotten gains on a silver platter is also something he considers a moral lapse.
• With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: This is Reconstructed to the point of being a massive Take That! towards Slott's run. After being caught plagiarizing, Peter can't admit that Otto Octavius took over his mind and wrote the paper without blowing his identity as Spider-Man. After losing Aunt May's respect, Peter has a Heel Realization: he never should have accepted the things that Otto had built for him in the first place.
• The Worf Effect: Badass Normal Kraven is able to intimidate the High Evolutionary (who is usually depicted as being an Avengers or even cosmic-level threat) into doing his bidding by killing some of his New Men.
• Xtremely Kool Letterz: The new female Trapster spells her name "Trapstr", and claims she's contemplating dropping the "A" as well.
• You Are Not Alone: Edwin Jarvis is revealed to have created an anonymous support groups for people who know superhero secret identities, and invites Mary Jane to participate.

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