AndyC

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

<Snipped quote by AndyC>

@Sep

Oh, it's gonna happen.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

@AndyC Will you be bringing back Raven/Starfire as well?

@Lord Wraith

Probably, I just haven't decided what their status quo will be just yet. I might pick them up where I left off at DCUG, or I might have them active for a while, I'm not sure. Gonna work on that this weekend.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

Congrats, @AndyC.

@Retired

Thanks, man. You had a really good CS, so I'll do what I can to make sure my Spidey is worthy.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

The Amazing

S P I D E R - M A N

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^{_{Peter Benjamin Parker ♦ College Student, Freelance Photographer ♦ Brooklyn, New York ♦ Independent}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

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^{"Okay, so half the NYPD wants me behind bars, SHIELD wants me locked away in some black site, every criminal from here to Newark wants me dead, I'm behind on rent, I've got a paper due that I haven't even started on, and oh hey, Rhino's tearing up 82nd and Lexington. Sounds about right for a Monday."}

Backstory

Five years ago, Peter Parker was a scrawny, awkward, soft-spoken underachiever, a true nerd not just in the sense of being intelligent and obsessed with pop-culture, but in the sense of having no social skills or self-confidence. He found himself on the receiving end of Flash Thompson's never-ending hazing, or ruthless needling from the likes of Sally Avril. While his aunt and uncle doted on him and encouraged him to do well in school, their own financial woes meant that his options for a high-end education and brighter future were limited. His circle of friends was more of a triangle, as only the troubled neighbor kid Eddie Brock and his gifted classmate Gwen Stacy gave him the time of day.

Things would begin to change rapidly not long after the debut of the headline-grabbing Superman, as several large corporations within the military-industrial complex began scrambling to catch up. One such corporation was OsCorp, the dominion of the brilliant billionaire Norman Osborn, who was a leader in bioengineering. In the race to develop new metahuman capabilities for military and commercial use, OsCorp began developing a serum called Globulin Green, which would drastically alter a host's DNA. OsCorp first began testing Globulin Green on animals such as lizards, rats, and spiders.

One fateful field trip, an unexpected spider-bite, and a life-changing tragedy after an ill-timed argument with his uncle later, and the rest is history. His DNA altered to display superhuman strength and reflexes, as well as the ability to stick to walls, Peter learned the hard way to put his newfound abilities to good use, and so he took to the streets, using his spider-powers to fight crime and save lives under the not-particularly-creative moniker of Spider-Man.

Starting out with little more than a hoodie, a ski mask, some goggles, and a bad attitude in the wake of his uncle's murder, Spider-Man began his career by knocking around muggers, drug dealers, and local organized crime families. This escalated through his first year of action as crime bosses like Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln and Sonny "Hammerhead" Caputo began conscripting superpowered enforcers to stop him; lowlifes like Herman Schultz and Mac Gargan became the Shocker and Scorpion. They were soon followed by a tech-thieving arms dealer named Adrian Toomes, better known as the Vulture, and a small-time mob muscle named Alex O'Hirn, who became the hulking brute known as Rhino. None of these super-villains, however, took Pete as close to the brink of death or struck as much fear into his heart as the cackling masked maniac known only as the Green Goblin.

Over the next year or so, every aspect of Peter's life only got more complicated. He and his childhood friend Gwen both earned internships at OsCorp, where they befriended the CEO's gifted but troubled son Harry Osborn and learned under the tutelage of the brilliant duo of Curt Connors and Otto Octavius. Spending more time together both in and out of work, a budding romance bloomed between Pete and Gwen, much to the chagrin of Harry, who had developed feelings for Gwen himself. While Harry did not mean any harm to Peter, he did drive a wedge between the two and prevent their relationship from growing--something that did not go unnoticed by Harry's girlfriend at the time, Liz Allan. To console him, Pete's aunt May set him up on a blind date with her friend's niece, the vivacious and free-spirited Mary Jane Watson. While the two hit it off, and Pete and MJ developed feelings for each other, Pete found himself unable to choose between MJ and Gwen, not helped by the fact that his old friend Eddie began trying to woo Mary Jane. As Harry and Liz also spent more and more time in the mix, the six of them found themselves in a proverbial Gordian knot of conflicting feelings and dueling relationships, all of which would have probably made for a great teen drama on cable TV.

Meanwhile, newer and stranger villains made life difficult for Spider-Man, such as the high-tech illusionist Mysterio, the activist turned terrorist Electro, the playful but deadly burglar who called herself the Black Cat, or the criminal small-timer turned living landslide Flint "Sandman" Marko. All the while, Spidey's reputation was dragged through the mud by the outrage-mongering media mogul J. Jonah Jameson, and his shaky relationship with the NYPD was shattered completely after an escaped Scorpion framed him for the murder of Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father. While this loss devastated Gwen and damaged the group of friends, it was harmed even further when as he was rounding up some of Tombstone's henchmen, Peter discovered Eddie Brock among them, and he was forced to put one of his best friends behind bars.

As high school gave way to college, Peter found himself facing a difficult decision, as a falling-out at OsCorp resulted in Doctor Octavius leaving the company and starting his own smaller firm, Horizon Labs. Having to choose between Osborn's connections and Otto's stronger ethics, Pete decided to keep learning under Octavius, losing his scholarship money and having to get a job to make up the extra money. Seeing the demand for quality photos of superheroes, he began photographing himself in action and selling them to various news outlets; to his annoyance, his most regular paycheck would come from the Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson, the same man who went out of his way to tarnish everything Spider-Man did. Meanwhile, he began to notice many of his enemies were working together, coordinating as if they were being controlled by some invisible hand. Sure enough, he soon learned that they had been freed from prison and upgraded with new weapons by someone named the "Octopus." When Rhino, Sandman, Vulture, Electro, and Mysterio all began a coordinated assault on OsCorp, Spider-Man learned, to his shock and horror, that they were in fact being led by Otto Octavius, who had been driven insane by his cybernetic implants and his thirst for revenge against Osborn. The newly-christened Doctor Octopus and his Sinister Six would wreak havoc on the city for days, but ultimately, after several brutal skirmishes, a battered and heartbroken Spider-Man would emerge victorious, having saved the city and restored his reputation.

Peter has been active as Spider-Man for nearly five years now. He has upgraded his equipment over the years with a combination of stolen OsCorp and Octavius devices and his own unique brand of "guerilla science" to amass a formidable arsenal of crimefighting gear. He has apprehended hundreds of criminals, defeated nearly a dozen super-powered villains, and saved thousands if not millions of New Yorkers' lives. While he is nowhere near as beloved as Superman in Metropolis, he has become something of a favorite son of the Big Apple, despite Jameson's ravings. Pete has returned to studying under Curt Connors, who now teaches at Empire State University. His photos for the Bugle have gotten a fair amount of attention, to the point where he has developed something of a professional rivalry with the Daily Planet's Jimmy Olsen. He and Gwen have begun dating again, and even gotten engaged. Maybe, just maybe, things are finally looking up for Peter Parker....

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

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I've said it before and I'll say it again: Spider-Man is my favorite character in all of fiction. Even after years of bad writing, disappointing movies, less interesting replacements, and IMO a general misunderstanding of what makes the character great, there's still something special about Peter Parker that always brings me back.

I want to bring back a critical element of Spider-Man that I believe the folks at Marvel and much of the fanbase have forgotten: namely, the life of Peter Parker isn't meant to be a sitcom, it's meant to be a soap opera. Yes, he's funny and nerdy and he runs his mouth a lot, but that doesn't count for much of anything now that, thanks to the MCU, every bloody superhero in the world is a wisecracking smartass who quotes pop-culture. The thing that classic Spider-Man did better than his counterparts is the drama, the personal tragedy, the romance, the sheer unironic and unabashed feeeeelings that so many people avoid because taking things seriously is lame. I'm still going to keep Pete's sense of humor and play up how clownish characters like JJJ can be, but I also want to tell stories that have stakes, costs, and losses amidst all the technicolor tomfoolery.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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Friends and Family, Love and Loss

Ben Parker (deceased) was an honest, hard-working, and immensely kind man who worked most of his life as an MP in the Army. A career of keeping soldiers in line and uncovering wrongdoings within the ranks and officers instilled in Ben a strong sense of accountability, that anyone who wields power should be held responsible for it. He did what he could to make sure May and Peter could live comfortably and happily, and while their life was far from idyllic, he made sure they never went hungry, and that any arguments he and May might have had over bills or school or work were well out of earshot of their nephew. As Pete grew, Ben tried his best to teach him responsibility and maturiy, lessons Pete sadly would not learn until a carjacker took Ben's life. While Ben's death still troubles and haunts Peter, the lessons his uncle taught him have fixed his moral compass and strengthened his resolve.


May Parker is Peter's aunt, a surrogate mother to him ever since his birth parents were killed when he was a toddler. A retired nurse, she has spent most of her life helping people, and has done her best to instill that same charity and compassion in her nephew. Though she no longer works professionally, May is far from idle, as she spends most of her time volunteering at the FEAST homeless center, working closely with the philanthropic community leader Martin Li.


Harry Osborn didn't meet Peter until well into high school, but the two have since become fast friends. The son of billionaire CEO Norman Osborn, Harry has spent his entire life in his father's shadow, and bridles at the expectations put upon him. While he puts on the image of a suave, charming, and motivated young professional destined to inherit his father's empire, in truth Harry lacks that ruthless ambition, and would much rather follow his late mother's footsteps in environmental activism when not goofing off with his friends. The pressures put on him between his dueling identities have started to take their toll on Harry, and while he tries to play it off, something dark is growing inside of him.


Eddie Brock is a childhood friend of Peter's, having grown up in the house across the street. While the Parkers were a struggling but relatively happy household, the Brocks were utterly dysfunctional, and Eddie spent much of his time hanging out with Pete as a way to get away from his parents. Eddie came to see Pete as a sort of kid brother, and would regularly stand up for him against bullies like Flash Thompson, though this often got him into trouble at school, which only led to more trouble at home. Things only continued to spiral downward for Eddie as he fell in with a gang, working as a small-time dealer for Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln. Eventually, he was called in by Tombstone to act as a soldier during a turf war with the Maggia, but before things turned deadly, the raid was broken up by Spider-Man, who webbed Eddie up and left him for the police. Eddie served three years, and has just been released from prison, where he now faces the difficulties of trying to make ends meet as an ex-con.


Gwen Stacy is Peter's fiancée, their childhood friendship having grown into an on-again-off-again romance through high school and finally a lifelong commitment. Gwen has always been a fellow nerd and overachiever, and part of her initial attraction to Peter was that she loved competing with him to see who would be top of their class. She was the first person to figure out Spider-Man's identity, and has since acted as a silent partner in his vigilante career, investigating the shady activities of OsCorp from the inside and providing Pete with research and data while he is out on patrol. Her father's death is still a painful memory, though she is determined to do his memory justice.


Mary Jane Watson came from a broken home, but never let that break her spirit. Initially introduced to Peter via blind date, she found she liked him and his group of friends, and spent much of her free time in high school encouraging them to come out of their shells. Now a journalism major, a regular in the college's theater productions, and the lead singer of a punk rock band, MJ has her potential future pulling her in all directions, but rather than give in to the pressure, she is more content to go wherever the wind takes her. She is a troublemaker and a firebrand who regularly takes over any room she enters. She is also one of the few people who knows Pete is Spider-Man, as she once had to drive him to the emergency room after a particularly nasty battle with the Green Goblin. While she is currently dating Harry, MJ is not quite as over her on-and-off relationship with Pete as she lets on.


Liz Allan is a fellow intern at OsCorp, and the former girlfriend of Harry Osborn. A bright and straight-laced young woman with her whole career already plotted out, Liz is very much the antithesis of Mary Jane, always trying to fit in rather than stand out. This seeming obsession with being 'normal' came into focus when her brother Mark was revealed to be a mutant, a low-level pyromancer the Bugle dubbed "Molten Man." Liz is an avid reader of the Bugle and listener to Jameson's "Just the Facts" podcast, which has only fed her phobia of mutants and aliens and other 'freaks' like Spider-Man.

The Bugle, the NYPD, and the Big Apple

J. Jonah Jameson is the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Bugle, a once proud and well-respected paper that has become little more than a sensationalist tabloid. In the modern news cycle, nothing sells like outrage and fear, and nobody is better at whipping up outrage and fear than Jameson. While he is an outspoken critic of the various costumed 'super-heroes' in general, he has developed a particular antipathy towards Spider-Man, blaming him for every possible mishap and spinning any of his good deeds to be something insidious. While deep down, Jonah may still be the idealistic fearless reporter he once was as a young man, you'd have to dig pretty deep indeed to find it.


Betty Brant is Jameson's receptionist, and a classmate and friend of Mary Jane Watson. A journalism major with dreams of becoming a legitimate reporter, Betty believes that working under the perennially grouchy and penny-pinching Jameson is all part of paying her dues to a more exciting and rewarding career-- or so she hopes. She has also developed a crush on Spider-Man after he would repeatedly swing into the Bugle's office to antagonize Jameson, much to her boss's extreme annoyance.


Ned Leeds is the only reporter left at the Bugle with any sort of legitimacy, and one who frequently uses Peter Parker's photos for his pieces. He's well-meaning and excitable, if a little dopey, but he can put together an eye-catching headline and he's yet to be sued for libel, which is good enough for Jameson.


Captain George Stacy (deceased) was Gwen Stacy's father, a hard-line by-the-book cop with no patience for vigilantism. A firm believer in law and order, Stacy was dauntless in his pursuit of justice, both against crime lords like Tombstone and Hammerhead, and against Spider-Man for taking the law into his own hands. Over time, Spidey and Stacy developed a begrudging trust, but before he could ever consider the wall-crawler a friend, Stacy was tragically murdered by the Scorpion. His death was personal tragedy to both Gwen and Peter, and a shock to the NYPD.


Captain Jean DeWolff was once George Stacy's protégée, and is now his replacement. Like Stacy, she is a firm believer in the badge, and is a crusader in rooting out corruption in her precinct. Unlike her predecessor, however, she has come to see the necessity to occasionally act outside the law, and while she does not publicly condone Spider-Man's actions, she is willing to let the webslinger pick up where the law leaves off. To a point, at least-- DeWolff has made it plain to Spidey that if he ever crosses one line too many, she will come down on him with the wrath of an angry god.


Doctor Curt Connors was the one half of a scientific dream-team at OsCorp, working alongside Otto Octavius to push the company to the forefront of applied sciences. An extremely gifted geneticist and former friend of the late Richard and Mary Parker, Connors was eager to work with their son Peter, and was hurt when Pete left OsCorp to join Octavius's Horizon Labs. After Otto's fall from grace, Connors left OsCorp himself to teach at Empire State University, partially to spend more time with his family, partially to try and reconnect with Peter, but mostly to get away from Osborn and the increasingly frightening things going on behind closed doors there.


Norman Osborn is the CEO of OsCorp, one of the leading technological firms in America. A genius in his own right, Osborn surrounded himself with experts in as many fields as he could, ranging from bioengineering to cybernetics to fusion and theoretical physics, all while pursuing lucrative military contracts as the Pentagon was desperate to keep up in the super-powers arms race. A classic alpha male in every sense of the word, "Stormin' Norman" is famous for his bravado, his charisma, and his unwavering confidence even in the face of potential disaster. There are many who claim of dark secrets in the Osborn household and in the lower levels of OsCorp's labs, of very literal skeletons in Norman's closet. These rumors, however, quickly go quiet, and those who spread them are often quickly convinced otherwise. Norman is not content to sit at the top of his personal mountain, as he now has his eyes set on loftier perches, starting first by recently announcing his candidacy for Mayor of New York City.

Enemies

The Green Goblin is a masked lunatic, a mad bomber and spree killer who has terrorized New York for nearly as long as Spider-Man has been trying to save it. Armed with an advanced hover platform, an array of explosive Pumpkin Bombs, deadly Razor Bats, and a host of poison gases, the Goblin has wreaked havoc across the Five Boroughs without any clear motive beyond mayhem for mayhem's sake. Though Spider-Man has thwarted his rampages and defeated him in combat multiple times, he has never managed to keep the Goblin down long enough to put him behind bars, and to this day he remains the only one of the Wall Crawler's enemies who has yet to be unmasked.


Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln is one of the largest and most brutal crime bosses in New York City. Formerly an enforcer for the Maggia family, Lincoln broke away to begin a syndicate of his own, and now oversees a powerful gang that has its hands in everything from narcotics and gun-running to human trafficking and contract killing. A genetic abnormality himself with superhuman strength and durability, Tombstone does not shy from hiring or creating costumed supervillains to do his dirty work for him. While Spider-Man has put him behind bars on three separate occasions, thanks to Lincoln's connections in the corrupt justice system, he never stays in prison for long.


Sonny "Hammerhead" Caputo is one of the most feared capos in the Maggia Crime Family. A blunt, brutish man with no patience for subtlety, Hammerhead prefers direct and spectacular shows of force to frighten people into letting him have his way. While the Maggia patriarch Silvio Manfredi is away, Caputo effectively runs Maggia operations in New York, and has begun a devastating gang war against Tombstone.


The Black Cat is a master thief, as well as an adrenaline junkie and thrillseeker, pulling off daring and dangerous heists purely for the excitement. Felicia Hardy, daughter of the original Black Cat Walter Hardy, was born with a mild mutation that allows her to slightly alter probability when in danger, effectively jinxing her enemies with bad luck. This, as well as a lifetime of training under a master criminal and an arsenal of high-tech equipment, has allowed her to amass fantastic wealth by robbing from the rich and giving to herself, though she seems to only use the money to fund bigger and bolder heists. She has crossed paths with Spider-Man on several occasions, sometimes as allies, but mostly playing a seemingly unending game of cops-and-robbers that Felicia relishes in, always flirting with the webslinger and trying to get him to join her "on the fun side of the law."


The Scorpion was a Maggia contract killer named Mac Gargan, an assassin who specialized in poisons and toxins. Initially hired to take out Spider-Man, Gargan learned that his poisons by themselves would not be enough to eliminate the Wall-Crawler, and so he was 'volunteered' by his superiors to undergo a technological upgrade. Encased in a cybernetic harness that increased his strength and reflexes to mimic Spider-Man's powers, the new and improved Scorpion fought and very nearly defeated the Webslinger, were it not for the interference of the NYPD. Since his ignominious defeat and arrest, Gargan has escaped from prison on multiple occasions, not just to get his revenge on Spider-Man, but on the police officers that helped take him down, which tragically included Captain George Stacy.


Shocker is the first costumed super-villain that Spider-Man ever fought, an honor which is the only real distinction in Herman Schultz's criminal career. While his insulated suit and powerful shockwave gauntlets make him more than a match for any regular law enforcement, he has routinely been humiliated by Spider-Man, who won't stop laughing at his name but also won't tell Shocker why.

The Sinister Six

Doctor Otto Octavius, now known by the public at large as "Doctor Octopus," was a well-respected genius under the employ of Norman Osborn, who repeatedly plundered Otto's ideas and stole credit from him. An expert in robotics and cybernetic prostheses, Otto planned to help the maimed and crippled to walk and function again, but Osborn saw dollar signs in potential military contracts. His work tarnished and his reputation ruined, Octavius left OsCorp to work independently, getting grants from the shady organization AIM to form Horizon Labs, before learning they too wanted to weaponize his work. Over time, Otto was driven insane by a mix of his frustrations and brain damage from untested cybernetics, and he decided to use his weaponized inventions to get revenge for those who had wronged him. Armed with four advanced cybernetic arms and an diabolically genius mind, Octavius freed five of Spider-Man's most feared enemies and used them as his personal army, laying siege to New York before being brought low. Of all of Spider-Man's enemies, he is the only one who knows his true identity, that beneath that webbed mask and layers of snark is his former protégé Peter Parker, and he is determined to one day make Peter see the light and join his Sinister Six.


The Vulture is a gifted engineer named Adrian Toomes, who created a flying harness for himself out of technology left over from fights between other superheroes and villains. While he is far from Spider-Man's deadliest foe, he is among the craftiest, a regular MacGyver who can make deadly implements out of junk with minimal effort. Toomes was the first member of Otto's Sinister Six, finding a kindred spirit in the tentacled mad scientist, though after several humiliations at Spider-Man's hands, he's far more interested in seeing the wall-crawler dead than trying to recruit him.


Mysterio is the criminal alter-ego of former stage magician Quentin Beck. In a world where flying aliens and wall-crawling weirdos are commonplace, even the most impressive special effects and high-tech illusions seem mundane, which threatened to put Beck out of business. Believing he could sell his holographic technology to the highest bidder, Beck found himself with a solution in need of a problem. Whipping up a few illusory bad guys to fight, he would debut as the spectacular crime-fighter Mysterio. However, when Spider-Man uncovered that Beck was behind the very same attacks he was 'saving' the city from, Beck vowed revenge, and Mysterio would turn the webslinger's world upside-down time and time again, both by himself and as part of the Sinister Six.


Electro started out as a political activist and radical by the name of Max Dillon. In order to gain the power he needed to topple "the system," he sought out the organization AIM, who were looked for test subject in their bioengineering program. He emerged with the ability to produce powerful electromagnetic fields, and transform his entire body into charged plasma. Rather than honor their deal to work for them, Dillon began to wreak havoc on New York as a political terrorist and cop-killer. While Spider-Man was eventually able to stop him, Electro found new comrades in Otto Octavius's faction. Of all the members of the Sinister Six, he is the most volatile, always willing to cause wanton destruction and death in the name of his glorious revolution.


The Sandman was once Flint Marko, a small-time enforcer for Tombstone who used his ill-gotten gains to pay the medical bills for his terminally ill daughter. When Tombstone needed guinea pigs for an experiment, some kind of new super-soldier to fight Spider-Man, Flint couldn't turn down the money, and signed up to have his body bombarded with silicate nanites. This turned him into a being of living sand, his consciousness permeating every grain in the nanite swarm, which has allowed him to very nearly squash Spider-Man on multiple occasions. Though he is far more powerful than he realizes, he still sees himself as a small-time crook, with no real ambitions beyond the next big score to keep his daughter healthy. As a result, he is the only member of the Sinister Six that Spider-Man believes he can reason with.


Rhino was a friend of Flint Marko's, a fellow Tombstone thug named Alex O'Hirn who had been told his whole life that he would never amount to anything more than 'big dumb muscle.' Wanting to prove he could be more than a brute, he signed up for the same super-criminal program as Flint, believing he would come out of it with powers that would change everything. He found himself hard-wired into an advanced war suit, one which granted him near complete invulnerability and strength that could rival the Hulk. However, its power supply was extremely limited, meaning he would only ever be able to be let off of his charger for as long as his employer needed him. While Doctor Octopus has promised him his own autonomy in the form of a self-sustaining power source, he has yet to deliver on his promise, and for the foreseeable future, even with his immense power, Alex O'Hirn is still little more than 'big dumb muscle.'

S A M P L E P O S T:

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"Uuuughhhh.....this sucks," I say as I trudge through a waist-deep river of sewage. "I'll bet nobody on the Justice League has to crawl through sewers on the job. _{....Well, maybe Batman.....}"

Two weeks ago, people started disappearing across Brooklyn. First was a pediatrician, then an insurance agent, then an OsCorp security guard. At first, it didn't seem like there was any connection between them, three seemingly random disappearances that had me looking in all different directions across town for leads. It wasn't until the fourth vanishing that things started to click into place.

"Please be down here," I whisper to myself as the sewage canal gives way to a large, cavernous pump-house. Sure enough, sitting in the far corner, rocking back and forth hugging himself, is who I was praying to find.

Billy Connors, Doctor Curt Connors' nine-year-old son.

A month ago, the pediatrician, one Dr. Kenneth Lang, caught that Billy was showing symptoms of leukemia. He recommended the Connors to see an oncologist, but the insurance agent, one Pamela Burton, told them that it wasn't covered in their plan. Doctor Connors began smuggling OsCorp equipment to his lab at ESU to develop treatments independently, but was caught by a security guard, one George Ransome, who blew the whistle on him. While none of them had any direct tie to the sickness, each had effectively handed the poor boy a death sentence.

Switching my mask's lenses to infra-red, I look around the concrete and steel of the old pump-house, and the coast appears to be clear. Doing my best to climb out of the muck without making too much noise, I quietly call out to him.

"Billy? Billy Connors?" I ask. He stares at me with wide eyes, then quietly nods. "It's all right, I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

As I approach, Billy seems to shrink in on himself.

"Hey, no need to worry," I reassure him, "It's just me, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Here to save days and fight bad guys. No case too big, no case too small. Or in this case, too dark and smelly. Boy, are your mom and dad going to be glad to see you!"

Billy pulls his knees up to his chest and sinks his head down. His chest starts to shake, and I realize he's crying.

"...was it something I said?"

"Don't hurt him....he's sick.....that's all....he's sick...." Billy whimpers, repeating again and again, "he's sick....he's sick...."

Oh man. The poor kid's probably been through a lot. Whoever took him, whatever they did to him, he's now talking to himself in the third person. When I find the kidnapper, I'll make sure he never does this to anyone again.

"Billy, hey, Billy?" I crouch down as I approach him, trying to get him back to reality. "I know you're sick. I'm sorry, I really am. But I know some doctors, some really good ones, and they can--"

"I wasn't talking about me," Billy interrupts. "Something's....something's w-wrong with him. He....doesn't know what he's d-doing. He's s-sick."

".......who's sick?"

Billy doesn't answer, but he stares right past me.

I feel the familiar sensation running up my spine, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. That super-reflex, my vaunted 'Spider-Sense.' Something's moving behind me.

Something big.

"HssssssSSSSSSsssssSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssss......."

"....I don't suppose there's any chance that's just a gas leak, is it?" Billy shakes his head, and I sigh. "Okay, then let's just--"

Whatever witticism I was about to say flees from my mind, as I turn and am greeted with a blur of green scales, flashing yellow eyes, and snapping, slavering jaws.

"Oh yeah, 'Don't hurt him,' the kid says," I mutter to myself as I ready my web-shooters and scramble for dear life.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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Coming Soon (hopefully)

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

@Hillan

I am sorely disappointed by the lack of Nick Cage in your CS.

@Bounce

The sad thing is, there are three different heroes that could apply to.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel & DC Comics RPG

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

The Amazing

S P I D E R - M A N

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^{_{Peter Benjamin Parker ♦ College Student, Freelance Photographer ♦ Brooklyn, New York ♦ Independent}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

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^{"Okay, so half the NYPD wants me behind bars, SHIELD wants me locked away in some black site, every criminal from here to Newark wants me dead, I'm behind on rent, I've got a paper due that I haven't even started on, and oh hey, Rhino's tearing up 82nd and Lexington. Sounds about right for a Monday."}

Backstory

Five years ago, Peter Parker was a scrawny, awkward, soft-spoken underachiever, a true nerd not just in the sense of being intelligent and obsessed with pop-culture, but in the sense of having no social skills or self-confidence. He found himself on the receiving end of Flash Thompson's never-ending hazing, or ruthless needling from the likes of Sally Avril. While his aunt and uncle doted on him and encouraged him to do well in school, their own financial woes meant that his options for a high-end education and brighter future were limited. His circle of friends was more of a triangle, as only the troubled neighbor kid Eddie Brock and his gifted classmate Gwen Stacy gave him the time of day.

Things would begin to change rapidly not long after the debut of the headline-grabbing Superman, as several large corporations within the military-industrial complex began scrambling to catch up. One such corporation was OsCorp, the dominion of the brilliant billionaire Norman Osborn, who was a leader in bioengineering. In the race to develop new metahuman capabilities for military and commercial use, OsCorp began developing a serum called Globulin Green, which would drastically alter a host's DNA. OsCorp first began testing Globulin Green on animals such as lizards, rats, and spiders.

One fateful field trip, an unexpected spider-bite, and a life-changing tragedy after an ill-timed argument with his uncle later, and the rest is history. His DNA altered to display superhuman strength and reflexes, as well as the ability to stick to walls, Peter learned the hard way to put his newfound abilities to good use, and so he took to the streets, using his spider-powers to fight crime and save lives under the not-particularly-creative moniker of Spider-Man.

Starting out with little more than a hoodie, a ski mask, some goggles, and a bad attitude in the wake of his uncle's murder, Spider-Man began his career by knocking around muggers, drug dealers, and local organized crime families. This escalated through his first year of action as crime bosses like Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln and Sonny "Hammerhead" Caputo began conscripting superpowered enforcers to stop him; lowlifes like Herman Schultz and Mac Gargan became the Shocker and Scorpion. They were soon followed by a tech-thieving arms dealer named Adrian Toomes, better known as the Vulture, and a small-time mob muscle named Alex O'Hirn, who became the hulking brute known as Rhino. None of these super-villains, however, took Pete as close to the brink of death or struck as much fear into his heart as the cackling masked maniac known only as the Green Goblin.

Over the next year or so, every aspect of Peter's life only got more complicated. He and his childhood friend Gwen both earned internships at OsCorp, where they befriended the CEO's gifted but troubled son Harry Osborn and learned under the tutelage of the brilliant duo of Curt Connors and Otto Octavius. Spending more time together both in and out of work, a budding romance bloomed between Pete and Gwen, much to the chagrin of Harry, who had developed feelings for Gwen himself. While Harry did not mean any harm to Peter, he did drive a wedge between the two and prevent their relationship from growing--something that did not go unnoticed by Harry's girlfriend at the time, Liz Allan. To console him, Pete's aunt May set him up on a blind date with her friend's niece, the vivacious and free-spirited Mary Jane Watson. While the two hit it off, and Pete and MJ developed feelings for each other, Pete found himself unable to choose between MJ and Gwen, not helped by the fact that his old friend Eddie began trying to woo Mary Jane. As Harry and Liz also spent more and more time in the mix, the six of them found themselves in a proverbial Gordian knot of conflicting feelings and dueling relationships, all of which would have probably made for a great teen drama on cable TV.

Meanwhile, newer and stranger villains made life difficult for Spider-Man, such as the high-tech illusionist Mysterio, the activist turned terrorist Electro, the playful but deadly burglar who called herself the Black Cat, or the criminal small-timer turned living landslide Flint "Sandman" Marko. All the while, Spidey's reputation was dragged through the mud by the outrage-mongering media mogul J. Jonah Jameson, and his shaky relationship with the NYPD was shattered completely after an escaped Scorpion framed him for the murder of Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father. While this loss devastated Gwen and damaged the group of friends, it was harmed even further when as he was rounding up some of Tombstone's henchmen, Peter discovered Eddie Brock among them, and he was forced to put one of his best friends behind bars.

As high school gave way to college, Peter found himself facing a difficult decision, as a falling-out at OsCorp resulted in Doctor Octavius leaving the company and starting his own smaller firm, Horizon Labs. Having to choose between Osborn's connections and Otto's stronger ethics, Pete decided to keep learning under Octavius, losing his scholarship money and having to get a job to make up the extra money. Seeing the demand for quality photos of superheroes, he began photographing himself in action and selling them to various news outlets; to his annoyance, his most regular paycheck would come from the Bugle and J. Jonah Jameson, the same man who went out of his way to tarnish everything Spider-Man did. Meanwhile, he began to notice many of his enemies were working together, coordinating as if they were being controlled by some invisible hand. Sure enough, he soon learned that they had been freed from prison and upgraded with new weapons by someone named the "Octopus." When Rhino, Sandman, Vulture, Electro, and Mysterio all began a coordinated assault on OsCorp, Spider-Man learned, to his shock and horror, that they were in fact being led by Otto Octavius, who had been driven insane by his cybernetic implants and his thirst for revenge against Osborn. The newly-christened Doctor Octopus and his Sinister Six would wreak havoc on the city for days, but ultimately, after several brutal skirmishes, a battered and heartbroken Spider-Man would emerge victorious, having saved the city and restored his reputation.

Peter has been active as Spider-Man for nearly five years now. He has upgraded his equipment over the years with a combination of stolen OsCorp and Octavius devices and his own unique brand of "guerilla science" to amass a formidable arsenal of crimefighting gear. He has apprehended hundreds of criminals, defeated nearly a dozen super-powered villains, and saved thousands if not millions of New Yorkers' lives. While he is nowhere near as beloved as Superman in Metropolis, he has become something of a favorite son of the Big Apple, despite Jameson's ravings. Pete has returned to studying under Curt Connors, who now teaches at Empire State University. His photos for the Bugle have gotten a fair amount of attention, to the point where he has developed something of a professional rivalry with the Daily Planet's Jimmy Olsen. He and Gwen have begun dating again, and even gotten engaged. Maybe, just maybe, things are finally looking up for Peter Parker....

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

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I've said it before and I'll say it again: Spider-Man is my favorite character in all of fiction. Even after years of bad writing, disappointing movies, less interesting replacements, and IMO a general misunderstanding of what makes the character great, there's still something special about Peter Parker that always brings me back.

I want to bring back a critical element of Spider-Man that I believe the folks at Marvel and much of the fanbase have forgotten: namely, the life of Peter Parker isn't meant to be a sitcom, it's meant to be a soap opera. Yes, he's funny and nerdy and he runs his mouth a lot, but that doesn't count for much of anything now that, thanks to the MCU, every bloody superhero in the world is a wisecracking smartass who quotes pop-culture. The thing that classic Spider-Man did better than his counterparts is the drama, the personal tragedy, the romance, the sheer unironic and unabashed feeeeelings that so many people avoid because taking things seriously is lame. I'm still going to keep Pete's sense of humor and play up how clownish characters like JJJ can be, but I also want to tell stories that have stakes, costs, and losses amidst all the technicolor tomfoolery.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

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Friends and Family, Love and Loss

Ben Parker (deceased) was an honest, hard-working, and immensely kind man who worked most of his life as an MP in the Army. A career of keeping soldiers in line and uncovering wrongdoings within the ranks and officers instilled in Ben a strong sense of accountability, that anyone who wields power should be held responsible for it. He did what he could to make sure May and Peter could live comfortably and happily, and while their life was far from idyllic, he made sure they never went hungry, and that any arguments he and May might have had over bills or school or work were well out of earshot of their nephew. As Pete grew, Ben tried his best to teach him responsibility and maturiy, lessons Pete sadly would not learn until a carjacker took Ben's life. While Ben's death still troubles and haunts Peter, the lessons his uncle taught him have fixed his moral compass and strengthened his resolve.


May Parker is Peter's aunt, a surrogate mother to him ever since his birth parents were killed when he was a toddler. A retired nurse, she has spent most of her life helping people, and has done her best to instill that same charity and compassion in her nephew. Though she no longer works professionally, May is far from idle, as she spends most of her time volunteering at the FEAST homeless center, working closely with the philanthropic community leader Martin Li.


Harry Osborn didn't meet Peter until well into high school, but the two have since become fast friends. The son of billionaire CEO Norman Osborn, Harry has spent his entire life in his father's shadow, and bridles at the expectations put upon him. While he puts on the image of a suave, charming, and motivated young professional destined to inherit his father's empire, in truth Harry lacks that ruthless ambition, and would much rather follow his late mother's footsteps in environmental activism when not goofing off with his friends. The pressures put on him between his dueling identities have started to take their toll on Harry, and while he tries to play it off, something dark is growing inside of him.


Eddie Brock is a childhood friend of Peter's, having grown up in the house across the street. While the Parkers were a struggling but relatively happy household, the Brocks were utterly dysfunctional, and Eddie spent much of his time hanging out with Pete as a way to get away from his parents. Eddie came to see Pete as a sort of kid brother, and would regularly stand up for him against bullies like Flash Thompson, though this often got him into trouble at school, which only led to more trouble at home. Things only continued to spiral downward for Eddie as he fell in with a gang, working as a small-time dealer for Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln. Eventually, he was called in by Tombstone to act as a soldier during a turf war with the Maggia, but before things turned deadly, the raid was broken up by Spider-Man, who webbed Eddie up and left him for the police. Eddie served three years, and has just been released from prison, where he now faces the difficulties of trying to make ends meet as an ex-con.


Gwen Stacy is Peter's fiancée, their childhood friendship having grown into an on-again-off-again romance through high school and finally a lifelong commitment. Gwen has always been a fellow nerd and overachiever, and part of her initial attraction to Peter was that she loved competing with him to see who would be top of their class. She was the first person to figure out Spider-Man's identity, and has since acted as a silent partner in his vigilante career, investigating the shady activities of OsCorp from the inside and providing Pete with research and data while he is out on patrol. Her father's death is still a painful memory, though she is determined to do his memory justice.


Mary Jane Watson came from a broken home, but never let that break her spirit. Initially introduced to Peter via blind date, she found she liked him and his group of friends, and spent much of her free time in high school encouraging them to come out of their shells. Now a journalism major, a regular in the college's theater productions, and the lead singer of a punk rock band, MJ has her potential future pulling her in all directions, but rather than give in to the pressure, she is more content to go wherever the wind takes her. She is a troublemaker and a firebrand who regularly takes over any room she enters. She is also one of the few people who knows Pete is Spider-Man, as she once had to drive him to the emergency room after a particularly nasty battle with the Green Goblin. While she is currently dating Harry, MJ is not quite as over her on-and-off relationship with Pete as she lets on.


Liz Allan is a fellow intern at OsCorp, and the former girlfriend of Harry Osborn. A bright and straight-laced young woman with her whole career already plotted out, Liz is very much the antithesis of Mary Jane, always trying to fit in rather than stand out. This seeming obsession with being 'normal' came into focus when her brother Mark was revealed to be a mutant, a low-level pyromancer the Bugle dubbed "Molten Man." Liz is an avid reader of the Bugle and listener to Jameson's "Just the Facts" podcast, which has only fed her phobia of mutants and aliens and other 'freaks' like Spider-Man.

The Bugle, the NYPD, and the Big Apple

J. Jonah Jameson is the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Bugle, a once proud and well-respected paper that has become little more than a sensationalist tabloid. In the modern news cycle, nothing sells like outrage and fear, and nobody is better at whipping up outrage and fear than Jameson. While he is an outspoken critic of the various costumed 'super-heroes' in general, he has developed a particular antipathy towards Spider-Man, blaming him for every possible mishap and spinning any of his good deeds to be something insidious. While deep down, Jonah may still be the idealistic fearless reporter he once was as a young man, you'd have to dig pretty deep indeed to find it.


Betty Brant is Jameson's receptionist, and a classmate and friend of Mary Jane Watson. A journalism major with dreams of becoming a legitimate reporter, Betty believes that working under the perennially grouchy and penny-pinching Jameson is all part of paying her dues to a more exciting and rewarding career-- or so she hopes. She has also developed a crush on Spider-Man after he would repeatedly swing into the Bugle's office to antagonize Jameson, much to her boss's extreme annoyance.


Ned Leeds is the only reporter left at the Bugle with any sort of legitimacy, and one who frequently uses Peter Parker's photos for his pieces. He's well-meaning and excitable, if a little dopey, but he can put together an eye-catching headline and he's yet to be sued for libel, which is good enough for Jameson.


Captain George Stacy (deceased) was Gwen Stacy's father, a hard-line by-the-book cop with no patience for vigilantism. A firm believer in law and order, Stacy was dauntless in his pursuit of justice, both against crime lords like Tombstone and Hammerhead, and against Spider-Man for taking the law into his own hands. Over time, Spidey and Stacy developed a begrudging trust, but before he could ever consider the wall-crawler a friend, Stacy was tragically murdered by the Scorpion. His death was personal tragedy to both Gwen and Peter, and a shock to the NYPD.


Captain Jean DeWolff was once George Stacy's protégée, and is now his replacement. Like Stacy, she is a firm believer in the badge, and is a crusader in rooting out corruption in her precinct. Unlike her predecessor, however, she has come to see the necessity to occasionally act outside the law, and while she does not publicly condone Spider-Man's actions, she is willing to let the webslinger pick up where the law leaves off. To a point, at least-- DeWolff has made it plain to Spidey that if he ever crosses one line too many, she will come down on him with the wrath of an angry god.


Doctor Curt Connors was the one half of a scientific dream-team at OsCorp, working alongside Otto Octavius to push the company to the forefront of applied sciences. An extremely gifted geneticist and former friend of the late Richard and Mary Parker, Connors was eager to work with their son Peter, and was hurt when Pete left OsCorp to join Octavius's Horizon Labs. After Otto's fall from grace, Connors left OsCorp himself to teach at Empire State University, partially to spend more time with his family, partially to try and reconnect with Peter, but mostly to get away from Osborn and the increasingly frightening things going on behind closed doors there.


Norman Osborn is the CEO of OsCorp, one of the leading technological firms in America. A genius in his own right, Osborn surrounded himself with experts in as many fields as he could, ranging from bioengineering to cybernetics to fusion and theoretical physics, all while pursuing lucrative military contracts as the Pentagon was desperate to keep up in the super-powers arms race. A classic alpha male in every sense of the word, "Stormin' Norman" is famous for his bravado, his charisma, and his unwavering confidence even in the face of potential disaster. There are many who claim of dark secrets in the Osborn household and in the lower levels of OsCorp's labs, of very literal skeletons in Norman's closet. These rumors, however, quickly go quiet, and those who spread them are often quickly convinced otherwise. Norman is not content to sit at the top of his personal mountain, as he now has his eyes set on loftier perches, starting first by recently announcing his candidacy for Mayor of New York City.

Enemies

The Green Goblin is a masked lunatic, a mad bomber and spree killer who has terrorized New York for nearly as long as Spider-Man has been trying to save it. Armed with an advanced hover platform, an array of explosive Pumpkin Bombs, deadly Razor Bats, and a host of poison gases, the Goblin has wreaked havoc across the Five Boroughs without any clear motive beyond mayhem for mayhem's sake. Though Spider-Man has thwarted his rampages and defeated him in combat multiple times, he has never managed to keep the Goblin down long enough to put him behind bars, and to this day he remains the only one of the Wall Crawler's enemies who has yet to be unmasked.


Lonnie "Tombstone" Lincoln is one of the largest and most brutal crime bosses in New York City. Formerly an enforcer for the Maggia family, Lincoln broke away to begin a syndicate of his own, and now oversees a powerful gang that has its hands in everything from narcotics and gun-running to human trafficking and contract killing. A genetic abnormality himself with superhuman strength and durability, Tombstone does not shy from hiring or creating costumed supervillains to do his dirty work for him. While Spider-Man has put him behind bars on three separate occasions, thanks to Lincoln's connections in the corrupt justice system, he never stays in prison for long.


Sonny "Hammerhead" Caputo is one of the most feared capos in the Maggia Crime Family. A blunt, brutish man with no patience for subtlety, Hammerhead prefers direct and spectacular shows of force to frighten people into letting him have his way. While the Maggia patriarch Silvio Manfredi is away, Caputo effectively runs Maggia operations in New York, and has begun a devastating gang war against Tombstone.


The Black Cat is a master thief, as well as an adrenaline junkie and thrillseeker, pulling off daring and dangerous heists purely for the excitement. Felicia Hardy, daughter of the original Black Cat Walter Hardy, was born with a mild mutation that allows her to slightly alter probability when in danger, effectively jinxing her enemies with bad luck. This, as well as a lifetime of training under a master criminal and an arsenal of high-tech equipment, has allowed her to amass fantastic wealth by robbing from the rich and giving to herself, though she seems to only use the money to fund bigger and bolder heists. She has crossed paths with Spider-Man on several occasions, sometimes as allies, but mostly playing a seemingly unending game of cops-and-robbers that Felicia relishes in, always flirting with the webslinger and trying to get him to join her "on the fun side of the law."


The Scorpion was a Maggia contract killer named Mac Gargan, an assassin who specialized in poisons and toxins. Initially hired to take out Spider-Man, Gargan learned that his poisons by themselves would not be enough to eliminate the Wall-Crawler, and so he was 'volunteered' by his superiors to undergo a technological upgrade. Encased in a cybernetic harness that increased his strength and reflexes to mimic Spider-Man's powers, the new and improved Scorpion fought and very nearly defeated the Webslinger, were it not for the interference of the NYPD. Since his ignominious defeat and arrest, Gargan has escaped from prison on multiple occasions, not just to get his revenge on Spider-Man, but on the police officers that helped take him down, which tragically included Captain George Stacy.


Shocker is the first costumed super-villain that Spider-Man ever fought, an honor which is the only real distinction in Herman Schultz's criminal career. While his insulated suit and powerful shockwave gauntlets make him more than a match for any regular law enforcement, he has routinely been humiliated by Spider-Man, who won't stop laughing at his name but also won't tell Shocker why.

The Sinister Six

Doctor Otto Octavius, now known by the public at large as "Doctor Octopus," was a well-respected genius under the employ of Norman Osborn, who repeatedly plundered Otto's ideas and stole credit from him. An expert in robotics and cybernetic prostheses, Otto planned to help the maimed and crippled to walk and function again, but Osborn saw dollar signs in potential military contracts. His work tarnished and his reputation ruined, Octavius left OsCorp to work independently, getting grants from the shady organization AIM to form Horizon Labs, before learning they too wanted to weaponize his work. Over time, Otto was driven insane by a mix of his frustrations and brain damage from untested cybernetics, and he decided to use his weaponized inventions to get revenge for those who had wronged him. Armed with four advanced cybernetic arms and an diabolically genius mind, Octavius freed five of Spider-Man's most feared enemies and used them as his personal army, laying siege to New York before being brought low. Of all of Spider-Man's enemies, he is the only one who knows his true identity, that beneath that webbed mask and layers of snark is his former protégé Peter Parker, and he is determined to one day make Peter see the light and join his Sinister Six.


The Vulture is a gifted engineer named Adrian Toomes, who created a flying harness for himself out of technology left over from fights between other superheroes and villains. While he is far from Spider-Man's deadliest foe, he is among the craftiest, a regular MacGyver who can make deadly implements out of junk with minimal effort. Toomes was the first member of Otto's Sinister Six, finding a kindred spirit in the tentacled mad scientist, though after several humiliations at Spider-Man's hands, he's far more interested in seeing the wall-crawler dead than trying to recruit him.


Mysterio is the criminal alter-ego of former stage magician Quentin Beck. In a world where flying aliens and wall-crawling weirdos are commonplace, even the most impressive special effects and high-tech illusions seem mundane, which threatened to put Beck out of business. Believing he could sell his holographic technology to the highest bidder, Beck found himself with a solution in need of a problem. Whipping up a few illusory bad guys to fight, he would debut as the spectacular crime-fighter Mysterio. However, when Spider-Man uncovered that Beck was behind the very same attacks he was 'saving' the city from, Beck vowed revenge, and Mysterio would turn the webslinger's world upside-down time and time again, both by himself and as part of the Sinister Six.


Electro started out as a political activist and radical by the name of Max Dillon. In order to gain the power he needed to topple "the system," he sought out the organization AIM, who were looked for test subject in their bioengineering program. He emerged with the ability to produce powerful electromagnetic fields, and transform his entire body into charged plasma. Rather than honor their deal to work for them, Dillon began to wreak havoc on New York as a political terrorist and cop-killer. While Spider-Man was eventually able to stop him, Electro found new comrades in Otto Octavius's faction. Of all the members of the Sinister Six, he is the most volatile, always willing to cause wanton destruction and death in the name of his glorious revolution.


The Sandman was once Flint Marko, a small-time enforcer for Tombstone who used his ill-gotten gains to pay the medical bills for his terminally ill daughter. When Tombstone needed guinea pigs for an experiment, some kind of new super-soldier to fight Spider-Man, Flint couldn't turn down the money, and signed up to have his body bombarded with silicate nanites. This turned him into a being of living sand, his consciousness permeating every grain in the nanite swarm, which has allowed him to very nearly squash Spider-Man on multiple occasions. Though he is far more powerful than he realizes, he still sees himself as a small-time crook, with no real ambitions beyond the next big score to keep his daughter healthy. As a result, he is the only member of the Sinister Six that Spider-Man believes he can reason with.


Rhino was a friend of Flint Marko's, a fellow Tombstone thug named Alex O'Hirn who had been told his whole life that he would never amount to anything more than 'big dumb muscle.' Wanting to prove he could be more than a brute, he signed up for the same super-criminal program as Flint, believing he would come out of it with powers that would change everything. He found himself hard-wired into an advanced war suit, one which granted him near complete invulnerability and strength that could rival the Hulk. However, its power supply was extremely limited, meaning he would only ever be able to be let off of his charger for as long as his employer needed him. While Doctor Octopus has promised him his own autonomy in the form of a self-sustaining power source, he has yet to deliver on his promise, and for the foreseeable future, even with his immense power, Alex O'Hirn is still little more than 'big dumb muscle.'

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

"Uuuughhhh.....this sucks," I say as I trudge through a waist-deep river of sewage. "I'll bet nobody on the Justice League has to crawl through sewers on the job. _{....Well, maybe Batman.....}"

Two weeks ago, people started disappearing across Brooklyn. First was a pediatrician, then an insurance agent, then an OsCorp security guard. At first, it didn't seem like there was any connection between them, three seemingly random disappearances that had me looking in all different directions across town for leads. It wasn't until the fourth vanishing that things started to click into place.

"Please be down here," I whisper to myself as the sewage canal gives way to a large, cavernous pump-house. Sure enough, sitting in the far corner, rocking back and forth hugging himself, is who I was praying to find.

Billy Connors, Doctor Curt Connors' nine-year-old son.

A month ago, the pediatrician, one Dr. Kenneth Lang, caught that Billy was showing symptoms of leukemia. He recommended the Connors to see an oncologist, but the insurance agent, one Pamela Burton, told them that it wasn't covered in their plan. Doctor Connors began smuggling OsCorp equipment to his lab at ESU to develop treatments independently, but was caught by a security guard, one George Ransome, who blew the whistle on him. While none of them had any direct tie to the sickness, each had effectively handed the poor boy a death sentence.

Switching my mask's lenses to infra-red, I look around the concrete and steel of the old pump-house, and the coast appears to be clear. Doing my best to climb out of the muck without making too much noise, I quietly call out to him.

"Billy? Billy Connors?" I ask. He stares at me with wide eyes, then quietly nods. "It's all right, I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?"

As I approach, Billy seems to shrink in on himself.

"Hey, no need to worry," I reassure him, "It's just me, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Here to save days and fight bad guys. No case too big, no case too small. Or in this case, too dark and smelly. Boy, are your mom and dad going to be glad to see you!"

Billy pulls his knees up to his chest and sinks his head down. His chest starts to shake, and I realize he's crying.

"...was it something I said?"

"Don't hurt him....he's sick.....that's all....he's sick...." Billy whimpers, repeating again and again, "he's sick....he's sick...."

Oh man. The poor kid's probably been through a lot. Whoever took him, whatever they did to him, he's now talking to himself in the third person. When I find the kidnapper, I'll make sure he never does this to anyone again.

"Billy, hey, Billy?" I crouch down as I approach him, trying to get him back to reality. "I know you're sick. I'm sorry, I really am. But I know some doctors, some really good ones, and they can--"

"I wasn't talking about me," Billy interrupts. "Something's....something's w-wrong with him. He....doesn't know what he's d-doing. He's s-sick."

".......who's sick?"

Billy doesn't answer, but he stares right past me.

I feel the familiar sensation running up my spine, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. That super-reflex, my vaunted 'Spider-Sense.' Something's moving behind me.

Something big.

"HssssssSSSSSSsssssSSSSSSSSSSSsssssssssss......."

"....I don't suppose there's any chance that's just a gas leak, is it?" Billy shakes his head, and I sigh. "Okay, then let's just--"

Whatever witticism I was about to say flees from my mind, as I turn and am greeted with a blur of green scales, flashing yellow eyes, and snapping, slavering jaws.

"Oh yeah, 'Don't hurt him,' the kid says," I mutter to myself as I ready my web-shooters and scramble for dear life.

P O S T C A T A L O G:

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Coming Soon (hopefully)

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel Comics / DC Comics Crossover RPG!

WANT OOC. WANT NOW.

One Universe: World Of Heroes - A Marvel Comics / DC Comics Crossover RPG!

I'm interested, likely contending for Spidey.

Justice League: World in Crisis

EVENT #1: TROUBLE IN TOKYO

No Twists Today
Target Number: 15
Timer: 3

Justice League: World in Crisis

For the sake of speeding things up, I'm gonna drop the 24-hour waiting period and just say that Thrash Panda is APPROVED.