Ultimate Spider-Man: Daughters
Issue: #53
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colors: Transparency Digital

May Parker goes to find Peter to help search for Mary Jane Watson, but finds his bed is empty. She wakes up Gwen, who has no idea where Peter is. Finally they locate Peter in the kitchen. He claims he was working on his midterms, and Aunt May gives him the news of MJ’s disappearance. Peter dashes to MJ’s house, where he’s confronted by her father, who demands that Peter tell him where she is. Peter shoots back that Mr. Watson is the reason MJ ran away, and that they need to look for her. Peter is convinced part of the problem is that he told MJ about his secret identity; suddenly he knows where she’s gone. He makes his way to an abandoned warehouse that he and MJ share as a secret. MJ is there, and she’s fallen asleep while writing in her diary. When he wakes her up, she explains that her father has been threatening to send her to another school; he is a miserable person and just wants to make everyone else miserable as well. He’s cheated on his wife and belittles MJ. She begs Peter to run away with her and get married, but he talks her into going home instead.

The next day at the Daily Bugle, Peter sits thinking about the Black Cat’s comments about her father. Peter runs a search of known cat burglars and finds an article about one who’s been caught, Jack Hardy. The article includes a photo of Jack’s daughter, Felicia, who is presently working as an accountant for Wilson Fisk. Peter has figured out the identity of the Black Cat. But he knows that if he figured it out, so can others.

Wilson Fisk has Felicia Hardy by throat and is holding her up against a wall. He has her costume in his other hand, and Elektra standing by. He tells Felicia that her father was a loser and an alcoholic. He wants what she’s stolen, and he wants it now. Spider-Man arrives through a window; his appearance distracts the Kingpin, who loses his hold on Felicia. She first punches Elektra, who flies across the room and slams into Spider-Man, then kicks the Kingpin until he lets go and falls backwards. Spider-Man webs first Elektra, then the Kingpin. Then he follows Felicia to the roof, where she’s holding the piece of tablet she stole. She wants revenge on Fisk for betraying her father. Fisk finally frees himself and breaks open the door to the roof, just as Felicia throws the piece of tablet into the river. One of Elektra’s sais pierces Felicia’s shoulder; as Spider-Man dodges a barrage of throwing stars, Felicia falls backwards off the building. By the time Spider-Man pulls himself back onto the roof, all three of the others have disappeared.

On the final page, Wilson Fisk is sitting in a darkened room, speaking to a woman. She’s lying in a hospital bed. He tells her the tablet was important to him because she believed in it, and it was something he was willing to try in order to get her to wake up. The doctors can’t do anything more for her. At last he reveals that the woman is his wife, Vanessa.

Submitted By: Seldes Katne