The Amazing Spider-Man #644
Amazing Spider-Man #644 is the third chapter of 'Origin of the Species,' the storyline that brought the Brand New Day era of Spider-Man storytelling to a close before Dan Slott's landmark solo run began at #648. The issue pivots the entire arc on a single devastating twist — what appears to be the death of Lily Hollister's newborn son Stanley Osborn turns out to be a Chameleon ruse, the first moment in the arc where Spider-Man's trust is exploited by the villain infrastructure Doctor Octopus has assembled. That structural fake-out reframes every subsequent issue of the arc and gives the otherwise villain-gauntlet formula genuine emotional weight, demonstrating how the rotating Brand New Day writer pool could still build a cohesive, escalating thriller. The issue also gave the Rhino one of his most character-defining scenes of the era, invoking the memory of his late wife Oksana to persuade a grief-stricken Aleksei Sytsevich to stand down — a beat that pays off years of Gauntlet-era character work in a single exchange.
ComicBooks.com Value
This exact issue on ebay
Raw — MINT ▾ $2.99–$9.99 3 listings
Raw — NM+ ▾ $11.99–$44.99 2 listings
Raw — NM ▾ $2.99–$25 11 listings
Raw — VF/NM ▾ $3.57–$49.99 7 listings
Raw — VF+ ▾ $3.97–$28.18 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.5–$49.99 21 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Writer Mark Waid and artist Paul Azaceta — who had already collaborated on the Electro-centric Gauntlet entries in the series — were tapped to craft the final multi-part arc of the Brand New Day period, with editor Stephen Wacker overseeing and Tom Brevoort serving as executive editor. Colorist Javier Rodríguez and letterer Joe Caramagna completed the production team. The Brand New Day format had cycled through a rotating stable of writers since 2008, and 'Origin of the Species' was by design a capstone that tied together dangling threads from that entire multi-year editorial experiment — particularly the Goblin bloodline mystery seeded during the American Son and Menace storylines — before handing the book exclusively to Dan Slott.
Trivia · 8 facts
- ASM #644 is Part 3 of the 'Origin of the Species' arc (issues #642–646), written by Mark Waid with interior art by Paul Azaceta and colors by Javier Rodríguez.
- The issue features Stanley Osborn — the newborn son of Lily Hollister (Menace) and (believed to be) Norman Osborn — as a central figure; the child's blood was coveted by Doctor Octopus because both parents had been exposed to variants of the Goblin Formula, theoretically making the infant a new genetic subspecies.
- The arc's central twist lands in this issue: Spider-Man hands the baby to someone he believes is Harry Osborn, only for the final pages to reveal the 'Harry' figure was actually the Chameleon in disguise, working for Doctor Octopus.
- Vulture IV (James Natale), the acid-vomiting, feral mutate version of the Vulture created by Mark Waid, appears in action here fighting Spider-Man alongside Freak before both are taken out by Spider-Man's decoy baby gambit.
- Spider-Man uses an illusion by Mysterio — a fake Avengers Mansion filled with demonic babies — against the villains, illustrating how the issue pits Spidey's tactical ingenuity against a coordinated rogue's gallery.
- Rhino's encounter with Spider-Man in this issue is a direct emotional callback to 'The Gauntlet,' where Aleksei Sytsevich lost his wife Oksana; Spider-Man persuades him to stand down by invoking her memory, one of the arc's most praised character moments.
- The issue was released with a variant cover by Chris Bachalo alongside the standard direct edition and a newsstand edition.
- 'Origin of the Species' as a whole — including this issue — was later collected in trade paperback and is included in the Spider-Man: Brand New Day Omnibus Vol. 3 (collecting ASM #612–647), confirming its place as the definitive close of the Brand New Day publishing initiative.
Cast · 23 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Spider-Man: Origin of the Species #[nn] (2011), Spider-Man: New York Stories #[nn] (2011), Spider-Man: Origin of the Species #[nn] (2011), Hämähäkkimies #10/2011 (2011), Spider-Man Hors Série #35 (2011)
Key issues in The Amazing Spider-Man
Variants (2)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.