Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Special (2013 series) #1

Dec 2013 on-sale: Oct 30, 2013

Mike Costa
writer
 |  Michael Dialynas
penciler

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Special (2013 series) #1 cover

Story Name:

With Mercy for the Greedy


Synopsis

Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Special (2013 series) #1 synopsis by reviewer Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Story continued from INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK SPECIAL #1.

Dr. David Jude has just been unmasked as the villain and he explodes the helicopter carrying Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) and the young X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman); Spider-Man calls out to the kids with suggestions as to how they can use their powers to arrest their falls. But Jean is too inexperienced and Bobby and Scott are unconscious. So Spider-Man dons Doc Ock’s tentacles, scoops up his allies and lands with the tentacles absorbing the shock….

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At Dr. Jude’s secret lab, Beast (Hank McCoy) and Molly discover a journal full of scientific notation. They also discover prototypes of the Dr. Octopus and Abomination robots, which scare the two when they suddenly come to life and flee the lab through the hole in the ceiling. Spider-Man telephones the lab from the rural area they have landed in, warning Hank that Jude is probably on his way to the Xavier School to reach the time machine. He also tasks Hank with finding out about Jude’s powers and how to stop him. Spider-Man and Iceman travel into town via Bobby’s ice sled, while Spider-Man puzzles out Jude’s scheme: the robot villains were to make the X-Men think their time machine was malfunctioning so they would take Jude to it so he could travel into the past for some unknown objective. Spider-Man and the X-Men catch up with Dr. Jude in town, finding him giving off dangerous levels of gamma radiation and trying to commandeer a truck. The X-Men and Spider-Man attack him but he responds with an explosion of light. Then the prototype robots arrive….

Hank and Molly head to the football field where they find a naked Bruce Banner and ask for his help examining Dr. Jude’s journal. But first they need to find him some clothes….

Spider-Man quickly destroys the robot Doc Ock but the X-Men are having trouble with the Abomination one. Spider-Man notices the robot’s power source is visible between its “ribs” and tells Cyclops to shoot it—but he can’t narrow his eye beam that small. Spider-Man asks Iceman to create an ice lens that would do the job but Bobby says he can’t; he tries and the result is good enough so Spider-Man holds the lens against the robot’s body and Scott shoots at it and it works, the robot is put out of commission. Spider-Man praises their courage and their ingenuity in coming up with creative ways to use their powers. Then the makes plans to fight Dr. Jude….

Meanwhile, Bruce, Hank, and Molly are coming up with a plan to fight Dr. Jude. The problem is his gamma radioactivity which he can use in various ways. They need to find a way to siphon the radiation from him. They build a chamber to contain him. Now, a way to get him into it….

Back to the battle: Jude defeats the X-Men and has Spider-Man at his mercy, monologuing on how his expertise in gamma radiation lost favor when gamma became associated with monsters like Hulk so he made himself a monster too. Spider-Man reveals that Jude emits radiation across the spectrum, powering a small radio receiver which notified Banner and Hank where they are. And then Hulk drops from the sky, containing Jude within the chamber. The device converts radiation into mechanical energy, powering a device playing “Young Turks” by Rod Stewart (an earlier joke by Hank McCoy). Scott takes Bruce Banner aside and asks him why he doesn’t kill himself because of all the bad things Hulk has done and is likely to do. Bruce tells him of the water purification system he has devised for Africa, saving many more people than Hulk has hurt. His new motto is “Hulk smashes, Banner builds.” And he advises Scott to be the same sort of hero. Hank invites Spider-Man back to the school to see their time machine; perhaps they can find a way to avert some disaster but Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) declines, expressing confidence that the young X-Men will quickly learn how to be heroes….

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Characters
Good (or All)
BEASTTD  
BRUCEBANNER  
Bruce Banner
(Banner)
CYCLOPSTD  
HULK  
Hulk
(Bruce Banner)
ICEMANTD  
SHIELD  
S.H.I.E.L.D.
(SHIELD)
SMOO  
Spider-Man
(Otto Octavius)
XMEN  
X-Men
(Xmen)


> Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Special (2013 series) comic book info and issue index



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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Michael Dialynas
Michael Dialynas
Rachelle Rosenberg
Alexander Lozano (Cover Penciler)
Alexander Lozano (Cover Inker)
Alexander Lozano (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Cory Petit.
Editor: Nick Lowe. Editor-in-chief: Axel Alonso.



Review / Commentaries


reviewer
Superior Spider-Man Team-Up Special (2013 series) #1 Review by (April 1, 2026)

Review: ARMS OF THE OCTOPUS concludes! The narration is by Superior Spider-Man (of course) and lacks the dry humor of Hank and Bruce from the previous parts, so it’s a bit of a letdown but the story we have is more complex, amply making up for it. The most shocking bit is Scott’s question (poorly phrased) on why Bruce Banner doesn’t kill himself. And the usually dour Superior Spider-Man (I can’t call him Spidey) shows great confidence in the X-Men’s futures, though he doesn’t quite get some jokes (“Of course. I love jokes. I’m Spider-Man.”). The art is closer to the light version from part one and not the darker version from the second part.

Best Moment: When Hulk reverts to Banner after defeating the Abomination robot, Hank points out that he’s naked; Bruce responds, “Really? Huh. Usually the pants stay on. Odd.”

Comments: Part three of the three-part crossover, “The Arms of the Octopus.” Otto “Doctor Octopus” Octavius took possession of Spider-Man’s body in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1999) # 700. Variant available with interlocking covers by J. Scott Campbell.






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