Spider-Man: Downfall

Set in an alternate Marvel Universe, Earth-763, and follows that world's Spider-Man as he is confronted by a series of brutal attacks on those he holds near and dear, and battles against a villain who knows who he is and uses that knowledge against him. It is a dark story to be sure, as we see Spider-Man be hit with the worst kind of tragedy and basically hit rock bottom as a result, then having to claw his way back out of the abyss as his enemy keeps up his attacks.

The story was originally called Spider-Man: The Dark Side and began as a little something that was thought up for personal fun a few years ago by the author, AzureSpider. The primary inspirations were 1) Comics that AzureSpider's then-friend had been doing at the time, 2) the game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, and 3) just what AzureSpider wanted to see out of Spider-Man if it were up to him. Namely, same characters and universe, with the humor retained, but also darker, and with Spider-Man more flawed as a person, as opposed to the saintly image that some more modern comics would give. The original story was to be 24 or 26 chapters in length, or at the time, actual issues.

The original version was both horribly drawn and poorly-written. In need of serious condensing and polishing, AzureSpider and the aforementioned friend worked together to improve the story, spending the next year or so continually fine-tuning it. Though definitely a vast improvement, it was still a lot longer and weaker than what was ultimately written.

By Summer 2010, the project was nearly done. At his friend's insistence, AzureSpider made a few final changes, including giving the story its current name. The deal then was that the friend would draw the book, and then together they would put in the words as co-writers. Unfortunately, he never actually got around to drawing the thing, and thus the comic never saw the light of day.

But fate works in mysterious ways, as the comic not being made actually gave AzureSpider time to reexamine it and fine-tune it even further. Vowing to write it himself next Summer, he turned it into a traditional fan-fiction as opposed to a comic. AzureSpider's goal was to finish it by the end of last Summer, but instead, he got it half-finished. At the time it was two thirds done, before three more chapters were added.

The current iteration is two-thirds finished, and AzureSpider expects to have uploaded the last five chapters on Fan-Fiction.Net by Summer 2012.

As for the setting of the story, right from the get-go (though the actual idea was greatly refined later on along with everything else) AzureSpider decided that Earth-763 would be truly what he saw as "an ideal Marvel Universe" That ultimately translated into taking (in his opinion anyway) the best things about 616, the Ultimate Marvel Universe, other alternate realities, the movies, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and his own personal imagination, and put it all in the blender and see what came out.

So for example, like the movies, Ultimate Marvel U, and current 616, 763 is set squarely in modern times, but unlike 616 TIME actually passes. Certain stories from 616 history took place in his Marvel Universe, albeit slightly (or radically) differently then the way they happened origianlly. Costumes vary between being classic comic book looks, alternate comic looks, movie looks, or ones that he and his friend designed. While designs of the fan-made costumes do exist, they are not being released as AzureSpider would rather not get sued.

There are numerous other differences, but to list them all would be supremely tedious. Suffice to say, its a Marvel U that is quite similar to Earth 616, but different enough to stand on its own.

You can read the story here.

"Liz Allan:If Kirsten Dunst could pull it off, I’m sure you can"
 * Abnormal Ammo: Black Widow and the SHIELD agents sonic weapons count
 * Action Girl: Black Cat and Black Widow
 * Actor Allusion: Harry Osborn’s physical description is more in line with his movie version. IE: he looks like James Franco.
 * It is revealed that Mary Jane has gotten the part of Marie Antoinette. Kirsten Dunst played both Marie Antoinette and Mary Jane, and indeed, when Mary Jane expresses nervousness about whether or not she can handle the role, Liz Allan reassures her:

"Laptop Message:To Spidey: We're not ALL morons."
 * Obadiah Stane's voice is described as having "an uncanny resemblance to that of Jeff Bridges". His physical description also matches his appearance in the Iron Man movie, where he was played by Jeff Bridges.
 * Adaptation Distillation: One of the author's reasons for creating this story and Earth 763 as a whole
 * Alternate Continuity / Alternate Universe: This fan-fic takes place in the alternate Marvel Earth 763
 * Anti-Hero: Nearly all of the heroes in the story:
 * Black Cat and Moon Knight are Type II
 * Black Widow seems to be a Type III
 * Venom is a Type IV/V.
 * Finally, Spider-Man becomes a Type II/III
 * Anti-Villain: Shocker is a Type I (for the most part), Curt Connors/Lizard is a Type II, and Venom is a Type III
 * The Atoner: tries to be this but unfortunately gets murdered before he can divulge some crucial information. Of course, Spider-Man gets it not that long after...
 * Axe Crazy: Carnage. In fact, one of his powers is turning his hands into axe-heads.
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Badass: Spider-Man, especially after . Venom actually makes a snide remark about this
 * Badass Abnormal:
 * Badass Normal: Black Cat and Black Widow.
 * Bad Boss: epitomizes this. He considers the super-villains working for him to be expendable pawns, and his treatment towards his right-hand goon Ryan is not much better. It goes so far that
 * Bald of Evil: Scorpion
 * Battle in the Rain: Spider-Man's final fight with
 * Berserk Button: repeatedly throws Spidey into a greater state of rage by
 * Big Bad:
 * Big Damn Heroes: Spider-Man's standard MO naturally. But the REAL Big Damn Heroes moment goes to
 * Bloodless Carnage: In, ironically, the Carnage chapter. While no secret is made of Carnage’s viciousness, and how he has a tendency to leave massive amounts of destruction in his wake, we are spared any real gory details, although his prison break-out is a bit more graphic then the rest.
 * Body Double:
 * Also the robot duplicate that is meant to distract Spider-Man while the real  goes after people Peter cares about.
 * Broad Strokes: The Fan-fic (and Earth 763 as a whole) draw inspiration and elements from 616, the ultimate Marvel Universe, the movies, and more
 * The Brute / Dumb Muscle: Ox, Rhino, the entire Wrecking Crew, and (arguably) Lizard and
 * The Thing is a heroic example
 * Building Swing: Spider-Man naturally
 * Butt Monkey: Ryan is basically a villainous version of this. Over the course of the story he is nearly killed by Venom before being sent packing, gets soundly thrashed in his battle with Black Cat, and before that, was a verbal punching bag for his boss
 * Shocker is also this
 * The Cameo: Hobbie Brown and Glory Grant at Peter Parker’s birthday party.
 * Canon Foreigner: Ryan
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * In the same chapter, Black Widow could be called this, given how her role up to Chapter 13 had been extremely minor before coming in with SHIELD reinforcements against
 * Chest Insignia: Spider-Man, Daredevil, Venom, and
 * Cold Sniper: Ryan,
 * Combat Tentacles: Carnage Its implied that Venom has these too
 * Comes Great Responsibility: Obviously Spider-Man upholds this as always. After he temporarily forsakes it, only to return to the fold.
 * Composite Character: Sort of.
 * Cool Plane: Moon Knight's "moon-copter"
 * Cliff Hanger: Many of the chapters, end with these
 * Curb Stomp Battle: There are several of these throughout the story:
 * Spidey's fight with Shocker and the Enforcers.
 * Carnage's fight with Spider-Man becomes this
 * After choosing to become Spider-Man again, Peter dishes out another curb-stomp battle, this one to the Wrecking Crew
 * Black Cat gives one to
 * delivers a particularly nasty curb-stomp battle to Spider-Man
 * Finally,
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: is this to an extent. First he exploited the Hidden in Plain Sight trope, causing his safe-house to go unnoticed for YEARS, and later, he anticipates that Spider-Man will be able to figure this out and discover his hide-out anyway, at which point he clears out and rigs the place to blow. He even leaves Spider-Man a message on a laptop:
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: is this to an extent. First he exploited the Hidden in Plain Sight trope, causing his safe-house to go unnoticed for YEARS, and later, he anticipates that Spider-Man will be able to figure this out and discover his hide-out anyway, at which point he clears out and rigs the place to blow. He even leaves Spider-Man a message on a laptop:

"Thug: "He's at home, washing his tights""
 * He gets another moment when asks him if he could finish off Spider-Man while he and Black Cat . Though having wanted to wait until after Spider-Man had lost everyone he cared about before killing him,  acknowledges that this is a rare opportunity that he will probably not get again, so he tell  to go ahead.
 * Darker and Edgier: More or less what spawned the original idea for this story. Even now, in its MUCH refined and edited form, it still fits this.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Spider-Man, Black Cat, and Venom all have their moments.
 * Death by Adaptation:
 * Disney Villain Death:
 * Damsel in Distress: Subverted. Black Cat leaps off a building, at first appearing to kill herself, rather then let Ryan and use her as bait to lure Spider-Man into a trap.
 * The Dog Bites Back:
 * The Dragon: Ryan to
 * Dramatic Unmask:
 * Drunk on the Dark Side: seems to become a mild case of this
 * Establishing Character Moment: Spider-Man's battle with Shocker and the Enforcers near the beginning of the story shows that he's still a total wise guy.
 * establishing bits, both when he's just an ambiguous foe hidden by the shadows, and when he fully reveals himself, make it pretty clear that he's not messing around.
 * Finally, Cletus Kassasdy is established quickly as a psychopath with a nihilistic world-view in the opening paragraphs of Chapter 3. The scenes right after just drive it home, with Carnage going on a murderous rampage that also leads to a mass prison break.
 * Enemy Mine:Hating Carnage just as much as he does, Venom saves Spider-Man's life from the symbiote villain and then helps Spider-Man beat him.
 * Subverted later though, when
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Venom, though he hates Spider-Man as always, cares about the innocent and considers himself a protector of society.
 * He also saved Spider-Man's life from Carnage, and after Carnage was beaten, Venom decided not to try and kill him since he had helped to stop Carnage. Of course, he also states that he's been left weakened after both fighting Carnage and reabsorbing his symbiote, meaning that he might have still tried to kill Spider-Man if he was feeling stronger. But Spidey himself had been left pretty badly banged up from his fight with Carnage, so Venom probably would have been able to finish him anyway. So maybe his more altruistic reason was valid.
 * Evil All Along:
 * Five-Man Band: The Marvel Knights, (VERY loosely)
 * The Leader: Moon Knight is the Type I leader of the team. The Hero would be Spider-Man, since he's the hero of the story
 * The Lancer: Daredevil, though honestly personality-wise, Spider-Man and Black Widow fit this role more
 * The Big Guy: Given his super-strength, Spider-Man is the closest thing the team has to one
 * The Smart Guy: They don't really have one, although Spider-Man is the science-loving one...
 * The Chick: Black Cat and Black Widow. The non-useless variety
 * Faux Affably Evil:
 * For the Evulz: Carnage as always. Ryan seems to fit this too
 * Friendly Enemy: Venom and Spider-Man seem to have become this, though "friendly" might be a bit of an overstatement. Spider-Man and Black Cat as well, although to be fair, she had a Heel Face Turn a long time ago.
 * Gentle Giant: The Thing
 * Green-Eyed Monster:
 * The Lizard is a literal green-eyed monster. And green-skinned.
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Scorpion killing  is not shown.
 * The Hero: Spider-Man
 * Heroic Blue Screen of Death: Spider-Man suffers this
 * He's Back:
 * Hidden in Plain Sight:
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: does this to Black Cat, stroking her face while she's restrained . Her response is to kick him in the stomach as hard as she possibly could.
 * I Shall Taunt You: Spider-Man uses this tactic against Shocker at the beginning of the story.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Seems to be the main reason Black Cat helps Spider-Man so much throughout the course of the story.
 * If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: Seems to be part of Spider-Man's reason for not killing
 * Idiot Ball: Spider-Man and Black Widow seem to think that SHIELD's holding this in Chapter 13. See Too Dumb to Live below.
 * The hospital doctors who didn't confiscate Shocker's gauntlets but dismantled them instead. Shocker even specefically says that they were idiots to do so.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Shocker, Goldbug, and possibly Vulture II (Blackie Drago). The Enforcers also seem to have become this for Spider-Man
 * Jerkass:
 * It is also implied that he knew Spider-Man would try to kill or at least seriously hurt Scorpion but this did not deter him or move him in the least as far as laying out his plans went.
 * Venom also gets a moment when
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: J. Jonah Jameson and arguably Venom, although "heart of gold" may be a little kind, since
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Spider-Man
 * Kick the Dog: relishes in these, never passing up a single opportunity to do one. The prime ones would be constantly taunting Spider-Man about  and also later getting under Black Cat's skin and visibly enjoying it. And then watching her get brutally beaten by his lackey as well and not doing a thing to stop it...
 * Killed Mid-Sentence:
 * Killed Off for Real:
 * The author has also made it very clear that for the most part in his Marvel Universe, DEAD IS DEAD.
 * Large Ham: J. Jonah Jameson big time.
 * Also from a certain point of view.
 * The Leader: Moon Knight is the Type I leader of the Marvel Knights, and is where the team gets its name from
 * Mood Whiplash: The first chapter of the story is purposefully made much more light, happy, and easy-going then the rest of the story, to emphasize the happiness that Spider-Man is going to lose as things progress. The end of the chapter is much more in line with the rest of the story's darker tone.
 * Mook Face Turn:
 * My Greatest Failure: As always, Peter/Spider-Man considered Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy's deaths to be this, but then he seems to think of her as this.
 * Neck Lift: loves giving these. Spider-Man gives one to
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Spider-Man gets one of these from Carnage, and later gives one to Scorpion
 * When Spider-Man
 * No Indoor Voice: J. Jonah Jameson
 * Not So Harmless:
 * Now You Tell Me: Spider-Man to Venom upon learning from him
 * One-Scene Wonder: Many. The Enforcers, Flash Thompson, Lizard (but not Curt Connors), Electro, Rhino, The Wrecking Crew, Human Torch, The Thing, and at the very end are the most prominent examples.
 * Pet the Dog: Believe it or not, of all people has a couple of these. He
 * Psycho Electro: Electro of course.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Daredevil and Moon Knight, at least as much as two street-level vigilantes can be anyway.
 * The Reveal:
 * Secret Identity: Most of the heroes in the story, as well as
 * Shown Their Work: According to AzureSpider, his father helped him to make the story given by Daniel Kingsly much more believable and realistic.
 * The large number of shout-outs and references to Spider-Man's history and mythos, as well as the greater Marvel Universe in general, shows that he knows his stuff.
 * Shout-Out: The Carnage chapter is titled Maximum Carnage, named after the 90s Spider-Man crossover of the same name
 * When and his disappearance becomes noticed by the criminal element, one crook's response to another's question of where  is, is:
 * When and his disappearance becomes noticed by the criminal element, one crook's response to another's question of where  is, is:


 * To Spidey: We're not ALL morons
 * When is viciously beating Spider-Man, an observing  says a quote spoken by Syndrome from The Incredibles during a similar scene.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: A physical example.
 * The Sociopath: is specifically referred to as "a sadistic sociopath" Ryan seems to fit this too, although he is called a "psychopath" by.
 * Carnage is either this or a psychopath
 * Spider Sense: Spider-Man of course. He is the trope-namer after all.
 * Terrible Trio: The Enforcers
 * Thou Shalt Not Kill: Black Cat urges an enraged Spider-Man not to kill Scorpion, but the arrival of interrupts Spider-Man's dilemma, leaving it ambiguous whether he would have listened or not.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Spider-Man and Black Widow seem to think of SHIELD this way, or at the very least, as holding the Idiot Ball. Considering what they were doing and also the organization's track-record with these sort of things, its maybe justified...
 * That being said, SHIELD did NOT decide to take any chances after
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Peter seems to think of
 * Took a Level In Badass: Ryan starts out as little more then an average goon. OK, so but he's shown to be nothing special and Black Cat downs him almost as easily as she would any other crook.
 * Took a Level in Jerkass: Spider-Man
 * Villainous Crush: has demonstrated this (kind of) to Black Cat. He even noted that "she had such pretty eyes".
 * Voice of the Legion: By this logic, Venom and Carnage might have this too, although its never specified. Venom's voice is simply referred to as "dark-sounding"
 * Unwitting Pawn: Shocker, but its less that he doesn't know that he's being used and more that he doesn't want to be a pawn, but is forced to. His attempts to resist ultimately prove hazardous to his health
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Venom doesn't show up again after chapter 12. And neither does Aunt May for that matter...
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Black Cat obviously
 * Would Hit a Girl: Ryan is shown to be completely willing to battle Black Cat,
 * Xanatos Gambit:
 * You Fight Like a Cow: Spider-Man as always, even after  it is said that he still cracks one-liners, but they are more abusive in nature, and less playful.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Played a bit more straight in Scorpion's case, when and Spider-Man goes after him with a vengeance,  does not care in the least what happens to him, specifically referring to him as "just another pawn". And all pawns are expendable...
 * Furthermore, its actually implied that was wholly aware of what would happen to Scorpion after  and yet was completely undeterred and uncaring.