The Superior Spider-Man # 1 (2023)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Back in 2013 we had the story where Doctor Octopus switched his dying body with that of Peter Parker. For a while Octavius became the Super Spider-Man, fighting the bad guys his way, but eventually Peter got his body back. Now the Superior Spider-Man has somehow returned. Let's see what brings him back a decade later.

Before we begin, the preface explains that Peter Parker got to live in a reality where Uncle Ben lived. Upon returning, he regained his memories and a new sidekick called Spider-Boy that claims to have always been around. Meanwhile, Doc Ock has hazy memories of his time as the Superior Spider-Man. When he ran into one of his older experiments, he accidentally released a super villain he captured when he was the Superior Spider-Man. Due to this, the villain is now seeking revenge against Spider-Man instead of Doc Ock.

'Mistaken Identity Crisis' starts in New York City where a criminal named Mirage robbed a jewelry store. The villain has the ability to create illusions of several copies of himself. Spider-Man shows up and lets his sidekick Spider-Boy take them down. Spider-Boy gets to help when the villains are D-Listers, which Mirage takes offense to. As they fight, Spider-Boy's attacks go right through the copies so he asks Pete how to tell which one is the real one.

Spider-Man says he already determined who the real one was, but doesn't tell Spider-Boy. Spider-Boy sees that Spidey is hanging off a lamppost and realizes that only the real Mirage would cast a shadow. Mirage is quickly defeated and tied up for the police.

Peter treats Bailey to some ice cream, to which the boy tells him they used to do that all the time but he forgot. He asks Pete about this similar experience. Pete says rather than being erased, he was 'away' and lived a different life where his Uncle Ben was still alive. Peter remembers all of it and wishes he didn't since he now feels like he lost him all over again. Bailey says he comes back to reality where no one remembers him while Pete came back with extra memories and asks if he wants to trade. 

Peter feels responsible for Bailey and asks where he's been living and goes to school. Bailey is about to take off his mask and Peter stops him. They are both shown on the big screen in the middle of Town Square, and Bailey almost revealed himself to the world.

Just then the super villain arrives, having found Spider-Man for her revenge. Spider-Man asks his sidekick if this is one his villains, since neither recognize her. She says Spider-Man left her trapped in a tiny box burning alive. She fires an energy blast asking if she remembers her now. Spider-Man tells Spider-Boy not to engage, and the kid decides to do crowd control.

The super villain says Spider-Man knows her and called her Supernova. The people in the crowd ask why Spider-Man is antagonizing her. Spider-Boy explains that this is so that she keeps her focus on Spider-Man while giving everyone a chance to run away. 

Elsewhere Anna Maria (who once dated Otto as Parker) is having coffee with an ex named Aiden who is offering her a job in his new division. She is hesitant due to their previous history and he says an old office romance shouldn't get in the way of an opportunity like this. They then see the fight between Spider-Man and Supernova on the TV news, and Anna Maria recognizes the woman as Estrella Lopez.

Dock Ock arrives to witness the battle go down, hoping that Supernova takes out his old foe. He sends his Ocktoid robots to film everything and gather as much data as possible. He explains he had been working on a controlled and sustained fusion reaction, the power of the sun in the palm of his hand. As Superior Spider-Man, he was about to succeed when his assistant Estrella Lopez tried to take the power for herself, becoming Supernova. Doc Ock had to contain her, but she was released accidentally earlier that night, and now she is after Spider-Man instead of him. 

Spider-Man tries to reason with Supernova, asking if she got the wrong guy, or maybe she's in the wrong Spideyverse. Supernova tells him to stop gaslighting her and says she'll use one of his expressions. She says 'die is cast' and fires a blast destroys the foundation of a water tower. Spider-Man now knows who she means but sees that the water tower is toppling over and is about to land on the people below. 

Spider-Man uses his webs to hold onto the water tower, using all of his strength. Supernova asks why he plays at being the hero. He says she probably wouldn't believe him. Spider-Man whips the water tower into Supernova to cool her off. She bursts out of it but loses sight of him.

Spider-Man figures she's not robbing a bank or trying to take over the world, she just wants him. In that case, to keep everyone safe, Spider-Man will have to go away. As he takes off his mask, his Spider-Senses go crazy. He figures it's because Supernova is still in the area but doesn't notice that one of Octavius' Ocktoids is watching him. 

Supernova gives up and flies off, saying she will find Spider-Man again. Peter says he'll let Spider-Man take a nice long break. 

Doctor Octopus waits for his Ocktoid robots to return and give him whatever data they recorded. Ocktoid number 36 shows him that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Octavius realizes that this means his was in Peter Parker's body when he was the Superior Spider-Man. This makes him remember everything he during this time.

Back-Up Story

During the Superior Spider-Man's first run, Spider-Boy is overjoyed that he is allowed to use webshooters and help him sidekick during more dangerous missions. He shows up in time to see Inner-Demon masks and weapons lying around. Spider-Boy touches the mask and senses that Mister Negative's Inner Demons are actually the ones in trouble and he needs to save them from Spider-Man. 

Over at Pier Four, a storage unit for the Fantastic Four, the Superior Spider-Man has beaten the hell out of Mister Negative's men. Mister Negative is surprised at how ruthlessly he took them down. Spider-Boy arrives and is shocked, asking Spidey if he murdered them. Octavius tells him that the Inner-Demons have remarkable healing powers, and his sidekick says they still feel pain.

Superior Spider-Man points out that Mister Negative was planning on stealing Negative Zone Batteries to make him unstoppable. Mister Negative says this is true but he was surprised to see Spider-Man in the middle of robbing the place. He points towards scientific equipment being webbed up.

Spider-Man says he was moving them to a more secure location, and it's not stealing if he's friends with the Fantastic Four. Spider-Boy says Peter has been acting off lately, so maybe he should touch him to get a reading with his Spider-Sense. Spider-Man swats him back before he could touch him. 

Spider-Boy figures this is because Mister Negative has that corrupting touch and Spider-Man has been fighting him. Mister Negative takes advantage of the distraction to touch Spider-Boy's shoulder and put him under his control.

Mister Negative sends Spider-Boy after Spider-Man, and he's incredibly fast. Doc Ock is more concerned about his psychic touch, since that could reveal the truth about him taking over Parker's body. He prepares to land a blow, telling himself that he could always say he was defending himself and didn't mean to hit the boy that hard. Right before he could, Otto remembers how his father used to beat him and he pulls back. He thinks to himself that he won't strike a child. Doc Ock is stuck blocking all the punches from his mind-controlled sidekick.

Mister Negative tries to fly off with the equipment but the vehicle won't take off. Ant-Man arrives with Medusa, Miss Thing and She-Hulk as they say he's been locked out. They explain that they're stand-ins for when the Fantastic Four are unavailable. Mister Negative wakes up his men and tell them to fight them while he makes his escape.

While the heroes fight, Spider-Man angrily slams Spider-Boy down, saying he's a failure that doesn't deserve his suit of his powers. He says he'll never be Spider-Man. Spider-Boy apologizes for being overcome by Mister Negative's control so easily. She-Hulk and Medusa berate Spider-Man over how he's treating his sidekick. Otto seizes this opportunity to say he was never meant to have a sidekick and will leave him with them. As he swings off her says he's free of his invasive abilities. 

Miss Thing tells Spider-Boy that they have several kids at the Baxter Building so he'll fit right in. Spider-Boy says he will stay with them until Spider-Man gets over whatever is bothering him. Ant-Man tells him that in his experience people like that never change.  

My Thoughts-

My first surprise was seeing Spider-Boy in this story. I have heard of him but figured his story was a one-and-done and didn't expect him to still be around. Apparently he's similar to Dawn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the sense that 'he's always been around' but nobody remembers. The difference is I believe Dawn used some sort of spell to make others believe she was always there, while in Bailey's case, his entire existence was wiped out but he somehow managed to make it back to the 616 reality.

On a similar note, Supernova is sort of like the Androids from the Red Ribbon army in Dragonball Z, where Dr. Gero wants revenge on Goku, but he was never seen in the original Red Ribbon arc. Supernova wants revenge, and while she appears in a recently released one-shot called 'Superior Spider-Man Returns' that explains her origins and sets this new series up, she was never actually in the original run. That explains why for the life of me I couldn't remember ever seeing her in the 2013 comics.

There a lot a of questions here. One of my two main questions I have is how Anna Maria will become involved in the story since she recognizes Estrella before she transformed. The other one is, now that Octavius remembers everything.... how exactly is he going to swap bodies with Peter again or otherwise become the Super Spider-Man? And would that really be a smart thing to do while Supernova is flying around looking to kill him?

The back up further details the 'Spider-Boy was there all along', as it seems he was a sidekick for Spider-Man when Otto was in control. Since Spider-Boy has the power to see things when he touches something or someone, it would make sense that laying a hand on Spider-Man would reveal that he's really Doctor Octopus. This story explains how in Spider-Boy's version of events, he never got to find out the truth and affect the event of the original run too heavily.

It was surprising to see Ant-Man, She-Hulk, Miss Thing and Medusa make an appearance, but I found out they were a team back in 2013. Miss Thing is the Human Torch's girlfriend that wears battle armor that resembles the Thing's body. It took me a while to realize the green woman was She-Hulk since she's usually drawn taller and a bit more muscular. I actually thought it was Gamora for a moment but I don't recall her ever joining the Fantastic Four.

Also Doc Ock won't strike a child... but he had no problem body slamming him and breaking his spirit. Sheesh, even when he tries to act nice in public and play the hero, Otto's ego and anger issues always shine through, which made everyone back then think that Parker was turning into a real jerk.

Spider-Boy acts a new unexpected layer to this new series, and I wonder how things are going to go. It's almost like buying a new Captain America series without knowing that Venom was also going to be in it and become a major factor to the story.

I'll be looking forward to the next issue. The only problem with the title of the series being the exact same (like the series could have been called Superior Spider-Man Returns as an ongoing title rather than a one-shot) is that now when I review the original run I'm going to have to specify between 2013 and 2023.