Slinger (Marvel NEW)/Issue Three

The third issue of Slinger is the third part of the "Before He Was Amazing" story arc and takes place an unspecified amount of time after the previous issue, where Peter was rejected by Gwen Stacy.

Synopsis
After his rejection, Peter hasn't really been talking to Gwen all that much, which is a shame since without her his friend group is incomplete. While he deals with this fact, Harry and he decide to sign up for Midtown High's football team, The Tigers. Sadly, Peter's Spider-Man life isn't much better, since his reputation has nosedived after a criminal imposter of him was spotted committing quite a lot of crimes.

Plot
Peter and Harry are walking down a hallway, discussing the upcoming dance, Harry still trying to come up with a way to get dates for them. He is interrupted though when Peter grabs him and hides behind a corner. Harry asks if he saw Flash Thompson and immediately after Gwen Stacy walks past the corner, speaking with a girl and not noticing the two. After realizing what's going on, Harry tells Peter that he has to talk to Gwen again, since he, Peter and Gwen have all been friends since they were six and just cutting her off isn't a cool thing to do.

Peter agrees and says that him avoiding her is just a phase that he's hoping will pass soon. Harry agrees before moving on to his main point, stating he thinks he has a way of getting them dates. He points out a window at Flash Thompson and tells Peter that Flash has dated four different girls and now that he's single more girls want to be with him. Harry asks if Peter knows why with him sarcastically claiming it's his "wonderful personality". Harry then claims it's because Flash is a football player, and all they'd need to do is become players themselves and the girls will be asking them out instead.

Peter isn't sure about the idea but agrees to anyway, claiming it couldn't hurt. After this, Flash storms into school, a group of people surrounding him and claiming that "it's the truth". Flash repeatedly states he doesn't believe it, causing one of the students to repeat what he said: Spider-Man robbed a museum. Peter is visibly upset by this and grabs the student, asking him what he said. The student states that Spider-Man broke into a museum and stole the Black Diamond. The student then shows Peter footage of Spider-Man stealing said diamond, causing Peter to stare in absolute awe.

Peter, now out of school, begins ranting, screaming that he can't believe this and that he spent ages building up his reputation and, in one single action, someone completely destroyed it. He proclaims that "this is ridiculous" before asking if the person he's talking to agrees. The "person" turns out to be a spider in a tank, which sits and stares at Peter. Peter stares back before claiming he needs to stop asking his spider questions, revealing the spider to be named Stacy.

Peter suits up and begins swinging through the city, claiming that it's what he does whenever he needs to clear his head. While thinking about everything, a group of people interrupts his thought process by throwing things at him. He lands and demands to know what's going on, with them claiming that he did multiple things he didn't, including robbing a shop, harassing cops, and breaking a man's leg. Peter attempts to defend himself but is shut up by them continuing to throw things at him.

This all ends in a large amount of purple smoke appearing and a voice coming from it, telling the citizens not to worry, stating that the Mighty Mysterio will defeat this menace. Mysterio leaps from the smoke and seems to be using magic as he battles Spider-Man. The two have a rather anticlimactic battle, during which Mysterio continuously pummels Peter into the ground. The most damage Peter does is a small crack on Mysterio's helmet and ripping a part of his cape off. Due to this, Peter is forced to flee.

He begins swinging back home, holding the piece of Mysterio's cape. Peter thinks to himself about Mysterio and his powers, claiming that a hero with magic wouldn't come after him and would instead go after more mystic threats. The cape piece suddenly sparks with electricity, confusing Peter quite a bit. Later, Peter studies the cloth and discovers that it is actually made up of nanites and it can be assumed the rest of Mysterio's suit also is. He then begins watching videos of his imposter to prove his new theory correct and sees something very strange happen in one of them. Peter cheers in joy and claims that "we did it", revealing Stacy watching the same video as Peter.

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