Ultimate Spider-Man #99

Background

After Peter's friend, Gwen Stacy, died at the hands of a genetic monstrosity known as Carnage, Peter and his Aunt May - who's raised Peter since the death of his parents - moved to a new house... and he became much more cautious in his relationship with MJ.

So when, on a casual mall outing with MJ, Peter is attacked by a man in a scorpion suit - with destructive powers to match - Peter makes sure MJ gets out safely. Spider-Man's fight with the Scorpion ends with Spidey unmasking the villain, only to discover that the Scorpion is - impossibly - Peter Parker... or at least an identical twin...

Spider-Man brings his problem to the world-famous science adventurers, the Fantastic Four - but Peter becomes overwhelmed with panic and runs home, leaving the FF to deal with the Scorpion.

When Peter gets home he is shocked to hear that MJ has been kipnapped right from her bedroom! Peter goes looking for her, only to be confronted with a spider-costumed female with powers similar to his own. Peter attacks her - out of panic over MJ's situation - but is defeated.

Meanwhile, MJ wakes up trapped inside an abandoned Oscorp laboratory. She has been kidnapped by another version of Peter... a Peter who says he knows how to keep her safe from harm...

Elsewhere, the real Peter regains consciousness and goes to his old house, thinking he saw MJ moving around the porch. When he confronts the girl, he sees that it is not MJ but - Gwen Stacy, back from the dead... and as confused as he is...

Story Details

The old house of Peter. Peter cries, who are you? you're dead... Gwen convinces him she's real. Where did she come from?

Cut to the Oscorp laboratory where Spider-Man was born. Mary Jane is locked up in a glass cell. She is screaming. A shadowy figure tells her in order for her to be able to defend herself, he'll make her just like him. And then a mutilated Peter is shown.

The Baxter Building. Reed and Sue try to talk to the Scorpion. They use the name Peter Parker on him. The Scorpion wants to know whether he's back at the zoo. He tries to get out of his tank. There are others, at the zoo. Reed sedates him. The suit is part of his body, this is too big to keep quiet and they call General Fury.

Back to Peter and Gwen. She remembers waking up in a hospital. She says she doesn't remember but blurred images are shown. As Peter wants to examine her bracelet, Aunt May enters the room. She sees Gwen, freaks out and runs home. When she reaches for the phone, Peter asks her to put it down and take a seat. He then reveals he's Spider-Man. After finishing telling what happened, Aunt May wants Peter to prove it. She looks angry and tells Peter to get out. He's not her son, she did not give up her adult life so she could be lied to. Then Richard Parker enters the kitchen. May isn't surprised at all and Peter can't believe what he's seeing.

Cut to the Baxter Building. Fury sees the Scorpion clone, gets on the phone and calls for the Spider Slayers, the full battalion. And a cleaner crew, it's going to get messy.

General Comments

First of all, in the intro to this issue it reads "When Peter gets home he is shocked to hear that MJ has been kidnapped right from her bedroom!". Yeah, right. That is NOT what happened. Aunt May says MJ disappeared, Mrs. Watson says she ran away. That MJ is kidnapped is what we as readers know, Peter Parker still doesn't that. And what bothers me is that Bendis has done this before. In the recap of the previous issue he tells a slightly different story than in the actual comic was. Why? Perhaps writing a cool recap will make me forget the previous issue was way below standard?

Anyway, the story at hand is what I'm supposed to be commenting on. Well, we have more clones and another unmasking. I bet Gwen is a clone and I bet Aunt May is a clone too. Why? The real Aunt May would not kick Peter out of the house. The real Aunt May would not say what she did. The real Aunt May would not keep it a secret that Peter's father is still alive. In short, in a few issues, the disappearance of Aunt May will be solved (remember the dangling plot line from a few issues back?) and all will be back to what it was. Well, at least that is what I hope for 'coz it's turning into a mess right now. The return of Richard Parker? Come on.....

Overall Rating

Yeah, 2.5 webs, meaning little below average. Do I really need to explain why? Just read it yourself.