Amazing Spider-Man #656

[cyberghostface]

So after Marla's death, Spidey has taken on a vow that no one will ever die under his watch. Just as he says that, a new villain called Massacre is holding a group of people hostage and has lined them up with explosives. To make a point, he's already killed one. His backstory is that a piece of shrapnel lodged its way into his brain, taking away his ability for empathy or morals.

Spider-Man gets shot by Massacre, leading him to build a new armored suit.

Meanwhile, Mayor Jonah in response to the tragedy has declared "no tolerance" for murderers and wants Massacre dead.

So Spider-Man arrives into the scene, and webs up the hostages. Massacre tells him that he's sealed their fate and sets off the detonator, only for Spidey to tell him that his new webbing is magnetic and has blocked the detonator's radio frequencies. Massacre asks him if the new webbing is bulletproof and proceeds to fire.



Massacre claims he has other hostages wired a block away but Spidey webs up his detonator, once again preventing him from blowing anyone up. Now powerless, Massacre apparently tries to commit suicide by going up to the window where the police are about to shoot him.

Comments

[deepspaceartist]

I... actually kind of like this. I think the "Fuck what logic or facts say, I'm gonna save everyone around me anyways beacuse I'm a superhero!" Is the sort of attitude more heroes should have. It's not like he's saying that no-one's ever going to die in the city ever, he's saying that as soon as he get's involved in a situation, people stop dying. If this actually works out for him, I say it's about time we have more books where the superheroes are actually SUPERheroes, and the villains stop winning.

That said, this is post-OMD Spider-man, so I have my doubts about this working out for him.

[skalja]

I'm pretty sure this is Peter on the brink of some kind of breakdown. Which could be fun except Slott is so hit and miss for me...

[stolisomancer]

Yeah, I'm on the same page with you on Slott. This issue was really uneven, just like... every other issue Slott's written since "Big Time" started.

[tsunamiwombat]

Yeah, this does seem like the Manic behavior of an individual on the brink of a meltdown. Peter has ALWAYS gone 110% to save lives. I can't think of a Superhero that doesn't. Thats the goddamn point. Sure he's taking it to 11 now, batmanning it up with special gear and prep time, but...

It sounds like he's doing this more for himself then for any desire to help people.

[skalja]

I wouldn't say it's "for himself" so much as a grief reaction. A lot of people have died on his watch during the BND/OMD era, including several people he's known for years, most recently Marla Jameson. So he's trying to compensate for something he can't really compensate for.

[lonewolf23k]

I agree about the "No One Dies" attitude. That's something I want to see more heroes adopt, and I'm glad this story ended with Spidey able to prevent any more deaths.

[liliaeth]

my thought as well, the idea isn't bad, but this is BND, and nothing ever goes well for Spider-Man in this book.