PREVIOUSLY: In order to provide some background information about the events leading to this issue of Spectacular Spider-Man, I have summarized information obtained from the article "The Life of Reilly", presented by GrayHaven Magazine, which explains in details the most controversial Spider-Man storyline ever written: the infamous Clone Saga. Bear with me, the background information is long but it really explains a lot of things going on into this particular issue.

In Spider-Man – The Final Adventures, Peter Parker, who now resides in Portland with his wife, Mary Jane, inexplicably loses his powers after battling local super-villains.

In the last pages of Spectacular Spider-Man #231, a skeleton clad in a torn Spider-Man costume is found at the bottom of the smokestack where Peter Parker dropped the body of his clone (i.e. Ben Reilly), way back in Amazing Spider-Man #149.

At the end of Spider-Man Volume 1 #66, Peter and Mary Jane Parker arrive at the Daily Bugle and it is revealed that Jameson has hired Peter to get to the bottom of the whole Spider-Man skeleton story.

In Spectacular Spider-Man #232, Peter discovers that Ben has the skeleton in his possession.

In the opening pages of Sensational Spider-Man #4, Peter discovers that J. Jonah Jameson has hired a forensic expert to reconstruct the face of the skeleton. Elsewhere, Ben Reilly gets caught changing out of his Spider-Man costume by his girlfriend, Jessica Carradine, who earlier revealed to him that her father was killed, years ago, by Spider-Man (or so she seems to think). He tries to talk to her but she doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Ben later meets with Peter and the two of them dispose of the skeleton by burying it into a graveyard. While doing that, Peter tells Ben that he is suspicious of Dr. Seward Trainer, who performed the tests that revealed that he was the clone and that Ben was the real Peter Parker. Ben refuses to accept that Trainer could have done such a thing as rigging the tests.

In Amazing Spider-Man #411, the Daily Bugle puts out a $100,000.00 reward for the return of the stolen skeleton. Elsewhere, Ben Reilly has more problems than he can chew. The heat in his apartment has been shut off, because his rent check bounced, a trip to the bank reveals problems with his social security number, and a visit to the Daily Grind, where he works, adds to his misery when Shirley, his employer, reveals that two men claiming to be cops came by and warned her about him, telling her that he has a history of violent and erratic behavior against his employers.

While all of the above takes place, Peter Parker and Mary Jane argue about whether to go back home to Portland or get to the bottom of the skeleton mystery. Meanwhile at the Multivex Corporation, the mystery man who has been harassing Dr. Seward Trainer is shown in more detail. He wears some kind of environmental suit that keeps his body functioning and he needs Seward to help him get back to his physical prime.

While out shopping, Peter and Mary Jane are attacked and dragged into an alley by a cybernetically enhanced mercenary squad known as Cell-12. Peter tries to convince them to let go of MJ, but to no avail (they do promise to not hurt her). The squad beats the hell out of Peter, until he falls to the ground. As they leave, they tell him to not poke is nose where it doesn't belong. Meanwhile, Ben returns to his apartment and is shocked to discover it completely empty, the words "We Know Who You Are", written on the floor. Realizing that whoever did this to his apartment might want to lash out against his workplace, he rushes over there but arrives too late. The Daily Grind has been burned down to the ground.

In Spider-Man Volume 1 #8, the police try to implicate Ben Reilly into the Daily Grind fire, because of his history of lashing out at employers (which we all know is untrue). While this takes place, Peter Parker and Mary Jane discuss his recent beating at the hands of the Cell-12 squad.

Thinking that Jessica Carradine, his ex-girlfriend, is behind the recent misery in his life, Ben shows up at her apartment and warns her to stay out of his life. He swings off, as Spider-Man, and realizes that there is only one person he can talk to: Dr. Seward Trainer. Having tagged him with a spider-tracer earlier, he begins tracking him. He arrives at a location and is attacked by the Cell-12 squad. He disposes of them quickly and easily, and then comes face-to-face with their leader: the Hobgoblin (who now has many cybernetic enhancements on his costume). Having never faced the Hobgoblin before – this is Ben after all – he mistakenly refers to him as the "Green Goblin". During the ensuing battle, the Hobgoblin reveals that he has been orchestrating everything that has been happening to Peter Parker and Ben Reilly, as instructed by his employer. As he gets the upper hand on Spidey, the Hobgoblin is ordered to stop by none other than Seward Trainer. Spidey is shocked to realize that Trainer is involved and he cannot help but to watch helplessly – he is incapacitated by injury – as his friend walks away with the Hobgoblin. After a few minutes of gathering his strength, Spidey manages to get out of there, all the while thinking about this overwhelming development. He races to where Peter and Mary Jane are staying, enters their room, and collapses to the floor, waking them in the process.

Another issue worth noting is Spider-Man Unlimited #12. In it, J. Jonah Jameson wants forensic scientists to examine the bones of the skeleton to determine its identity. In order to examine the skeleton, Jameson has to find it first so he is offering a $100,000.00 reward to anyone who can locate the skeleton (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #411). As a result of this, Spider-Man has had to deal with the likes of the Beetle, Shocker, Boomerang and the second Jack O’Lantern.

While Spider-Man deals with hordes of new super-villains trying to cash in on the reward, Peter Parker is forced by the Pro to dig up the skeleton, which Ben Reilly and him buried in a graveyard. Spider-Man makes his way to the graveyard to help Peter out but a welcoming committee made up of the police and reporters forces him and Peter to hand the skeleton over to them.

The forensic team reconstructs the face of the skeleton, only to reveal the face of Peter Parker. Since Peter took part in an earlier test to verify the authenticity of the imaging device, as per a request from J. Jonah Jameson, the scientists deduce that there is some kind of problem with their imaging system (they assume his earlier picture somehow got mixed up with this new one) and that, as such, the experiment is a failure.

Speaking of Trainer, he is having a heated argument with the mystery man introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #411. Trainer argues that hurting Ben Reilly was not part of the agreement. The mystery man instructs the Hobgoblin to force Trainer to sit down (Trainer obliges) and continues explaining that, regardless of what might happen to Ben Reilly, he – Trainer – is to continue his research to try and find a way to reverse his condition (the mystery man’s condition), or else he (the mystery man) will spill the beans to Reilly about Trainer's shady persona; Trainer immediately quiets down. The Hobgoblin is then asked to report on his assaults on Peter Parker and Spider-Man and he explains that he beat both of them to within an inch of their lives, along with a warning to stay away. The mystery man asks the Hobgoblin if Spider-Man showed up when he attacked Peter Parker and he replies that he did not. The Hobgoblin asks the mystery man if he expected Spider-Man to appear. The mystery man replies that he did not. Trainer wonders what he means by that.

Ben is inconsolable. Peter and Mary Jane try their best to cheer him up. On the one hand, MJ suggests that he should try to talk to Jessica and apologize to her. On the other hand, Peter suggests the two of them confront Seward to get to the bottom of everything. Confused as to what he should do, Ben swings off into the night, sans his Spider-Man mask.

A short time later, Ben arrives at Jessica's apartment (with his mask on) and proceeds to apologize for accusing her of being the one behind everything that has happened to him in the recent days. Ben professes his love to her and asks for her forgiveness. Jessica tells Ben that she has decided to put the past behind her, thus forgiving him, and she wants to start over. As she embraces him, Ben screws up by asking her to burn the negatives of the pictures showing him in the process of taking off his Spider-Man costume. Believing that to be the only reason he apologized to her, she throws him out of her apartment.

Meanwhile in Long Island, Liz Allan Osborn, wife of the late Harry Osborn, is looking through the quarterly financial report and notices something out of the ordinary. She calls on her brother, Mark Raxton, a.k.a. the Molten Man, and asks if he is aware that Osborn Industries is funneling incredible amounts of money into a little research company called Multivex (which happens to be where the mystery man and Trainer were arguing earlier).

Ben returns home and finds out from Mary Jane that Peter has gone to Multivex to get answers from Seward. He takes off after him.

Peter breaks into Multivex, disconnects a couple of surveillance cameras, and then steals a lab coat and clip board so that he can pretend to be a Multivex employee. Using computer schematics obtained from a computer in one of the rooms, he makes his way unnoticed towards Seward’s lab. But as he prepares to take a detour and avoid any more security cameras, he runs right into the arms of the Cell-12 squad. As they prepare to beat him up, Spider-Man arrives on the scene. Getting help from Peter, who has hidden web-shooters in his sleeves, Spidey manages to subdue the Cell-12 squad members one by one. There is not much time for them to rejoice, as the Hobgoblin arrives on the scene. Spidey tells Peter to go and find Seward while he takes care of the Hobgoblin. Peter reluctantly agrees and gives him some advice on how to beat the Hobgoblin.

While Spidey and the Hobgoblin battle it out, Peter takes off after Seward and catches up to him. Coincidently, Peter, Seward, Spider-Man and the Hobgoblin all find themselves on the same rooftop. Spidey seems to get the upper hand on the Hobgoblin and pushes him off his glider, while nearby, Peter tackles Seward to the ground. Peter is about to question Trainer when he notices that the glider, which is now flying erratically, is heading straight for a large fuel tank. Peter hurls himself off the rooftop and grabs hold of the glider. As he tries to steer it to safety, he loses control (courtesy of the Hobgoblin) and is knocked off the glider. Spidey sees this and abandons his battle with the Hobgoblin to swing over and rescue him. But by doing so, he allows both the Hobgoblin and Seward Trainer to disappear. As they make their way to a nearby forest, Ben and Peter both realize that Seward and the Hobgoblin are both working for somebody else, which brings them right back to square one: who is behind everything and why.

To be continued in Sensational Spider-Man #5.