JFK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT,
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK (1981)

Peter Parker had initially thought it would be boring, taking pictures of the infamous Robert Kinsey arriving in Manhattan, to campaign for the Presidency of the United States.

"The man's only served two terms as a U.S. Senator!" he had exclaimed to Glory Grant (personal secretary to J. Jonah Jameson, owner/publisher of THE DAILY BUGLE): "He's a 'dark horse' candidate, to say the least.

"He's also JJJ's ex-frat brother, from college," Glory reminded him: "So, we have to make him look good for the front page of the next edition."

"What do you mean 'we...?' " Peter began

"Don't you dare call me 'paleface!' " she interrupted, threatening to hit him with a rolled-up copy of the previous day's edition.

The two co-workers laughed, and Peter left for the airport.

Now, the speech that had been threatening to be the perfect cure for insomnia was no longer of any concern. Because, for lack of a better term, a hole had suddenly appeared out of thin air!

And, from out of it dropped the weirdest-looking person the young photojournalist had ever seen.

INTER-AGENCY DEFENSE COMMAND,
WASHINGTON, DC (15 MIN. LATER)

Colonel Steven Trevor, Jr. rushed into Diana Prince's office, and told her to drop whatever she was doing.

"What's the matter?" she asked, as she boarded the elevator to the rooftop helipad.

"A top-flight emergency. Literally! Senator Kinsey's plane was just hijacked at JFK!!!"

"Hijacked? By whom; terrorists?"

"Nope! By what one witness described as (and I quote) '...the Tin Man of Oz, wearing Christmas lights.' End quote!"

GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN

Thomas Lindmer was helping his new pupil, Dr. Stephen Strange, practice transcendental meditation when they both opened their eyes.

"Master, did you...?"

"Yes, I sensed it, too. Something extra-dimensional has arrived on Earth."

"Ancient One! Dr. Strange! Come here, quickly."

Such was the urgency in Wong's voice that Lindmer did not even bother to reprimand him for still using that embarrassingly melodramatic nickname. The two mages rushed to the living room, and saw Wong pointing at the TV screen.

It was a live telecast of a riot that had broken out at JFK International Airport, following the materialization of some kind of armored humanoid. A humanoid that had Senator Kinsey by the scruff of the neck in its left hand. While fending off police--and the wall-crawling vigilante Spiderman--with some kind of machine gun in its right.

Suddenly, Dr. Strange did a double-take.

"It's whole right arm is a machine gun!"

For the first time since being assimilated, the former Iotian gangster had to think for himself.

"This one...must find...a trans...mitter. This one...must contact... the nearest...Borg...vessel. You...will come...with this...one. You...will serve...as guide."

The moment the drone grabbed the would-be President by the scruff of his neck, the Secret Servicemen accompanying him went into action.

"You're not taking him anywhere, Tobor! Release Senator Kinsey. Now!"

Recognizing the objects being pointed at him as semi-automatic pistols, the former Iotian gangster reacted per his basic programming.

"This one...must...rejoin...the Collective. Do not...seek...to stop...this one. Resistance...is...futile."

Whereupon, the drone converted its right arm into a 24th-century semblance of a tommy gun.

tbc

Nicholas Hammond played Peter Parker on the live-action CBS version of SPIDER-MAN from 1976-79. While Peter Hooten played Marvel's Master of the Mystic Arts in a 1978 TV-movie that co-starred Clyde Kusatsu (as a suit-and-tie-wearing Wong) and the late, great Sir John Mills as Thomas "the Ancient One" Lindmer. Lynda Carter, of course, started out as the Golden Age Wonder Woman on ABC, prior to moving thirty years into the future on CBS (1975-79). With co-star Lyle Waggoner portraying both versions of Steve Trevor!