| Black Cat |  I strongly suggest that whatever you've learned about me -- and Spider's costume -- you keep it to yourself.  |
| Mysterio | Oh, no question. If he finds out, he'll get rid of it. I'm hoping that, sooner or later... it kills him. |
Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Mysterio (Quentin Beck) (Loses the Black Suit)
Other Characters:
- Numerous unnamed New Yorkers
- New York Mets (Mentioned)
- May Parker
- Steven Spielberg (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- New York Yankees (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City
- Queens
- Long Island City
- Hunters Point
- Willets Point Boulevard (Mentioned)
- Flushing Meadows–Corona Park
- Flushing
- The Pancake Cottage
- Long Island City
- Manhattan
- Queens
- New York City
- New York
- United States of America
Items:
- Mysterio Suit
- Black Cat's Suit
- Jurassic Park (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- E.T. (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
Synopsis for 1st story
Extending his fingers into claws, the symbiote-augmented Mysterio sneers that he no longer has any reason to fear Spider-Man's strength. Spider-Man - unconscious and being puppeteered by a symbiote masquerading as a black-and-white costume - evades, Mysterio's claws puncturing the roof of the train they're fighting on top of. Symbiote Spider-Man punches Mysterio in the face, Mysterio laughing off the blow. Catching Spider-Man's fist and punching him in the face with it, Mysterio mocks Spider-Man's tendency to make lame jokes as he pummels him into submission. Pinning Spider-Man by the neck to the roof of the train, Mysterio extends his claws and prepares to maul Spider-Man to death, sneering that he'll take the rest of Spider-Man's black suit off his corpse. Black Cat intervenes, angrily telling Mysterio to get away from her boyfriend, but Mysterio mockingly sneers that Spider-Man isn't in the driver's seat. Taking advantage of the distraction, Symbiote Spider-Man kicks Mysterio off the train. As Black Cat asks what Mysterio meant, Symbiote Spider-Man ignores her and pursues Mysterio into a nearby stadium.
At the Pancake Cottage, May Parker waits for Peter to arrive, a waitress attempting to cheer her up. May remarks that her nephew is an hour late and laments that he seems to be too busy to keep his promises. When the waitress asks what her nephew does that makes him so busy, May disparagingly states that he used to be a student but now he's nothing.
Outside the stadium, onlookers cheer Symbiote Spider-Man on and comment about his costume. Mysterio conjures doppelgangers and mockingly tells Spider-Man to take his pick as they can't all hurt him, revealing they're hard-light holograms by having them all pummel Spider-Man simultaniously. Black Cat intervenes and uses her probability manipulation to short-circuit his hard-light projectors before kicking the real Mysterio away. Complementing her power, Mysterio shoots a torrent of flames at her and Symbiote Spider-Man, blowing up a nearby car. Mysterio's piece of the symbiote separates from him and is reabsorbed by Symbiote Spider-Man, the depowered Quentin Beck realizing it's afraid of fire. Symbiote Spider-Man easily trounces him and begins strangling him, but is stopped by Black Cat, who tries to talk him down. Symbiote Spider-Man shoves her away and resumes throttling Beck, who tasers him to get away. Restored to consciousness, Spider-Man is confused and wonders what's going on. As Felicia tries bantering with him, Spider-Man remarks that he was lucky she happened to be there - spooking her. As she tries to determine whether he's aware of her powers, Spider-Man rebukes her for ditching him the night before and says that they'll talk about things after Mysterio is behind bars.
Inside the stadium, Mysterio conjures the illusion of a theropod dinosaur to incite a panic, grousing that not having the hard-light systems online spoils the realism. Spider-Man lunges at him, but Mysterio evades using a holographic doppelganger, pleased that his mists seem to be interfering with Spider-Man's sixth sense. As he prepares to shoot Spider-Man in the back, Black Cat repeatedly bashes him upside the head with a baseball bat while singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". With Mysterio unconscious, his illusions dissipate - leaving the crowd convinced the dinosaur was an elaborate publicity stunt for Steven Spielberg's upcoming Jurassic Park movie. Spider-Man excuses himself to meet up with his aunt, Black Cat saying she'll make sure Mysterio is delivered to the authorities. As Mysterio regains consciousness, Black Cat warns him to keep his knowledge about her powers and Spider-Man's black costume to himself. Mysterio retorts that if Spider-Man ever found out the truth about his costume he'd get rid of it, and that he hopes the symbiote will someday kill him.
Arriving at the Pancake Cottage, Peter is distraught to learn from the waitress that Aunt May left. The waitress remarks that May didn't seem surprised that he'd been a no-show, giving him a note that Peter reads and then crumples. Returning to his apartment, he calls her to apologize only for her to refuse to listen to his excuses and angrily hang up on him. As Peter despairs and wonders how his luck could get any worse, Felicia - sitting on the couch - shoots a nervous glance at the where the symbiote is draped across the back of a chair and is unnerved that it is looking at her.
Solicit Synopsis
• The culmination of Peter David and Greg Land’s blockbuster series!
• MYSTERIO makes his final play for the symbiote!
• And is this the beginning of the end for Spidey and BLACK CAT?