Big Time

Plot Summary

First Story

The Big Time story arc mainly deals with Peter's luck getting better. As Spider-Man, he has become a much more respected member of the Super-Hero community. Additionally, thanks to Marla Jameson, Peter has become a think tank scientist at Horizon Labs under the employ of known scientist Max Modell. However, the Kingpin hires Rodrick Kingsley, the Hobgoblin, to steal from the lab a metal called Reverbium that acts as a substitute for Vibranium. However, Kingsley is murdered by a crazed Phil Urich who takes his mantle and takes on the mission Kingpin assigned to him. On Peter's first day at Horizon Labs, the lab is attacked by the new Hobgoblin who is using new weapons. After a fight with Spider-Man, Phil steals the Reverbium and delivers it to Kingpin who allows Phil to work for him. Spider-Man designs himself a new Stealth suit to overcome Phil's Goblin Laugh which incapacitated him in their previous and along with the Black Cat, he goes to take down Kingpin and Hobgoblin and steal back the reverbium. At Fisk Towers, Spider-Man and the Black Cat fight the Hobgoblin, Kingpin and his Hand Ninjas but in the end the reverbium is destroyed along with Fisk Towers, and Hobgoblin and Kingpin escape. But despite everything Peter is now living a life with his dignity intact as he now has a new girlfriend, a new apartment and a proud Aunt May and Jay Sr.

Second Story

Alistair Smythe and his Spider-Slayers are back and taking aim at Mayor J. Jonah Jameson and his astronaut son John once again. Smythe returns Mac Gargan to his Scorpion identity and attacks the launch site where John is flying the Vertex shuttle into orbit which will meet up with a Horizon Labs space station. Spider-Man appears and weblines to a shuttle that just took off but Smythe has locked down the controls and rigged its booster rockets to explode before it leaves the atmosphere and to make matters worse, the evolved Scorpion appears to kill Spider-Man. With the help of the New Avengers, Spider-Man saves John but Smythe sends his Insect Army after Jonah's loved ones. Spider-Man uses a device that jams all of Smythe's minions' enhanced senses but disables his own Spider-Sense in the process. After Spider-Man defeats the Scorpion, he goes to check on the others but Smythe appears and kills Marla Jameson. Spider-Man then defeats Smythe and for the first time, Jonah refuses to blame Spider-Man and blames himself instead.

Full Plot

The story starts with Spider-Man leading the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Black Cat against Doctor Octopus's Octo-Bots that are invading the city. He was given the role of tactical officer because of his experience in dealing with Ock which allowed the heroes' victory over the bots possible. However, this invasion was only a diversion set-up by Doc Ock who has formed a new Sinister Six consisting of himself, Electro, Chameleon, Sandman, Rhino and Mysterio and has them infiltrate a military base where they planted some of Ock's "toys".

The heroes manage to defeat the robots and Spider-Man has finally gained the respect of his fellow heroes. However, as Peter Parker, he is not so lucky as he is being forced to move out of his apartment because his roommate Michele Gonzales is leaving since her brother is out of jail and as a result, Peter is left homeless and is forced to stay with his Aunt May.

However, Peter's luck seems to be changing because Marla Jameson visits May and in an attempt to make amends for Jonah's mistreatment of Peter in the past, she arranges for Peter a job interview with big-time scientist Max Modell at Horizon Labs. There, one of the scientists, Sanjani, is working on an artificial substitute for vibranium called reverbium that starts causing trouble by directing and amplifying vibrations but Peter manages to use his mathematic skills to save the lab. Impressed with Peter's skills, Modell hires Peter as one of Horizon Labs's top think tank scientists and will pay him well. Peter, despite having no place to stay, is very excited because his life is getting better.

Also, John Jameson has become Steve Rogers's pilot, Flash Thompson and Betty Brant are back together, Mac Gargan has been separated from the symbiote at the Raft and Jameson is being watched by Alistair Smyth, the new Spider-Slayer.

Elsewhere, the Kingpin has plans to steal the reverbium from Horizon Labs and hires none other than Rodrick Kingsley, the Hobgoblin for the job. Kingsley had retired from super-criminal activities but was forced to come out of retirement during the Dark Reign because Norman Osborn bankrupted all of Kingsley's assets forcing him to work as a hired mercenary for crime-lords. He also seems to be suffering from anger issues and is using standard weaponry such as rifles and grenades because he cannot afford any Goblin-

themed equipment. Now, despite his displeasure, he has become the Kingpin's Hobgoblin and travels to one of Osborn's old Goblin warehouses to get some Goblin weaponry. While there, he starts going through newly designed weapons (which include a flaming Plasma sword and a harness for flying similar to the Vulture's) until he notices the presence of an intruder: Phil Urich, a former Green Goblin who came to the warehouse to find something related to Osborn to impress Norah Winters who is working on a Goblin file for the newly re-formed Daily Bugle. Kingsley has Phil by the throat and attempts to kill him with the Plasma sword but Phil, in a desperate attempt to save himself, uses his unique sonic scream ability called the "Goblin Laugh" which incapacitates Kingsley and causes him to cough blood. Phil capitalizes, picks up the sword and decapitates Kingsley with it and then holds Kingsley's head and states that he will keep the head.

Elsewhere, Norah Winters is trying to get information from a group of white-supremacist bikers who admire the Green Goblin about their connection to Norman Osborn but her cover is blown and before they hurt her, Spider-Man and the Black Cat appear and defeat the bikers. At the Front Line, which has now become the Daily Bugle under Joe Robertson, Phil attempts to flirt with Norah who turns him down and turns her attention to her boyfriend Randy Robertson, angering Phil. Ben Urich asks Phil if he needs a job but Phil tells his "Uncle Ben" that he has come upon a " pretty sweet gig" which happens to be the mission initially given to Kingsley by the Kingpin at Horizon Labs.

Peter, who has been staying at a cheap motel, attends his first day at Horizon Labs where he is introduced to the other scientists and enters his new lab which contains a special black box that only Peter is allowed to open. Peter decides to use this box to hide his costume. Peter then starts working in the lab hoping to come up with something spectacular but realizes that he would have never invented any of his gadgets if it weren't for his life as Spider-Man.

Just then, Phil Urich, dressed up as the Hobgoblin and using his newly attained Goblin gear, invades Horizon Labs, kills the guards and attempts to kill Modell but Spider-Man intervenes. However, Phil uses his Goblin Laugh on Spidey, incapacitating him just like Kingsley and attempts to kill him with the sword but Peter is saved by his fellow scientist Bella Fishbach who drowned out the Goblin's focused sonics with a high volume of dance music, giving Spidey the chance to fight off the laugh's immobilizing effects and dodge Phil's sword attack. The Hobgoblin then gets bored of fighting and resumes his mission in retrieving the reverbium and despite the weakened Spider-Man's efforts, Hobgoblin easily fends him off and steals a portion of the reverbium before escaping.

Spider-Man quickly gets back to his lab, hides his costume in the black box, washes the blood off but is unable to put some clothes on in time because Modell, the cops and the others enter the lab to check in on him and they are all shocked to see Peter, half-naked writing equations on a board. He pretends having not heard of the Goblin's attack because he had his headphones on and writing half-naked was his own way of working.

The Hobgoblin delivers the reverbium to Fisk Towers. The Kingpin realizes that this Goblin is not the man he hired and although he is initially unpleased with this turn of events, and despite his right hand man Montana's protests, he allows Phil to carry on Kingsley's mission since he never liked Kingsley in the first place.

Back at Horizon labs, Modell terminates the reverbium project and despite Sajani's protests, dissolves the remaining reverbium using Antarctic Vibranium (that can instantly melt any metallic object) because it was a dangerous weapon, something that will never be part of Horizon. Peter then calls the Black Cat and tells her that he wants to get the reverbium back and she gladly accepts and while she goes to find out more about the Hobgoblin, Peter will use his resources within Horizon to design himself a new costume. At the Daily Bugle, Ben Urich is intrigued to see his nephew nicely dressed and happy about his new job. Phil then shows Norah footage of the Hobgoblin's attack on Horizon as they may help her Goblin file and although it makes Norah happy, she celebrates with her boyfriend Randy, annoying Phil who vows that "the Hobgoblin is upping his game!".

Peter is putting the finishing touches on his new costume when his girlfriend Carlie Cooper and his ex Mary Jane Watson visit him in his lab. Black Cat then calls Peter and tells him that she has found a lead on the Hobgoblin. Spider-Man dons his new black & green costume and goes to meet-up with Felicia. The costume is made of light and sound bending technology that allows Peter to become invisible and inaudible, impressing the Cat by sneaking up on her and he gives her a pair of specialized goggles that allow her to hear and see him. It also makes him impervious to sonic attacks and they go together to take down the Hobgoblin who they know is working for the Kingpin thanks to the Cat having persuaded a snitch. However, the snitch was instructed by the Hobgoblin to tells the Cat about him and he reveals that he has sold out the Kingpin right before killing the snitch with a razor bat.

Now knowing of the duo's coming, Hobgoblin goes to Fisk Towers and warns Kingpin and Montana of the heroes. Black Cat cuts off the building's communications and she and Spider-Man infiltrate it. Fisk sends the Hobgoblin and a group of his Hand ninjas after them while he and Montana escape to the safety of Fisk's penthouse. Spider-Man easily defeats some ninjas and makes his way to the reverbium lab where the Hobgoblin and some ninjas confront him. As the alarm goes off, and realizing that the whole lab will be full of guards, the Black Cat decides to go to Fisk's penthouse, leaving Spidey alone to fight the Hobgoblin. Spider-Man, thanks to his stealth suit, gains the advantage and defeats the ninjas but an irritated Hobgoblin uses his Goblin Laugh to a much higher degree that dissolves the ninjas, disables Peter's suit's stealth ability and breaks his communication feeds with the Black Cat. However, the suit contains a secondary mode that still protects him from the Goblin's laugh but it also prevents him from hearing any other noise.

Meanwhile, the Cat has infiltrated Fisk's penthouse and started stealing some of Fisk's artifacts until Montana and Fisk notice her presence and attack her. She is no match to the combined might of both villains and cries for Spider-Man's help but because of his suit's secondary mode, he is unable to hear her. Spider-Man uses a spider-tracer made of Antarctic Vibranium to melt Hobgoblin's plasma sword so the villain uses his laugh again, causing a feedback wave from the reverbium that destroys the whole building. The Hobgoblin leaves and Spider-Man switches off his sonic shield and he can now hear the Cat's cries for help. He quickly goes to the penthouse and saves an injured Black Cat from the clutches of the Kingpin. As the floor crumbles, Hobgoblin saves the Kingpin but leaves Montana, whom he despises, to fall to his apparent death.

In the aftermath of the fight, the Black Cat tells Peter that her bad luck powers may have saved the day. Spider-Man is unimpressed by the Cat but is still relieved that the reverbium is no longer in Fisk's hands and considers the whole encounter as a win. The Kingpin relocates his criminal empire to Shadowland and hires the Hobgoblin to work for him. Phil has no other choice because he needs to repair his weapons thanks to the Tinkerer and is forced to continue selling footage of his alter-ego to the Daily Bugle. But despite this, he still considers himself to have hit the Big Time since he is keeping Norah, his uncle Ben and Robbie Robertson happy. With so much responsibilities, he has everything he ever wished for: power.

Peter has also hit the Big Time as his boss is impressed with his sound bending technology which he intends on incorporating into sound-proof headphones. He also has a new apartment and goes to celebrate with his girlfriend Carlie and proud Aunt May and Jay.

It should be noted that throughout this story, a resemblance between Peter and Phil is clearly shown. They both have an uncle named Ben, they both sell images of their alter-egos in action to the Daily Bugle and they both acknowledge a power and responsibility lesson, each in their own unique way. They have both grown up and they are taking risks, using their talents and impressing their mentors. Both are aware that that their powers and responsibilities are linked.

Revenge of the Spider-Slayer

Alistair Smythe has invaded the Raft prison and gave a dying Mac Gargan a new life saving Scorpion suit. It is revealed that during his past years as the Scorpion, Gargan's body has become reliant on the suit to survive and when he bonded with the symbiote, it replaced the suit as a life supporter. Smythe performed life saving bio-mechanical upgrades on Gargan and has him return to his identity as the Scorpion to take revenge on their mutual enemy J.Jonah Jameson. Scorpion has also been fitted with a "Scorpion Sense" which is exactly like Spider-Man's Spider-Sense.

J. Jonah Jameson meets up with his son John at a launch site where John will pilot a space craft that will intercept with a Horizon Labs space station and Max Modell is at the launch site to assist. Jonah fears for his son's safety because the spacecraft's engines are experimental but Modell offers to bring in his "new top man" Peter Parker to check on the engines.

Mary Jane notices that Peter's relationship with Carlie is getting serious and asks him if he will reveal his identity to her but he tells her that for now he prefers to keep his dual identity a secret because he wants Carlie to know the real him but MJ tells him that Spider-Man is the real him. He then receives a message from Jay Sr. telling him that Jonah needs him in John's launch site. After taking a skating lesson from his girlfriend Carlie and demonstrating clumsiness to hide his super-agility, Peter goes to the launch site where his Spider-Sense goes off at a very high degree. Feeling that there is danger everywhere, Peter tells Max to stall the launch because something is wrong and runs off. Indeed, Scorpion and Smythe are there to exact their revenge on Jonah who they plan on keeping alive but they intend to kill his son John.

Smythe and his Insect Army which is composed of "Jumping Spiders" (mechanical Spider-Slayers that take over human forms) infiltrate Ground Control and as John prepares to launch, Smythe locks down the controls and rigs the craft's rocket boosters to explode before the space craft leaves the atmosphere. Smythe's Insect Army then attack Jonah and his security detail until Spider-Man appears and fights them off. Jonah tells Spider-Man to stop and save his son. Spider-Man, forced to choose between the lives of Jonah and the others, and his John, reluctantly agrees and shoots a webline to the rocket as soon as it departed. While holding on to the space craft, Spider-Man is confronted by the evolved Scorpion who attacks him.

While struggling to both hold on to the ship and dodging Scorpion's attacks, Spider-Man, using a com-link inside his mask, calls the Avengers for help but only Squirrel Girl answers since the Avengers are on a mission and she is the only one in the mansion babysitting Daniel Cage. Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus is monitoring the fight using a mini Octo-bot and expresses his disliking of Alistair. If the space craft doesn't intercept with the Horizon Labs space station, Ock's plan which he calls "the Octathedral" will be ruined so he uses his Octo-bot to reboot the Craft's control system, rendering them functional again and giving John control over his ship and he separates the boosters from each other one of them, which has Scorpion on it, explodes and Spider-Man fall off as the ship flies off into the atmosphere. As they are falling, Scorpion who survived the explosion thanks to his new armor, catches up Spider-Man and tells him that his armor will allow him to survive the fall but Spider-Man won't be so lucky. However, Ms Marvel arrives just in time, knocks Scorpion away and saves Spider-Man by catching him. She tell him that Squirrel Girl tracked his location using the comm link and transferred the coordinates to the other Avengers who appear and fight off the rest of the Insect Army. Scorpion survives his fall and after feeling nothing but the urge to do it all over again, believing that with his new upgrades, he is able to defeat the now deceased Sentry. He tells Smythe of the New Avengers's arrival and after realizing that John is safe, Smythe sends his Insect Army after Jonah's other loved ones: Marla Jameson who is with Aunt May at a Day Spa and Robbie Robertson.

Jonah protests that he wants the real Avengers to protect his friends and family, not the New Avengers, reminding Peter that his Aunt is with Marla at the Day Spa so he decides to go there using the Avengers Quinjet piloted by the Thing and Mockingbird. While Luke Cage and Iron Fist fight the bugs that are attacking Jonah, Peter tells Ms Marvel and Jewel to help while he goes with Thing and Mockingbird to the spa.

At the Bugle, Randy Robertson is annoyed by Phil Urich's advances on his girlfriend Norah when all of a sudden, the Insect Army crash in.

At the Spa, while fighting the Insect Army, Spider-Man realizes that Smythe has granted them a precognition ability much like his "Spider-Sense" that make them hard to hit. After making the Thing promise to keep May and Marla safe, Peter goes to Horizon Labs to come up with a device that will block the Insects' precognitive abilities. However, at Horizon Labs, after changing into civilian clothes, Peter is confronted by Max Modell who asks him about his relationship with Spider-Man since he disappears each time Spider-Man appears. Max assumes that Peter is hired by Spider-Man to build him weaponry and technology since he doesn't not believe that one man can possess both amazing Spider powers and scientific expertise.Peter, relieved that Max did not uncover his identity, tells his boss that he has been working with Spider-Man for a long time and now he can finally confide in someone. Peter tells Max that Spider-Man has asked him to build a device that blocks the Spider-Slayers' "animal-instinct senses". Max helps him in building the device but warns him that Spider-Man's enhanced senses will also be affected if he is included in the blast radius.

Meanwhile, John has successfully arrived at the Horizon Labs space station but is unable to return to Earth and help the others. Spider-Man goes to the spa where Thing and Mockingbird a trying to fend off the bots. Marla Jameson, using the materials from a fallen Mandroid that was sent to protect her, blocks off the slayers' power source, incapacitating them and giving the heroes the chance to take them down. At the bugle, while Norah is escaping, Randy is staying to help his father but Phil, in an attempt to kill him, causes the ceiling to collapse on top of him before joining Norah in her escape and thinks to himself in case Randy survived, he'll have to try to kill him again as the Hobgoblin. Randy survived and Robbie realized that the bots are after him and in an attempt to save the building, Ms Marvel and Jewel fly him away and the Insect Army goes after them.

While making his way to the spa, Spider-Man places the Spider-Sense jamming device on a building that is equidistant to all the location that contain Smythe's bots so that the blast could block off their senses and makes sure to get out of the blast radius so that his Spider-Sense would not be affected as well. Smythe sends Scorpion to kill Spider-Man and after Gargan destroys the device's remote, Spider-Man is forced to activate the device while he is still in the blast's radius. The device sends a pulse around the city disabling the enhanced senses of the Insect Army, Scorpion and Spider-Man. Spider-Man then defeats Scorpion with a powerful uppercut and after webbing up Scorpion, goes to check on the others.

Spider-Man meets up with the New Avengers, Jonah, Jay, Glorie, Marla and Robbie and it seemed that everything was alright until a vengeful Smythe bursts in and knocks Spider-Man out who was unable to dodge due to the loss of his Spider-Sense. Alistair then transforms into a spider-legged robots and attempts to kill Jonah with his razor sharp extensions but Marla pushes Jonah out of the way and is pieced by the blades instead. Spider-Man suddenly emerges and takes Smythe down with a powerful attack in the jaw. As Marla dies in Jonah's arms, she begs him not to blame anyone for this and not to waste his life anymore on hate. She then died before she could tell him that she loves him. Spider-Man feels extreme remorse but Jonah says that he doesn't blame Spider-Man, he blames himself.

Spider-Girl

Anya Corazon, once known as Arana, has become Spider-Girl and embarked on a brand new super-hero career while still attending school and living with her father Gil who is the Fantastic Four's reporter and friend. Her Big Time story starts with her taking down the villain Screwball despite lacking super-powers. At home, Gil tells Anya that he is going out tonight to work on an article at City College and has arranged for her to go out for dinner with the Invisible Woman. After dinner, while heading home, Sue and Anya take down some muggers and Anya expresses to Sue how she's having trouble meeting people. Sue is then called by Reed who tells her that there's trouble so she immediately goes to help. Later on, while patroling the city, Spider-Girl sees a broadcast of the Fantastic Four fighting at City College and after taking down some thug she goes there to help since her father is there. When she arrives, she sees

her father laying on the ground and before she could tend to him, the Red Hulk appears and Gil is killed by being crushed by a fallen wall. Anya is enraged by her father's death and vows to kill the Red Hultk but Reed tells her to help the near-by civilians. The Red Hulk then goes after Spider-Girl and after a brief fight, she leads him to the river where his head clears and blames everything on someone called Raven. Anya then goes back to City College to see her father's body taken away and she feels that the Spider-Girl part of her is dead. Days later, she attends her father's funeral with her friends Nikki Barnes (Nomad) and Rocky Flint. She then vents her frustration on a rooftop, thinking that no one knows how she feels and that the city is closing in on her. At home, Rocky Flint visits her and tells her that she knows how she feels because her mother died during one of Green Goblin's rampages and she tells her that she's there to support her. However, unknown to Anya, a mysterious man is watching her via hidden cameras.

In the aftermath of her fathers funeral Anya struggles with his death. He was the one person who knew her as Anya and as Spider-Girl, but as Anya first. She decides that she has to tell someone close to her about her dual life. She considers her friend Rocky but decides against it at the last moment. Anya eventually decides to tell Sue Storm her secret. Sue reveals that she already knew as Anya's father told her years earlier. She also says that Reed has set-up a scholarship for her so that she can be secure in her future.

While out on patrol she is again confronted by the Red Hulk who has figured out who she is. He explains to her that he and her father were poisoned by a group called the Ravens. Ross believes that they are also behind the death of one of his friends. The poison caused him to change from Ross into the Red Hulk and lose control, but it was going to kill her father. The fact that he caused the building to collapse made no difference, he was already dead. Spider-Girl can't forgive him completely but she does say that she'll help him find and take down the Ravens.

Hunters and Spiders

The second part of this arc opens with Ana Kravinoff sparring with her father Kraven. We see in a flashback that she has killed her brother Alyosha to become Kravens true heir. He tells her she has to take up the hunt again against the spiders, and that her first target is Spider-Girl. Meanwhile Anya continues fighting crime as Spider-Girl, updating her exploits on her twitter feed The_Spider_Girl. Ana uses this to track her. She even breaks into a jail (killing a number of policemen in the process) to question a burglar (Mike National) who was mentioned in one of Anya's tweets.

Anya also welcomes her new roommate Rocky and meets a number of new people through her. But even so she still feels isolated from them and keeping a double life is not helping. As Spider-Girl, Anya runs into Screwball who likes to upload her crimes to the internet on a live video feed. Spider-Girl eventually defeats Screwball, but when she is looking back over the footage she notices Ana stalking her in the background. She then lures the young hunter into a trap, and the two square off on the rooftops above the city.

At first the fight goes well for Spider-Girl and she gains the upper hand on the Ana, until the hunter reveals she was just gauging her opponents strengths so she could exploit her weaknesses. The tide of the fight quickly turns and Spider-Girl realizes that she can't compete with Kravinoff in hand to hand combat. She decides instead to use the setting of the fight to her advantage. Her knowledge of New York gives her to edge as she leads Ana towards the Baxter Building. The security systems recognize Ana as a threat and start counter measures against her, she barely manages to evade them and chooses to retreat and come back at Anya another day. However Spider-Girl catches up to her and manages to tie her up with the oncoming traffic which drags her down to the street, knocking her out.

Meanwhile at a Raven Society Outpost we see the beginning of a plan to recruit Spider-Girl to become a agent of the Raven. Kurt Godwin says he knows her secret identity and is gonna use her 'daddy issues' against her.

Footage of the fight between Ana Kravinoff and Spider-Girl is being shown on the news. Anya's roommate Rocky sees it and is amazed by crazy angles that it's shot in. As it turns out it was taken by Phil Urich who is none other then the new Hobgoblin.

Osborn

The story starts at the Raft prison where Norman Osborn observes a spider in his cell and admires how it captures its prey. The authorities fear that Osborn might walk away free using a plea of insanity so to insure that the trial is executed carefully and without mistakes they keep Norman without charges and they transfer him to a privately operated facility called the Special Containment Center (SCC) that holds the world's most dangerous villains: Kingmaker, Xirdal, Carl "Carny" Rives, June Covington the Toxic Doxie, and Ai Apaec the Decapitator. Senator Morrison moves Norman to the SCC and seems to be conspiring with Father Coulmier, a priest who makes frequent visits to the SCC and is a member of the cult who worships the Green Goblin, having a Goblin tattoo on the back of his neck.

Upon hearing from the Senator of Norman's transfer, he immediately goes to visit him. Norman is placed in the facility's Third Wing where Coulmier, in a fake private therapy session, tells Norman about the growing Goblin Cult as he believes that Norman has a crucial in bringing about a better world and offers to break him out of the facility to lead their cult. Although Norman is intrigued by the proposition, he refuses because as a political prisoner, escaping would hurt his cause. As Coulmier continues to try and convince Norman to escape with him, an alarm goes off and Norman uses this opportunity to kill two guards and begin his escape. With the alarm still going off, Ai Apaec kills a guard and Norman confront him and the other inmates and tells them that he will free them all as long as they follow his orders until they are free and threatens that he will kill them all if they don't. However, one of the inmates, Xirdal, refuses to follow a murderer and goes on her own path, and she is seemingly killed by flooding waters after she opened a hatch. Osborn thinks that she made a poor choice and continues on his path with Coulmier and the other inmates.

Meanwhile, at the Front Line offices, Norah Winters, after following the advice of Peter Parker, starts working on her paper concerning Norman Osborn since he's in jail but when one of her informants tell her that Norman has been removed from the Raft, she becomes afraid for her life, thinking that Norman will kill her if she publishes her paper so she decides to find his wherabouts. She recieves a mysterious envelope from her informant telling her to meet him at Pier 84. There, he directs Norah to a submarine, taking her to the SCC.

Osborn and the remaining inmates of the Third Wing enter into the the main area of the prison, where a riot between the other prisoners is taking place. Here he quickly takes control of the rioters by targeting and taking out the strongest threat he can find. The rioters realize who he is and begin to chant his name while showing their Goblin tattoos. This is all observed by Norah Winters who has made her way to a guard post above the riot. Norman notices that someone is in the guard post and sends Ai Apaec to investigate. Upon seeing that it is Norah, he smiles and tells her that she is just in time to see him raise an army.

As that is going on Sarah Saulsby, another reporter from the Daily Bugle is trying to track down Norah. She rings the police and says that she hasn't been able to contact her, and that she thinks it has something to with Norman Osborn and a meeting point on Pier 84. She says she has to get the message to Senator Sondra Muffoletto, who was mentioned in Norah notes. Once Sondra hears mention of Pier 84 she contacts Senator Morrison who denies any knowledge of anything to do with Osborn. Sondra realizes she is being set up to take the fall if the truth about Osborn comes out.

Venom Pre-crisis

Flash Thompson is the new Venom. As Flash gets ready for the procedure, the General tells, Corporal Flash Thompson, that he can back out if he wants. Flash declines that offer and wants to serve his country once again. The General agrees and makes sure that Flash knows about the pain and discomfort that he might feel when injected with the Venom Symbiote. Flash tells the General that he has felt far more worse pain before, however wonders why the General picked him? Flash notices that he is missing his legs since the war, but the General replies that he can look past disadvantages. The General goes on about all of the good that Flash has brought to his country and his friends in the special forces and also mentions about his dog liking him also.

With that, The General tells Doctor Mackenzie to start what is called in the story "Project Rebirth 2.0." While Flash is all-for-one for the Venom Symbiote, he does have a problem with the name. Flash states that he is a fan of Steve Rogers (the first Captain America), but he rather have a more Spider-Man themed named. Since Flash is one of Spider-Man's biggest fans! The Doctor explained that this project was like the super soldier serum and also another chance at fighting for America for Flash. As Mackenzie continued, he stated that Flash had already been pumped full of a drug that would allow him to control the Symbiote and wouldn't let the Symbiote gain control, as the process was a success, Flash did feel a little pain.

After the suit had cover his entire body and Flash had made the suit grow him legs, Flash was off for training to be like Spider-Man. Succeeding in being in control of the Venom suit, he stated that "I am Spider-Man!", however he was corrected by Mackenzie that he is "Venom". Flash wondered "why he couldn't be Spider-Man?", and Mackenzie answered his question with using the example of Venom. Venom would eat someone, spit them out, and kill them over-and-over, Spider-Man doesn't kill, but Venom does. What the Special Forces are trying to do is to strike fear into the hearts of terrorist against America.

When Mackenzie got to the "killing" part of things, he gave Flash a bunch of new weapons. Mackenzie gave him a gun that is an omni-firearm, which would allow Flash to switch to any gun at any given moment to kill someone from close range or long range. He was also given a truth serum, chemicals and other types of technology/weaponry that he might need in the field. All of this would be held in the Symbiote suit, and also a knife for unarmed combat. Mackenzie also told him to never forget that the Symbiote suit is his most powerful weapon. While Flash was amazed at what he got, he wondered if he would ever need his Spider-Senses?

Katherine Glover, part of the US Army Special Forces, told Flash that he won't need that. Katherine Glover introduced herself to him and told Flash that she will deploy him on his Venom missions. Katherine also tells Flash that if she sees any sign that the alien is taking over, she will flip a switch and will kill the suit. Leaving Flash to be alone without any legs to stand upon, literally. Hours later, Flash was seen finishing off some soldiers just for non-lethal combat training. When he passed with flying colors, he came back inside to see the General's dog growling at him. Wondering why the dog hated him now, he realized that it was the suit the dog didn't like. The team behind Flash's Venom suit mentioned that he had been operating at half strength (since it wasn't any real action) for 48 hours.

When that happened, they noticed his vital signs were completely normal and they told him he did enough for the two days of non sleep and stop he had worked on. They removed the suit and told him he will be back in Washington DC soon. Mackenzie and Flash left to visit a science exhibition, while they left Captain Katherine and General Dodge to talk with one another. Katherine reminded the General that they should tell Flash that he is the second serviceman to wear the suit, and the first one's brain was fried (thanks to Katherine). However only wanting a weapon, General told Katherine to keep it a secret until Flash looses control or he finishes all of his missions. The General stated that Flash is a true soldier to the very end, and will protect his country at whatever costs.

Collected Editions

• Amazing Spider-Man: Big Time
• Amazing Spider-Man: Matters of Life and Death
• Amazing Spider-Man: The Fantastic Spider-Man
• Amazing Spider-Man: Big Time Ultimate Collection
• Marvel Point One
• Osborn: Evil Incarcerated
• Spider-Girl: Family Values
• Venom by Rick Remender

Non-U.S. Editions

• Astonishing Spider-Man #61 (UK)
• Astonishing Spider-Man #62 (UK)
• Astonishing Spider-Man #63 (UK)
• Astonishing Spider-Man #64 (UK)
• Astonishing Spider-Man #65 (UK)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #1 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #2 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #3 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #4 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #5 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #6 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #7 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #11 (Russia)
• Chelovek-Pauk. Mega Komiks #12 (Russia)
• Spidergirl: El corazón de la araña (Spain)