PREVIOUSLY: Joe Robbie Robertson is found guilty of misprision of felony and sentenced to three years in prison at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for Robbie, his troubles are far from over when he finds out that Tombstone, whom he helped put in jail, is assigned to the same cellblock. Fortunately for Robbie, a humongous black man named Bruiser comes to his rescue during a particular incident with Tombstone, and the two become good friends. However, Tombstone ends up killing Bruiser during a brutal fight.

Tombstone and a very reluctant Robbie escape from prison in Spectacular Spider-Man #155 by tricking Spider-Man into coming over to the penitentiary and using him as a hostage after drugging him with a virus very similar to that used by the fake Jonah Jameson in Spectacular Spider-Man #153. But as Tombstone and Robbie fly off in a waiting helicopter, they run into some trouble by the name of Spider-Man, who has fought off the virus. The end result of their altercation is Robbie pushing himself and Tombstone out of the moving chopper to save Spider-Man's life, and the two of them disappearing in the forest down below.

In Spectacular Spider-Man #158, Robbie Robertson returns to the Federal Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to attend an appeal for his sentence of misprision of felony – an appeal complicated by his recent, unwilling, participation in a prison breakout organizes by Tombstone. Robbie's lawyer, Cynthia Bernhammer, is about to admit defeat when Stuart McPhee, Bruiser's brother and an adviser to the White House for Domestic Affairs, shows up and tells her that he might be able to get Robbie a presidential pardon.

On his way to a dinner date with his wife Mary Jane in Spectacular Spider-Man #158, Peter/Spider-Man is unexpectedly attacked by The Trapster (a.k.a. Paste-Pot-Pete), foe to the Human Torch. Using a combination of glue, grease and paste, the Trapster easily defeats Spidey.

That same day, during a physics experiment at ESU with Professor Lubisch, Peter is bombarded with unknown energies and his spider-senses are somehow heightened and he gains amazing new abilities. With these newfound abilities, he confronts the Trapster and defeats him quite spectacularly. The issue ends with Spider-Man wondering what to think of these brand new powers and wondering why the Trapster attacked him in the first place.

Twenty-four hours later approximately 3000 miles away, Spider-Man is floating upside down in the air pondering about his newly acquired powers and how he battled, over the last few days, the likes of The Trapster, Titania and Magneto. When Spidey suddenly sees a bird flying inches from his head, he realizes that he's been floating in the air – a result of his newfound powers – and somehow this realization causes him to begin falling towards the river below. Luckily, he manages to snag a nearby bridge with a webline and comes to rest on one of the bridge columns. While pondering about what is wrong with him, some kind of flying spy camera comes buzzing around him. He tries to catch it with a webline but his new powers causes the webline to destroy the camera.

Miles away, standing in front of a monitor, Dr. Doom comes to the realization that his allies in these acts of vengeance see Spider-Man only as an enemy to be annihilated while he sees a resource of unknown and inexplicable potential. He realizes that he somehow must subvert that resource to his service. Suddenly, The Wizard comes online on an adjacent monitor and announces to Dr. Doom that he's retained the services of the Brothers Grimm. The brothers appear on screen and tell Dr. Doom that with their magic-based talents, they will take Spider-Man completely by surprise. Dr. Doom concurs and suggests that they start their search in the lower Midtown Manhattan area, where Spider-Man's activities usually take place, according to a computer analysis. As he exits his monitor room, Dr. Doom tells himself that he will closely be watching Spider-Man in action.

Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., aboard a limousine travelling towards the White House, Cynthia Bernhammer, Robbie's attorney, and Stuart McPhee, Bruiser's brother, are discussing Robbie's chances to get a presidential pardon. Stuart cannot guarantee that Robbie will be pardoned but admits that, taking into consideration the extenuating circumstances involved, there is a slight possibility that it might happen. Leaving the limousine and making his way into the White House, Stuart tells Cynthia that he will do anything in his power to help Robbie. Back in the limousine, it is revealed that Cynthia is enamoured with Nick Katzenberg, photographer for the Daily Bugle.

Spidey has made his way to Empire State University, where maintenance crews are busy cleaning up the university grounds of broken power lines shattered by Professor Lubisch experiment. As he comes to rest atop the roof of one of the buildings, his spider-sense suddenly tingles. As he looks down several floors below, he sees J. Jonah Jameson standing on the sidewalk, seemingly looking at the cleanup operations. Peter switches to his civilian clothes and purposely runs into Jonah. After a bit of small talk and major sucking-up by Jameson, Jameson cuts to the chase and tells Peter that he plans to produce a new photojournalism magazine and he wants Peter to join him. At that precise moment, Peter's spider-sense kicks in big time, giving him one hell of a headache. Peter tells Jonah that he can't talk about it right then and promises that he will call him to let him know of his decision. His head throbbing, Peter takes his leave.

A short time later, Peter has switched back to his costume and has made his way across the city. As he approaches Madison Square Garden, his spider-sense once again kicks in. Suddenly, the whole Madison Square Garden building is ripped right out of the ground and into the air to Spidey's utter astonishment. Attached to the arena's outer walls are anti-gravity pods that Spidey recognizes as belonging to The Wizard, the Trapster's old boss (Spidey battled the Wizard in Amazing Spider-Man #213). Spidey web-slings into the m๊l้e and saves innocent citizens using his newly acquired abilities. All the while, his spider-sense continues to tingle intensively. Suddenly, the Brothers Grimm, riding on artificial clouds, appear behind Spidey and throw pies at him that contain dynamite. Spidey dodges the dynamite-filled pie but people stuck on the flying Madison Square Garden are not so lucky. The dynamite explodes close to them and sends them jumping off of the flying arena to avoid getting hurt. They being falling towards the ground down below but Spidey swings by and catches them before they hit the ground. But as he does so, the Brothers throw coloured Easter eggs at him, which hit him right in the head. Tear gas starts emanating from the broken eggs and Spidey begins coughing on the fumes. He manages to land himself and the two people he saved back down on street level but still has a terrible time shaking off the tear gas. As he tries to clear the tear gas out of his mask, the Brothers deactivate the anti-gravity pods attached to the outer walls of the Madison Square Garden and the whole building begins falling towards Spidey who is standing right underneath it. Spidey reacts instinctively and spins a giant web that catches the arena before it hits the ground. He then takes off after the Brothers, who had used that opportunity to flee the scene. He catches up to them and after a bit of a battle – using his traditional powers instead of his newfound ones – he defeats the Brothers. As the two lay unconscious in a pile of mink coat, Spidey's spider-sense is triggered again and as he turns around to face the danger, he instinctively shoots a webline at another flying camera (like the one in ACT 2) to try and catch it before it leaves. But the webline once gain destroys the camera, leaving a very disappointed Spider-Man to wonder about what’s happening to him.

At the other end of the camera in his monitoring room, Dr. Doom has witnessed Spidey's powers once more and based on the telemetry readings transmitted by his flying camera, he comes to the conclusion that Spidey is imbued with an energy field so great, it is beyond the capacity of his instruments to calibrate. Dr. Doom reveals that he wants that power and will go to any extent to obtain it.

Peter returns home to his Soho apartment but finds the place empty. MJ is out with some friends so Peter resolves into making himself a TV dinner and eating it lukewarm in front of the television. Again he ponders about his newfound powers but finds solace in the fact that he is not Nick Katzenberg.

To be continued in the pages of Web of Spider-Man #60 and Amazing Spider-Man #328.