—Paul[source]I do my best, Dylan. I swear to God, that's all I've ever tried to do--my best for the people I care for. And if I keep trying...maybe I can get a second chance. Make up for the mistakes I made. The blood on my hands...
Paul Rabin is the son of the Emissary[1] who encountered Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson after they entered his reality while fighting their own Emissary.[5] After MJ used a device to send Peter back home, Paul spent nearly four years with her due to time dilation before Peter's return. During that time, Paul and MJ had found and adopted two kids to raise as their own.[2] Apparently married,[6] MJ refused to leave Paul,[2] and they continued their family life in Earth-616.[7]
History
Life on Earth-23321[]
Paul was the son of Benjamin Rabin[1] and a student studying mathematical quantum computation under his father and colleagues, stumbling upon information condensing cryptography that resembled symbols of Mayan scripts and other ancient languages. While Paul and the others were discovering "cheat codes" in reality, Rabin was communicating with Wayep and destroyed their Earth for power.[5] Paul killed his father to end his evil.[1]

Developing Mary Jane's powers tech
Paul survived on that devastated Earth for untold years, having utilized his glyph mathematics before he encountered Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, their Rabin's sacrifices from Earth-616. After selectively elaborating his past with Rabin, though technically a different Rabin, Peter refined his Spider-Device before Wayep raided the safe house. Mary Jane used the device to send him home, killing Wayep in the process, but trapped her with Paul on the devastated Earth.[5] Due to an unforeseen time dilation between Earth-616 and Earth-23321, Paul and Mary Jane spent four years together surviving the Glyphoid monsters, Rabin's hounding, adopting Owen and Stephanie, and making a patchwork family life while Paul also developed a prototype random powers generating "Jackpot" device based on Mary Jane's iconic idiom.[2] Peter returned in time to distract Rabin long enough for Paul to kill the villain, protecting Owen and Stephanie,[8] before Peter relocated them to Earth-616 where Paul got proper medical attention.[2]
Life on Earth-616[]

Punching Peter Parker
After Paul was discharged from the hospital, Peter confronted him about his backstory not matching any proof of his existence, leading Paul to confess he was Rabin's son on the other Earth. Striking the offended Peter, Paul clarified his hate for his father and killing him in revenge, before coming to Earth-616 as he wasn't born in their continuity. Despite Peter's indignation to the reveal, Paul was defended by Mary Jane who compared and contrasted both men with their pain and grief.[1] Paul and Mary Jane continued their relationship raising Owen and Stephanie as their parents,[7] and Paul later met Peter's debt collector, Gus, seeking payment for overdue medical bills[9] and heard about Peter's troubles, so Paul helped pay some of the fees out of sympathy.[10] When he picked up Mary Jane from Oscorp, Paul saw Peter in better condition than when last they met and invited him to dinner sometime.[11]

After Mary Jane's Christmas misadventure
When demons invaded New York,[12] Paul and the kids were protected by Mary Jane with an upgraded Jackpot device,[13] before they headed to the basement for safety. After the event ended, Paul and the kids hugged Mary Jane following her misadventure with Felicia,[14] and he later took Mary Jane to a spa retreat for a coincidental encounter with Peter and Felicia, trading friendly chit-chat before the heroic duo left for a mission.[15] When Rabin returned six months after his perceived death, Paul took the children to safety as Mary Jane sought out Peter.[16] While sheltered, Paul was powerless to see Owen and Stephanie fade from reality by Rabin's magic, and raced out to Mary Jane to confirm what happened, just after Ms. Marvel's sacrifice defeated Rabin.[1]
Distraught over the loss of their children, Paul and Mary Jane were unable to live in their apartment and decided to temporarily move in the home of her aunt Anna. While celebrating Anna's birthday party, she suddenly became manic and began attacking everyone on sight due to having ingested Krakoan pills. Paul attempted to reason with her, but she was ultimately subdued by Mary Jane and Spider-Man. They were forced to submit Anna to the Ravencroft Institute, with both Paul and Peter assuring Mary Jane that her aunt would recover.[17]
Spider-Man became accidentally infected with Norman Osborn's sins by the Queen Goblin and Kraven the Hunter, turning him into a crazed maniac. Norman went to Paul and Mary Jane to warn them that Peter was now after them due to being filled with resentment. As Peter was about to attack them, the couple managed to flee on their car. Peter caught up to them in the Holland Tunnel where Mary Jane prepared to use her powers against him and revealed that she was the one who started the relationship with Paul, causing the corrupted Spider-Man to vengefully threaten her that she will pay for betraying him, and soon attempted to kill Paul. Mary Jane was able to use her device to save her lover, before fighting the Queen Goblin who was about to kill Spider-Man. Both Norman and Kraven were able to remove the sins from Peter, reverting him to his normal self. He apologized for what he had done, though Mary Jane didn't blame him and decided to reform their friendship.[18]
Paul and Mary Jane began going to couple counseling to fix their problems. However, following their latest appointment, the couple was caught in the middle of the war between gangs. Seeing that heroes were needed Paul distracted the people nearby to allow Mary Jane to change into her new superhero identity of Jackpot. She went to assist other heroes in fighting the criminal gangs, while Paul assisted her behind the scenes.[19]
Paul had made a secret list of all the people he knew in his reality who had been killed by his father and decided to pay them a visit and help them in whatever problem they had due to feeling guilty. This list included Cale Naughton, who in his own home reality had been a coworker of his and was one of the Emissary's first victims. As Cale was struggling with his medical expenses, Paul offered him to pay them by himself.[20] Rebuilding their relationship with Peter, Paul and Mary Jane went on a double date with him and his new girlfriend Shay Marken.[21]
As Black Cat and numerous other New Yorkers were being blackmailed into committing crimes by a malicious app named Obscura, Paul assisted Jackpot in her investigation into it. They found that the app was created by Kinetic Flow but had lost control of it as it was blackmailing its creators as well, and seeing that Jackpot was attempting to stop it Obscura began blackmailing her by threatening her with Paul's life.[22] While Jackpot worked with Black Cat in stealing money from high profile criminals, Paul continued with his investigation, eventually discovering that Black Cat's new girlfriend, Amelia, was the one behind Obscura.[23] This caused Amelia, now under the identity of Bandwidth, to send a group of criminals after him and Mary Jane, while she attempted to get away with Felicia. Thankfully, Black Cat came to the couple's rescue, and soon went to confront Bandwidth. Paul went to restrain her, as Jackpot revealed the truth to the world. However, when the criminals who had been robbed by Jackpot and Black Cat came to get back at them, Bandwidth teleported away, taking Paul with her.[24]
Paul thankfully came back to MJ and continued assisting her with her superhero career. As she and Spider-Man, who had rebonded to the Venom symbiote, fought a group of civilians who had been brainwashed by the Hobgoblin, the ancient symbiote known as the Arachniote emerged from the Hobgoblins' bodies and engulfed them. Paul tried to help Jackpot in fighting the Arachniote through the use of her bracelet, but it wasn't enough. The Venom symbiote mocked Paul for being useless and reached into Jackpot's bracelet to empower it, giving her enough power to disperse the Arachniote.[25] However, after Spider-Man and the symbiote left, the Arachniote reformed itself and ensnared Jackpot into its mass, causing Paul to lose contact with her. Unable to reconnect to her, Paul called Peter as he was fighting Bedlam without the Venom symbiote, asking him to look for Mary Jane. Spider-Man did so and found Jackpot inside the Arachniote, at which point he freed her and together defeated the monstrosity. Upon the Arachniote's defeat, Paul immediately called Mary Jane to see if she was alright, interrupting the moment she was having with Peter.[26]
Following the end of the symbiote war, Eddie Brock's son, Dylan was left homeless and without a guardian to look after him. Mary Jane decided to foster the young boy and brought him in her and Paul's home. Paul was apprehensive about this as he was still recovering from the loss of Romy and Owen, and wasn't ready to take in a new kid. Dylan also didn't get along with Paul as he saw him as useless and didn't pay him much attention.[3]Attributes
Abilities
- Genius-Level Intellect: Paul has demonstrated a capable intellect nearly on par with Peter's, having the mathematical comprehension to develop glyph technology similar to the Spider-Verse Dimensional Travel Watch, but lacked the finer knowledge that Peter had regarding multiversal travel.[5]
- Skilled Engineer: Paul's utility of glyph math/magic allowed him to develop a "slot-machine" wrist-watch device to empower Mary Jane with luck based power generation, a different combination of symbols to call for different abilities.[2]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Spider-Device: Paul developed a spider glyph device with the express design to travel the multiverse to Earth-616. Peter Parker used the device to escape and later return for a subsequent rescue and currently owns it.[5]
- Various Math-Magic Glyphs: Paul developed glyph based mathematical magic to generate and synthesize whatever he needed on the devastated Earth.
Weapons
- Totem-Guns: A bevy of various guns which channeled different totemic symbols to disrupt or destroy whatever on the devastated Earth he spent unknown years on.
Notes
- Paul has no Earth-616 counterpart as he was never born there.[1]
- In Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #7, Paul is seen punching Peter Parker. However, when the flashback is repeated in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #25, Peter is instead punching Paul. Just one issue later, it is shown a third time, but with the full context and it is once again Paul punching Peter. In that scene, Paul reveals that Peter had hit him before, implying that both punches happened and they coincidentally happened in the same way.
Trivia
- It's believed that Paul and Peter's relationship was based on the phrase "To rob Peter to pay Paul."
- Paul is very talented at cooking, with his chicken korma being "always worth the trip."[20] He was also offended by Dylan dismissing his couscous.[27]
- Paul preferred eating plant-based fast food due environmental concerns.[28]
See Also
- 33 appearance(s) of Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
- 4 mention(s) of Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
- 16 image(s) of Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
- 1 quotation(s) by or about Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
- 2 victim(s) killed by Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Paul Rabin (Earth-23321)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #26
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #25
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 All-New Venom #1
- ↑ All-New Venom #3
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #22
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #19 recap
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #24
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 5) #75
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #3
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #7
- ↑ Dark Web #1
- ↑ Mary Jane & Black Cat #1
- ↑ Mary Jane & Black Cat #5
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #19
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #21
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man Annual (Vol. 5) #1
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #34–35
- ↑ Jackpot #1
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #56
- ↑ Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #60
- ↑ Jackpot and Black Cat #1
- ↑ Jackpot and Black Cat #2
- ↑ Jackpot and Black Cat #3–4
- ↑ Venom War: Spider-Man #2
- ↑ Venom War: Spider-Man #3–4
- ↑ All-New Venom #2
- ↑ All-New Venom #7