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Spider-Man has never had an easy life. His existence, from the moment he first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15, has been one of tragedy and turmoil, usually caused by his greatest enemies. But, sometimes, Spider-Man's most devious foe is not on the page, but the people who decide what pages should — and shouldn't — make it to print.
It all started with Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #112 and the story of a young boy named Alex Woolcot. In the issue, by Peter David, Mark Beachum and Pat Redding, readers meet Alex and his abusive father. In the next issue, with art by Bob McLeod, Alex, being a kid, foolishly puts his hand in the disintegration machine his father is building.Alex Turned To Spider-Man For Help, But S.H.I.E.L.D. Had Other Plans While you may think putting your hand in a disintegration machine would, by definition of the machine's name, disintegrate you, that isn't how things work in the Marvel universe. Instead of dying, Alex Woolcot gained the ability to disintegrate people. And, in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #116, by Peter David, Rich Buckler, and Bob Mcleod, Alex accidentally disintegrates his father when his dad tries to beat him. From there, Alex runs away and soon finds himself being pursued by two creepy guys. When they try to get Alex into their car, the boy kills them both with a blast that also takes out a power station, causing all of Manhattan to lose power. This brings Alex to the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. Related “I Feel Nothing": Spider-Man’s Darkest Powers Just Broke What Made Him a Hero Marvel Comics gifts Spider-Man a dark new power, but it comes at a cost that completely breaks Peter Parker in an unexpectedly disturbing way. Posts 1 By Logan Silva A worried teacher tells Peter Parker about the boy at the Daily Bugle, which brings Spider-Man into Alex's life. Soon enough, the Wall-Crawler finds Alex, who has destroyed a cop car and is on the run. S.H.I.E.L.D., meanwhile, calls in the big guns to deal with the boy. And by deal with, they mean kill. Spider-Man is able to get to Alex first, and convinces the boy to turn himself in. And, horrifically, that is the moment S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the shot, hitting Alex in the back multiple times, the bullets ripping through the child's body, killing him. Alex Woolcot's death shocked readers. Fans of Spider-Man were used to seeing characters get killed, but that Marvel would go so far as to have S.H.I.E.L.D. shoot a child in the back and kill him just feet away from Spider-Man was a whole new level of tragic. And it wasn't supposed to happen. There was supposed to be one more page in the issue. A final page that revealed Alex was still alive and taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D. But for reasons that remain unclear, editor Jim Owsley decided to cut out that page, choosing instead to have the issue end on an incredibly dark image of Spider-Man holding the body of a dead kid. And while Marvel editorial may have decided that Alex Woolcot would die, Peter David had a different plan. The Incredible Hulk Comes To The Rescue While Peter David's work on Spider-Man is, if you'll forgive the pun, spectacular, the iconic writer will forever be linked to one Marvel character more than any other: the Hulk. David wrote Incredible Hulk for 12 years, missing just one issue. During that time, he introduced readers to a variety of Hulk identities, including Joe Fixit and"Professor Hulk." David also used his time on Incredible Hulk to tackle serious issues like homelessness, domestic violence, and gun control. Issue #420, with art by Gary Frank and Cam Smith, was one of the earliest mainstream comics to tackle AIDS, with Jim Wilson, nephew of Sam Wilson, losing his life to the disease. And while Peter David couldn't actually fix the real world's problems in the pages of a superhero comic, he could at least fix one problem in the Marvel universe. He could bring Alex Wolcott back from the dead. So that's just what he did in Incredible Hulk #339, with art by Todd McFarlane and Jim Sanders. In the issue, Rick Jones and Clay Quartermain are trying to get Bruce Banner to confront his feelings about his father, and the abuse he suffered as a child. Bruce, being the kind of guy to keep everything inside until it explodes out — hence turning into the Hulk all the time — doesn't want to discuss any of it. When night falls, Bruce turns into Hulk — it was something he was doing at that time — so Rick and Clay bring him to a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house to keep the big grey beast from causing harm to anyone else. But when they get to the house, they find a boy and his father living there. Subscribe to the newsletter for hidden Spider-Man lore Explore untold comic histories—subscribe to the newsletter for deep, behind-the-scenes dives into editorial choices, lost pages, and character retcons that reshaped Spider-Man and other iconic heroes. Fuel your fandom with informed context. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. The father, understandably freaked out by the Hulk showing up, pulls out a gun. The Hulk, being the Hulk, isn't all that worried about a puny gun and gets ready to cause the dad a lot of problems. That's when the son, reveals his powers and attacks Hulk with disintegration blasts. Sure enough, it's Alex Woolcot. As it turns out, Alex had indeed survived. As the issue explains, Alex was hit with"heavy duty tranks" while also being shot with real bullets that passed through the kid without hitting any vital organs. Why S.H.I.E.L.D. chose such a weird course of action is anyone's guess and, as Quartermain explains, Nick Fury fired the commander who made the order in the first place. And while Alex was still alive, the experience did a number on the poor kid, so S.H.I.E.L.D. set him up in the safe house with an agent to act as a loving father. And while Alex and Hulk fight for a bit, they soon become friends and Hulk makes it clear that if anyone — even an editor — ever hurts Alex again, he'll make them regret it. Alex Woolcot hasn't been seen since. With any luck, he's enjoying a happy, normal life in the 616. But it would be nice if someone let Spider-Man know the kid was OK. Oddly, the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man issues that include Alex's story haven't been reprinted or made available digitally. A shame. Quiz 4 Questions Tragic Twists: Test Your Knowledge of Spider-Man's Darkest Editorial Saga Your Top Score -- Attempts -- Start Quiz 0 0 Report Error Found an error? Send it info@screenrant.com so it can be corrected.
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