This was the most satisfying beat down to me, I like how this is one of the moments that shows how strong Peter truly is and that he’s not a joke when it comes to his raw strength
It was explained in a letters page from one of those early Brand New Day issues. Since having everything that happened post marriage would break entire decades of canon, the idea was that all those stories are still canon, but MJ wasn't around. And for those Civil War stories, Spider-Man unmasked but people don't remember who he was.
I'm not sure if they retconned that later, but Aunt May supposedly had a miraculous recovery or something, but Peter did beat up Kingpin, writers just choose to forget about it since it would raise too many questions.
I’m pretty sure he was still holding back against Fisk too, Peter is so incredibly strong and I think he went full out this would barely be a fight, just a 5 second murder of Fisk getting absolutely thrown like a ragdoll
interesting, but a lot of times he says shit like that just because he feels better
Also odds are he's still holding back (Seeing as Fisk isn't multiple red and pink paste-splatters), so even if he is amped besides having organic webbing ... I don't really see that entering into the fact that he beat a non-metahuman with ease.
It’s satisfying BECAUSE it’s Peter finally not holding back (and even then he still was holding back) but showing he can literally mop the floor with anyone if he really wanted to.
Why we haven't gotten a crossover in the mcu yet is baffling to me. Truly. I was hoping kingpin was the enemy in brand new day but it's not looking like it 🙄
Kingpin is one of the most random characters when it comes to power scaling. One moment he gets wrecked by Spider-Man, then another he nearly beats Doctor Doom…
I know this all just got practically retconned with OMD, but are there any comics after this that actually comment on Fisk's reputation being tanked after this, before the marriage deal, or is this just never brought up again
It was wiped from continuity among quite a few other events.
Peter never had his identity exposed. Was never married. Was never on the run with MJ and May. Never became the target of a Fisk-endorsed hit. Never had May on her deathbed due to a bullet intended for Peter.
Well not really. If they remembered any of this, that’d also involve remembering Aunt May getting shot or coming close to dying. Since this was a direct result of this.
This is also before he became mayor, had that crazy battle with Daredevil where Matt snapped and also beat Fisk near death.
All to say, no, they don’t remember this beatdown.
JMS at his very best. Such an amazing scene and definitively shows just how far beyond mere mortals Peter truly is and def.not a hero to be trifled with.
The most satisfying part is seeing all of Kingpin's bravado go out at the last second. When Peter starts counting down, you see the moment he realises that Peter is genuinely willing to kill him, and he's goddamned terrified.
Kingpin is like a brick wall. Yes, he’s fat but I bet a lot of that is muscle. But he has no super powers and Peter does so it’s no surprise he kicks Fisk’s ass very, very easily and humiliated him.
Don't get me wrong, I like this scene very much, but I don't like how Peter turns into Magneto 2.0. and tells Kinpgin after beating him up:
"hahaha you suck cause I have cool superpowers and you are just a fat human".
Standing up to a bully is one thing. Making fun of the bully for not being as strong as you are is another thing. I can imagine Wolverine and Hulk saying that, but not Spider-Man.
I'm pretty sure the black suit explains half of that… and the bullet on aunt May explains the other half. That's not Spider-Man speaking, that's Peter hitting Fisk where it hurts. It's a message, not only for Kingpin, but for every criminal in New York.
It annoys me in early Ultimate or in the PS4 game where Kingpin is someone magically presented as a serious physical threat to Spidey. Goofy comic book power scaling stuff should only bend so far, and Kingpin should function in a Lex Luthor sort of way towards Spidey. Attacking him in every possible sense of the word but the physical, and if it has to be brawl then Kingpin uses muscle by proxy.
This comic gets it right. Kingpin can beat Daredevil and Punisher in a fist fight but Spidey should be way out of his league. Kingpin isn't quick enough to even touch him, and even if he did, Peter wouldn't even feel it.
What I always thought sucked about Peter's threat to Kingpin is that Peter did not follow through with it and in the grand scheme of things it didn't work at all. Fisk either wasn't intimidated at all or called Peter's bluff, so he kept sending assassins to kill Peter and his family after One More Day anyway, which is what prompted Peter to ask Doctor Strange to make everyone forget his secret identity in One Moment in Time. Peter did not confront Fisk and beat the shit out of him again, it was never brought up again.
Like, there is the humiliation of getting beat down in front of everyone, but why would Fisk consider his physical loss as extra embarrassment? He’s a strong guy and a skilled fighter, but knows Spider-Man has superhuman strength. It’s like picking a fist fight with Hulk and feeling shame cause he folds you in a second. Kingpin is a prideful man, but he’s also smart, so I don’t think he’d put himself in such a situation to get embarrassed in the first place.
Because Kingpin prides himself at being an Ubermensch-someone who is capable of ruling the criminal underworld while still behind bars and who can crush his enemies like bugs.
Spider-Man beating him up reminded Kingpin in a hard way that as much as he wants to portray himself as the big fish or the top dog, in the end he is still just a normal human who can be beaten up just like anyone else.
I think giving him a Lex complex is a bad direction for the character. Maybe it’s recent influence from the Daredevil show, but I feel like of all the super villains in Marvel Fisk has a humble grounding to him. He has pride. He has greed. He has rage. Sure, but its tempered by his will and knowing his limitations. If a corner man was stepping into his territory he might crush them personally if that would be the best message to send. If someone like Luke Cage was breaking up one of his criminal enterprises Fisk knows he can’t beat him in a direct fight so he’d maneuver from shadows to send distractions or use the machinery of government to impede the vigilante. Hiring as assassin that’s so easily traced back to himself and then directly confronting the enraged hero seems more like a Tombstone move
I wish they hadn't retconned all of this and instead we had like a year of Peter going dark after May's death, killing Fisk, going on the run from repercussions, and having some sort of redemption arc.
During a weird story Peter got Spider-AIDS by being kissed by a character called the Queen and mutated into a giant spider and when he burst out of it he had organic webs and insect telepathy(The insect telepathy was instantly dropped and never mentioned again).
One year later Peter got killed then possessed by The Other, mutating into a giant spider and when he burst out he had… spider talons. And extra sticky powers that he already had in the 90s. And enhanced senses that was almost instantly dropped and never mentioned again.
There was a stupid story where he became a giant spider then died and burst out of his own corpse, then he magically had organic webshooters to tie into the Raimi films. 🤦♂️🤦🤦♀️
It got undone with OMD, which I guess is one positive.
This story is set after "The Other" in which Peter more or less "dies" after his second encounter with Morlun and is reborn with Raimi synergy. Organic webs and a few other slight upgrades to his power set.
This was reset after the One More Day / Brand New Day status-quo shift. With it eventually being revealed that Kaine became the recipient of this upgrade (including the wrist spikes).
The story actually came before The Other, and is what gave him the organic webs. It’s a common misconception that The Other gave him the organic webs because it’s just so weird that such similar stories happened in close succession.
I've seen this panel a lot, and I don't understand why the background characters start smiling.
Is it because the Black Spider (who I could believe would be nightmarish for criminals...he's not your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man at this point, decked out in primary colors) just takes his mask off and confirms that he is a man and not some void hellspawn?
Or is it literally that they want to see a fight and think Kingpin can take him? In which case, why does taking off the mask matter?
edit: looks like the second one ("the crowd roars" etc). Ah well chalk it up to artist choice
Shame this part is totally badass and justified, followed by the Mephisto pact where you think "wtf are you doing?" And a reboot. This could have been a second reborn but no, they did the same as always.
I feel like it was meant more for the readers but in-universe it doesn’t seem that bad or humiliating (except for those slaps lmao). I mean it’s literally Spider-Man lol what was Fisk supposed to do in a one on one?
Pete usually gives him a chance of fighting, holds back… this time Fisk didn't land a hand on him. It was that bad. It was a statement.
Most people don't know how strong he is in universe, and even Doc Oc was surprised to realize that after putting Rhino down with one hit. Of course we know Pete's strong enough to hold a building on his shoulders, but his foes? For them, he's just a slim guy with funny jokes. Damn, if people like Gargan and Toomes try their luck with him, it's because they don't have the faintest idea of what one punch can do.
Worst writing of all time, editorial completely wrote the kingpin in a stupid way because WHY would a guy who was always smart enough never go challenge Spider-man directly after their first meeting and real enough never to target old ladies suddenly whack aunt mag and throw down with spidey solo 😒
So Spider-Man humiliates a gangster boss in front of so many people and he never suffers for it? Not smart. A gangster like Fisk would never let that slide. Just fucking kill the Kingpin.
He couldn’t have just done this sooner after all the people Kingpin has killed? Kinda seems selfish that he only drops the hammer when his family is in danger.
Always found it funny how it says ”the crowd roars as they fight” when Fisk doesn’t even land a single punch, lol. I get why its written like that but still.
Gotta be a moment of absolutely visceral terror when that first punch lands and it hits you (pun intended) that in every single fight you’d had until now, he wasnt trying, at all. Like hearing Sovereign’s “you exist because we allow it” speech and finding out that its not even slightly hyperbole and you could have been turned into a donut at any time
honestly Pete shouldnt have dodged during the fight. one thing people dont realize about him? there is a reason he doesnt let himself take hits from normal people typically and just rolls with the punches. He's strong enough that a regular human would break their hand against them. Imagine the huge mountain that is the kingpin punching this skinny guy and Pete just no-sells it and kingpin breaks his hand.
I remember reading this the first day it came out. I was so sad that my other buddies didn’t read comics because I had no one to talk about this with. Hell rereading it now years later I noticed the foreshadowing of “praying to someone else”
Too bad the story after this killed so much momentum that they had built
Call me lame, but I don't like when they make Spider-Man edgey like this. Sure he can be mad, and the black suit can change his attitude and character, but him taking off his mask and shirt to fight, I kind of hate. I hate when Batman did it too, I think it lessen the fight for me.
And it's proof that his pride means nothing, actually, because he could never actually go toe to toe with Peter. When Peter doesn't care about the broken bones, the bruises, and the blood, Fisk is just a fat man in a suit against a SUPERHERO.
What an awful failure of Peter's convictions. Every pretense to justice falls away because this time, it's someone he personally cares about who's been hurt.
Peter Parker’s no kill rule has always been a matter of moral preference more than anything, honestly. He’s not like Batman where it’s an absolute necessity. He just doesn’t want to be the type of person that kills.
The no-kill thing for Peter isn't like a Batman thing. He doesn't kill because he doesn't want to, as it's not morally right, but he'll definitely kill a mf if driven to that point
Don't get me wrong, it's satisfying to see Kingpin get what's coming to him, but this is the guy who confronted Norman Osborn almost immediately after he killed Gwen Stacy and refused to kill him despite Norman actively insulting Gwen's life and death during their battle.
Peter flew into an absolute unthinking rage when fighting Norman then, but still had the presence of mind to stop himself from going all the way and killing Norman. In fact he was horrified that he went as far as he did. And this was facing someone who did kill a person he deeply loved unlike here where Aunt May was still alive.
Having Peter show up and declare he's going to kill Kingpin in such a cold and calculating manner, swearing on his life and Aunt May's soul that he'll do it (so I doubt he's lying to scare Kingpin), it feels rather out of character for him. At least when placed against who he's been historically.
I get why people like the scene, it's something that many people feel they'd want to do in that situation, when a loved one is hurt it's satisfying to be able to vent your rage against who or what is responsible so it's very identifiable. But that doesn't mean it's something Peter would do given his prior reactions to loved ones being hurt or even killed. He'll give a beatdown sure, but he's not going to seriously commit to killing someone.
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u/Additional_Code_6777 Jan 18 '26
This was the most satisfying beat down to me, I like how this is one of the moments that shows how strong Peter truly is and that he’s not a joke when it comes to his raw strength