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The Amazing Spider-Man # 3 (2018)

By Mark Rodriguez

Peter Parker has fallen out of favor  with his family and friends when it was discovered he really didn't earn his doctorate and had it revoked. Since MJ always had his back, they both became a couple. He was given another chance to earn it by attending class with Dr. Connors who has his Lizard transformation under control thanks to an inhibitor. Taskmaster and Black Ant attack the class, hoping to steal the same device that created the radioactive spider that once bit Pete, and Pete is quick to create a chemical smokescreen to cause a distraction. Spider-Man shows up to stop the bad guys... as Peter Parker is still there watching on...



Back to Basics Part 3 begins with some hunters celebrating as they shot an elephant. Their victory is short lived as one of them is stabbed by a knife thrown right at his chest.

Meanwhile Pete, MJ and Robertson are out bowling and having fun. Just then an old friend of theirs,, Norah Winters, who was also fired from the Bugle before showed up upon Pete's invitation. Things are cold between Norah and Robertson since they used to date, and she hasn't gotten any less intimidating now that they're not together. MJ asked Pete why he invited her if she's an ex, He says he saw through Facebook that she was back in town and looking to re-connect, so he invited her so they could have as close as a double date as they could get.

Just then Norah's phone goes off and the gang sees an alert about chaos in lower Manhattan. MJ asks Pete is this his cue to leave, but he tells he he doesn't. Not this time.

Elsewhere, the Tri-Sentinel, a Sentinel with six arms and three heads (WHY?) is attacking, and the other Spider-Man is hot on the case to bring it down.


Peter explains to the viewers that this other Spider-Man is him as well. During the fight with Taskmaster and Black Ant, Pete was thrown against the Isotope Genome Accelerator while it was set to reverse engineer its capabilities. Pete was hit by the beam and possibly as a result of the smokescreen he created, Spider-Man came out to fight as his own separate entity. Pete and Spidey hung out to make sure they really were the same person.

As they talk, Peter feels weirded out since he feels part of him is missing. Spidey feels happy since he got to be 'the cooler half' since he is Spider-Man and all. Pete wonders how all of this will work and asks if they should run more tests if there were any unforeseen side-effects, but Spidey is eager to swing into action and leaves. Pete is now stuck on the top of the building where they were talking, and asking how he's going to get back down.


Peter has become a normal person now and has to adjust to a life without his super powers, while Spider-Man is out stopping bad guys. Pete sees this as a way to finally settle down with Mary Jane, finish school and get a good job without the dangers his super hero life always brought him. He still feels this is all wrong, as he throws a gutter ball down the bowling alley.

Connors texts Pete about his offer and he goes to see him. Pete tells the teacher than he still needs more time to decide. Connors shows him the Accelerator and Pete ponders how it's the device that started everything with the spider-bite and possibly ended everything too as he sees Spidey fight the Tri-Sentinel on TV.

Connors shows Pete a test mouse named Horatio before and after testing him with the Accelerator. Before the testing, Horatio was trained to run through a maze in record time. Afterwards there were two mice, Horatio I and II. Horatio II is a pro at running the maze, while the original seems confused and lost. On the flip side, the original is good at running the wheel while Horatio II just stares at it. Connors asks for an androgage, and Pete is surprised to notice that he doesn't recognize half of the items in the lab, when he used to.


Connors declares the testing still not ready for humans and dangerous. The two subjects get their talents, skills and training among other things divided between the two, and it's too soon to know all the results. Connors says this can even be boiled down to emotional states and moral beliefs. He states examples such as a trained soldier losing his conscience or training to protect civilians or a world class surgeon who decides to ignore his oath to 'do no harm'. Peter wonders if this is the difference between power and responsibility, as Spider-Man completely destroys the Tri-Sentinel from within and is having a blast.


My Opinions- 

So basically we're going with a bit of Superman III here where Peter and Spidey split up into two different people, and eventually Pete is gonna have to step in when Spidey starts showing signs of going rogue. Oh man, where do I start with this?

First off, I guess for convenience sake, the new Spider-Man came out, costume and all, instead of another Peter Parker. And also... is that Spidey's natural face now? Like can he still remove his mask to reveal a second Peter Parker or is the mask his actual face now? Second of all, how do the web-shooters work? Are they a part of Spidey's powers now? Do they still run out or are they organic now? With Pete forgetting some science stuff, does this mean he forgot the formula he uses for creating the web fluid? This is all just too weird and I am curious how it's all going to work out.

I am curious about how that device that radiated the spider is also able to duplicate people, no matter what settings you put it to. I like how it raises all sorts of questions about who we are as people, or the skills and training we obtain in life. What kind of people would we have been without morals, sense of responsibility and whatnot holding us back? Or in the case of the mice, someone who is a college professor or something losing all of his schooling because his other half got to keep all the brains. One Bo Jackson that only knows how to play baseball, while the other only knows how to play football. For those reading this that still know Bo.

What the hell was Connors' plan when he intends to test it on himself to finally be rid of The Lizard? Does he realize if this thing divides you into two people, they're gonna have The Lizard as a separate entity and he'll be completely bloodthirsty and savage since he wouldn't have Connors' conscience and reasoning to hold him back? They better have all sort of heroes on standby whenever he intended to actually go ahead with the procedure.

I don't know what Norah brings to the table. I guess she will bring some extra drama to spice up Pete's normal life, but since now we have this urgency of a potentially dangerous Spider-Man, I assume we won't have much time to see Pete's personal life.

The last thing I like to mention, and I guess this is because Marvel has either gotten so big over the years or because Disney owns them now and can pay for any royalties, but it is funny seeing these comics openly mention things like Facebook, The Big Lebowski, Bill Murray and whatever else. It seems a few years ago comics still had to use legally-safe knock-off names for things like Jack-In-The-Snack and now they can flat out say Jack-In-The-Box. I can't say I've noticed this too much in the DC comics, or even other Marvel comics, but this Spider-Man series is chockful of real world product placement.

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