Marvel Spotlight Vol 1 32

Marvel Spotlight Vol 1 #32 Published February, 1977 Editor-in-Chief Archie Goodwin Cover Artist Gil Kane "Dark Destiny!" Writer Archie Goodwin Penciler Sal Buscema Inker Jim Mooney Colourist Janice Cohen Letterer Irving Watanabe Editor Archie Goodwin Previous Issue Next Issue Marvel Spotlight #31 Marvel Spotlight #33

Appearing in "Dark Destiny!"

Featured Characters:

• Arachne (Jessica Drew) (First appearance) (Main story and flashback)

Supporting Characters:

• Nick Fury

Antagonists:

• Hydra (Main story and flashback)
  • Alpha Flight Team
    • Alpha Leader
  • Otto Vermis (Only appearance; dies)^[1] (Main story and flashback)
  • Jared Kurtz (Only appearance; dies)^[1] (Main story and flashback)

Other Characters:

• SHIELD
  • Unnamed Agents
• Satan (Mentioned) (Main story and flashback)
• Fury's mother (Mentioned)
• Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Referenced)
• High Evolutionary (Herbert Wyndham) (Only in flashback)
• Knights of Wundagore (Only in flashback)
• God (Yahweh) (Invoked)

Races and Species:

• Humans (Main story and flashback)
• Spiders (Referenced)
• New Men (Only in flashback)
• Gods (Mentioned)

Locations:

• Europe (Main story and flashback)
  • France
    • The Riviera
      • Mediterranean branch of SHIELD complex
    • Paris (Referenced)
  • Unnamed Alpine village (Only in flashback)
  • Italy
    • Carnic Alps
  • Transia (Only in flashback)
    • Wundagore Mountain (Only in flashback)
      • Citadel of Science (Only in flashback)

Items:

• Spider-Woman's Suit (Main story and flashback)
• S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniforms
• Hydra Uniforms (Main story and flashback)
• Genetic accelerator (Only in flashback)

Vehicles:

• Rocket Plane
  
  

Synopsis for "Dark Destiny!"

With Nick Fury stationed at a SHIELD base on the Riviera, Hydra (led by Otto Vermis) sends a squad to attack, with their newest super-agent, their "spider-woman" who they have code named Arachne. Sent to assassinate Fury, Arachne thinks back to the events that led her to becoming a member of Hydra: How she was as girl in small European village, and was considered a witch because of her fantastic powers. However, she was found and taken in by Otto Vermis and made a member of Hydra. There she became lovers with fellow Hydra agent Jared. However, Jared would soon become captured by SHIELD, and Vermis would send Arachne to assassinate Fury himself in revenge.

When she accidentally kills Jared trying to get at Fury, Nick realizes that Arachne is unaware that Hydra is a terrorist organization, and shows her video footage of Jared threatening innocent lives. Convinced that Hydra has played her for a fool, the angry Arachne goes back to get revenge against Vermis and his Hydra unit. Confronting Vermis before he can escape he reveals the truth about her origins: That she is really one of the High Evolutionary's New Men, a highly evolved spider, who did not fit in with her fellow New Men and fled to a nearby town where she was recruited by Hydra.

Vermis manages to break free from Arachne and tries to make his escape in a Hydra shuttle. Arachne follows after his ship, damaging it enough to make it crash, killing Vermis. As SHIELD secures the Hydra base, Arachne flees and wanders off into the wildness to wonder what she will do with herself now that she has no purpose.

Notes

• Despite the Spider-Woman logo on the cover, Arachne does not adopt the name "Spider-Woman" in this issue. (However, she is refereed to several times as a "spider-woman".)
• Arachne appears next (as Spider-Woman) in Marvel Two-In-One #29.

See Also

• Write your own review of this comic!
• Discuss Marvel Spotlight Vol 1 32 on the forums
• Images from Marvel Spotlight Vol 1 32

Footnotes