Amazing Spider-Man #6 marks the legacy number of Amazing Spider-Man #600, and as promised, it delivers a showdown between Spider-Man and the Sinister Adaptoid, an android with all the powers of the Sinister Six.
Along with the reveal of the villain behind the Sinister Adaptoid, Spider-Man catches the eye of a new admirer. And even with Peter Parker's dating history, Spidey's new secret admirer might be his weirdest potential love interest yet.
Spoilers ahead for Amazing Spider-Man #900
As Peter Parker shows up to celebrate a planned surprise party, the guests are shocked to find that Peter is on time, while J. Jonah Jameson, the party's host, is late.
But the question of Jameson's absence is answered when Doctor Octopus' sentient AI arms come careening through the wall, with Jameson held captive in their body harness.
After a quick change into Spider-Man and a brief fight - in which Peter realizes the arms aren't trying to hurt him or Jameson - Ock's arms recognize Peter, thanks to the bond they share as a result of Doc Ock inhabiting Peter's body during the Superior Spider-Man era, and latch onto him.
Peter realizes the arms are Ock's cry for help - they even scratch "Help" into a wall - and reasons that things must be sincerely dire if he's reaching out to his mortal enemy, he quickly tracks Doc Ock to a warehouse, where he finds the Sinister Adaptoid, which has not just the powers of the Sinister Six, but all six of their personalities as well, crammed into one gigantic android body.
Meanwhile, the creator of the Sinister Adaptoid is revealed as a souped-up version of the Living Brain, a classic Spider-Man villain dating back to the original Amazing Spider-Man #8. The actual Living Brain is a gigantic green, well, brain, which is obsessed with answering the question "Who is Spider-Man?", first asked by its creator Randall Steven Petty.
It's revealed that the humanoid extensions of the Living Brain are 'Inputs,' human beings - including Petty himself - who have been turned into bodily aspects of the Living Brain.
Peter is captured by the Sinister Adaptoid, who brings him to the actual Living Brain - along with all six members of the Sinister Six. Spidey reluctantly frees them, and they all fight together (though not without bickering), with Doc Ock finally using the six internalized personalities within the Sinister Adaptoid to confuse it into destroying itself.
The Sinister Six, led once again by Doctor Octopus, resolve to destroy the Living Brain, but Spider-Man refuses to allow them to, considering it a living being. The villains also resolve to destroy Spider-Man, but the Living Brain's 'Input' intervenes, trapping the Sinister Six and returning them "back where I found them."
The Living Brain decides it has sufficiently answered the question of "Who is Spider-Man?" dismissing his secret identity as the true answer to the question, and stating that Spider-Man is someone who would give his life to protect anyone, even an enemy - in other words, a truly selfless hero.
But it also reveals that it does indeed know that Peter Parker is secretly Spider-Man.
So what about that secret admirer we mentioned? We already revealed who it is.
It's Doc Ock's arms, that form a strange bond with Peter Parker, refusing to allow Doc Ock to kill him, before seemingly betraying their creator and forming into a heart shape for Peter.
When Peter leaves the Living Brain behind, the arms follow him, seemingly infatuated with Spider-Man - even watching him as he reconnects with and kisses Black Cat, potentially rekindling their own romance.
Nothing could go wrong with having your arch-enemy's greatest weapon fall in love with you, right?
We'll learn more when Amazing Spider-Man #7 arrives on August 10.
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