Marvel's Gang War Kills off Classic Spider-Man Villain

[Spoiler alert for Amazing Spider-Man: Gang War First Strike #1.] War! It didn't take long for the repercussions from Amazing Spider-Man #31 to be felt in the prelude to Marvel's Gang War event, which officially kicks off in December's Amazing Spider-Man #39. After the assassin named Shotgun gunned down and hospitalized Tombstone, rival crime boss Hammerhead took out Madame Masque when he blew up her limousine. Subsequent issues of Amazing Spider-Man revealed that it was Count Nefaria — Madame Masque's father — who ordered the hit. 

Under Nefaria's orders, Hammerhead has been manipulating the bosses — among them the Owl, Crime Master, Lady Yulan, Mister Negative, Diamondback, and Black Mariah — to destabilize New York's crime network. Nefaria is colluding with the cyborg gangster Silvermane to make the Maggia the de facto leaders of every crime organization in the city... or he was. Amazing Spider-Man #38 ended with a mysterious figure hijacking Silvermane's robotic body to pulverize Count Nefaria, then used his cybernetic arms to tear his own head off his body.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker's friend, Randy Robertson, has joined forces with Mayor Luke Cage to repeal Fisk's Law: former Mayor Wilson Fisk's law criminalizing New York's superheroes. In the one-shot Amazing Spider-Man: Gang War First Strike #1, Randy's activism to legalize superheroes makes him a target. Hammerhead orders Randy's ex-fiancée — Tombstone's daughter, Janice Lincoln, a.k.a. the Beetle — to kill Randy if she wants her father's territory and his seat at the table. 

As Randy rallies a group of repeal supporters to protest the anti-hero law, Janice tracks down Randy... but can't bring herself to kill him. As it turns out, Hammerhead knew Janice wouldn't kill Randy: he sent a gang of assassins to follow Janice and whack them both. The assassins open fire, but Randy takes bullets meant for Janice and is hospitalized. 

Hammerhead confides his plans in the date he picked up at Janice and Randy's wedding before Shotgun crashed the ceremony in Amazing Spider-Man #31. The unnamed woman uses a magic adamantium femur to bludgeon Hammerhead to death, bashing in his adamantium skull, and then reveals her true identity when Janice comes to take her revenge on Hammerhead: Whitney Frost, a.k.a. Madame Masque. She hired a body double to pose as Madame Masque at the wedding, and that's who died in the car bombing.

"He told me everything. Every blood feud he'd stoked. Every gangland alliance he'd turned to hatred," Whitney says, donning her golden mask. "He set them all up... and now it's time to knock them down."

Madame Masque tells Janice that word of Hammerhead's death will spark an all-out war for territories. The treaties that Hammerhead held together will collapse and moves will be made by opportunists — just like the original '80s Gang War (in The Amazing Spider-Man #284-#289). The Ringmaster and his gang of circus criminals; the Rose and his enforcer, the radioactive Digger; Mister Negative and his Inner Demons; Lady Yulan and her vampire brood... all will be out in the streets for blood. "They all want war," Masque tells Janice. "I'm just giving it to them. I'll give them so much they won't even notice when I start to take."

Spider-Man is visiting Randy and his father Robbie in the hospital when Gang War begins. Janice warns Masque against attacking Harlem — her comatose father's territory and where he's recovering from Shotgun's assassination attempt — but Masque says the gangs are already coming after Harlem. She'll be there to claim what's left. Masque then puts in a phone call: to Shotgun. Elsewhere, Mayor Cage orders the police to mobilize, but they're outmanned and outgunned. Spider-Man, not wanting civilians caught in the crossfire, tells Cage to keep the police at bay while he does his illegal super hero-ing. Before swinging into the fray, Spider-Man tells Cage: "I need a team."

The story continues in the special up-sized Amazing Spider-Man #39, on sale December 6.

Marvel Gang War Checklist

Gang War First Strike: November 2023
Amazing Spider-Man #37
Amazing Spider-Man #38
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #12
Amazing Spider-Man — Gang War: First Strike #1
Spider-Woman #1
Luke Cage: Gang War #1 (of 4)

Gang War: December 2023
Amazing Spider-Man #39 (special upsized issue)
Amazing Spider-Man #40
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #13
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #14
Daredevil: Gang War #1 (of 4)
Spider-Woman #2
Luke Cage: Gang War #2 (of 4)
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu: Gang War #1 (of 3)

Gang War: January 2024
Amazing Spider-Man #41
Amazing Spider-Man #42
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #15
Daredevil: Gang War #2 (of 4)
Spider-Woman #3
Luke Cage: Gang War #3 (of 4)
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu: Gang War #2 (of 3)

Gang War: February 2024
Amazing Spider-Man #43
Amazing Spider-Man #44
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #16
Daredevil: Gang War #3 (of 4)
Spider-Woman #4
Luke Cage: Gang War #4 (of 4)
Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu: Gang War #3 (of 3)

Gang War: March 2024
Daredevil: Gang War #4 (of 4)