Web of Spider-Man #65
Web of Spider-Man #65 serves as the narrative capstone of the Acts of Vengeance crossover's Spider-Man arc — the issue in which a now-powerless Peter Parker, having already lost his temporary Captain Universe abilities, defeats the same murderous villain squad (Graviton, Goliath, Titania, the Trapster, and the Brothers Grimm) through wits and raw determination rather than cosmic force. That contrast — the de-powered wall-crawler outsmarting opponents who nearly killed him in the previous issue — makes it a meaningful character study wrapped in a brawl. Concurrently, a quieter but historically resonant subplot has Mary Jane discover that Harry Osborn has been secretly stockpiling his Green Goblin equipment, a domestic-horror beat that plants seeds for subsequent Osborn storylines. The issue also provides a textbook example of Acts of Vengeance's central conceit: the Chameleon manipulates Graviton's crew into attacking Kingpin, using the crossover's villain-against-villain chaos for pure criminal opportunism.
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The issue was produced during the final weeks of the Acts of Vengeance event (on sale April 3, 1990, cover-dated June 1990) under editor Jim Salicrup and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, with Gerry Conway writing and the regular Web of Spider-Man art team of penciler Alex Saviuk and inker Keith Williams delivering the story. Conway had been the primary author steering the Web of Spider-Man tie-in chapters of Acts of Vengeance, and #65 is the direct continuation of #64, forming a two-part closing act for a Spider-Man involvement that had stretched across multiple titles for months. The cover, by Saviuk and Andy Mushynsky, was noted by collectors for its kinetic composition packing Goliath, Graviton, Titania, the Trapster, and the Brothers Grimm around Spider-Man.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Written by Gerry Conway; penciled by Alex Saviuk; inked by Keith Williams; cover by Alex Saviuk and Andy Mushynsky; edited by Jim Salicrup under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
- Cover-dated June 1990 (on-sale April 3, 1990); story titled 'The Last Act of Vengeance.'
- Functions as the concluding chapter of the Acts of Vengeance crossover in the Web of Spider-Man series (#64–65), part of Marvel's late-1989–early-1990 line-wide event in which Loki orchestrated villains attacking unfamiliar heroes.
- Spider-Man defeats Graviton, Goliath (Erik Josten), Titania (Mary MacPherran), Trapster (Peter Petruski), and the Brothers Grimm without the Captain Universe powers he had wielded in earlier crossover chapters — a notable dramatic reversal.
- The Chameleon (Dmitri Smerdyakov) is revealed to have engineered the entire villain attack on the Kingpin's tower as a scheme to eliminate his criminal rival, watching safely from his yacht.
- A significant subplot shows Mary Jane Watson-Parker discovering Harry Osborn's hidden Green Goblin equipment while babysitting Normie Osborn, foreshadowing Harry's later return as the Green Goblin.
- Titania is defeated when struck by a passing city bus — a deliberately unheroic, street-level resolution consistent with Conway's tone for the arc.
- The issue has been reprinted four times: in German (Die Spinne Comic-Album #44), in Spanish (El Hombre Araña #491, April 1991), and in two English-language collections — Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (Marvel, 2011) and Acts of Vengeance: Spider-Man and X-Men (Marvel, 2021).
Cast · 28 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
The Chameleon double-crosses his hired guns after they apparently succeed in killing Spider-Man.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).