Amazing Spider-Man Ends with #700

Today Amazing Spider-Man #700 is released, the final comic in the series. In order to commemorate the final days of Peter Parker, Marvel is releasing various collector covers with the Ditko cover being the rarest and most sought after – 1:200.

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Amazing Spider-Man #700 goes in depth into the lives of Peter Parker, Spider-Man, and Otto Octavius. A hybrid launch takes place in ASM #700 which will later become the new Superior Spider-Man in the Marvel NOW! relaunch of the title in January, 2013.

The final battle between these age-old enemies is fought rather non-traditionally. After a vast mind-swapping scheme by Doctor Octopus the big fight sees Peter Parker in Otto’s body and vice-versa. However, both minds have left a lasting impression, and that’s where the last punch is truly thrown by Peter as he lies dying in Otto’s frail body.

Peter Parker’s life flashes not just before his own eyes, but as Otto has full access to Peter’s memories and is mind-linked once again, Pete forces him to see all his major, life-changing and philosophy-forming moments. In a crash course on Spider-Man history, Octavius doesn’t just see moments like Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy’s deaths, he experiences and feels them. He sees exactly what it was like to overcome adversity repeatedly and finally learns: “With great power must also come great responsibility.”

After seeing this, Otto promises to not only live as Peter lived, but actually become a better, and yes, “Superior” Spider-Man.

Otto will face former allies like the Sinister Six, while also trying to live Peter’s life outside the costume better than his nemesis. A renewed relationship with Mary Jane Watson as well as a stricter focus of intellect at Horizon Labs are just two of the changes seen in Otto/Peter as the new Spider-Man, and readers don’t have to wait until January 9, 2013 when the first issue of Superior hits for that dynamic, as Avenging Spider-Man #15.1, also in stores today, shows Otto as Spidey in some of these situations.

“He had to be a hero in his own eyes, and on some level Otto Octavius is facing that struggle not with Spider-Man’s world but with the readership,” Slott says to USA Today. “How do you get more Peter Parker than that? Now the readers think he’s a menace. That’s exciting. On a meta level, that is Spider-Man.”