Superior Spider-Man (2023) # 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

Back when Doc Ock was the Superior Spider-Man, he accidentally created a super villain he named Supernova and imprisoned her. Now she escaped and is after Peter Parker, thinking he was the same guy that locked her up. During the ordeal, Doc Ock learned that Spider-Man was Peter Parker and that brought back all the memories of him being the Superior Spider-Man! What will happen next?

"Suit Up" opens in Midtown Manhattan as Anna Maria is trying to get a taxi cab to the fight scene. The driver says he took her as close as he can go since it's reported that Spider-Man is fighting a 'fire lady' in the area. Ann Maria says she's one of Spider-Man's friends and she has information on the woman he's fighting. The cabbie says she's crazy and tells her to get out of his cab. Anna Maria decides to head there by foot and hopes that Spider-Man can hold out.

Spider-Man changed back into Peter Parker, hoping Supernova would give up and go away. Instead she is now threatening to attack everybody until she finds Spider-Man again. Just then she turns her attention to Spider-Boy, who was still helping out the bystanders. Supernova says he's Spider-Man's kid sidekick so he should know where to find him. Spider-Kid says he's Spider-Woman's sidekick.

Peter says he told Spider-Kid to hang back and help out the civilians, so it's his fault that he's still in the area. Peter doesn't have time to change so he leaps out towards Supernova, but a tentacle wraps itself around his leg and pulls him back.

Doctor Octopus throws Parker into an abandoned building. Parker says he doesn't know what the Doc is doing. Doc Ock grabs Parker by the neck with his tentacles and says he knows everything since he has regained his memories, and he knows he's Spider-Man. Peter surrenders and says he has to let him go so that he can rescue Spider-Boy.

Spider-Boy continues to dodge Supernova's attacks as she demands to know where his partner is. Spider-Boy's Bug-Pack is hit and is starting to melt, so he has to rip it off his costume before it gets to him. Spider-Boy burns his fingers as he throws it away, and Supernova starts to approach him.

Peter pleads with Doc Ock to let him go, saying Supernova wants him and not the kid. Doc Ock says he continues to let the kid tagalong. If he were in his shoes, he would have made the superior decision to shun him. Doc Ock says all of this is on Peter's head. Peter grabs onto some of the ventilation tubes above him and smashes it over Doc's head.

Doc Ock says that was a cheap shot and it's all he's has left. Peter says the villain has had the upper hand before and Spider-Man has always sent him packing. Doc Ock says this time, Peter doesn't have his weapons and gear. Parker says he never needed them. The villain says this time he has more advanced arms and also his memories, so he knows his weaknesses. He knows that currently is too distracted worrying about Spider-Boy.

Supernova blasts the side of a building where Spider-Boy was on, which makes him lose his grip and fall. The rubble from the building buries him. Supernova stops as she sees what she's done. Peter tells the Doc that this isn't a game. Doc Ock says it is a game, and one where he is winning. Supernova gets the rubble off of Spider-Boy, apologizing and saying she can't always control her power. She is relieved the kid is still alive and says only Spider-Man deserves the full force of her wrath.

Doc Ock is laughing it up, enjoying the moment. Peter tries to put on one of his web-shooters, but the Doc knocks it from his hand. Doc Ock then beats the hell out of Parker with his deadly metal arms. Parker is down and the Doc says after all these years, he has finally defeated him. He says the last words Parker will hear is him saying 'the die is cast!'. Anna Maria overhears this and steps in. Otto is surprised to see her. Parker takes this chance to kick the Doc where it hurts. 

The Doc falls and asks what kind of hero does that. Parker says 'a desperate one' as he webs him up. Anna Maria tells Parker that Supernova was a former lab assistant named Estrella Lopez who worked for him when Otto was posing as him. Parker says she can explain more about it later since he still has to save Spider-Boy and can't also worry about her. 

Supernova appears before them and recognizes Peter Parker and Anna Maria Marconi. She says they worked on Spider-Man's tech and talked her into working for him too. She says there has to be a way to contact him. Peter asks if Spider-Boy is alright. Anna Maria grabs onto Peter's arm and tells him not to make her angry. Peter wonders why she's grabbing his wrist and realizes she was doing it to cover up his web-shooter from Supernova's view.

Supernova calms down a bit and says her beef isn't with them and she has yet to control her powers. She says she is growing inpatient though. Peter offers to give himself up, and Anna Maria cuts him off before he can tell her he's Spider-Man. Supernova blasts Peter away with a fireball and grabs onto Anna Maria. She is able to keep her hand at a regular temperature to hold onto Anna Maria without hurting her, but it takes a lot of concentration. 

Supernova flies off with Anna Maria and tells Parker to bring Spider-Man to the old AIM base they raided years ago within 24 hours. Since this was when Otto was Spider-Man, Peter has no idea where that is. He remembers Spider-Boy and goes to check up on him. He's in bad shape and Peter takes him to the emergency room.

As Peter drops off the kid, one of the nurses says there should be more nice people like him.... and less awful people like Spider-Man. The nurse berates Spider-Man for bringing along a kid into battle with him, and Peter has to suck it up. Later on the doctors tell him the kid has a superhuman metabolism and will be fine in a few days. He asks Parker who the kid is since he has no ID and no record on file. Parker says why the doctor thinks he would know. The doctor says the kid asks for the man who saved him.

Once alone, Peter asks if Bailey is ok. Bailey says they had a deal where he was supposed to run off if there were bad guys out of his league and he messed up. Peter reminds him of when the Web of Destiny took him to live a second life. In this life he had great power but no sense of responsibility. In the second life, he didn't have powers but he still did the right thing. In that other life he leaped out and took the bullet for uncle Ben. Ben visited him at the hospital and called him a hero. Likewise, Peter says despite the dangers, Bailey saved a lot of lives and he'd proud of that. Bailey asks if he's his sidekick. Peter says he's his hero.

Peter leaves the hospital and knows the clock is ticking in regards to Anna Maria. Peter doesn't know where to begin since he doesn't know anything about Supernova. Doc Ock appears and Parker gets set for Round Two. Doc Ock says their petty rivalry can wait since his beloved Anna Maria is in danger. He says there's only one person on Earth that can rescue her, and he tosses Peter his costume. Peter notices that it's the Superior Spider-Man version of the costume, and Otto tells him to 'suit up'.

My thoughts-

The story gets interesting as now Anna Maria gets involved. I'm not completely sure what happened between Anna Maria and Otto after Peter got his body back, especially since Otto was 'dead' for a while, but it seems at least from Otto's side, he still cares about her. It is a shame a lot of the character development from the original Superior Spider-Man run where he was sorta learning to be a good guy and appreciate the value of preserving human life. I loved that run and it's a shame to see Doc Ock go back to his mustache twirling super villain ways as if nothing happened. Sure he lost his memories of those events, but regaining them should also have brought back the value of saving innocent lives, alongside his feelings for Anna Maria. Somehow I doubt she will take Otto back though. Even in this situation she got involved because she knows Estrella, not because she cares about Otto.

I do like the moments where Doc Ock is able shove his pride aside 'for the greater good'. Similar to how he brought back Peter at the end of the first run because the city needed him, here he is willing to work with Peter since Anna Maria's life is in danger.

We also learn that while enraged and not above attacking innocents, Supernova isn't completely evil and feels remorse for what she's doing. She only wants to kill Spider-Man, and while she threatens people, she doesn't necessarily wants to kill people as long as she gets her revenge. It does make me wonder what she would do if she did kill Spider-Man, in terms of if she would move on with her life.

While at the moment it was urgent to make sure Bailey was alright, I'm surprised he was taken to a regular hospital rather than some sort of superhero hospital since he was sure to be unmasked. In this case Bailey is lucky he came from some alternate reality so there was no way to ID him and reveal his identity to the world. For those that don't know, Bailey has that 'he was there all along, but everyone forgot' situation going on with him. 

Otto brought up the fact that Spider-Boy was once Superior Spider-Man's sidekick until he sent him on his way, as seen in last issue's back up story. I'm surprised this one didn't have a back up story, but I suppose last issue was to explain 'if Spider-Boy was always around, then why wasn't he in the original run'. Gotta love those comic book retcons.

Things are getting exciting and I can't wait to see what happens next. The only question I really have is, will Otto become the Superior Spider-Man again or if he's just coming along for the ride for this adventure as he cleans up past mistakes.