Spider-Man found himself helpless as Aunt May’s life was at stake, but it was a Marvel villain who ended up coming to her rescue.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #59 by Nick Spender, Marcelo Ferreira, Wayne Faucher, Morry Hollowell, Andrew Crossley & VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Aunt May, always the good samaritan, opened her doors for Martin Li, the man whose evil half is known as Mister Negative. The two shared a long history, as Li initially opened the F.E.A.S.T. Center that May Parker still runs. He has not been part of that for a long time, but he knew May would be there to help him in his time of need.
And in Amazing Spider-Man #59, Martin Li returned the favor by saving Aunt May. The man who became Mister Negative gave in to the returning sins and turned his life back over to the evil force. He gave up his freedom was to save Aunt May and her facility when it appeared Spider-Man was outnumbered and outmanned in trying to save his own aunt.
Martin Li even told Aunt May the full truth about his past. He revealed the real Martin Li was a man who wanted to help the community. On the other hand, he was a human trafficker, a smuggler who murdered Martin Li and stole his identity. He opened up the F.E.A.S.T. Center and used it as a front for his criminal activities, which included the fact that he was infested with the Dark Force of Mister Negative, gaining his powers in the same incident that gave Cloak & Dagger their powers. While that was who he was, Martin Li wants to know who he is now.
It has been a long time since Martin Li was revealed to be Mister Negative. He eventually left the F.E.A.S.T. Center, where Aunt May took over and built it into one of the top charitable organizations in the city, helping those in need. When Martin Li showed back up, broken and scared, Aunt May didn’t even think twice about bringing him in and giving him the aid and shelter he needed. She almost saved him as well, but Martin Li’s sins were too strong to remain locked out. It needed Martin Li, and he never had a chance to escape.
Aunt May took it all in stride. She even made a joke about always wondering why he built all the crawl spaces under the F.E.A.S.T. Center, but she said she would help him escape. But just as Aunt May got Martin into a crawl space, one of the Inner Demons grabbed May by the hair and told Spider-Man to stop fighting, or they would kill her. Spider-Man was scared he was about to lose someone close to him, which is when Martin Li walked in and ordered them to let May go.
Martin Li saved Aunt May’s life, but there are now questions about how much was real and how much was a trick to keep Spider-Man running in circles. Martin gave himself over to Mister Negative in exchange for saving May Parker’s F.E.A.S.T. Center. It makes little sense because once Mister Negative was in control again, he could have destroyed it anyway, and when Spider-Man tried to pick another fight, he almost cost May everything.
Wilson Fisk showed up and arrested Mister Negative, and the fact the Inner Demons and Negative left peacefully seemed suspicious, with Wilson Fisk more than ready to complete their deal once Negative was back in control. Despite this, Martin Li saved Aunt May, and regardless of the reason, that was a very heroic thing to do.
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