The Sin-Eater has shot down another Marvel supervillain, gaining a shockingly powerful upgrade from a relatively recent Spider-Man foe.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man: The Sins of Norman Osborn #1, by Nick Spencer, Federico Vicentini, Edgar Delgado and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Since revealing his ability to steal the powers of the people he shoots down, Sin-Eater has been racking up a number of impressive powers: so far, he’s already claimed the abilities of Overdrive, Count Nefaria, Grey Gargoyle, Whirlwind and Living Laser. All of those make him an Avengers-level threat alone, but only complicating matters is his ability to spread those powers through his followers, the growing army of Sin-Eaters rising across New York City. There’s little Spider-Man has been able to do to stop it, and Sin-Eater just found a way to make it far more difficult.
While he’s proven incredibly persuasive to sections of the populace, Sin-Eater just gained another ability that’ll make his mission to spread his influence all the easier. It’s revealed that the newest villain Sin-Eater has shot down is Mister Negative — giving him Negative’s ability to corrupt people by touch and make them his servant.
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Mister Negative was created by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez as a part of the Brand New Day era of Spider-Man stories. While his civilian persona of Martin Li worked with May Parker to maintain the F.E.A.S.T. outreach center, he used the powers he’d gained from exposure to D-Lite (the same chemicals that empowered Cloak and Dagger) to quickly make a place for himself in the New York criminal underworld. Mister Negative is capable of empowering people with a touch, healing them, or corrupting them to serve his designs. Slowly, his personality began to fray and alternate between Martin and Mister Negative, only exasperated by the constant interference of his plans by Spider-Man.
In the previous issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, a man came to Sin-Eater and his army. But instead of trying to join this crusade, he instead offered himself up as a criminal who needed to be cleaned of his darkness. The arrival of Spider-Man threw this plan into disarray, however, and the man fled. However, it’s revealed in Amazing Spider-Man: The Sins of Norman Osborn that the man returned the next night. Finding Sin-Eater in a moment of doubt over Kindred’s plans for him, the man explains that he fled due to his dark history with Spider-Man. He still wants to be cleansed of his dark side — revealing himself to be Martin Li. As Sin-Eater shoots Mister Negative down and feels his faith in his mission restored, he takes on the corrupting powers of Mister Negative.