Spider-Man & Wolverine # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

There's been a couple of character team-ups coming out last week. The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, Hulk and Doctor Strange but the one that got me curious enough to pick up a copy was Spider-Man and Wolverine. I'm curious what got these two to work together (this time anyway since they've teamed up several times before over the years) and what villains they will face. Let's check it out. 

 

"Duality" opens in Berlin Germany as Wolverine hacks and slashes his way through HYDRA zombies. Wolverine says he doesn't do 'funny' but Bill has some sense of humor inviting him to a HYDRA Remnant Safe House after so many years. Bill, a career spy intelligence agent to the highest bidder, says Wolverine hasn't lost his touch. Wolverine asks what he wants and Bill asks if he's heard of the Janus Directory.

Wolverine knows that the Janus Directory is a master database of the world's double agents. He figured he'd be on it, and he's done a lot of undercover work he hasn't been proud of, including working for the Red Skull back in the day. Bill explains that he heard that SHIELD got their hands on it. Wolverine says that SHIELD has disbanded and he's been out of the game for a long time. Bill explains that the database reveals the true identities of every undercover agent, past and present, as well as records of every mission they've been on. As Wolverine looks over the manila envelope with photos, Bill explains a lot of lives will get ruined and even more will be ended. Wolverine sees a picture of a woman and a baby as Bill asks if he will let that stand.

A week later in New York City, Spider-Man is swinging through the city as he's late for a date, which one would expect if someone were to date Peter Parker. Peter lands behind his sorta-girlfriend Shay Marken who says he's late, even for him. She calls this 'Parker Time', something she made up 22 minutes ago. 

Shay says she figured out why Peter's life is such a dumpster fire. She says it stems from his childhood and his parents he never talks about. Peter thinks to himself that his parents were secret agents that were killed in the line of duty. Shay says he hides the truth and from the truth with humor. Peter thinks that in particular case his humor was the truth. Peter says he thought his sense of humor was his best quality. Shay says that's hardly a competitive field.

Just then, Wolverine shows up on a motorcycle telling Parker that he needs him now. Peter explains to Shay that Logan is a very important co-worker from work. Wolverine says they have to. Peter says he can't leave a date like this Shay calls out that he always leaves dates like this and cites several examples as Peter hops on the bike and rides off with Logan.

Later on, Wolverine and Spider-Man show up in Astoria, Queens at an abandoned SHIELD base that was off the books. Wolverine says it took a while to tack the Janus Directory down. Spidey asks if it wasn't obvious that a SHIELD intel database would be on a SHIELD helicarrier. Wolverine says he doesn't know what he had to do to track this one down. Spidey asks if it involved killing a lot of people. Wolverine dodges the question and says the protocols are on the carrier's quantum core, which can't be deleted without decrypting it first. Spidey asks what makes him think that he can break into SHIELD-quality encryption. Wolverine says he's a dork. Spider-Man starts to defend himself from that comment when his Spider Sense goes off. Spider-Man leaps out of the way just in time to avoid a tentacle that smacks Wolverine back.

We see the deadly deadly duo of Omega Red and Kraven the Hunter. Spidey tells Wolverine it would be helpful if he told him that these guys were there. Wolverine says they weren't, he would have sniffed them out if they were. Spider-Man guesses that they're after the directory too. Wolverine and Spider-Man leap into action and Spidey suggests they take on each other's villains to keep things interesting. 

Wolverine fights against Kraven, saying that he fought him before. Spider-Man dodges Omega Red's attacks and quotes Wolverine's 'he's the best there is at what he does and what he does is'-' and Wolverine cuts him off saying 'shut up!'. Spidey says he hardly ever shuts up. Wolverine to tell him something he doesn't already know. Wolverine monologues that he doesn't care for 'funny'. 

Omega Red tells Spider-Man that his 'friend' left him for dead. Spidey asks if it helps to know that Wolverine barely considers him a friend. Wolverine blocks Kraven's knives and says he understand why he tried to kill Spidey a few times. Kraven says he's an insect and Wolverine is the real challenge. Omega Red starts to choke Spidey with his carbonadium tendrils. 

Wolverine tells Kraven he didn't know he was working with Omega Red. Kraven says the hunter does not deprive himself of weapons. Wolverine kicks Kraven into one of the helicarriers, making it explode. Spider-Man uses his webs to swing free from Omega Red's grasp. The Russian mutant says Spider-Man was too pathetic and desperate and Kraven told him he was a more formidable opponent. Spider-Man swings in with a double-kick, knocking him back, saying he can be pretty formidable when he wants to be.

Wolverine tells Kraven that the only way the directory is leaving is with him. Kraven pulls out a bazooka and says that remains to be seen. Kraven fires off a blast that snaps half of the ropes holding up the abandoned helicarrier. Tons of debris falls over Wolverine, knocking him out.

Logan wakes up in darkness as he is buried alive and the oxygen deprivation is starting to affect him. He feels wood, as if he was trapped in a coffin. Sure enough Wolverine breaks out of a coffin as Kraven had left a tombstone for him, similar to what happened to Spider-Man.

Spider-Man walks through snow, wondering where Kraven and Omega Red went. Most of all, he wonders where he is. Spider-Man says he feels different, angry and feral. Spider-Man is reliving when Wolverine first escaped as Weapon X. Spider-Man growls as he unleashes andamantium blades and roars like an animal.

Wolverine walks around, being confused as how he got into that coffin. He suddenly sees his former lover, Mariko, laying dead on the ground. Elsewhere, Spider-Man fights against a bear, but when he strikes, he's surprised to see a sword block his claws.

Wolverine holds Mariko as the Green Goblin flies around. Similar to Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy, Wolverine yells out that the Goblin killed Mariko, the woman he loved and he will die for that. Meanwhile Spider-Man fights against Ichiro Yashida as he's confused since he was in the snow some time ago.

 

Spider-Man suddenly relives the moment that Magneto ripped the andamantium out of Wolverine's body. He says it's the worst pain he ever felt, until he realizes that he never actually felt it since this happened to Logan. Wolverine relives the moment where Spider-Man had to lift the heavy debris of Doctor Octopus' lab from Amazing Spider-Man # 33. Wolverine and Spider-Man realize that Kraven used some sort of hallucinogen to make them live out each other's memories to confuse and weaken them, so the bad guys can move in for the kill. Both heroes snap out of it just in time to see Kraven and Omega Red aim huge guns at them.

Kraven says a hunter uses all available weapons, and the most potent weapon is an ally. Spider-Man says he knew there was a reason this gave him Deja Vu. Kraven says it was a matter of time before Wolverine and Spider-Man's enemies would recognize they have a common cause with each other.

Spider-Man asks Wolverine if he smells something like a blend of spring mist and a whiff of desperation. Wolverine says it's coming from the bridge. Spidey says he thinks he knows where the protocols are and who Kraven's ally is. Spider-Man swings off, telling Wolverine to take on Kraven and Omega Red.

Spider-man swings towards the bridge and finds Mysterio. He says he thought he cleaned up his act. Mysterio says he tried but he was made an offer he couldn't refuse. Spider-Man socks Mysterio out and then finds the registry and starts to hack into it.

 

As Wolverine fights the bad guys, Spider-Man finally gets in and sees that there are complete records of anyone that ever operated as double agent. Spider-Man suddenly finds files on his parents.

Peter says he doesn't have time to stroll through memory lane, but Wolverine is keeping the bad guys busy. Peter says he knows so little about his parents and how they died. Wolverine keeps on fighting while Peter finds the final transmission involving his parents. There's security footage of Peter's parents on a plane when someone shows up. Peter's mother pulls a gun, yelling for the man to freeze. Peter recognizes the man as Logan.

Peter's father asks Logan what he's doing on their plane. Logan says he's doing his job. Elsewhere, Logan defeated Omega Red and Kraven and wonders where Spider-Man went. Suddenly Spider-Man kicks Wolverine to the ground.  Completely enraged, Spider-Man yells that he's going to kill him.

 My Thoughts-

Off to a good start, I would say. The issue started like a typical Wolverine comic, which made me wonder where Spider-Man will fit in. The opening did a good job with showing the different tones of the characters. Wolverine hacking and slashing everything in sight, while Spider-Man is running late for a date. It was kind of a random throw-away line but Peter's parents aren't mentioned as much in the comics as Aunt May or Uncle Ben. The fact that the story deals with a double-agent database we needed to remind the casual reader that Peter's parents were also spies. The most I remember regarding Peter's parents were that brief time that they 'returned' but were really Life Model Decoys created by the Chameleon and their appearances in the Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man movies.

The comic had some cool moments, mostly seeing Kraven and Omega Red, but also the bizarre juxtaposition  of Spider-Man and Wolverine experiencing each other's memories. We get stuff like Wolverine re-enacting 'the night Gwen Stacy died' with Mariko in her place, and Spider-Man getting the adamantium ripped out by Magneto. We all love strolling down memory lane.

The reveal at the end with Wolverine being the guy that killed Peter's parents, reminds me of the reveal when Bucky as the Winter Soldier killed Tony's parents. While it sounds like a random retcon for the sake of this story, it was actually pretty clever. I decided to check out how Peter's parents died in the comics, and it turns out that the Red Skull orchestrated their deaths to look like they died in a plane crash. Wolverine did start the story out by saying he did some work for the Red Skull that he wasn't proud of...

Now I wonder how things will go down next issue. The previews show more comics on the way, so they will have somehow move past this... but how? Plus I'm curious if this enraged Spider-Man is going to go all out. As many readers know, Spider-Man is actually hella-strong and is constantly holding back. Wolverine might be in serious trouble.