City of Heroes, Part 1: Spider-Gwen Returns

City of Heroes, Part 1: Spider-Gwen Returns
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City of Heroes, Part 1: Spider-Gwen Returns is the 5th episode of Marvel's Spider-Man: Webbed Champion.

Characters

Featured Characters

• Spider-Man / Peter Parker
• Ghost-Spider / Gwen Stacy (first appearance as Ghost-Spider)

Supporting Characters

• Horizon High School
  • Teachers
    • Max Modell
  • Students
    • Kid Arachnid / Miles Morales
    • Spider-Girl / Anya Corazon (first appearance as Spider-Girl)
    • Liz Allan (cameo)

Antagonists

• Silvermane / Silvio Manfredi (first appearance)
• Electro / Max Dillon (first appearance)
• Hydra
  • Arnim Zola
  • Red Skull / Johann Schmidt (mentioned only)
  • Crimson Widow / Yelena Belova (first appearance)

Other Characters

• Daily Bugle
  • Betty Brant (appears in TV, computer screen and hologram only)
• Elsa Bloodstone (indirectly mentioned)
• Nick Fury (mentioned only)
• J. Jonah Jameson (cameo)

Plot

While news about J. Jonah Jameson's arrest spread across New York, Peter Parker is with Gwen Stacy overseeing a relic called the Blood Gem, which is said to contain mystical energies, after it was delivered to Horizon High after being found at an ancient dig site. Just then, Gwen suddenly ends up feeling affected by the Blood Gem's energies after touching it, and Peter takes her to the medical lab. Meanwhile, Electro and Crimson Widow (both in individual places) are simultaneously contacted by Silvermane and Arnim Zola respectively, and ordered to reach Horizon High and retrieve the Blood Gem.

Back in Horizon High, Gwen recovers from her short coma with Peter, Anya Corazon and Miles Morales next to her. She appears to have suffered no internal changes despite exposure to the Blood Gem's radiation until she finds herself sticking in the walls like Peter and Miles do, feeling surprised to find out that her dormant powers as Spider-Gwen from the Man-Spider incident have returned, as Anya soon reveals that she too has retained her spider-powers from the event. As the girls remember and practice their abilities and work on their costumes, Peter and Miles check on the Blood Gem with Max Modell, although Peter suggests that the Gem may prove unstable due to its massive amount to energy. Right before they can discuss about what to do, the school is broken through by Electro and Crimson Widow; both seeking to claim the Blood Gem on their employers' behalf. Just as the villains end up fighting each other for the Gem's possession and Peter and Miles suit up as Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid respectively, Gwen and Anya merge on their new suits as Ghost-Spider and Spider-Girl respectively and help fight the villains off. Spider-Man and Kid Arachnid defeat Electro while Ghost-Spider and Spider-Girl defeat Crimson Widow and force them to retreat, but not before Crimson Widow triggers a time bomb she implanted on the school.

Spider-Man and the others eventually web down the bomb and catapult it away from the city before it explodes, although Electro and Crimson Widow manage to escape, but not before Spider-Man puts two microscopic trackers on them. Through the trackers, they overhear of Silvermane's plan to use the Blood Gem for a weapon of Oscorp technology which can duplicate metahumans DNA and Zola seeking the Gem to create a new doomsday device ordered by Red Skull to be used to destroy America. While Modell hides the Blood Gem to an unknown location, the four split in two duos; Peter and Gwen search for Electro and Silvermane while Miles and Anya search for Crimson Widow and Zola. Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider chase Electro in the streets of New York while stopping him from causing any havoc in the city as they follow him towards Silvermane's mansion before Silvermane himself. Kid Arachnid and Spider-Girl follow Crimson Widow into a secret Hydra base located in the underground of what was once an Oscorp warehouse, and sneak in there. Overhearing that Hydra also seeks the Gem, Silvermane and his henchmen also rush to confront Zola and Crimson Widow in their lab as Spider-Man and Ghost-Spider give chase. A riot issues in the warehouse, on which Electro double-crosses Silvermane and takes control of Hydra's combat robots.

Acknowledging how worse the situation has become, Ghost-Spider concludes that the only way to stop their fight for the Blood Gem is to destroy it. While Spider-Man and the others hold the villains off, Ghost-Spider reaches and obtains the Blood Gem with Crimson Widow giving chase. Ghost-Spider overpowers Crimson Widow and webs the Blood Gem with one of Crimson Widow's terminal bombs. Crimson Widow recovers and attempts to obliterate Ghost-Spider by detonating the bomb as Electro avoids Spider-Man and his team and chases after the Gem, but Ghost-Spider manages to send the bomb flying up in the air high enough with the Blood-Gem webbed in it before the issuing explosion destroys the Gem and disables Electro's robot body. With their plan foiled, Zola and Crimson Widow forcibly retreat as Silvermane and Electro are taken to the Cellar. Back in Horizon High, Peter expresses remorse over having endangered his friends and for losing the Blood Gem, but Modell instead gives him praise for having still saved the city and inspired his friends into becoming the heroes they now are. Modell also reveals that the Blood-Gem was just a duplicate; the original one is somewhere else with its current owner. Spider-Man continues swinging around New York City with Ghost-Spider, Kid Arachnid and Spider-Girl following him, as the four are cheered on by the citizens (much to a incarcerated Jameson's ire), a small shard of the destroyed Blood Gem is shown to have landed on Liz Allan's home, on which she inspects the shard and makes a necklace out of it. A close-up reveals that the Blood Gem's power is still active within the shard.

"Next: A New Hero Rises... In Flames!"

Voice Cast

• Robbie Daymond as Spider-Man / Peter Parker
• Laura Bailey as Ghost-Spider / Gwen Stacy
• Nadji Jeter as Kid Arachnid / Miles Morales
• Melanie Minichino as Spider-Girl / Anya Corazon
• Fred Tatasciore as Max Modell
• Grey DeLisle as Betty Brant
• Nolan North as Silvermane
• Troy Baker as Electro / Max Dillon
• Julie Nathanson as Crimson Widow / Yelena Belova
• Mark Hamill as Arnim Zola

References

Marvel's Spider-Man: Webbed Champion