DawnWarrior
Questioner of Authority
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I've been looking all over for this thread so I can resurrect it, after I found some old ideas for Spider-Man stories on my hard drive. I'm gonna do some jumping around, so here goes...
The Black Costume: When Peter discovers that the black costume is taking his sleeping body out on nightly crime-fighting jaunts, he gets Reed Richards to examine it, then gets rid of it. I would have played the costume's deeds as mis-interpreting Peter's motivation to always be fighting bad guys and protecting innocents, the whole Power & Responsibility thing that defines him. Peter can't stand to not be Spider-Man ever, so the costume takes that to it's logical conclusion and decides to help Peter fight evil all the time, even when he sleeps. It was just the symbiote trying to please its master.
Onslaught/The Clone Saga: Remember the Onslaught finale? The Hulk battles Onslaught and the battle literally splits him into his Bruce and Hulk personas. Bruce vanishes into the Onslaught energy field, and thus into the Heroes Reborn universe where his origin plays out anew with his fellow heroes, while the Hulk proper is left in the 616 universe to rampage around without the benefit of his Bruce Banner persona to revert to. Two universes, two Hulks, two storylines, everybody wins.
Spider-Man was in the thick of the Clone Saga at this very same time, with Peter Parker and Ben Reilly vying for the mantle. Rather than the convoluted resolution they gave us, what the Marvel bigwigs should have done instead was have Ben vanish into the Onslaught field with the other heroes. He would leave his mask behind, and at the end of Onslaught: Marvel Universe, we would see Peter (with MJ probably) finding and picking up Ben's discarded mask, hinting that Peter will soon be Spider-Man once again. Meanwile, with Peter's clone in the HR universe, Spider-Mans origin would be another part of the Heroes Reborn tales along with those of Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, (they'd probably convert one of the five Spidey titles to a Heroes Reborn title, and cancel one or two others). The Peter Parker Spider-Man would be left in 616 to fend for himself, rekindling things with MJ and getting confortable with being Spider-Man again (hanging with Ben helped remind Peter of the hero he used to be, revitalizing his sense of self). All this would give the writers an extra year to build a new status quo for Peter while deciding how best to tie off the final fate of Ben Reilly: When Heroes Reborn wrapped up, Ben could come back to 616, or maybe die in the Heroes Return story (to help get the other Heroes back, naturally), or maybe stay in the Heroes Reborn universe with Rikki Barnes.
Spider-Man vs. The Jury: There was a story in Amazing Spider-Man #383-385, where the Jury (originally formed by Mr. Taylor to target Venom as revenge for killing his son) sets its sights on Spider-Man. The Jury target Spidey in the city, and a big battle ensues. Theres one part where, during the melee, Spider-Man rescues an innocent bystander. Seeing this, one of the Jurors, Ramshot, becomes reluctant to continue the pursuit. They finally capture Spidey and take him to Mr. Taylor. Spidey is chained to a pedestal for awhile as Taylor accuses him of creating Venom and Carnage and being responsible for all the deaths that they caused. The story ends, I think, with Spidey (hopped up on drugs) agreeing to go with the Jury to steal some special weapon that they can use to kill Venom. As Spidey comes to the surface from his drug haze, he comes to his senses and takes the Jury out. Yawn.
Looking at that story again, I didnt really like the way Spidey allows Taylor to put him on the receiving end of his petty grudge against Venom, or to accuse him of causing the deaths of everyone that Venom and Carnage killed. First Id like to grab David Michelinie by the ears and ask him if he really thinks that Spidey was responsible for that stuff. What was Spidey supposed to do? He got rid of the costume as soon as he found out that it was alive and co-opting his body for nightly pursuits of crime-fighting adrenaline. When it found him again in Web #1, he wasted no time getting it off in the bell tower. He couldnt dispose of it properly, of course, because he lost consciousness and the costume went along its merry way, seeking out Eddie Brock instead. As far as I can see, Spidey did everything he could.
My version: A little more action, a morally strong Spidey, and some guest stars. The Jury ambush Peter in the city, and some glorious super-hero carnage ensues. In the melee, Spidey attempts to rescue a bystander in the line of fire, but the Jurys relentless pursuit causes him to fail, and the bystander dies. Spidey loses it; filled with righteous fury, he starts fighting ruthlessly, turning their own firepower against them, stuff like that. Then, as Spidey is about to be overwhelmed, the New Warriors show up, having been alerted by all the noise they were making (Nova was flying by at the beginning of the story, so the Warriors are in town). It all happens very quickly; the remaining members of the Jury manage to take Spidey away and back to Taylor, but one of them gets left behind at the mercy of the Warriors. Night Thrasher gets to work interrogating the Juror, while Spidey is stuck getting drugged and kangaroo-courted by Taylor. Spidey seems to believe Taylors claims at first, but then remembers the bystander that the Jury killed. Spidey stands his ground, declaring that the costume stopped being his responsibility once he got rid of it in the bell tower, and Venom and Carnage were responsible for their own actions. He tells Taylor to suck it. Taylor declares the trial over, and sentences Spidey to death. He prepares to blow Spideys head off with a plasma cannon, when the Warriors show up, and more glorious super-carnage breaks out with the New Warriors vs. the Jury. The Jury are outmatched by the Warriors superior numbers and surprise. Just as Nova is getting Spidey out of his chains, he is hit in the chest by a massive blast of energy. Spidey looks at the source: its Taylor brandishing some Big Gun. Taylors basically snapped; hes determined to get his pound of flesh for his son. He starts shooting everybody, even the other members of the Jury, bringing the whole facility down around them, totally crazy. From there, our heroes (with help from the Juror Ramshot, whos had enough of this mess) cause Taylors gun to backfire, causing it to blow up in his face, taking him out. Taylor is carted off to the hospital, where he will be indicted for his crimes. When we see him again, he would be missing an arm, a leg, and part of his face.
The Black Costume: When Peter discovers that the black costume is taking his sleeping body out on nightly crime-fighting jaunts, he gets Reed Richards to examine it, then gets rid of it. I would have played the costume's deeds as mis-interpreting Peter's motivation to always be fighting bad guys and protecting innocents, the whole Power & Responsibility thing that defines him. Peter can't stand to not be Spider-Man ever, so the costume takes that to it's logical conclusion and decides to help Peter fight evil all the time, even when he sleeps. It was just the symbiote trying to please its master.
Onslaught/The Clone Saga: Remember the Onslaught finale? The Hulk battles Onslaught and the battle literally splits him into his Bruce and Hulk personas. Bruce vanishes into the Onslaught energy field, and thus into the Heroes Reborn universe where his origin plays out anew with his fellow heroes, while the Hulk proper is left in the 616 universe to rampage around without the benefit of his Bruce Banner persona to revert to. Two universes, two Hulks, two storylines, everybody wins.
Spider-Man was in the thick of the Clone Saga at this very same time, with Peter Parker and Ben Reilly vying for the mantle. Rather than the convoluted resolution they gave us, what the Marvel bigwigs should have done instead was have Ben vanish into the Onslaught field with the other heroes. He would leave his mask behind, and at the end of Onslaught: Marvel Universe, we would see Peter (with MJ probably) finding and picking up Ben's discarded mask, hinting that Peter will soon be Spider-Man once again. Meanwile, with Peter's clone in the HR universe, Spider-Mans origin would be another part of the Heroes Reborn tales along with those of Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, (they'd probably convert one of the five Spidey titles to a Heroes Reborn title, and cancel one or two others). The Peter Parker Spider-Man would be left in 616 to fend for himself, rekindling things with MJ and getting confortable with being Spider-Man again (hanging with Ben helped remind Peter of the hero he used to be, revitalizing his sense of self). All this would give the writers an extra year to build a new status quo for Peter while deciding how best to tie off the final fate of Ben Reilly: When Heroes Reborn wrapped up, Ben could come back to 616, or maybe die in the Heroes Return story (to help get the other Heroes back, naturally), or maybe stay in the Heroes Reborn universe with Rikki Barnes.
Spider-Man vs. The Jury: There was a story in Amazing Spider-Man #383-385, where the Jury (originally formed by Mr. Taylor to target Venom as revenge for killing his son) sets its sights on Spider-Man. The Jury target Spidey in the city, and a big battle ensues. Theres one part where, during the melee, Spider-Man rescues an innocent bystander. Seeing this, one of the Jurors, Ramshot, becomes reluctant to continue the pursuit. They finally capture Spidey and take him to Mr. Taylor. Spidey is chained to a pedestal for awhile as Taylor accuses him of creating Venom and Carnage and being responsible for all the deaths that they caused. The story ends, I think, with Spidey (hopped up on drugs) agreeing to go with the Jury to steal some special weapon that they can use to kill Venom. As Spidey comes to the surface from his drug haze, he comes to his senses and takes the Jury out. Yawn.
Looking at that story again, I didnt really like the way Spidey allows Taylor to put him on the receiving end of his petty grudge against Venom, or to accuse him of causing the deaths of everyone that Venom and Carnage killed. First Id like to grab David Michelinie by the ears and ask him if he really thinks that Spidey was responsible for that stuff. What was Spidey supposed to do? He got rid of the costume as soon as he found out that it was alive and co-opting his body for nightly pursuits of crime-fighting adrenaline. When it found him again in Web #1, he wasted no time getting it off in the bell tower. He couldnt dispose of it properly, of course, because he lost consciousness and the costume went along its merry way, seeking out Eddie Brock instead. As far as I can see, Spidey did everything he could.
My version: A little more action, a morally strong Spidey, and some guest stars. The Jury ambush Peter in the city, and some glorious super-hero carnage ensues. In the melee, Spidey attempts to rescue a bystander in the line of fire, but the Jurys relentless pursuit causes him to fail, and the bystander dies. Spidey loses it; filled with righteous fury, he starts fighting ruthlessly, turning their own firepower against them, stuff like that. Then, as Spidey is about to be overwhelmed, the New Warriors show up, having been alerted by all the noise they were making (Nova was flying by at the beginning of the story, so the Warriors are in town). It all happens very quickly; the remaining members of the Jury manage to take Spidey away and back to Taylor, but one of them gets left behind at the mercy of the Warriors. Night Thrasher gets to work interrogating the Juror, while Spidey is stuck getting drugged and kangaroo-courted by Taylor. Spidey seems to believe Taylors claims at first, but then remembers the bystander that the Jury killed. Spidey stands his ground, declaring that the costume stopped being his responsibility once he got rid of it in the bell tower, and Venom and Carnage were responsible for their own actions. He tells Taylor to suck it. Taylor declares the trial over, and sentences Spidey to death. He prepares to blow Spideys head off with a plasma cannon, when the Warriors show up, and more glorious super-carnage breaks out with the New Warriors vs. the Jury. The Jury are outmatched by the Warriors superior numbers and surprise. Just as Nova is getting Spidey out of his chains, he is hit in the chest by a massive blast of energy. Spidey looks at the source: its Taylor brandishing some Big Gun. Taylors basically snapped; hes determined to get his pound of flesh for his son. He starts shooting everybody, even the other members of the Jury, bringing the whole facility down around them, totally crazy. From there, our heroes (with help from the Juror Ramshot, whos had enough of this mess) cause Taylors gun to backfire, causing it to blow up in his face, taking him out. Taylor is carted off to the hospital, where he will be indicted for his crimes. When we see him again, he would be missing an arm, a leg, and part of his face.