But what if the assassin's aim was just a little bit off? What if, instead of Aunt May? What if he'd struck the nearby Mary Jane? In a trope: Beware the Nice Ones.
Kingpin thinks he has the situation all figured out. He kills Peter's loved ones, Peter hunts him down, he gets Iron Man to protect him because Peter was anti-reg and Kingpin was in prison (ability to order hits from within nonwithstanding), he humiliates Spider-Man, Spider-Man is taken into custody and suffers a definite loss.
But Kingpin is seriously underestimating Spider-Man. Even in canon, where May didn't immediately die, Spider-Man had beat the absolute tar out of him in vengeance, promising that when May died, he'd be back to murder Kingpin. Here, where the victim was Mary Jane and she did die instantly, he is nowhere near as willing to hold back. Iron Man fights Spidey just as Kingpin planned (despite being furious at Fisk for killing Mary Jane), but Peter stomps Iron Man and destroys his armor before heading to Kingpin. Kingpin gears up for an epic confrontation... and then Spider-Man punches straight through his chest, instantly killing him. Peter than surrenders to law enforcement, telling Tony Stark that the worst decision he ever made was trusting Tony.
Tropes: Back in Black
- Beware the Nice Ones: Kingpin thought that Spidey's rule about not killing was as ironclad as Batman's was. He was wrong.
- Bittersweet Ending: Mary Jane is avenged, Aunt May is still alive, and the Kingpin is dead. But Mary Jane is also dead, Aunt May has disowned him, Spider-Man is in prison, and he has blood on his hands.
- Broken Pedestal: Peter used to look up to Iron Man. That all changed when Tony encouraged him to unmask, which destroyed his life.
- Bullying a Dragon: Kingpin put out the hit on MJ in order to bait Spider-Man into trying to kill him. It never seemed to occur to him that Spidey was very likely to succeed.
- Hero Antagonist: Iron Man, despite some lingering assholery from Civil War, is trying to stop Peter from outright committing murder, and is also angry at Fisk for killing MJ.
- Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: The Kingpin can still run his crime empire from prison, and orders MJ assassinated from there. It's part of the reason Peter is unimpressed by Iron Man defending him.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Spider-Man puts on the black suit and goes after Kingpin. And unlike in canon, he doesn't stop until Wilson Fisk is as dead as a doornail.
- Smug Snake: Wilson Fisk spends most of the story confident that either Iron Man or himself will stop Spidey. This lasts until Peter kills him by punching through his chest.
