Fantastic Four Origin Recolored

Since I had fun recoloring the origin of the Hulk, I decided to give the same treatment to the Fantastic Four’s origin sequence in Fantastic Four #1. Again, I’m trying to hit the halfway point between the oversimplified coloring of the 1960s and the overly complicated coloring prevalent today.







Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: George Klein  
Lettering: Art Simek

Hulk Origin Recolored

Just for fun, I decided to recolor the origin sequence from Incredible Hulk #1. I also wanted to show what I think of as a happy medium between the crude, flat coloring of the 1960s and the over-rendered, effects-heavy coloring popular today. When these modern techniques are applied to reprints of Silver Age material, the coloring tends to overpower the line art, I feel, especially with all the fussy modeling that makes every surface look like latex. The coloring should have roughly the same level of stylization as the artwork itself, so the two can work in harmony rather than fighting each other for attention. However, the old stories can certainly benefit tremendously from the expanded palette now available. A comic book masterpiece like this deserves to look its best.
















Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Paul Reinman
Lettering: Art Simek

OMU: Thor -- Year Three

Stan Lee & Jack Kirby continue to explore the double life of the mighty Thor throughout the third year of the thunder god’s career as a modern-day superhero. Thor divides his time between adventuring as the Prince of Asgard and treating patients in his mortal guise as surgeon Donald Blake. However, having lost his human love, Jane Foster, Thor increasingly treats the Blake persona as the empty shell that it is. When he finally learns the truth about Don Blake’s enchanted origins, Thor seems to start spending less and less time living this phony life. We also reach the end of Jack Kirby’s run on Thor, as he grew dissatisfied working at Marvel and decided to seek his fortunes elsewhere. Neal Adams stepped in to finish the last storyline Kirby started. However, as with Fantastic Four, Kirby’s unique artistic vision would remain an influence on the book for many years to come.

Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.

Let the tale be told of... The True History of the Mighty Thor!

January 1964 – Donald Blake, M.D., continues to rebuild his medical practice in New York City, focusing primarily on low-income patients. Having chosen to no longer staff his private practice, he uses his offices mainly for medical research. A gifted surgeon, Don routinely performs difficult operations at various Manhattan hospitals, where his skills are in high demand. He keeps himself so busy that he leaves little time for his Asgardian alter-ego, Thor, god of thunder. In fact, when the Avengers request his presence at a team meeting to discuss making an offer of membership to the former spy known as the Black Widow, Thor declines to attend.

However, Thor leaps into action when a powerful robot called Replicus goes on a crime spree. As they battle in the city streets, the thunder god finds Replicus to be a surprisingly formidable foe. The robot even manages to seize Thor’s enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, but then suddenly crumples to the ground, rendered totally inert. Thor is perplexed, but he suspects the notorious mob boss “Slugger” Sykes may have been involved when he learns that Sykes died in a mysterious explosion at the precise moment Replicus collapsed. Nevertheless, Thor is credited in the media with stopping the rampaging robot.

Thor considers taking action when he hears the terrorist organization HYDRA threatening to release a deadly spore into the atmosphere unless the nations of the world surrender to them. Luckily, HYDRA is quickly defeated by the forces of the counterintelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Later, Thor is angered when an impostor is seen bounding around the rooftops of New York. He quickly tracks down the phony thunder god and discovers it to be Daredevil in disguise. Daredevil explains he was trying to draw out Thor’s old foes Mister Hyde and the Cobra. Thor tries to dissuade Daredevil from taking on a villain as powerful as Mister Hyde but is impressed with the masked mortal’s fighting skill. Thor decides to leave him with a stern warning to stop impersonating the Prince of Asgard.

March 1964 – Learning that the Enchantress and the Executioner have returned to Earth, Thor goes to Avengers Mansion to warn his former teammates. There he finds Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Hercules. The team is informed by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury that several of their old enemies have launched a coordinated attack in different locations around the globe. Thus, Thor and Hawkeye travel to Léopoldville, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to capture the Living Laser. Unexpectedly, the two heroes also face the gigantic blue android Ultimo, whom Thor recognizes from Iron Man’s reports. After the villains have been defeated, Thor and Hawkeye rendezvous with their teammates to storm the space station headquarters of the Mandarin, the mastermind behind the scheme. The Mandarin bathes the Avengers in “hate rays” from his latest weapon, causing them to turn on one another. Overwhelmed with loathing for each other, Thor and Hercules battle savagely until the Wasp destroys the weapon. The Mandarin’s next offensive goes awry, blasting a hole in the hull of the space station. The villain is swept out into space, but Thor and Hercules are able to seal the breach before anyone else is lost. Finally, the Avengers rig the entire orbiting facility to self-destruct and take their leave. On the way back down to Earth, Thor and Iron Man agree to rejoin the team on reserve status.

The following weekend, Thor joins Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Hercules in Central Park for a ceremony to honor the Avengers. As various city officials arrive, Hawkeye and Hercules start showing off to entertain the crowds. Thor is annoyed, feeling that their antics are beneath the dignity of the Avengers. When the ceremony is delayed until Captain America can arrive, Thor decides he’s wasted enough time there and departs, claiming to have urgent business elsewhere.

A few days later, Thor battles the Super-Skrull, whom he remembers brawling with at the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Girl last summer. Although the alien possesses all the powers of the Fantastic Four, Thor is able to hamper his fighting ability by summoning a raging storm with fierce winds and torrential rains. After beating the Super-Skrull nearly senseless, Thor uses Mjolnir to generate an energy vortex that carries his foe back to his orbiting spaceship. Thoroughly defeated, the Super-Skrull retreats to his home galaxy.

April 1964 – While investigating a strange spaceship hovering over New York, Thor meets the alien being called the Collector. Thor is slipped a powerful drug and finds he cannot interfere as the alien kidnaps Goliath, Wasp, and Hawkeye. Then he is compelled to assist the Collector in attempting to restore Goliath’s size-changing powers, since the alien does not want a “defective” Avenger in his collection. When the Collector detects Iron Man in the vicinity, he sends Thor out to capture him, and the thunder god is unable to disobey. However, though Thor quickly defeats Iron Man, the Collector’s influence suddenly wears off. Returning to the Collector’s ship, Thor finds that his three teammates have gotten free and wrecked the place. They fly clear just as the ship is destroyed in a tremendous explosion.

Later, having regrouped at Avengers Mansion, the team is contacted by Captain America, who recommends they induct the African superhero known as the Black Panther as his replacement. Satisfied that Cap would vouch for him, the Avengers agree. However, Thor is disturbed the following day to read in the newspaper that the Black Panther has allegedly murdered Goliath, Wasp, and Hawkeye. The thunder god is relieved to learn soon after that his three teammates are still alive and the Black Panther has rescued them from the machinations of a villain called the Grim Reaper.

May 1964 – Sif and Balder come to Earth to warn Thor that the Enchanters, a trio of sorcerers from the realm of Ringsfjord, have attacked Asgard. Following a visitation of the Living Talisman, a magical entity that serves the Enchanters, Thor and his friends face off against two of the sorcerers, Magnir and Brona, in the streets of Manhattan. The Asgardians are nearly defeated, but Magnir and Brona grow weak when their brother, Forsung, siphons off their power to use in his own battle against Odin. When the Enchanters are defeated, Odin summons Thor, Sif, and Balder back to Asgard. However, Thor insists on remaining on Midgard, so Odin angrily strips Mjolnir of its enchantments and banishes him from Asgard. Thor finds he is left with nothing but his natural Asgardian strength and durability and his time-honed skills as a warrior. Mjolnir has become an ordinary mallet.

Without his godly powers, Thor realizes he cannot transform into Donald Blake and so must find some other way to assimilate into American society. Thus, he dresses in ordinary clothes and answers an advertisement for a strongman at a traveling circus. There, he encounters Princess Python, who introduces him to her fellow performers, Ernesto and Luigi Gambonno, the Human Cannonball, the crafty Clown, and their boss, the Ringmaster. Impressed by his raw strength, the Ringmaster offers Thor a job on the spot. Thinking that impersonating the superhero Thor is part of his act, the Ringmaster also provides him with a cheap, gaudy imitation of Thor’s normal attire. While doing his first show, Thor is surprised to spot his former love, Jane Foster, in the audience with her new boyfriend, Dr. Keith Kinkaid. Thor is glad she has found someone who makes her happy.

After the show, Thor is confused when he suddenly finds himself in a museum at night, carrying a huge golden idol of a bull, with the other circus performers running around shouting as policemen shoot at them. He drops the heavy idol, accidentally pinning Princess Python against a wall, and realizes he must have been hypnotized into assisting with a robbery. Undaunted by the barrage of gunfire, Thor lifts the Golden Bull, thus freeing Princess Python, and carries it back to its pedestal. Though the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime manage to escape, Thor surrenders to the police and spends the night in jail.

The next morning, Thor is released when a mysterious benefactor pays his bail. Outside, Thor discovers that the man is really Loki in disguise. Loki takes advantage of his adopted brother’s weakened state to give him a beating, but Sif and Balder soon materialize and force him to stop. Odin is furious to find the four of them brawling on Midgard and strips Loki, Sif, and Balder of their godly powers as well. Now no match for Thor, Loki runs away. Thor takes Sif and Balder back to Don Blake’s medical office, where they order sandwiches from the local deli.

While watching television later, the three exiled Asgardians see a report about a costumed criminal called the Wrecker, who claims his incredible powers were granted by the Norn Queen of Asgard. Seeing Loki’s hand in this, Thor, Sif, and Balder rush to the scene to help the police capture the masked menace. However, as soon as they arrive, the Wrecker fires a bolt of mystic energy through his crowbar that sends Sif and Balder back to Asgard. Thor attacks the villain, but the Wrecker bludgeons him into unconsciousness.

When Thor comes to, the Wrecker is nowhere in sight. But while searching for his foe, Thor is recruited to help Spider-Man defend Daredevil from the Fantastic Four. Somehow, the FF have gotten the idea that Daredevil is an impostor, and though reluctant to help in his weakened state, Thor finally agrees. Spider-Man carries him to the roof of the Baxter Building, where Thor faces off with the Thing while Daredevil battles Mr. Fantastic. Spider-Man swings off so as to draw the Human Torch away from his teammates. Even without his powerful enchantments, Thor’s Asgardian physiognomy allows him to hold his own against the Thing surprisingly well, but inevitably, the Thing overpowers him. However, the Thing’s final blow is blocked by a force field created by the Invisible Girl. She convinces her teammates that Thor, Spider-Man, and Daredevil are not impostors, but it was all merely a scheme by Doctor Doom to set the heroes against one another. Satisfied that the situation has been resolved, Thor leaves immediately to track down the Wrecker.

Thor soon finds the Wrecker robbing a bank and leaps into the fray, regardless of being hopelessly outmatched. Using superior battle tactics, Thor leads the Wrecker into a construction site, hoping to make weapons of the heavy equipment there. Unfortunately, the Wrecker uses his enchanted crowbar to utterly demolish the building, burying Thor in an avalanche of rubble. The next thing Thor knows, his astral form is standing in the presence of Hela, goddess of death. She is ready to escort him to a place of honor in Valhalla, but Thor claims a spark of life still remains in his body, and he cannot abandon Midgard while the Wrecker still roams free. Content to bide her time, Hela allows his astral form to go in search of the Wrecker. When Thor finds his foe, he discovers his invisible, intangible form cannot intervene in the Wrecker’s battle with the police. Thus he returns to his body, and finding Hela has departed, he enters into it, regaining consciousness. Thor staggers to his feet, but when he returns to the scene of the conflict, he is astonished to find the Wrecker has been defeated by Odin’s invincible engine of destruction, the Destroyer.

Fearing the Destroyer will go on a rampage and demolish New York, Thor attacks it with his hammer. Though weakened by exhaustion, he battles on valiantly, but the Destroyer tosses him around like a rag doll. In desperation, Thor calls on Odin for aid but fears his father has forsaken him. Suddenly, Thor feels a new power and vigor spread through his limbs, and he renews his attack. The Destroyer manages to wrest Mjolnir from Thor’s grasp, but it wrenches itself free and flies back to Thor’s hand. The thunder god immediately realizes his full powers have been restored. With joy surging in his heart, Thor presses his attack, knocking the Destroyer off its feet. As the Destroyer unleashes its deadly disintegrator beam, Thor tries to keep it too off-balance to aim properly. Suddenly, it gets Thor in its sights and prepares to fire at point-blank range, only to pitch over backwards and lie inert on the sidewalk. Though some policemen run up to congratulate him on his victory, Thor knows the true reason for the Destroyer’s defeat lies in Asgard.

Just then, a nimbus of mystical energy transports Thor to Nornheim, the realm of Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, where he finds Sif and Balder in mortal combat with Ulik the Troll. Thor immediately joins in and fights with the savage Ulik until finally sending him careening into the bottomless Abyss of Shadows. However, Thor quickly realizes the battle with Ulik was just a diversion so Loki could steal Mjolnir. Karnilla explains that Loki overcame the hammer’s protective enchantments by stealing a portion of her mystic powers. Thus, she agrees to weave a spell of teleportation so Thor and Sif can follow Loki. They materialize in New York City, but sixty seconds later, the thunder god reverts to his mortal guise of Donald Blake. As they search for Loki, Sif informs Don that it was her life force that had been animating the Destroyer, and though she tried to resist it, she could not prevent it from attacking Thor. She had been tricked into doing so by Karnilla and Loki.

Suddenly, Loki emerges from an alley, waving Don’s walking stick and taunting them. Sif leaps forward to attack him, but Loki strikes her down with a devastating energy blast, knocking her out. Then, Don surprises Loki by jumping on him and manages to wrest the walking stick from his hand. Don strikes it on a nearby wall and is instantly transformed back into Thor. Despite Loki’s enhanced power, Thor still defeats him. But he finds that Sif has been badly injured. She is taken to a nearby hospital, where Don prepares to perform a life-saving operation. At the critical point in the delicate procedure, Loki materializes in the operating room, only for one of Don’s assistants to knock him out by spraying a huge dose of ether in his face. As Sif is wheeled to the recovery room, Don remains in the O.R. to deal with the “costumed madman” whom the others assume to be an escaped mental patient. He transforms back into Thor and brawls with Loki on a nearby rooftop until Odin forces them to stop. Sneering, Loki teleports away to safety. Thor returns to the hospital to check on Sif.

June 1964 – Thor becomes increasingly concerned that he has heard nothing further from Odin while Sif has been convalescing. When she is sufficiently recovered, they return to Asgard and are shocked to find that Loki has assumed the throne while Odin slumbers in the mystical Odinsleep. However, an ancient enemy of Asgard, the monstrous Mangog, has broken free of the prison Odin had condemned him to and is advancing on the golden realm. Ignoring his adopted brother’s posturing, Thor rides out to battle the unstoppable Mangog. When he reaches his foe, Thor joins his old friends, the Warriors Three—Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun the Grim—in trying to halt Mangog’s progress. Their best efforts come to nothing, and soon Mangog invades the city, intent on reaching the palace and unsheathing the Odinsword, thereby bringing about the destruction of the universe. The assembled warriors of Asgard, led by Balder the Brave, attack Mangog, to no avail. Loki flees for his life, but the injured Thor joins Sif in the chamber of the Odinsword. The thunder god is surprised to find the Recorder, his robot friend from Rigel, is present to observe these momentous events. Moments later, Mangog smashes into the chamber, grasps the hilt of the Odinsword, and begins to draw it from its scabbard. Amidst the cosmic shockwaves that are released, Thor generates a fearsome storm, powerful enough to at last awaken Odin. The All-Father appears suddenly and blasts Mangog into nothingness. He commends Thor for fighting so valiantly against so powerful a foe and leads the warriors of Asgard in celebrating their great victory.

July 1964 – Thor stays in Asgard for a while to recuperate and spend time with Sif. The Warriors Three regale Thor with exaggerated tales of their encounter with the Hulk a couple months ago. Then, during a banquet, the Silver Surfer appears and challenges Thor. Curious, the thunder god invites the silver-skinned alien to dine with them and explain his grievance, but the Surfer merely observes the proceedings in silence. At the conclusion of a wrestling tournament, the winner attacks the Silver Surfer in the name of Thor, starting a huge brawl. Having little choice, Thor battles the Surfer until they discover that Loki set them against each other through cunning. Calling an end to the hostilities, the Silver Surfer suddenly dematerializes. Later, Loki refuses to admit anything.

Thor returns to Earth and resumes his mortal guise as Dr. Don Blake, but he becomes preoccupied with questions about the true nature of his dual identity. Odin at last reveals to Thor how the “Donald Blake” persona was created by his enchantments to teach the reckless, headstrong thunder god the value of humility and compassion.

August 1964 – Thor attends a special meeting at Avengers Mansion to discuss making the android known as the Vision a member of the team, joining Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Captain America, Hawkeye, and the Black Panther. After investigating the android’s mysterious origins and determining that his brain patterns are based on the recording they made from Simon Williams last year, the team votes to induct the Vision into their ranks.

When Thor sees a familiar-looking alien spaceship of the roof of a building, he flies over to investigate. There he is met by Tana Nile, the Rigellian colonizer he met last autumn. She asks for his help against a terrible menace. Thor agrees and boards her ship, whereupon they blast off into outer space.

September 1964 – On the 800-light-year journey to Rigel, Tana Nile explains that the menace she enlisted Thor to fight is none other than Galactus, who is known to be in the vicinity of her own solar system. Having previously considered Galactus to be merely a legend, Thor vows to hunt him down and make him pay for his crimes after encountering a massive fleet of spaceships carrying survivors of Galactus’s world-destroying hunger. After conferring with the Grand Commissioner on the Rigellian home world, Thor meets up with the Recorder again and they take a specially outfitted ship to the nebula known as the Black Galaxy, wherein dwells Ego, the Living Planet. Upon arrival, they find Ego engaged in fearsome combat with Galactus. Thor’s ship is destroyed, but he and the Recorder are rescued by one of the ships of the survivor fleet. These Wanderers, as they are called, volunteer to aid Thor in the battle against Galactus. Working together, they manage to turn Mjolnir into a weapon powerful enough to give even Galactus pause. When the world-devourer retreats from that sector of space, Thor leaves the Wanderers to settle on Ego’s surface and returns to inform the Rigellians of his victory.

Thor uses Mjolnir to transport himself directly to Asgard, where Odin uses his viewing crystal to learn more about Galactus and his ancient history. During a break, one of Odin’s advisors informs Thor that Sif has disappeared after going to Midgard to investigate some looming menace. Thor departs immediately to search for Sif on Earth.

Shortly after Thor arrives in New York, he learns that Captain America has been reported killed in battle with HYDRA. At Avengers Mansion, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Panther, and Vision try to learn what happened from a distraught Rick Jones. A short time later, Thor attends Captain America’s funeral along with his teammates, Cap’s grieving girlfriend Sharon Carter, Nick Fury, and other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, Nick Fury’s eulogy is interrupted when a powerful knock-out gas spews from the casket. The next thing Thor knows, he is awakening in a coffin next to an open grave at Drearcliff Cemetery. Captain America, still alive, and Rick, dressed as Bucky, have saved the Avengers from being buried alive by HYDRA. The duo pursues the fleeing HYDRA agents, so Thor resumes his search for Sif.

Thor soon learns from some National Guard troops that Sif disappeared into a strange energy vortex surrounding an atomic research center. After penetrating the vortex and rescuing Sif from a band of savage mutates, Thor finds that the vortex is a time-funnel that has transported them into Earth’s future. When they locate the atomic research center, Thor and Sif discover that the time-funnel is the work of Pluto, the Greek god of the underworld, who desires revenge on Thor for his interference in Pluto’s schemes last year. Pluto then leads the mutates in an invasion of 20th-century Earth, only to be stopped by Zeus, who forcibly returns Pluto to Hades and undoes the damage his warriors caused during the battle.

Having been joined by Balder the Brave, Thor and Sif enter the atomic research center to investigate a sleeping figure that Pluto had seemed to fear. They find the being has awakened, a tall, powerfully built man with golden skin, blond hair, and strange glowing eyes. The man says he has no name but is referred to only as “Him.” After recounting some of his vague memories, Him suddenly decides he wants Sif to be his mate, so he grabs her and teleports away. Thor uses Mjolnir to create a spacetime vortex so he and Balder can follow. They nearly catch up to Him and Sif on a barren alien world but are distracted when Haag, an old crone who serves Karnilla, tries to abduct Balder. By the time Thor has driven Haag off, Him and Sif have disappeared. Thor goes into a rage and pursues his quarry to yet another planet, where Thor attacks Him with savage ferocity. Overcome by a berserker rage, Thor ignores Balder’s attempts to calm him down. Unable to withstand Thor’s onslaught, Him forms a protective cocoon around himself and escapes into space. When the “warrior madness” leaves Thor, he is ashamed of his behavior and returns to Asgard, accompanied by Sif and Balder.

Odin is not pleased that a Prince of Asgard would allow himself to be consumed by a berserker rage when fighting a single foe and orders Thor to undertake a dangerous mission alone in the depths of outer space: to track down Galactus so the world-destroyer may be subjected to the judgment of Odin. Thor accepts his father’s command as a form of penance, but not knowing how long such a mission would take, he requests one brief visit to Midgard before he departs. Odin grants his request and returns Thor to New York. There, Loki attacks as soon as Thor transforms into Don Blake, but Odin quickly puts a stop to Loki’s scheme. Don finds he must perform a life-saving operation on Balder, who was injured by Loki. Finally, leaving Balder to recover, Don changes back into Thor and returns to Asgard. He soon sets off in a special spaceship created by Odin. To Thor’s surprise, Galactus soon finds him, weary of battle and wanting only to talk. Thor agrees to listen as Galactus relates the tale of his true origins. At the conclusion of Galactus’s reminiscences, Odin manifests himself and says he has learned what he needed to know, thus Thor’s mission was successful.

Odin transports Thor directly back to New York to assist the Warriors Three in battling a rampaging 25-foot robot called the Thermal Man. After a fierce battle, with some assistance from the National Guard and the Air Force, Thor generates a powerful hurricane that sweeps the Thermal Man out to sea. Afterwards, Thor changes into Don Blake and returns to his apartment, only to find that Volstagg has accidentally broken all his furniture. Not long after, Thor is lured into Hades when Pluto kidnaps Jane Foster. Though forbidden by Zeus to attack Thor directly, Pluto has allied himself with Loki to get revenge on the thunder god. They teleport Ulik the Troll into Hades to battle Thor, but their plan goes awry when Ulik decides to kill Pluto first. Thor saves Pluto and sends Ulik to battle Loki. In gratitude, Pluto returns Thor and Jane to Earth, with the memory of the terrifying experience erased from her mind.

Donald Blake treats a wealthy African American businessman named Lionel Dibbs, though he must amputate Dibbs’s right hand. Nevertheless, Dibbs has only a few months to live before he dies of cancer. Don becomes concerned when he learns that Dibbs once made a vow to see the slum where he grew up demolished before he died. He worries that the dying man will try something desperate.

Thor joins the other Avengers aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to test samples of a super-metal called adamantium. Thor finds that Goliath has adopted the new identity of Yellowjacket and Hawkeye has traded in his bow and arrows to become the new Goliath. Iron Man, Wasp, and Vision are also in attendance. Thor is amazed when even his enchanted hammer is unable to dent a cylinder of the new metal. Hours later, the Vision betrays the team to deliver the adamantium to his creator, Ultron, who builds a new, indestructible body for himself. After the Vision redeems himself by shaking off Ultron’s mind-control, Thor and the other Avengers battle Ultron at the United Nations building and destroy his adamantium body by shorting out his molecular rearranger.

Don Blake labors to save the life of civil-rights leader Pedro Luis Lopez, the victim of an assassination attempt. The surgery is interrupted when the Wrecker threatens to destroy the hospital. Don hurriedly changes into Thor and goes to stop the Wrecker, leaving his patient in the care of his assistants. Within 15 minutes, Thor defeats the Wrecker and returns to the operating room, where Don finishes the procedure. Lopez recovers, sparing the city from a race riot that would surely have followed had he died.

October 1964 – When Tony Stark is hospitalized for heart failure, Thor rushes Dr. José Santini to the scene. However, the Growing Man, Kang’s size-changing android, kidnaps the comatose Stark. Thor, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Captain America, Goliath, and Vision follow him to Kang’s fortress in the 41st century, where they meet up with the Black Panther. There, Kang the Conqueror explains that he has chosen the Avengers to represent him in a contest with an alien called the Grandmaster. If the Avengers win, Kang’s lover Ravonna, held in suspended animation at the brink of death, will be restored to full health; but if the Avengers lose, Earth will be destroyed. Naturally, they agree to cooperate, on the condition that Stark be returned to the hospital to undergo a life-saving operation. The Grandmaster then appears and teleports Thor, Captain America, and Goliath to a barren landscape, where they are joined by Iron Man. There, they are confronted by four costumed supervillains: Hyperion, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, and the Whizzer, known collectively as the Squadron Sinister. The Avengers split up, teleported to four different locations around the globe. Thor finds himself in Egypt, in the shadow of the Sphinx, where he defeats Hyperion after a brief battle. They are then teleported back to Kang’s fortress and held in stasis while Yellowjacket, Black Panther, and Vision participate in phase two of the contest. They are soon revived by the Wasp and the Black Knight, who has followed them into the future by his own means. Immediately, the heroes storm into Kang’s throne room and battle the time-traveling despot, to the Grandmaster’s great amusement. Once Kang is defeated, the Grandmaster teleports the Avengers home. Thor joins his teammates in extending an offer of membership to the Black Knight.

Dr. Keith Kinkaid asks Don Blake to contact Thor, as Jane Foster has been kidnapped by a reclusive billionaire named Kronin Krask in order to force Kinkaid to conduct a dangerous experiment. Thor soon flies out to Krask’s vast estate and battles his security guards, only to fall victim to a hallucinogenic mist. When Thor regains consciousness, he finds that Krask is attempting to hijack the thunder god’s body. So as not to endanger Jane, Thor engages in psychic combat with Krask’s mental essence. Krask is defeated, and the psychic shock causes him to keel over dead. Thor directs Kinkaid to dismantle Krask’s mind-swap machine, then says goodbye to Jane.

Thor helps the Avengers travel to the extradimensional realm of Polemachus to rescue the Scarlet Witch and a number of top nuclear scientists. Joined by Iron Man, Captain America, Goliath, Quicksilver, Black Panther, and Vision, Thor battles the barbarian king Arkon and his horde of warriors. Arkon abandons the fight when Iron Man and Thor construct a device to revitalize the life-giving energy rings that surround Polemachus. Soon after, Thor stops the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime from using Ulik the Troll to steal a new government supercomputer. Then, Thor and Iron Man lend a hand when the Avengers must search for a group of villains called the Lethal Legion. Though Thor’s search is fruitless, he learns later that his teammates found and defeated the villains. A few days later, Thor prevents a bitter scientist named Jasper Whyte from using his robot, the Crypto-Man, to hold New York City hostage. Thor convinces Whyte to have a change of heart, and he sacrifices himself to stop the Crypto-Man.

After a contentious meeting during which the Avengers meet the Native American superhero Red Wolf, the team decides to split its forces. Goliath, Scarlet Witch, and Vision agree to help Red Wolf oppose a ruthless business tycoon named Cornelius Van Lunt, the Black Panther goes off on his own to combat inner-city crime, while Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and Quicksilver focus on the international crime syndicate Zodiac. Thor and his three teammates are captured by Zodiac when a fast-acting knock-out gas is pumped into Avengers Mansion. They are revived a day later by the Black Panther and Daredevil, finding that Zodiac has staged a full-scale invasion of Manhattan Island. When Zodiac’s leader, Aries, makes a hasty retreat by aircraft, Thor pursues him. However, when Aries turns his mysterious weapon, the Zodiac Key, on innocent bystanders, Thor summons down a lightning strike that blows up Aries’s skyship, killing the villain and his henchmen. After helping repair the damage Zodiac caused to the bridges and tunnels leading to Manhattan, the Avengers learn that their three separate cases were in fact part of a larger whole.

November 1964 – Following the election of Senator Morris N. Richardson as the next President of the United States, Thor returns to Asgard at Sif’s request. Odin has entered the Odinsleep again, since his last attempt was interrupted by Mangog, leaving the realm undefended. When they arrive, they find Loki has staged yet another coup d’état. This time, Loki has transported Odin to the Sea of Eternal Night, where he lies within a stasis tube. Thus, the Odinsleep will last indefinitely. However, this act has weakened the spell imprisoning the fire demon Surtur, and he breaks out of Muspelheim and attacks Asgard, setting the realm aflame. Thor, the Warriors Three, and the legions of Asgard wage a hopeless battle against Surtur until Balder tracks down Odin and awakens him. Thor is on the verge of defeat when Odin appears and re-imprisons Surtur. During the victory celebrations, Thor is suddenly teleported to the prison planet of the Stranger, where he battles the Abomination. When Thor returns to Asgard, he decides to spend some quality time with Sif.

December 1964 – Thor returns to Earth to search for Loki, who has been hiding out there since fleeing from Surtur. However, Loki surprises Thor with a magic mask that swaps their identities. Trapped in Loki’s body, Thor has a difficult time convincing Sif and Balder that he is not the villain he appears to be. Just as he is getting through to them, Odin transports him to Asgard. Thinking Loki is lying to avoid punishment, Odin ignores Thor’s protests and banishes him to Mephisto’s realm of Hell. Mephisto is initially eager to work with Loki, until he realizes it is really Thor, whose goodness is anathema to him. Thor’s spirits are lifted when Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun the Grim appear and battle Mephisto on his behalf. Thor finally manages to wield Loki’s magic well enough to amplify the aura of goodness and nobility in his soul until Mephisto is forced to eject them from his realm. Materializing on the Rainbow Bridge, Thor sends his companions on to tell Odin what has happened, then returns to Earth to confront Loki, who is wreaking havoc in Thor’s body. After an extremely mismatched battle, during which Thor receives a savage beating, he manages to separate his body from Mjolnir for sixty seconds. When Odin’s enchantment then causes him to revert to his mortal form of Don Blake, Loki’s spell is broken and they are forcibly returned to their own bodies. Don immediately changes back into Thor, but seeing he has been defeated, Loki teleports himself to safety. The thunder god then assures the delegates at the United Nations that the “Thor” who demanded dominion over the earth was an impostor.

Thor and the Black Panther journey to Polemachus to rescue Goliath, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Vision from Arkon and the Enchantress, who have joined forces. Thor is caught off guard when he is attacked by the Black Knight, who has fallen under the Enchantress’s spell. Using the mystical Ebony Blade, the Black Knight manages to separate Thor from Mjolnir. However, less than a minute later, the Black Knight regains his senses when the Enchantress is distracted by her battle with the Scarlet Witch, allowing Thor to retrieve his hammer. Seeing the tide has turned, the Enchantress teleports away, abandoning Arkon. He calls an end to the hostilities, but the Avengers refuse to listen to his explanations. Instead, Thor uses Mjolnir to generate a spacetime vortex to get them home, calling upon the power of Odin for assistance. Thor and the Black Panther materialize in Central Park, right across the street from Avengers Mansion, but they can find no trace of their teammates. Before they can mount a search, the two heroes remember they are due to participate in a Toys-for-Tots program sponsored by the United States Marine Corps. For the next few hours, Thor, Black Panther, Captain America, and Spider-Man distribute toys to underprivileged children.

Later, Thor uses the energies of Mjolnir to power an interdimensional scanner that Iron Man has brought over from Stark Industries to search for their missing teammates. After many hours, the missing Avengers are located and brought home. They relate how they had somehow been diverted to a parallel world, where they saved the earth alongside heroic versions of the Squadron Sinister called the Squadron Supreme. Then, the Black Panther regales his teammates with tales of his African homeland, Wakanda, and the story of his origins.

The Avengers are scheduled to participate in a Christmas charity appeal on television, but Captain America asks Thor, Iron Man, and Goliath to remain on-call at the mansion in case the United Nations needs them to protect an experimental weather-control station that is due to be tested. The trio is soon called to action when the installation is threatened by the Hulk, the Sub-Mariner, and the Silver Surfer. When they arrive on the Caribbean island where the project is located, the three Avengers scuffle with the super-powerful misfits until Atlantean scientists prove that the experiment is too dangerous to continue. Fed up with the human race, the Hulk and the Silver Surfer go their separate ways, but Namor remains behind to introduce the Avengers to his fiancée, Lady Dorma. Thor is impressed with her beauty and regal bearing. After the Atlanteans withdraw, the three Avengers jet back to New York in time to participate in the team’s third annual Christmas charity benefit at the mansion. Thor is introduced to Captain America’s new partner, the Falcon. The thunder god enjoys the party, and he looks forward to another year as Midgard’s champion.

Notes:

January 1964 – Thor’s adventures resume in Thor #141 and following. The thunder god declines to participate in the meeting to discuss the Black Widow’s membership in Avengers #38. He makes a quick cameo in the S.H.I.E.L.D. story in Strange Tales #156, then guest-stars briefly in Daredevil #30.

March 1964 – Thor rejoins the Avengers to battle the Mandarin and his cronies in Avengers Annual #1. The city in which Thor and Hawkeye battle Ultimo and the Living Laser is not specified, but in 1964 this was the chief diamond-producing center of the region described in the story. It is now known as Kinshasa. The subsequent festivities in New York’s Central Park are seen in Avengers #45.

April 1964 – Thor meets the Collector, one of the Elders of the Universe, in Avengers #51. During these events, the Hulk is rampaging through Asgard, as seen in Tales to Astonish #101–Hulk #102. Thor reads in the newspaper about the “deaths” of his teammates in Avengers #52.

May 1964 – Thor, Spider-Man, and Daredevil take on the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #73, which takes place during Thor #149.

July 1964 – Loki tricks the Silver Surfer into attacking Thor in Silver Surfer #4.

August 1964 – Thor votes to induct the Vision into the ranks of the Avengers in Avengers #58.

September 1964 – Since Thor is traveling through space with Tana Nile, he is unable to attend the wedding of Yellowjacket and the Wasp. Thor also missed Galactus’s visit to Earth last year, as he was laid up in Asgard, recovering from injuries sustained fighting Hercules and Seidring the Merciless. This accounts for Thor’s statement in Thor #160 that he’d heard of Galactus but always considered him a legend. As seen in Fantastic Four #235, Ego the Living Planet absorbs all the Wanderers into himself, killing them, sometime after Thor leaves. Captain America’s faux funeral is disrupted by HYDRA in Captain America #113 and the flashback in Avengers #106. “Him” will eventually adopt the name Adam Warlock. Jane Foster’s kidnapping by Pluto, drawing Thor into a fight with Ulik in Hades, is revealed in Thor #279. Don Blake treats Lionel Dibbs in a flashback in Amazing Adventures #8. The Avengers battle Ultron-6 in Avengers #66–68

October 1964 – The contest between Kang and the Grandmaster, another of the Elders of the Universe, occurs in Avengers #69–71. In Thor #172, Dr. Keith Kinkaid is misidentified as “Dr. North,” variously called “Jim” and “John.” Clearly, Stan Lee couldn’t remember what the character’s name was supposed to be. The Avengers’ first battle with Arkon is depicted in Avengers #76, and Thor and Iron Man go on a wild goose chase through Greenwich Village in Avengers #79. The team’s confrontation with Zodiac spans Avengers #80–82.

November 1964 – For the full story of President Morris N. Richardson, see OMU: POTUS -- Part Three. Surtur’s attack on Asgard in Thor #177 causes an unseasonable heatwave on Midgard. In the following issue, Thor uses his hammer’s enchantments to create a time-warp that erases most of the story’s events from the timeline. As far as the Abomination remembers, Thor materialized, punched him in the face, threw him in a cell, and departed before the Stranger returned.

December 1964 – This brings us up to Thor #181. Thor returns to Polemachus to rescue his teammates in Avengers #84. When he invokes his father’s assistance in transporting the Avengers home in the next issue, I suspect it is actually Odin who causes Goliath, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Vision to materialize on the world of the Squadron Supreme and prevents them from being rescued until that Earth has been saved. I find this more palatable than a string of wild coincidences. After the four time-lost Avengers are rescued in Avengers #86, Thor hears the Black Panther’s origin story in the following issue. Just before Christmas, Thor joins Iron Man and Goliath in facing down the “Titans Three,” a precursor to the Defenders, in Sub-Mariner #35.

Jump To: The Mighty Thor -- Year Four

Jump Back: The Mighty Thor -- Year Two

Next Issue: I, Magneto

OMW: Bova

The latest in our series of portraits of Obscure Marvel Women from the Original Marvel Universe brings us a unique female whose lifetime of selfless devotion to serving others gives new meaning to “the milk of human kindness.”

Bova began her life as an ordinary Guernsey cow. In 1948, she was purchased by an armor-wearing scientist calling himself the High Evolutionary and taken to his Citadel of Science high on Wundagore Mountain in the tiny Balkan nation of Transia. There, she was placed in a machine of his own invention, a Genetic Accelerator, and transformed into an intelligent humanoid creature capable of speech. The High Evolutionary intended to take advantage of Bova’s maternal instincts by using her as a midwife and nanny for the race of “New Men” he was creating out of various animals.

As Bova adjusted to her new existence, she met the High Evolutionary’s two human associates, Baron Gregor Russoff, a werewolf, and Dr. Jonathan Drew, who claimed to be possessed by an ancient wizard named Magnus. Bova found them both to be a bit intimidating and tended to avoid them. She was chilled by Drew’s tales of a mighty demon named Chthon who was trying to break out of the mountain and destroy the world. Bova was pleased, then, when Drew convinced her master to train the growing numbers of New Men as gallant knights to combat this evil.

During a fierce winter storm in February 1950, a pregnant gypsy woman named Magda arrived at the Citadel suffering from exhaustion. Bova nursed her back to health over the course of several weeks and soon determined that Magda was carrying twins. As they got to know each other, Magda told Bova that she had fled from her husband when he suddenly developed supernatural powers and murdered dozens of people. Though he had been unaware that she was pregnant, Magda remained terrified that he would hunt her down and hurt the children she was carrying. Bova vowed she would never let that happen.

In March, just as Magda went into labor, the High Evolutionary led his Knights of Wundagore into battle with the demon Chthon on the mountaintop outside the Citadel. Bova nervously watched the lights from their supernatural warfare through the windows of the birthing suite as she helped Magda deliver her babies. She was startled when the female infant seemed to glow with the same mysterious light that danced across the sky, but when it faded, the child seemed normal. Bova gave the twins to their mother, and with tears of joy, Magda named them Wanda and Pietro.

After a few hours, the Knights of Wundagore returned in triumph, although the battle cost the lives of almost a third of the New Men as well as Baron Russoff. Convinced that the threat from Chthon had been ended, Dr. Drew bid farewell to the High Evolutionary and departed from the Citadel. A few days later, Bova was saddened to discover that Magda had vanished into the night, leaving her children behind. She sought the advice of her master, and the High Evolutionary promised to find a proper home for the infants. He summoned a traveling couple, Robert and Madeline Frank, from a nearby village, knowing that the wife was experiencing severe complications with her own pregnancy. The High Evolutionary planned to have the Franks raise the twins alongside their own child.

Unfortunately, despite Bova’s great skill as a midwife, Madeline Frank died after a grueling labor that lasted over 20 hours. Her child was horribly deformed and stillborn. Hoping to make the best of the situation, Bova presented Robert Frank with Wanda and Pietro, claiming they were his children. She said Madeline named them with her dying breath. However, overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his wife, Robert Frank fled from the Citadel with astonishing speed. Disappointed, the High Evolutionary developed a new plan upon learning that the shaman of a local gypsy tribe had lost his own twin children some years previously. Thus, Bova and her master took Wanda and Pietro to the gypsy encampment and charged Django and Marya Maximoff with raising them. The astonished couple gratefully agreed to do so. Bova was satisfied that the babies’ monstrous father would never find them.

A year later, the High Evolutionary revealed to Bova that he had been keeping Dr. Drew’s daughter Jessica in suspended animation while treating her for severe radiation poisoning. Every four years, he would revive her for several months so she could undergo experimental treatments in the Genetic Accelerator. During this time, he explained, Bova was to act as her nanny. But for reasons he could not determine, the cryogenic process completely erased Jessica’s memory every time. Bova agreed to do whatever she could for the poor child, who had the body of an eight-year-old but a mind that was a blank slate. Bova grew very attached to Jessica and was heartbroken when, four years later, the girl emerged from stasis with no idea who Bova was. In this way, Bova came to understand why the High Evolutionary remained so aloof toward Jessica Drew.

Another four years passed, but this time, when Jessica was brought out of suspended animation, the High Evolutionary declared that she had finally been cured of the radiation poisoning. Bova was delighted that Jessica, now physically a ten-year-old, could truly begin her life at last. But despite having no memory of her previous existence, Jessica soon realized she was unique among the New Men of Wundagore and began to feel isolated and lonely. Bova did her best to care for Jessica and educate her but was frustrated that the High Evolutionary still kept Jessica at arm’s length. Bova knew that what Jessica really needed was to live among other humans.

Therefore, when the High Evolutionary eventually decided to launch his Citadel of Science into outer space and remove the New Men to another planet, Bova elected to stay behind with Jessica. The pair took up residence in a small cottage on the slopes of Mount Wundagore. Almost immediately, Bova learned to her delight that Wanda and Pietro had become famous heroes known as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and were at that moment vacationing in one of the villages near the mountain. Given the circumstances of their birth, she was not surprised that the twins had developed superhuman powers, and she felt proud they had chosen to use those powers to serve humanity. Despite keeping her distance from the people of the village, Bova nevertheless learned all she could about the twins’ career in the Avengers.

When spring came, Jessica decided the time had come for her to live among her own kind, so she left Bova and took up residence in one of the nearby villages. Bova was saddened as she soon lost touch with Jessica and wondered what became of her. As the years passed, Bova dedicated herself to doing good deeds for wayfarers and orphans, and many local legends spread about “the old woman on the hill” who kept her face hidden with a thick shawl.

Then, in October 1969, Bova encountered Wanda and Pietro again when Chthon attempted to use the Scarlet Witch as a conduit to Earth’s dimension. With the help of their teammates, the Wasp, Captain America, Wonder Man, the Beast, Ms. Marvel, and the Falcon, the twins prevented Chthon from escaping the mountain, though their foster-father, Django Maximoff, died during the battle. Learning from Pietro that the twins had not yet discovered the truth about their biological father, Bova warned them against searching for his identity. As Chthon’s scheme had left his hapless pawn, known as Modred the Mystic, with the mentality of a small child, Bova volunteered to care for Modred. The Avengers then returned to America, leaving Bova wishing she’d had the chance to get to know Wanda and Pietro better.

Two months passed, and then Bova and Modred received a visit from the Thing, a famous member of the Fantastic Four, and his girlfriend, the blind artist Alicia Masters. They were searching for Alicia’s father, who had disappeared in the area the night before, but a bad storm descended on the mountain, forcing them to seek shelter. Bova revealed herself to the unusual couple and told them something of her history. She was delighted to learn that both the Thing and Alicia had recently met the High Evolutionary, having often wondered about the fate of her former master. That night, they found that Modred had magically shrunk Alicia’s father to doll-size and trapped him in his toy box. He attempted to do the same to the Thing, but Bova and Alicia convinced Modred to return the two men to normal size. When the three travelers left in the morning, Bova gave them some Christmas cookies to take with them.

Two years later, during another fierce snowstorm, Bova’s worst fears were finally realized. A mysterious stranger she welcomed into her cottage turned out to be Wanda and Pietro’s biological father, still searching for what had become of his lost wife. Unwittingly telling the man about Magda and the twins, Bova realized her mistake when the man suddenly grew angry and demanded to know the twins’ names. She tried to honor her promise to Magda to protect the children from their father, but he unleashed his terrible power, completely destroying her cabin. When Bova still refused to name the children, the stranger used his power to torture her. Unable to stand the excruciating pain, she revealed they were called Wanda and Pietro. Exultant, the stranger rose into the sky and disappeared into the storm. Terrified, Bova told Modred to cast a spell to warn the twins. She watched with confusion as he sent a bolt of magical energy lancing upwards towards the moon. Bova then tried to create a crude shelter against the storm out of the wreckage of her home, but she suddenly suffered a severe stroke and collapsed. As she lay helplessly, Modred wandered off into the mountains.

Bova was found days later, partially paralyzed and suffering from exposure, and taken to an elderly doctor in a nearby village. The doctor realized this strange creature must be “the old woman on the hill” who was so renowned for her kindness, and not wanting to make a spectacle of her, treated Bova in a back bedroom of his own house. As her condition stabilized, Bova learned that the twins’ father, whose power had directly caused her stroke, was none other than the infamous mutant terrorist known as Magneto.

After nine months, the bedridden Bova was visited by Pietro, who had tracked her down after discovering the shattered remains of her cottage. He was infuriated when he learned what his father had done to Bova and vowed to make Magneto pay for his crime. Quicksilver promised to return soon with a plan to restore Bova to health, but before he managed to do so, she suffered another massive stroke and died.

First Appearance: Giant-Size Avengers #1

Final Appearance: Avengers #245

Next Portrait

OMU: Spider-Man -- Year Three

As Spider-Man continues his undergraduate career, he struggles to balance his life as a student with his activities as a costumed vigilante and encounters foes both old and new. But the most significant events of the next twelve months of the character’s life focus around Peter Parker’s budding romance with Gwen Stacy. It’s a rocky road to love, to be sure, and complicated by her father’s habit of getting mixed up in the schemes of Spider-Man’s enemies. But the sudden death of Captain George Stacy sends Peter Parker’s life spinning off into a dark new territory. Stan Lee & John Romita continue to orchestrate some of the most powerful Spider-Man stories ever produced to cover the third year in the life of Marvel’s flagship superhero.

Note: The following timeline depicts the Original Marvel Universe (anchored to November 1961 as the first appearance of the Fantastic Four and proceeding forward from there. See previous posts for a detailed explanation of my rationale.) Some information presented on the timeline is speculative and some is based on historical accounts. See the Notes section at the end for clarifications.

Now weaving more of... The True History of the Amazing Spider-Man!

January 1964 – During his winter break from college, Peter Parker gets some great photos of a jet-powered robot rampaging outside the Daily Bugle Building. Peter is thrilled when his photos are featured on NBC’s The Huntley-Brinkley Report. After several days, the robot’s crime spree is halted by Thor. Soon after, Peter is worried when he hears the ransom demands broadcast by the terrorist organization HYDRA. They threaten to release a deadly spore into the atmosphere unless the nations of the world submit. Luckily, the terrorists are soon defeated by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Peter finally discovers how to attune his spider-tracer tracking devices so he can locate them using only his innate spider-sense, rather than a handheld electronic device. He builds a number of new units, pleased with his own ingenuity.

Peter comes down with a bad cold just as the new semester is starting at Empire State University. He and his roommate, Harry Osborn, brave the blizzard to go to campus for Introduction to Biology II with Professor Miles Warren. Peter is glad to see Gwen Stacy in class, but his sickness forces him to go home and get back in bed. Later, Peter sees a TV news report that an escaped criminal called Blackie Drago is terrorizing the city as the new Vulture. It is reported that the original Vulture, Adrian Toomes, died in a fire at the prison infirmary. Though he considers leaving Drago to be captured by Daredevil, Peter’s sense of responsibility soon drives him to go into action as Spider-Man despite his illness. He soon finds the new Vulture, but the fight does not go well. Though he manages to rescue the villain’s hostage, Spidey passes out during the battle and Drago escapes. Spider-Man comes to later, drags himself home, and collapses into bed.

The next morning, Peter feels much better, due to his remarkable recuperative powers. Nevertheless, when Aunt May and her roommate, Anna Watson, stop by to visit, Peter is forced to spend half the day in bed pretending to be sick. After hearing a news report that Blackie Drago is fighting with Kraven the Hunter at one of the city’s exhibition halls, Peter changes into Spider-Man and sneaks out while Aunt May is napping. Spidey makes short work of Kraven and the new Vulture and gets home just minutes before Dr. Bromwell pays him a house call. To Aunt May’s relief, the doctor declares it must have been a 24-hour virus. To celebrate, Peter takes his aunt and Mrs. Watson out to a movie.

February 1964 – While stalking a gang of safecrackers, Spider-Man has a strange sort of seizure, which allows the crooks to beat him up. Despite the terrible pain in his head, Spider-Man manages to drive them off and make it back to his apartment. The next day, still feeling ill, Peter follows an odd compulsion to take a plane down to New Orleans, where he realizes it is Mardi Gras. As Spider-Man, he wanders through the crowds of revelers until feeling drawn to a particular warehouse. Inside, he is attacked by a large, strange-looking blue-skinned android. Spider-Man quickly discovers that the android can alternate between being rock-hard and stretchy like rubber. The mysterious pain in his head prevents Spider-Man from fighting effectively, but just as the android is about to kill him, it abruptly ceases its attack and wanders off a pier into the Mississippi River. Just as suddenly, the pain in Spider-Man’s head vanishes. Confused, Peter returns to New York.

Peter temporarily abandons his Spider-Man identity when the pressures of his double life become too much for him. Unsatisfied with dating Mary Jane Watson, Peter wishes he could ask Gwen out, but he believes she is in love with Flash Thompson, who is off at basic training. After Aunt May falls ill again, Peter bombs his Biology exam, prompting Professor Warren to speak to him about his poor grades. Thus, Peter must decline Gwen’s invitation to a party, just as he had to decline an offer to work part-time at Norman Osborn’s chemical laboratory. When J. Jonah Jameson then offers a $1,000 reward for information leading to Spider-Man’s arrest and conviction, Peter has had enough. He takes his Spider-Man costume to a nearby alley and dumps it in a garbage can. Over the next few days, the Daily Bugle leads a media frenzy of speculation over the end of Spider-Man’s career. Visiting the newspaper office, Peter is surprised to see his Spider-Man costume in Jameson’s personal trophy case. Despite a crime wave sweeping the city, Peter resists the urge to resume his superhero ways. However, when he witnesses an elderly night watchman in danger of being thrown off a roof by a gang of robbers, Peter cannot stand idly by. He attacks the crooks, knocking them out while keeping to the shadows. He then slips silently into the darkness as the night watchman thanks him. Peter realizes that the old man reminded him of his deceased Uncle Ben, and feeling guilty, decides that giving up being Spider-Man was a mistake. At dawn, Peter breaks into Jameson’s office and retrieves his costume. Spidey waits around to taunt Jameson when the publisher arrives for work.

Spider-Man is dismayed to learn that, while he was out of action, a crime boss known as the Kingpin finally succeeded in uniting all the city’s mobs into one organized syndicate. Spider-Man tracks the Kingpin to his penthouse headquarters, where he discovers that Daily Bugle reporter Frederick Foswell has returned to a life of crime, apparently serving as one of the Kingpin’s lieutenants. They have kidnapped Jameson, so Spider-Man brawls with the Kingpin. Though the criminal mastermind appears to be morbidly obese, he surprises Spider-Man with his fighting prowess. Spider-Man is gassed into unconsciousness. When he wakes, he finds himself in a deathtrap with Jameson. Spider-Man saves them from drowning with a web cocoon, then fights his way through the gun-toting gangsters for a rematch with the Kingpin. Unable to defeat Spider-Man a second time, the Kingpin escapes down a pneumatic tube, which explodes behind him. Spider-Man returns to the basement to ensure that Jameson made it out safely, only to find that Foswell was fatally shot while protecting Jameson. As the police arrive, Spider-Man overhears Jameson instructing reporter Ned Leeds to write up the story in such a way as to make Foswell the hero.

March 1964 – Believing the Human Torch to be on a rampage, Spider-Man tries to capture him, only to discover that the Torch is shooting a scene for a film directed by Federico Fellini. Spidey is embarrassed when his gaffe is played up in the media. However, he soon receives an offer from Paragon Productions in Hollywood to make a movie about the incident. Expecting to make a lot of money, Peter takes a plane out to Los Angeles at once. While heading to the studio the next morning, Spider-Man runs into the Human Torch, and they agree to set aside their differences and cooperate for the duration of the project. But while shooting their first scene, the Human Torch attacks Spider-Man without warning. After a quick battle, Spider-Man drives his rival away, then pursues him across the studio lot. Finding the Torch inside his trailer, Spider-Man attacks again and their battle continues. When they are both nearly killed by a hidden ray gun, the two heroes realize they’ve been tricked: the Torch who started the fight was an impostor. Working together, Spidey and the Torch discover that Mysterio and the Wizard have teamed up against them. The criminals are captured and turned over to the police, and though the movie studio is revealed as an elaborate front, Spider-Man does split the reward money with the Human Torch. Peter returns to New York, glad that the trip wasn’t a total waste.

Peter is excited when Gwen Stacy agrees to join him at a special science exhibition with Professor Warren. However, this causes friction with Flash, who is on leave between basic training and shipping out to Vietnam. Still, Gwen insists on attending the exhibition, to Professor Warren’s delight. Unfortunately, the exhibition is disrupted by Doctor Octopus, intent on stealing a new missile component called a nullifier. Spider-Man stops the robbery and drives the villain off, planning to track him down later using a spider-tracer he managed to plant on Doc Ock during the melee. The next day, Peter is shocked to discover that Doctor Octopus has rented a room at the house Aunt May shares with Anna Watson. Despite Peter’s protests, Aunt May is convinced Otto Octavius is a kindly gentleman. Stymied, Peter leaves, but after dark, Spider-Man confronts Doc Ock at his bedroom window. The subsequent battle with both Doctor Octopus and members of the Master Planner’s gang leaves a huge hole in the side of the house. Though the henchmen are captured, Doctor Octopus escapes. Peter swears vengeance on his foe for putting his aunt’s life at risk.

While searching for Doctor Octopus, Peter checks in at the offices of the Daily Bugle. Betty Brant introduces Peter to the new city editor, Joe “Robbie” Robertson. Peter finds the level-headed Robertson much easier to deal with than the hot-tempered J. Jonah Jameson. Later, after Doc Ock succeeds in stealing the nullifier from a military convoy, Spidey tracks his enemy to the Stark Industries weapons factory in Flushing, Long Island. Their furious battle ends when Doc Ock turns the nullifier on Spider-Man, its rays inducing a form of total amnesia. Stripped of his identity, Spider-Man is easily persuaded by Doctor Octopus that they are partners-in-crime. Thus, they escape together and take the nullifier to Doc Ock’s secret hideout.

Over the next few days, Spider-Man hangs around Doc Ock’s mansion while the villain works on modifying the nullifier for his own use. Despite his amnesia, Spider-Man remains suspicious of Doctor Octopus and keeps his guard up. When Doc Ock sends Spider-Man to steal a special chemical compound he needs from a nearby military base, Spider-Man does so but intentionally leaves behind a map to lead the authorities to the villain’s hideout. When the soldiers descend on the mansion, Spider-Man refuses to fight on Doc Ock’s behalf. The troops are able to use the nullifier to deactivate the villain’s mechanical tentacles and take him into custody. Spider-Man decides to flee the scene rather than be captured, and for some reason he does not understand, the colonel in charge lets him go. Spider-Man returns to Manhattan and seeks refuge among the rooftops of the city, uncertain of where to go or what to do next.

April 1964 – Spider-Man haunts the rooftops of New York for some time, bereft of all memory or sense of identity. He steals food as the opportunity arises and sleeps on a high perch inside Grand Central Station. Eventually, he hears a radio news bulletin reporting that he has been accused of kidnapping a college freshman named Peter Parker. The report notes that Air Force Colonel John Jameson maintains that Spider-Man is innocent of the accusations made against him. Curious, Spider-Man decides to check out this Colonel Jameson, hoping to learn more about his forgotten identity. This leads him into a strange confrontation with Colonel Jameson, an elderly former police captain, and the policeman’s gorgeous blond daughter. Overwhelmed by the experience, Spider-Man swings away. He seeks information on his past at the offices of the Daily Bugle newspaper. There, the publisher claims to be Spider-Man’s biggest fan and convinces him to take off his mask. Before Spider-Man can do so, however, he is attacked by a shirtless man called Ka-Zar. Their battle leads them into Central Park, where Spider-Man is surprised by Ka-Zar’s pet sabretooth tiger. The prehistoric cat knocks Spider-Man backwards into the lake, where he hits his head and loses consciousness.

Spider-Man comes to on a rooftop, having been resuscitated by Ka-Zar. He immediately realizes his memory has completely returned. After explanations are made, Spidey and Ka-Zar part on friendly terms. Unfortunately, before Peter can contact anyone, he is attacked by a new “Spider-Slayer” robot built by Spencer Smythe. Following a destructive chase across the city, Spider-Man tricks Smythe into overloading the robot’s systems until it explodes. Exhausted, Peter returns to his apartment, only to discover that Aunt May was hospitalized while he had amnesia. When Peter reaches the hospital, Aunt May is greatly relieved to find he has turned up safe and sound. Peter then reports to police headquarters to deal with his alleged kidnapping. Upon arrival, he recognizes the retired police captain as Gwen’s father, George Stacy. Peter claims to have been held captive by the amnesiac Spider-Man, who mistook him for an enemy spy, but was released as soon as the wall-crawler regained his memory. The matter settled, Peter accompanies George Stacy home to discuss the older man’s theories about Spider-Man. When they arrive, Gwen is overjoyed to see Peter and embraces him. Peter is a bit embarrassed but happy to know she cares about him. Gwen insists on taking Peter to meet up with Harry at the campus coffee shop, where he tells them the same story he told the police.

Over the next few days, Peter struggles to catch up on the schoolwork he missed during his fugue state. However, Spider-Man is drawn into stopping the Kingpin’s scheme to brainwash various city officials when the crime boss uses Mary Jane as an unwitting pawn to capture Captain Stacy. During a fight at the villain’s lair, the Kingpin drives Spider-Man away by subjecting him to a powerful electric shock which induces a severe case of double-vision. Forced to leave Captain Stacy behind, Spider-Man heads home to recover. Growing impatient later, Peter rides over to the Stacys’ townhouse to check on Gwen and finds her father is back at home, though his manner is now cold and menacing. While Gwen is making coffee, her father attacks Peter with his cane. Peter accidentally knocks Captain Stacy down while defending himself, and when Gwen enters the room, her father accuses Peter of beating him. Distraught, Gwen throws Peter out of the house.

Convinced that George Stacy has been brainwashed to serve the Kingpin, Spider-Man follows the ex-cop as he escorts some mobsters into police headquarters so they can raid the vault of police files and destroy evidence. Still too weak to stop them, Peter realizes the only way to save Captain Stacy is to publish the incriminating photos he took from outside the window. J. Jonah Jameson is more than happy to do so, running a special edition of the Daily Bugle exposing George Stacy’s involvement with organized crime. The next day, Peter is horrified to discover that both Gwen and her father have been kidnapped by the Kingpin’s thugs. A clue found at the nightclub where Mary Jane had been performing leads Spider-Man to Osborn Laboratories, Inc. Spider-Man smashes his way in, finding the Kingpin holding the Stacys prisoner, and beats the crime boss senseless. His lackey, Dr. Winkler, tries to shoot the hostages, but he is stopped by Norman Osborn. Winkler’s gun goes off, hitting the brainwashing machine and causing an explosion that stuns Osborn and kills Winkler. Spidey gets the Stacys to safety as the lab goes up in flames, but the Kingpin escapes. In the aftermath, Osborn corroborates George Stacy’s story about being mind-controlled by the Kingpin, and so the former policeman is exonerated. However, though she’s grateful to Spider-Man, Gwen is now convinced that Peter Parker is a vicious coward who betrayed them.

Depressed about Gwen and overwhelmed with schoolwork, Peter decides to ride his motorbike out into the countryside to relax and clear his head. He soon finds himself in Westchester County, where he has a close encounter with an egg-shaped UFO and a giant robot spider. Changing into Spider-Man, he fights with the robot, finally getting it to destroy itself with its own weapon. However, he is knocked out by the resulting explosion. When Spider-Man regains consciousness, the UFO has disappeared, but Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, and the Beast of the X-Men attack him, accusing him of being in league with “Factor Three.” After a brief brawl, the boys realize there has been a misunderstanding: the robot was the “spider menace” the X-Men had been searching for. Spider-Man is too angry to accept the mutants’ apology, and he is even more annoyed when they drive off in their Rolls-Royce. Soon, Peter is back on his second-hand motorbike riding back to Manhattan.

May 1964 – Gwen refuses to speak to Peter for the remainder of the academic year. One afternoon, Spider-Man and Thor assist Daredevil in convincing the Fantastic Four that he’s not an impostor. On the roof of the Baxter Building, Thor battles the Thing while Daredevil fights with Mister Fantastic. Spider-Man draws the Human Torch into a separate duel across the rooftops nearby. Spidey defeats the Torch, and when they return to the Baxter Building, the Invisible Girl convinces her teammates that it was merely another revenge scheme hatched by Doctor Doom.

Peter celebrates his 19th birthday with Aunt May, Anna Watson, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn, though he’s still upset about wrecking his chances with Gwen. Also, Peter begins to feel uncomfortable living with Harry rent-free while Norman Osborn pays all the bills. Believing he’s fallen in love with Gwen, Peter is too depressed to do well on his final exams. He is disappointed with the grades he earns for his freshman year, feeling he has let Aunt May down.

June 1964 – After Spider-Man has a chance encounter with Medusa, one of the royal family of the Inhumans, Peter visits the Stacys’ townhouse, hoping to patch things up with Gwen. She is still angry with him, and he fumbles his explanation since he can’t admit to being Spider-Man. He returns home with a heavy heart. That evening, Spider-Man is duped into fighting Medusa by an unscrupulous executive for a hair spray company. After going a few rounds with the angry Inhuman, Spidey realizes they’ve been set up. Thus, after Medusa departs, Spider-Man hangs around to talk to the reporters who’ve appeared on the scene. He describes Medusa’s hair as “wild” and “uncontrollable” and such, to undermine the executive’s plan to exploit her for advertising purposes. Later that evening, Peter runs into Mary Jane. She flirts with him, but he’s too heartbroken about Gwen to even play along.

July 1964 – While moving an old steamer trunk into the basement for Aunt May, Peter discovers newspaper articles inside that reveal the truth about his parents. He is shocked to learn that Richard and Mary Parker were accused of treason against the United States before being killed in a plane crash in Algeria. Distraught, he confronts Aunt May, who tearfully reveals that she and Uncle Ben sought to shield Peter from the shame surrounding his parents’ deaths. For many days, Peter goes about his daily routine like a man in a daze, obsessed with these stunning revelations. He has too many questions and very few answers. Finally, he determines to find out the truth about his parents, even if it means traveling to Africa in search of 15-year-old clues. With no money for a plane ticket, he seeks help from the Fantastic Four as Spider-Man. Mister Fantastic agrees to give him a lift to Algeria while testing a new airship for Stark Industries. Hours later, Spider-Man finds himself in the historic Casbah section of Algiers, the capital city. Acting on the scraps of information Aunt May could provide, Spider-Man tracks down the man who identified his parents’ bodies. The web-slinger intimidates the man into admitting that Richard Parker was a covert operative for a locally based subversive organization. Raiding the organization’s headquarters, the wall-crawler finds evidence that appears to confirm that his father worked for the Red Skull. Consumed with rage and shame, Spider-Man attacks the man claiming to be the Red Skull, as well as his henchmen and assassins. During the fierce battle, Spider-Man forces his foes to confess to framing Richard Parker, who was working in counterintelligence at the time and had never gone rogue. With a renewed determination, Spider-Man routs his enemies and destroys their headquarters, but not before making off with evidence to prove that his parents were not traitors. Exultant over his victory, Peter makes his way back to the United States.

August 1964 – Peter spends several weeks meeting with intelligence officials to see about clearing his parents’ names. He is ultimately successful, resulting in a small story running in the back pages of the Daily Bugle.

September 1964 – Peter begins his sophomore year at Empire State University. Though he is glad that Gwen is his classmate in Biology 201 with Professor Miles Warren, she is still angry with him and ignores him. After school, Harry reads Peter a letter he’s received from Flash in Vietnam. When Norman Osborn arrives in an agitated state, Peter worries that his memories of being the Green Goblin may be starting to return. Wanting to give the Osborns some privacy, Peter heads over to the Daily Bugle, where he finds the original Vulture, Adrian Toomes, still very much alive and fighting with his would-be successor, Blackie Drago. When innocent bystanders are threatened, Peter changes into Spider-Man and intervenes. Toomes quickly defeats Drago, who is taken into police custody. Spider-Man then battles the original Vulture, despite some interference from J. Jonah Jameson. Unfortunately, the Vulture gets the better of the hapless hero, and though Spider-Man damages his flight mechanism, Toomes escapes. Badly beaten, Spider-Man passes out in the street as a crowd gathers around him.

When Spider-Man regains consciousness, he finds himself in a prison infirmary. He overhears George Stacy and attorney Franklin “Foggy” Nelson discussing the legal implications of removing Spider-Man’s mask without his consent. Assured that his secret identity is safe, Spider-Man fades in and out of consciousness until awakening the next day, feeling much recovered. Before leaving the prison, though, Spider-Man is called upon to rescue Captain Stacy from a gang of convicts attempting a jailbreak.

The next day, Peter is disappointed when he must sell his motorbike to a pawn shop to raise some desperately needed cash. His mood improves dramatically, however, when Gwen comes running up to him, explaining that her father has finally regained the memories of what happened while he was brainwashed by the Kingpin. Thus, Gwen now knows Peter never really attacked or betrayed him. Peter is overjoyed, and over the course of the day, he and Gwen realize they have truly fallen in love with each other.

That night, Spider-Man answers a challenge issued by Mysterio to a showdown at the now-abandoned TV studio where they fought their first battle. There, Mysterio tries to trick Spider-Man into believing he’s been shrunk down to merely six inches tall, but Spider-Man eventually sees through the ruse and defeats Mysterio once again.

After harassing J. Jonah Jameson about giving some good press to a new superhero called Yellowjacket, Spider-Man is surprised to receive an invitation to the wedding of Yellowjacket and the Wasp. Spidey arrives at Avengers Mansion to find Iron Man, Captain America, and Hawkeye, as well as Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Thing, the Human Torch and his new girlfriend Crystal, Doctor Strange and his new girlfriend Clea, Daredevil, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, and the Beast. Spidey is introduced to the Black Panther, the new Black Knight, the Vision, and Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The ceremony goes well, but when the Wasp and Yellowjacket are cutting the cake afterwards, a giant python bursts out of the cake and attacks them. The Avengers ask their guests to step out while they deal with the situation. About half an hour later, the police arrive to take the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime into custody. The guests return to the party and are surprised to discover that Yellowjacket is none other than the Wasp’s old beau, Henry Pym.

At ESU, Peter meets freshman student Randy Robertson, the son of Daily Bugle city editor Joe Robertson. Through Randy, Peter learns of some campus protests being organized by a student activist named Josh Kittling. After school, Peter and Gwen go to visit Aunt May to tell her that their relationship has gotten serious. Aunt May is delighted by the news. The next day, Peter worries that Josh and Randy’s protest rally will escalate into a full-blown campus riot. When the Kingpin and his henchmen take advantage of the chaos to steal an ancient stone tablet from ESU’s exhibition hall, Peter changes into Spider-Man to stop them. However, the Kingpin gets away with the tablet when Spider-Man is distracted saving Randy’s life. Spider-Man then pursues the Kingpin and manages to retrieve the tablet, but when he attempts to approach the police outside, the cops open fire on the web-slinger. Angry and frustrated, Spider-Man takes the tablet back to his apartment and hides it in the closet.

The next day, after arguing with Gwen over his frequent disappearances, Peter decides to try to cash in on the tablet’s notoriety, only to learn the Kingpin has implicated him in its theft. Thus, later that night, Spider-Man draws the Kingpin into a confrontation, but their fight is interrupted by J. Jonah Jameson and Ned Leeds. A woman in a black sedan helps the Kingpin escape, prompting the furious Spider-Man to vent his rage at Jameson. However, when the newspaperman suffers a sudden seizure and collapses, Spider-Man flees the scene, fearing he has driven Jameson to a fatal heart attack. In the morning, Peter is relieved to learn from Joe Robertson that Jameson is expected to make a full recovery. Robertson also gives Peter a far more generous payment for his photos than Jameson ever offered. Thrilled, Peter changes into Spider-Man and delivers the ancient tablet to George Stacy, trusting the former police captain to see that it is returned to its rightful owner. Immediately afterwards, Spider-Man meets Quicksilver when the former Avenger tries to bring him to justice. After a brief battle, Spider-Man defeats the mutant speedster. Peter is happy when the next edition of the Daily Bugle uses his photos to exonerate Spider-Man.

While web-swinging around the city, Spider-Man overhears a radio broadcast by an unidentified supervillain who threatens to cause a nationwide power outage unless his demands are met. Spidey thinks the voice sounds familiar, but he can’t place it. Ultimately, nothing comes of the threats.

October 1964 – Spider-Man battles the Shocker, learning that the crook has stolen the ancient stone tablet from George Stacy’s wall safe. The Shocker is defeated, but Spidey has no idea where his foe hid the tablet. Still, Peter is happy to have been able to send Aunt May on a trip to Florida with her friend Anna Watson, and the Daily Bugle has been much more positive about Spider-Man with J. Jonah Jameson in the hospital. Unfortunately, his mood is ruined when Peter argues with Gwen after she flirts with Flash, who is home from Vietnam on leave. The next evening, Spider-Man pays a visit to George Stacy to ask him about the Shocker’s attack. Stacy directs Spider-Man to the Shocker’s girlfriend, a stripper who lives in the theater district. At her apartment, Spider-Man finds the woman being menaced by a Maggia enforcer called Man-Mountain Marko, who knows she’s hiding the ancient tablet. Spider-Man prevents Marko from killing the woman but fails to stop him from escaping with the tablet.

Further investigation leads Spider-Man to attorney Caesar Cicero, a notorious “mouthpiece” for the Maggia crime syndicate. There, Spider-Man discovers that the Maggia has kidnapped Dr. Curt Connors and his family for some nefarious purpose. Cicero escapes by triggering an explosion that destroys his office. After a day of searching, Spider-Man finally tracks down Man-Mountain Marko, finding him in an office building, struggling with a young man called Silvermane. Spider-Man is confused, for he knows the infamous Maggia boss by that name is about 80 years old. The web-slinger quickly defeats Marko but is shocked to see Silvermane is rapidly aging backwards. Spider-Man realizes that the hieroglyphics on the ancient tablet must have been a formula for eternal youth, which Dr. Connors deciphered, though something has apparently gone wrong. Silvermane rapidly progresses from adolescent to child to infant before becoming a whimpering mass lost within his pile of clothes. Astonished, Spider-Man defeats the remaining gangsters and rescues Martha and Billy Connors. There is no sign of Curt, and they worry that he has once again changed into the Lizard.

Unable to pick up Curt Connors’ trail, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker and goes to make up with Gwen. Before taking her out on a date, Peter finds that George Stacy and Joe Robertson are meeting to compare notes on Spider-Man. Feeling paranoid, Peter evades their questions and worries that they will figure out his secret identity. The next day, Spider-Man finds the Lizard terrorizing the city and becomes frustrated when the Human Torch interferes. The Torch treats the Lizard only as a dangerous monster that must be stopped at all costs, while Spider-Man wants to capture the Lizard without harming him. Spidey finally rids himself of the Torch by claiming that his “spider-sonic hearing” has detected a distress call from the Fantastic Four. As the Human Torch blazes back to the Baxter Building, Spider-Man traps the Lizard inside a chemical supply warehouse and succeeds in changing him back to his human form. Safely reunited once again, the Connors family expresses their unending gratitude to Spider-Man.

Before returning to Florida, Curt Connors looks over a chemical formula Spider-Man has been working on and makes a few suggestions. This allows Peter to finally finish the formula he started researching two years ago. Peter believes it will allow him to get rid of his spider-powers should they ever prove to be a threat to his health. However, Peter can’t think of a way to effectively test it, so he never mixes up the actual serum.

A misunderstanding leads Peter to think Gwen is dating Flash Thompson behind his back. He is so upset that he has trouble dealing with a costumed thief called the Prowler, who tries stealing the Daily Bugle’s payroll. The Prowler is able to escape after hitting Spider-Man with a gas grenade. The next day, after angrily confronting Gwen, Peter becomes Spider-Man again and tracks down the Prowler. This time, Spider-Man easily defeats the Prowler and unmasks him, discovering him to be a disgruntled African American teenager named Hobie Brown. Discouraged by his defeat, Hobie admits that he planned to steal things as the Prowler and return them in his civilian guise to collect the reward money. Seeing a lot of himself in Hobie Brown, Spider-Man decides to let him go.

Harry and Flash confront Peter to explain why Flash was having coffee with Gwen: she only wanted to ask Flash about Peter’s mysterious disappearances, as she was afraid Peter was secretly seeing another girl. Feeling like a jerk, Peter calls Gwen to apologize. They agree to meet up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where Gwen’s dad is acting as a security consultant for a special exhibit. Trouble ensues when Captain Stacy is framed for an art heist by the Chameleon. With Joe Robertson’s help, Spider-Man baits a trap for the Chameleon and soon captures him when the spy tries to steal a fortune in bonds. The following day, Peter picks up Aunt May at Penn Station as she returns from Florida. Their reunion is interrupted when Spider-Man must capture an Australian bruiser known as the Kangaroo before he accidentally unleashes a deadly plague on the city. Spider-Man manages to get the vial of experimental bacteria away from the Kangaroo, but the villain escapes.

Frustrated with his lack of spending money, Spider-Man arranges to appear on The Merv Griffin Show. Though nervous, the network executives are willing to take a chance since rival Johnny Carson has recently scored a ratings coup by booking Daredevil, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch on The Tonight Show. Unfortunately, the production is wrecked by Electro, who invades the studio and attacks Spider-Man. Though Spidey manages to drive Electro off, the studio is left a shambles. Peter knows no producer will risk having Spider-Man on TV again.

After taking Flash to the airport to return to Vietnam, Peter and Gwen go for a walk, only to be caught in the path of an out-of-control truck. Forced onto the sidewalk by a black sedan, the truck crashes and rolls on top of them, with only Peter’s super-strength saving their lives. He wedges a broken parking meter under the truck so he can drag his girlfriend to safety. With Gwen recovering in the hospital, Peter changes into Spider-Man and goes in search of the sedan. This leads him into the middle of a gang war between the Kingpin and a rival crime boss called the Schemer. As a blizzard paralyses the city, Spider-Man searches for the Schemer, intent on collecting the $5,000 reward for his capture. He finally finds the Schemer and the Kingpin fighting each other at an elegant mansion. However, despite Spider-Man’s best efforts, both of his foes manage to escape. The next day, Spider-Man finally apprehends the Schemer, only to be lured into a trap by the Kingpin. Caught in a magnetized steel-cable net, Spider-Man can only watch as the Schemer reveals himself to be the Kingpin’s estranged son in disguise. Having thought his son was dead and now learning that shame drove the young man to seek to destroy his father’s criminal empire, the Kingpin suffers a nervous breakdown. Spider-Man finally breaks free of the net but decides to leave the Kingpin’s family to sort out their problems.

On the way back to his apartment, Spider-Man begins to feel seriously ill. When he finally arrives, battered and bruised, Peter is confronted by George Stacy, Gwen, and Harry, who are worried about his involvement with a dangerous character like Spider-Man. Peter refuses to back down and Gwen storms out in tears. Harry goes after her. Captain Stacy leaves Peter with a few words of advice that make Peter worry that the elderly ex-detective may have guessed his secret. Later, unable to concentrate and thinking he may be losing his powers, Peter goes out as Spider-Man to exercise, only to be attacked by the Black Widow. The former Soviet spy derides Spider-Man for his inability to effectively fight back against her. Angry, Spider-Man rallies enough to drive her off, then staggers home. After sleeping through most of the next day, Peter begins to fear that the radiation that gave him his spider-powers is now killing him. Following a nearly disastrous outing as Spider-Man, Peter wanders over to the Stacys’ townhouse for Gwen’s 19th birthday party. When he arrives, he holds up his mask and announces to everyone that he is Spider-Man. After apologizing for all the trouble he’s caused, Peter wanders off in a daze. His friends are too shocked to know what to do.

Convinced that he’s dying, Peter changes into Spider-Man and goes to the nearest hospital, where he collapses. He awakens hours later to be informed by the doctor that he merely had a very bad case of the flu. Feeling like an idiot, Spider-Man tracks down Hobie Brown and enlists his aid in convincing his friends that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are two different people. Returning to the Stacys’ townhouse that evening, Peter explains that he was delirious from the flu last night and didn’t know what he was saying. Hobie then comes in the window, wearing Spider-Man’s costume, and discusses with Peter their deal regarding the photos Peter takes. The ruse works, and Peter and Gwen make up.

The next day, Peter rushes to the studios of WOR-TV to photograph Captain America battling Batroc the Leaper, the Porcupine, and Whirlwind. Afterwards, Peter takes his photos to the Daily Bugle and sells them to J. Jonah Jameson. However, Jameson informs Peter that what he really wants are photos of the Black Widow.

Two days later, Professor Warren warns Peter that his grades have slipped to the point that he is endangering his scholarship. After school, Spider-Man battles Doctor Octopus at John F. Kennedy International Airport when his old foe hijacks a jet carrying a Chinese delegation. While Spidey keeps the villain busy, the plane is evacuated. However, when Doc Ock tries to escape by taking off again, the jet crashes at the end of the runway and explodes. Spider-Man leaps clear, but Doctor Octopus is presumed to have been killed in the fireball. The next day, though, when no trace of Doc Ock or his metal tentacles has been found in the wreckage, Spider-Man scours the city searching for his arch-enemy. He finally finds Doc Ock smashing up a power plant, but after a furious brawl across the rooftops, the villain defeats Spider-Man and gets away. Peter recuperates at Gwen’s house, then rushes home to prepare a variant of his web-fluid designed especially for Doc Ock. That evening, Spider-Man tracks down Doctor Octopus again, and they continue their rooftop battle. Spider-Man’s web formula disrupts the tentacles’ reception of impulses from Doc Ock’s brain, causing the metal arms to go out of control. As they flail about madly, the tentacles smash a chimney, sending a mass of broken bricks plummeting to the street below. Spider-Man watches in horror as George Stacy is killed while saving a young boy from the falling debris. Doctor Octopus escapes as Spider-Man swings down and pulls Captain Stacy from the rubble. With his dying breath, Stacy reveals that he knows Spider-Man is Peter Parker and tells him to take good care of Gwen.

Devastated by the death of George Stacy, Peter and Gwen spend the night at Aunt May’s house in Forest Hills, Queens. In the morning, they sit numbly in front of the television, watching coverage of a takeover of Manhattan by the international criminal cartel Zodiac. Peter is relieved when Zodiac is finally defeated by the Avengers and Daredevil. The following day, they attend Captain Stacy’s funeral. Gwen reveals that, like most of the public, she blames Spider-Man for her father’s death. Wracked with guilt, Peter can find no words to defend his alter-ego. The general public is unaware that Doctor Octopus was even at the scene, leaving Spider-Man to take the blame.

In the days that follow, Spider-Man is made more of a pariah than ever before, especially in the pages of the Daily Bugle. Also, Sam Bullit, a candidate for district attorney, relentlessly attacks the wall-crawler in the media to bolster his campaign. Finding Bullit’s “law and order” message appealing, Gwen volunteers as a campaign worker. Soon after, Bullit has two thugs beat Peter up for refusing to tell what he knows about Spider-Man’s whereabouts. Peter immediately changes to Spider-Man and punishes the thugs, then returns to his apartment. As soon as he arrives, though, Spider-Man finds Sam Bullit and Gwen are already there. Deciding he needs to take drastic action, Spider-Man grabs Gwen and leaps out the window. On a nearby rooftop, he tries to convince her that her father’s death was an accident. Gwen refuses to listen, but then Spider-Man is suddenly attacked by Iceman, who is intent on rescuing the girl. When the police surround the building, Spider-Man abandons the fight and swings off into the night. Peter lays low the following day, worried that Bullit’s soaring poll numbers mean he might actually be Manhattan’s next district attorney.

When Peter finally tells J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson about being beaten up by Bullit’s goons, Robertson succeeds in convincing Jameson to withdraw the Daily Bugle’s endorsement. Robertson produces a file that could end Bullit’s political career, and so Jameson calls Bullit to deliver the bad news personally. Later, Peter sees Bullit’s thugs kidnapping Robertson. After changing into Spider-Man, he follows their sedan across town, though he has to fight off Iceman along the way, as the young mutant has decided to capture the web-slinger for the police. However, when they reach the warehouse and find Bullit calling the tied-up Robertson racist epithets and threatening to have him killed, Spider-Man and Iceman agree to team up. Bullit orders Robertson’s execution, then leaves for a fundraiser. Spider-Man and Iceman leap down and easily defeat the thugs, freeing Robertson. They race to the fundraiser, where Bullit’s crimes are made public, and his campaign collapses just days before the election.

November 1964 – With Sam Bullit under arrest and discredited in the Daily Bugle, Franklin P. Nelson wins a landslide victory in the race for Manhattan district attorney. Meanwhile, Senator Morris N. Richardson defeats Lyndon B. Johnson and is elected the next President of the United States. However, Peter is more concerned with pulling up his grades so he does not lose his scholarship. As such, he spends less time swinging around the city as Spider-Man and more time studying. He wants to help Gwen deal with the loss of her father but feels so guilty when they are together that he ends up avoiding her most of the time.

While fighting a gang of two-bit hoods one evening, Spider-Man is briefly interrupted by Daredevil, who decides not to get involved. Spidey remembers his suspicion that Daredevil was really Matt Murdock but dismisses the notion since Murdock was reported killed in an airplane crash recently.

Spider-Man meets the Silver Surfer when a web-line accidentally snags his flying surfboard. A misunderstanding leads them into a fight, and though he can’t match the Surfer’s cosmic power, Spider-Man decides the enigmatic alien is too unpredictable and dangerous to be allowed to run around loose. However, Spider-Man realizes he’s misjudged his silver-skinned opponent when the Surfer withstands an artillery barrage in order to save the life of a young boy.

Soon after, Peter is fascinated by the TV news coverage of the Apollo astronauts landing on the moon. The mission is a success despite months of frustrating mishaps and setbacks. Days later, Peter invites Gwen to Thanksgiving dinner with Aunt May and Anna Watson at their house in Forest Hills. There is friction between Gwen and Mary Jane, and so, after an awkward meal, Gwen leaves early, claiming to not feel well. Mary Jane also leaves to meet up with Harry for a date, leaving Peter frustrated and angry.

December 1964 – After passing his final exams, Peter finally goes to spend some time with Gwen. He is stunned when Gwen tells him that her uncle, Arthur Stacy, has invited her to live with his family in London, England. Peter nearly proposes to her to get her to stay, then stops when he realizes she’d be devastated to learn he is Spider-Man. Gwen takes his indecisiveness as a rejection of her love. Peter leaves, torn about what to do. He vents his rage in a nearby alley, then changes into Spider-Man and goes web-swinging to clear his head. Finally, Peter decides that if he truly loves Gwen, he can’t go on living a lie. He has to tell her the truth about his secret identity. On his way back, though, Spider-Man is attacked by the Prowler. Hobie Brown is convinced that his recent impersonation of Spider-Man was somehow part of the wall-crawler’s plot to murder George Stacy. Spider-Man draws the angry Prowler away from Gwen’s townhouse as they battle. Though Spider-Man soon defeats him, the Prowler is badly injured. Spider-Man quickly throws his Prowler costume and gear into an incinerator and carries Hobie to the nearest hospital. When Peter finally returns to Gwen’s townhouse, he finds she has already left for England. He tries to intercept her at JFK airport but arrives too late.

Depressed, Peter wanders through the city all night until finally making his way to Aunt May’s house the following afternoon. After taking a nap on the couch, Peter learns from Anna Watson that Aunt May has been taken hostage by the Beetle, who was apparently robbing the grocery store where she had gone to buy some milk. Peter races from the house, changes to Spider-Man, and catches up to his armored foe. Spider-Man realizes the Beetle was not robbing the grocery store but rather a vault on the other side of a common wall. Enraged, Spider-Man quickly rescues Aunt May and attacks the Beetle with uncharacteristic savagery. He knocks the Beetle through a skylight into an indoor swimming pool, where the villain’s heavy armor causes him to sink to the bottom. The Beetle panics, but Spider-Man doesn’t save him until he is nearly drowned. Leaving his foe webbed up for the police, Spider-Man changes back into Peter Parker and catches up with Aunt May. That evening, she tries to comfort Peter over having lost Gwen.

Days later, Spider-Man participates in a Toys-for-Tots program sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps. He joins Thor, Captain America, and the Black Panther in distributing toys to a crowd of underprivileged children. Then, on Christmas Eve, Spider-Man teams up with the Human Torch to track down the Sandman. The Torch is in a very foul mood due to having had a fight with Crystal. Not wanting to discuss his personal problems, Spider-Man claims to have a date with his own girlfriend later. They track the Sandman to Fort Lee, New Jersey, rescuing various bystanders along the way, before catching up to him entering the house of a bedridden old woman. The Sandman explains that the woman is his mother, whom he always visits at Christmas. The heroes agree to give him five minutes alone with her. But though the Sandman promised to come along peacefully, he escapes down a drain in his mother’s bathroom. Outside, Spider-Man and the Human Torch decide to call it a night and go their separate ways. Christmas is a melancholy day for Peter without Gwen to share it with. He spends the day with Aunt May, thinking about the Sandman’s poor old mother.

Soon after, Spider-Man gets into a fight with the Falcon when the rookie hero tries to abduct Harry. Wondering what the Falcon or his partner, Captain America, could want with Harry, Spider-Man decides to look into it. He catches up to them in Harlem and a fight breaks out. Spider-Man learns that the Falcon was trying to prove himself to Cap by bringing the web-slinger to justice and had mistakenly deduced that Harry was Spider-Man. The three heroes settle their differences, then team up to rescue a government official from the local crime boss called Stone Face.

Peter decides he must go to England and convince Gwen to come home. At the Daily Bugle, Joe Robertson agrees to advance Peter the money for the trip as long as he brings back some newsworthy photos. Soon, Peter is aboard a jet heading east across the Atlantic Ocean. However, when the plane lands at Heathrow Airport, Peter is forced to go into action as Spider-Man to rescue an American diplomat and his young son from a group of terrorists. Scotland Yard is willing to give Spider-Man a chance, so within hours he has apprehended the terrorists and rescued their hostages. But as news of Spider-Man’s adventure spreads across the city, Peter realizes he can’t suddenly turn up at Arthur Stacy’s doorstep without blowing his secret identity. Sadly, he decides to return to America without seeing Gwen, trying to convince himself that she must not love him anymore. Back in New York, Robertson accepts Peter’s photos of Spider-Man’s battle with the terrorists as fulfillment of the assignment. Having broken even on the trip, Peter returns to his apartment to spend a miserable New Year’s Eve alone.

Notes:

January 1964 – Peter Parker’s photos of the rampaging robot Replicus are on display in Thor #141. Spider-Man hears HYDRA’s ransom demands in Strange Tales #156. Then, Spidey’s adventures resume in Amazing Spider-Man #48 and following.

February 1964 – Spider-Man attends the Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans and fights the Synthetic Man in Marvel Super-Heroes #14. He never discovers the mastermind behind the attack was an old man calling himself the Sorcerer.

March 1964 – Spider-Man and the Human Torch team up against Mysterio and the Wizard in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4. Federico Fellini, Italian film director and “close personal friend” of Stan Lee, is referred to as “Bellini” in this story. Stan enjoys regaling fans with the tale of Fellini’s surprise visit to the Marvel Comics offices in 1965. While Spidey is fighting Doctor Octopus on the grounds of Stark Industries in Amazing Spider-Man #55, Iron Man is off in Vietnam dealing with Half-Face and the Titanium Man. This incident prompts S.H.I.E.L.D. to assign Jasper Sitwell to Stark Industries on a full-time basis, since Iron Man is not always available to defend the facility. The colonel in charge who lets the amnesiac Spider-Man go free is John Jameson, who is indebted to Spidey for saving his life on numerous occasions.

April 1964 – Spider-Man tussles with the X-Men after destroying Factor Three’s spider-robot in Uncanny X-Men #35.

May 1964 – Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Thor go up against the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #73, one of the few times Spidey was featured in a comic drawn by Jack Kirby.

July 1964 – Spider-Man learns the secret of his parents’ deaths and fights the Communist Red Skull, Albert Malik, in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5. Spidey does not realize there are two different Red Skulls at this time. After escaping the destruction of his headquarters at the end of the story, Malik goes into hiding, afraid that the original Red Skull, recently revived from suspended animation, will seek to kill him for usurping his identity. Incidentally, this is the first time Spider-Man intentionally allows one of his foes (the assassin known as the Finisher) to be killed.

September 1964 – Spider-Man harasses J. Jonah Jameson in Avengers #59. He then attends the wedding of Yellowjacket and the Wasp in Avengers #60. Though Clea remains behind the scenes, Doctor Strange would certainly have brought her to the wedding. Spider-Man may or may not recognize the voice of Egghead in Sub-Mariner #14, as they had met once, briefly, some 20 months earlier.

October 1964 – While trying to divest himself of his spider-powers in Amazing Spider-Man #100, Peter says he finished his formula “months ago.” Since it is based on the antidote he created for the Lizard, it seems likely he would consult with Curt Connors before finishing it. In Amazing Spider-Man #82, The Merv Griffin Show is obfuscated as “The Midnight Show,” but “Marvin” and his well-spoken sidekick bear striking similarities to Merv and his side-man Arthur Treacher. Spidey remains unaware that Electro had made a deal with Jameson to defeat the wall-crawler on live television in exchange for $5,000. Peter photographs Captain America’s battle with a trio of second-rate villains in Captain America #130. His brief scene with Jameson in Amazing Adventures #3 actually takes place later the same day. Peter makes a cameo appearance during the Zodiac takeover of Manhattan, watching TV in Queens, in Avengers #82.

November 1964 – For the full story on President Morris N. Richardson, see OMU: POTUS -- Part Three. Spider-Man and Daredevil have a brief encounter in Daredevil #54. The battle with the Silver Surfer occurs in Silver Surfer #14. The Apollo moon landing took place five years earlier in the Marvel Universe than it did in the real world, due to advanced technology from Stark Industries and elsewhere. Peter’s distressing Thanksgiving dinner happens strictly behind the scenes, but this seems the most likely scenario.

December 1964 – Despite the cloud of suspicion hanging over him, Spidey participates in the Toys-for-Tots program in Avengers #85. Then, he and the Human Torch go after the Sandman in Marvel Team-Up #1. One of the people the heroes help out while searching for their foe is eventually revealed to be bionic-limbed private investigator Misty Knight. Spider-Man then joins forces with Captain America and the Falcon in Captain America #137–138. Peter’s return from England brings us up to Amazing Spider-Man #96.

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