Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #10 Review: The Goblin Takeover Begins

Previously in “Superior Spider-Man Team-Up” #9, the Punisher had suspicions of Spider-Man stealing his tech (more specifically his glider) and he called in Daredevil as backup to aid in confronting Spider-Man. Spidey then agreed to take the two inside of his Spider Island fortress to dispel any theories of him being a thief. During their visit, an imposter dressed as one of the Spider Patrol members attempted to suicide bomb the fortress with pumpkin bombs strapped to his chest. It was then revealed that there were not just one, but hundreds of moles amongst the Spider Patrol working for an unknown entity and they were ready to mount an attack against Spider-Man and the visiting heroes.

SPOILER ALERT — In “Superior Spider-Man Team-Up” #10, the fake Spider Patrol launch their attack on Spider-Man, Daredevil, and the Punisher. Amidst all of the fighting, the Punisher somehow found his glider, and it was made clear that Spider-Man was not the one who had taken it. The fight reached the point where the heroes were overwhelmed by the imposters, and Spider-Man was forced to flood the entire weapons research and development section of Spider Island to defeat them. After the chaos had ended, Spider-Man saw a tattoo on the neck of one of the imposters and recognized that it was a Green Goblin tattoo. Norman Osborn had made his return, and Spidey never saw it coming.

LOOKING FORWARD — The Green Goblin has been plotting his return from behind the scenes for sometime now (since the events of “Amazing Spider-Man” #700 when he woke up from a coma and disappeared from his hospital bed). He has slowly built an army over the past year recruiting common thugs, gang members, as well as big-time and small-time villains. During this “Superior Era” for Spider-Man, he has been using small spider-bots to patrol the city for crime and danger, but the Goblin figured out a way to reprogram the robots to ignore all Goblin activity around the city.

Spider-Man 2099 (aka Miguel O’Hara) has also been playing a behind the scenes role in the Superior Spider-Man universe as he is still trapped in this current time period. He has quietly been studying the newly formed company Alchemax under the fake name Michael O’Mara and playing the role of trusted assistant of Tiberius Stone. Alchemax may play a larger part in the upcoming events because Liz Allen is one of the active founders of the company, merging her father’s company Allen Chemical with her son’s holdings in Oscorp. Norman Osborn may have a hand in the formation of Alchemax behind the scenes, and he may have an agenda for the company as Norman as well as the Goblin (who now seem to be synonymous after Osborn recently woke from his comatose status).

Now things have gotten out of hand for Spidey as the Goblin has chosen to reveal himself to our Superior hero. Spider-Man must now deal with all the Goblin activity he has been blind to for some time and it may just be too much for him to handle. It was also revealed earlier in “Superior Spider-Man” #21 that the Goblin had read Officer Carlie Cooper’s journal in which she has hard evidence of Doctor Octopus switching minds with Spider-Man. The Goblin surely has the upper hand heading into the upcoming events of Goblin Nation. 

The Goblin Nation story arc has been revealed to be broken into five parts with part two being “Superior Spider-Man” #28, which  would make the “Superior Spider-Man” title end at #31. Many interesting things will inevitably happen between now and the end of Superior Spider-Man as writer Dan Slott has announced the return of Peter Parker in a reboot of the Amazing Spider-Man around the beginning of May of 2014. What this means for “Superior Spider-Man Team-Up” and other Superior titles is yet to be revealed. Regardless, major things are happening in the Spider-Man universe, and the return of Peter Parker coupled with this Green Goblin fiasco will only make things that much more intense in the upcoming months.