They're not the only ones gunning for blood, though. The Punisher has pulled a hit on the Absorbing Man, forcing him to shape-shift into a metal form before being killed.

If that wasn't trouble enough, Peter's wallet has been stolen. Former Avenger, Hank "Ant-Man" Pym has his six-legged buddies out scouring the City trying to track him down. Meanwhile, the Bugle's new star reporter, Ethan Edwards, has angled in on Peter's turf as J. Jonah Jameson's new golden boy. Ethan's revealed himself to be an aspiring super hero, latching onto Peter for training. And there's something about this corn-fed Iowa boy that doesn't sit quite right with Peter.

This is where this issue picks up.

ACT 1: The mysterious woman and the Absorbing Man have fled the scene of the Punisher's attack and are making their way to the Owl's headquarters. But as they arrive there, they find the whole building under attack by other maggia factions. The Absorbing Man extracts himself from the vehicle, followed closely by the mysterious woman, and the two of them disperse the shooters.

ACT 2: Ten minutes later, inside the Owl's headquarters, the mysterious woman explains to her employer that it was the Absorbing Man's fault that they did not meet his objective, which was to take out a dozen guys in 48 hours. The Owl grudgingly accepts the reasoning behind their failure, although he comes to the realization that he must dispose of the Absorbing Man.

ACT 3: A few minutes later, the mysterious woman comes out of the Owl's office and finds the Absorbing Man sitting on a nearby couch, pondering about whether he should turn back into his human form with the bullet fragments – courtesy of the Punisher – still in him. The mysterious woman tells him not to worry about that and throws a drug-filled package on the table in front of him, which he gladly snorts. But as he does so, his whole body transforms into drugs. Just then, two men wearing breathing masks enter the rooms, holding two giant fans in front of them. They activate the fan and the Absorbing Man is blown into billions of small drug particles, which cover the whole room, from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Five minutes pass, then the men start scraping the particles off the walls, floors and ceiling, filling up small bags as they go. The bags are then placed onto carts and readied for delivery on the street. Is that the end of the Absorbing Man?

ACT 4: Meanwhile at the Daily Bugle, Laurie Lynton, an old high school friend of Peter's, is shocked to hear that Peter married Mary Jane Watson, whom, according to Laurie, used to make fun of her and Peter (there is a continuity error here as Peter and Mary Jane never attended high school together). Peter and her talk for a little while then Peter takes his leave.

ACT 5: Minutes later, he enters a nearby closet to change into his Spider-Man costume and runs into Ethan Edwards, who was waiting for him inside the closet. The two change into their respective costumes and exit the building. Peter begins Ethan's training by taking him to the Fantastic Four headquarters to get him tested to get an insight into his amazing abilities. After a few physical tests, Reed takes a DNA sample from Ethan. Just then, Spidey gets a message from Hank Pym, a.k.a. Ant-Man, via hundreds of small ants making up words on a nearby window and telling him that the "object has been found". Spidey and Ethan take their leave.

ACT 6: A few moments later, several blocks away in a dark alley, the mysterious woman and some of the Owl's henchmen are selling the drug recently acquired when they transformed the Absorbing Man into the drug itself after he snorted some of it. Having been alerted of this shady transaction by Hank Pym's ants, Spidey and Ethan crash the party. The henchmen are easily taken down by Ethan while Spidey captures the mysterious woman. Just then, members of the press show up, cameras in hands. Fearing that Ethan might get recognized, Spidey tells him to take off. Ethan does as told and flies off while Spidey starts talking to the press, unaware that the mysterious woman has managed to cut the webbing surrounding her legs. Taking Spidey by surprise, she suddenly stands up and takes off running before Spidey is able to catch her. To make matters worse, TV monitors in the window of a nearby electronics store show footage of Ethan flying off and he has been identified.

ACT 7: A short time later, Peter/Spidey arrives at the Daily Bugle, where he finds Ethan, out of costume, on the roof, waiting for him. Peter changes into his civilian clothes and the two make their way down the elevator. As the elevator door opens up on the news floor, Ethan is hounded by his colleagues (reporters and cameramen), who are all interested in getting an exclusive. Peter leaves him with them and makes his way towards Laurie Lynton who has a phone call for him. Peter takes the call; it's Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Reed explains that he finished Ethan's test results and what he found was that Ethan's DNA was genetically manipulated, which made him curious about his arrival; therefore, he took a little field trip to Iowa, where he unearthed the spaceship that brought Ethan to Earth. Reed goes on explaining that he knows where it's from and explains that years ago, Ethan’s home planet was threatened by none other than Galactus. Ethan's father, the planet's chief scientist, knew he could not stop Galactus so he sent his son across the galaxy to a planet primitive enough for their son to conquer once he reached maturity. Until then, his shape-shifting abilities would allow him to alter his appearance to look like the dominant species on the planet. To insure his son’s success, this scientist gave him powers even greater than the last warrior his race had sent to the backward world. Having said that, Reed tells Peter that Ethan Edwards is a Skrull and that it was his father that created the Super-Skrull...and his son is here to conquer the world.

To be continued.