The Amazing Spider-Man #70
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe primary historical significance of this issue is the first-ever appearance of Vanessa Fisk — the Kingpin's wife — who enters the story as a shadowy, unnamed figure driving Wilson Fisk away from the police at the conclusion of his prison break. Stan Lee deliberately withheld her identity for several issues, finally revealing her in Amazing Spider-Man #83, a slow-burn mystery that deepened the Kingpin's character by giving him a surprising human dimension: a devoted husband capable of choosing love over criminal ambition. Vanessa subsequently became a cornerstone of both the Spider-Man and Daredevil mythologies, portrayed on screen by Ayelet Zurer in the Netflix Daredevil series and Daredevil: Born Again, and voiced by Lake Bell in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The issue also closes the three-part 'Spider-Man Wanted!' arc with a memorable cliffhanger — Spider-Man loses his temper at J. Jonah Jameson, apparently triggering a fatal heart attack — which forced 1969 readers to genuinely wonder whether their hero had become a murderer.
In "Spider-Man Wanted!", Peter Parker is still on the run, hiding the mysterious tablet in his closet while the Kingpin escapes jail with a vow to capture him. As their explosive clash unfolds, chaos erupts when Ned Leeds drags Jonah Jameson into the fray, only for a mysterious woman in a car to whisk the Kingpin away—leaving Spider-Man facing a furious Jameson. The confrontation escalates when Spider-Man finally snaps, shouting back at the editor, leaving Jameson in a shocking state. The fallout is immediate, and the question lingers: has Spider-Man crossed a line? Written by Stan Lee and John Romita, with art by John Romita and Jim Mooney, and a cover by John Romita, this pivotal issue captures the tension and moral weight of a hero pushed to his limits.
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The issue was plotted by John Romita Sr. and scripted by Stan Lee, with layouts by Romita and finished pencils and inks by Jim Mooney — a division of labor common to the title in this period, with the credits box on page one unusually listing Romita as 'Innovator.' The cover, also by Romita, placed Spider-Man in a dramatic police spotlight, its sparse two-word blurb — 'Spider-Man Wanted!' — carrying weight built up across the preceding two chapters. Lee's stated intent in constructing Vanessa as a character was to give the Kingpin an internal contradiction: a man who could order violence yet remain a genuinely devoted husband. Romita would later model Vanessa's face, once fully visible in issue #83, on the Dragon Lady from Milton Caniff's classic Terry and the Pirates strip.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First cameo appearance of Vanessa Fisk (Kingpin's wife), who appears only as a silhouetted figure driving Wilson Fisk to safety — her identity deliberately withheld and not revealed until Amazing Spider-Man #83 (April 1970).
- Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/plotter John Romita Sr.; interior art finished by Jim Mooney with lettering by Sam Rosen; colors on the cover attributed to Marie Severin.
- Part 3 (and conclusion) of the three-chapter 'Spider-Man Wanted!' story arc, in which Spider-Man is falsely branded a criminal accomplice of the Kingpin after a dispute over an ancient clay tablet.
- Kingpin escapes prison during this issue — reportedly by unscrewing his cell bars with his bare hands — before being rescued by the unidentified Vanessa.
- Ends on a dramatic cliffhanger: a furious Spider-Man confronts J. Jonah Jameson, who collapses unconscious, leaving readers uncertain whether the wall-crawler has just committed manslaughter.
- Cover-dated March 1969; the actual on-sale/release date was December 1968, as noted in the Complete Marvel Reading Order and the Marvel Database.
- Reprinted in Marvel Tales #53 (September 1974, re-colored) — the primary Bronze Age reprint vehicle for classic Amazing Spider-Man stories.
- Vanessa Fisk's character received wide media adaptation: portrayed by Ayelet Zurer in the Netflix/Disney+ Daredevil series (2015, 2018) and Daredevil: Born Again (2025–2026), and voiced by Lake Bell in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in HIP Comics #19104 (1969), Marvelserien #30 (1969), Hit Comics #104 (1969), L'étonnant Spider-Man #5 (1970), Sinister Tales #104 (1971), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #81 (1974), Marvel Tales #53 (1974), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #82 (1974), Strange #67 (1975), El Hombre Araña / El Asombroso Hombre Araña #64 (1981), Marvel-pocket #4/1985; 5 (1985), Une Aventure de l'Araignée #30 (1987), Spider-Man Comics Magazine #6 (1987), L'Uomo Ragno Classic #21 (1992), The Amazing Spider-Man 30th Anniversary Poster Magazine #1 (1992), The Essential Spider-Man #4 (2000), Spiderman de John Romita #28 (2001), Spider-Man : l'intégrale #1969 (2004), The Essential Spider-Man #4 [Third Edition] (2011), Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man #8 (2014), L'ère des Comics Marvel 1961-1978 #[nn] (2017), Spider-Man: The Lifeline Tablet Saga #[nn] (2017), The Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus #3 (2017), Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection #5 (2020) + 7 more
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