Spider-man (The New 52)

This page is for Spider-man in Marvel - The New 52.

History
In this new timeline, several details of the Spider-man mythos have changed. There is a new origin story for the Avengers (which Spider-man is on), establishing that Spider-man has only been publicly active for five years although he was considered an urban legend before this. The NYPD are still hostile towards him as a vigilante. Ben Riley returns to his role as Scarlet Spider, making Peter the only Spider-man again. Andrew Maguire as Alpha is Spider-man's sidekick.

Peter is now a core member of the Avengers including Namor, Luke Cage, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Thor. He begins patrolling New York. Despite their antagonistic relationship, he is sexually involved with Black Cat. Kraven organizes a massive breakout atRyker's Island, making the villains stronger using super steroids. In their first mission, he assists the West Coast Avengers in taking down Thanos.

Night of the Hand
Spider-man begins to investigate a conspiracy that is believed to have secretly controlled New York for centuries, the Hand fabled in nursery rhyme. They send an undying assassin called Akuma to kill him after the Daily Bugle announces a massive new direction for the city. Peter is captured after learning too much and sentenced to death in their giant maze, where he spends a week alone without food and learns that they've killed many Parkers before. Regaining strength through the memory of his dead grandfather Will Fitzpatrick, he defeats the Talon and escapes. It's revealed that S.A.F.E. has been training assassins for years, and Ben Riley was almost used by the Hand before Peter adopted him. The Hand recovers from their encounter and decides to activate a small army of ninjas they have decommissioned throughout the years.

Later, a group of ninjas attack Peter's home, but Peter defeats some of them due to their outdated fighting style. Wearing a new armored suit, Peter prepares to fight the ninjas while Ben discovers the Court's fourty targets and sends a radio message to the Spider Family for help.

After a short battle, Spider-man defeats the ninjas and heads out to Ryker's Island to save Abraham Rycken from Hammerhead. Then, Spider-man goes to save mayoral candidate Carl Simpson, but is too late and Simpson is mortally wounded. Before he dies, however, Simpson gives Spider-man a package that will make New York a better place. Resolute, Spider-man decides to burn down the Hand's house.

Infiltrating the Goda Hotel, Spider-man interrogates Azuma Goda, knowing she and her husband are members of the Hand. Ben traces Azuma's phone call and Spider-man deduces the Hand is at Harbor House, the old house he tried to investigate when he was a boy. When he enters the house, however, Spider-man finds that every member of the Hand is dead. By the next day, Spider-man believes that the Hand's death is some kind of setup, as all the Handt's money was transfered to another account. Believing that the Hand suffered a betrayal from the inside, Spider-man goes to the morgue, where he finds a note reading "Follow me to the Rabbit Hole?"

Spider-man goes to the Willowwood Home for Children, a place that housed children suffering from mental illnesses. Suddenly, he is captured in a net, and Carl Simpson stands over him. Batman deduces that Carl Simpson does not exist, he is just a paper man set up by the Hand. The man in front of him is the Hand's betrayer, and he took the ninja's serum to survive death. Simpson is aware of Spider-man's dual life and reveals himself to be Richard Jr., Peter Parker's brother. Although Peter believes he does not have a brother, Richard says that an accident had caused him to be born early, and Richard and Mary Parker had hid him away at Willowwood to heal. When Richard and Mary died, Willowwood lost its funding and the place began treating its children cruelly. Blaming Peter for their parents's deaths, RichardThomas puts on an owl suit of armor and frees Spider-man so that the brothers can have a final fight.

After a lengthy brawl through the skies ofNew York, Simpson is trapped in an explosion intended to kill Peter; no body is located. Peter admits to Ben that although he is skeptical of Simpson's claims and believes his parents would have told him had he had a brother, without Simpson's body and a DNA test he is unable to conclusively prove or disprove Simpson's claims. Still, Peter says that even though the Hand tried to destroy everything he believed in, there was one thing the Hand could never break: his belief in his parents. Peter knows that although the Hand has been stopped for now, it will return; and he will be ready.