Spider-Man Admits He Created His Deadliest Villain

Warning! Spoilers for The Amazing Spider-Man #49 below!

Spider-Man is a hero known for being in touch with his emotions. Despite his superpowers, Peter Parker can still fall victim to doubt, anger, jealousy, and often guilt – which he has to overcome as much as any of his diverse rogues gallery. Often Spider-Man’s actions will affect the people around him, proving that no good deed goes unpunished, just like his realization regarding his current villain Stan Carter, aka the Sin-Eater. In The Amazing Spider-Man #49, Spider-Man stops fighting and tries talking to the superpowered villain, blaming himself for having failed Stan in the past and thus being responsible for anyone he’s hurt in his campaign to cleanse the world (and its villains) of their sins.

Stanely Carter first appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #107, as a former SHIELD agent who operated as a detective for the NYPD. This proved a convenient cover for Stan, who would kill those he felt abused their authority and needed to be cleansed of their sins. When Sin-Eater tried to kill Peter’s former love Betty Brant, Spider-Man lost himself in a fury that nearly killed Stan. After spending some time in psychological and medical care, the now-crippled Stan is released but finds normal life difficult to adjust to. Still tormented by his Sin-Eater persona, Stan’s attempts to reach out to Spider-Man for help are met with hostility and resentment, as the webslinger has not forgiven him for his murders. Eventually, Stan became Sin-Eater again, but ends up gunned down by the police. However, he was recently resurrected by the villain Kindred, armed with new powers and a new outlook that allows Sin-Eater to amass both media attention and a legion of followers.

In The Amazing Spider-Man #49 – by writer Nick Spencer and artists Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos, and Mark Bagley – Sin-Eater and his forces have overtaken Ravencroft with a mission to find and kill Spidey’s old enemy, Norman Osborn. Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are forced to make a temporary alliance, especially when Sin-Eater acquires the size and strength of the Juggernaut. As their battle goes underground into one of Norman’s secret Goblin lairs, Peter and Norman devise a plan that requires Spidey to stall while Osborn sets up. Peter stops Sin-Eater in his tracks by using his words instead of his fists by acknowledging that he failed Stan.

Peter has a moment of clarity about his past with Sin-Eater. Years ago, Stan asked for help but Spider-Man rejected him. That fear and his remaining anger hurt Stan and lead him down the path that would lead to his death and eventual resurrection, another death that Spider-Man carries on his already crowded shoulders. No longer running from the  guilt, Peter asks Stan that instead of Norman Osborn, he cleanse him of his sins. This admission and offer of self-sacrifice stuns Sin-Eater if only for a moment, before he goes back to his original train of thought of killing Osborn.

Fortunately Spider-Man and Osborn’s plan works, borrowing an old trick from Spider-Man’s previous defeat of the Juggernaut years ago to trap Sin-Eater within the ground, if only for the time being. Spider-Man may still be a human being who struggles with the consequences of his decision, but his ability to constantly put the safety and well-being of others over himself is what makes him a true hero. Although he failed to intervene at a point where it could have made a difference in Stan Carter’s life, he won’t sit back and let his guilt prevent him from saving others, even if it’s Norman Osborn.

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