The issue opens with a TV program about Spider-Man,
sponsored by J. Jonah Jameson, in order to expose Spider-Man as the menace
Jonah thinks he is. Peter Parker and a number of his classmates catch the
program while at a bowling alley. Peter, in order to make himself seem less
suspicious, tries to talk against Spider-Man a bit, saying no one really knows
anything about him. Flash Thompson, a huge fan of Spidey, takes offense to this
and tells Peter to get lost. Liz Allan meanwhile, thinks Spider-Man is likely
handsome under his mask.
Little do they know, the nefarious Doctor Doom also
caught Jameson’s broadcast while in his lair and thinks that Spider-Man may be just
the person he needs to help destroy his greatest enemies, the Fantastic Four! Doom
recounts his most recent defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four (from FF
#17) and then uses a device that locks onto the same wavelengths as spiders,
using an imprisoned spider he has, in order to try to contact Spider-Man.
Peter, while practicing some tricks with his webs at home, suddenly receives
the message via his spider-sense, and uses said sense to follow the message to
it’s source, where he finds Doctor Doom in his lair.
Doctor Doom tries to convince Spider-Man to join him
in taking down the Fantastic Four, arguing that they are both outcasts;
Spider-Man is shunned while the Fantastic Four are praised. Spider-Man refuses
the offer and attempts web up Doom, but it is revealed to merely be a Doombot,
as the real Doom reveals himself and opens a trap door beneath Spider-Man.
Spider-Man avoids the trap but is on the move from an assault from Doom’s
finger lasers and is forced to jump out of the window to escape the barrage.
Doctor Doom still plans to use Spider-Man for his plan however, this time by
find out his identity and capturing him as bait for the FF. Spider-Man, now
with his wits about him again, tries to return to Doom’s lair but the entire
building explodes before he reaches it, ensuring Doom’s escape but giving Peter
an opportunity to snap some pics for the Bugle.
The next day, Peter delivers the photos to J. Jonah
Jameson at the Daily Bugle, where Jonah wants to try and pin the explosion on
Spider-Man. Betty Brant defends Spider-Man and Peter realizes that he may have
an ally in her, as well as realizing how attractive he finds her. We then cut
to Flash Thompson, dressed up in a phony Spider-Man costume, in order to play a
prank on Peter for insulting Spider-Man earlier. Doctor Doom meanwhile, uses a
device that locks on to a spider’s impulses in order to lead him to Spider-Man.
He ends up capturing Flash dressed as Spider-Man instead, as Peter was walking
nearby at that very moment, leading Doom to think that Flash is the real
Spider-Man!
Back at home, Peter finds Aunt May watching TV, when
suddenly the signal goes all wonky. Doctor Doom hijacks the airwaves in order
to send a message to the Fantastic Four that he’s captured Spider-Man, and that
Doom will kill him unless the FF surrender themselves to him. Peter then gets a
call from Liz and a bunch of the other students asking if he knows where Flash
is and they tell him about the prank Flash was going to pull. Peter realizes it
must be Flash that Doom has captured and briefly thinks that he’ll be rid of
Flash but admits to himself that he can’t just sit back. Because of all of the
dangerous figures about, Aunt May forbids Peter from going out, so Peter ends
up messing with the fuses at the house to shut off the power so that he has an
excuse to head out.
Spider-Man reasons that Doom needed a large amount of
electrical power to send his message and so swings around areas where large
dynamos may be located until he finds Doom’s lair via his spider-sense. While
the captured Flash tries to implore that he’s not actually Spider-Man, the real
Spidey sneaks in through an air vent and surprises Doom with his presence. Doom
throws a number of traps and defenses at Spider-Man including lasers, an ice
ray, rotating ball mechanisms, and fire from the floor. Spider-Man avoids all
of them before being caught in an electrified field, which he escapes by
tethering his web to Doom, sending it coursing through Doom as well, and
forcing Doom to shut the field off.
Doom throws more at
Spider-Man, such as doombots, a disintegration beam, and blinding flakes,
before physically overpowering Spider-Man as well. Just as Doom has Spider-Man
at his mercy, the Fantastic Four arrive and Doom thinks that he cannot fight
all of them at once and makes a hasty retreat. Peter remembers he left Aunt May
in the dark and leaves too. The Thing grabs Flash and Human Torch realizes he’s
not the real Spidey. Invisible Woman implores Thing to put Flash down, while
Mr. Fantastic notices the webs around the place and realizes that the real
Spider-Man must have been there. The story ends the next day as Peter realizes
he might have feelings for Betty and thinks that Flash must be incredibly
embarrassed about his whole ordeal. However, he finds Flash bragging about how
he escaped Doom himself and Peter thinks about what bad luck he has.