The Amazing Spider-Man #18 (2019) - "Hunted, Part 2"

[laughing_tree]

Comments

[mazway_75]

Dammit, Spencer, I was liking this run but then you had to ruin the beautiful Ant-Man/Taskmaster bromance?

[janegray]

My thoughts exactly. I love villainous friendships where they actually care for each other and stick together. I hope Tasky comes back.

[cainofdreaming]

Well, it's not like Tasky's going to remember the whole thing come next morning.

Yeah, still peeved about that retcon.

[janegray]

Wait, what?

[burkeonthesly]

One of the retcons on Taskmaster is that his brain is Swiss cheese; his "photographic reflexes" constantly overwrite his memory, so he forgets people and loyalties and the fact that he's a deep-cover SHIELD agent who's married to his handler.

[janegray]

...

*sigh*

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I agree it was/is a poor retcon, but in fairness I imagine that they did it because in some ways, Tasky is worse than an terrorist.

Terrorists believe in what they fight for. All Tasky cares about is money, and he'll enable Hydra, AIM or anyone really, to get it. He's a greedy bastard through and through. The retcon makes him at least a little sympathetic.

Not that the retcon makes much sense. Taskmaster has enabled almost all modern terrorism in the MU and you'd think that Fury would love a bad ass agent he could point at anyone, who'd then forget the details.

[cyberghostface]

So this is all happening in Central Park and the Avengers are just... twiddling their thumbs?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Apparently Arcade came into possession of the super duper force field that kept out earth's heroes during Secret Empire

[cygnia]

CALLED IT!

[roxas832]

Aside from this being out of character for Taskmaster, isn't betraying a chracter that can shrink to down to the size of an atom and knows your entire plan a bad idea?

[scorntx]

If that character weren't Eric "Complete Schmuck" O'Grady? Maybe.

Not that any Ant-Person written by Spencer is generally a threat anyhow.

[roxas832]

Isn't this the LMD that took his place in a Secret Avengers story? I think he might be a tad more deadly than the original.

[zachbeacon]

Somewhat related question since Black Ant is in play, now;

Did they abduct the Black Fox? I mean, he's just an elderly thief, it isn't like he dresses like his namesake but he and Eric have a history.

[cainofdreaming]

They'll always remember the day when they almost caught the Black Fox.

[zachbeacon]

As they watch the Black Fox paraglide to safety...

"Is that the Lupin the 3rd theme?"

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Actually, somehow Black Ant and Taskmaster captured every single animal themed villain, including Rhino.

I say somehow because while the two would be tough, they ain't that tough.

[zachbeacon]

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Puma is the one that bothers me. There's no way the Abbott and Costello of crime were able to take him. He'd mop the floor with their boss too.

Also, can't Sidewinder teleport people? How have they all not escaped already?

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, agreed.

What bothers me more is that it seems that Puma is just going to be an extra seen running around in the background, too. I very much doubt he'll get any meaningful role or characterization

[scorntx]

There are perks to being an author's pet character.

[remial]

have we learned who the Hush wannabe is yet?

[zachbeacon]

My money is on insane, back from the dead Flash Thompson.

Or it could be one of the Mysterios. There are, like, three of them running around now. (More if you count related characters like Mysterion, Conundrum, Mad Jack, and Wraith) Plus the original might still know Peter is Spider-Man (depending on what happened in Secret Wars)

[cyberghostface]

It can’t be Flash, whoever it was Fisk went to him for help when Vanessa was sick and Flash was just a normal guy then.

[zachbeacon]

Has this character* shown up before Flash died? I thought he was a Spencer original. Flash hadn't been a "normal guy" for a long time and all bets are off once he dies. Maybe Mephisto tricked him into a deal by manipulating Flash's desire to protect his buddy, Pete.

*Also, does he have a name yet? It's a pain to talk about him - let alone look up fan theories - without a name.

[cyberghostface]

He’s a Spencer OC, the Vanessa bit was a recent revelation.

[zechs80]

He's got a rather Hobgoblin appearance about him with the orange hood. Given, the Spider-Man villains he's targeted each had a link to Jason Macendale (Mysterio, Stromm, and Kingpin). The only flaw in this theory however, this being knows and cares about Felicia, which is something this universe's Macendale did not.

[arilou_skiff]

Might it be the Sins that Men do Mysterio? He is connected (IIRC) to Macendale somehow, and Felicia was the one who bonded over their shared history of sexual abuse?

[cainofdreaming]

Maybe the answer is the Answer.