Ok, someone pointed out that Captain America has been able to react to Spider-Man therefore, Spider-Man can't be as fast as alluded to.
I'm glad they mentioned this so that way I can address it.
Comic book power scaling...does not exist. I mean it does but...it doesn't...matter.
You might think that is an exaggeration, but let me point out that Spider-Man has both lost to the Punisher, and beaten Firelord.
If you don't know who Firelord is, he is a herald of Galactus. I don't think I need to explain why that is ridiculous.
Writers don't particularly care to remember exactly how strong a certain character is, especially if they have an agenda, like making a certain character look good or other characters look bad.
For example, going back to Punisher beating Spider-Man, it wasn't just Spider-Man, Punisher beat a team of Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Wolverine. People who Punisher would have to be VERY lucky to escape from in a one v one, and have all been shown to do things that Punisher would never be able to. Daredevil has even beaten Punisher on multiple occasions.
Oh if you want to try and say that's not bias, that team was called the Confederacy of Dunces. Yeah. It was pretty obvious that whoever wrote that didn't like those characters that much and wanted to humiliate them.
That's why I said I unnerfed Spider-Man. I'm making him as strong and fast as he should be.
So yes, while Spider-Man has lost to Captain America, he's also beaten Graviton, Hulk, and other characters he really shouldn't be able to beat.
But if you do want some comic feats to back up my claims, you just search up Spider-Man feats on Comic Vine, where you can also find links to all of the feats shown.
He's kept up with the original Captain Marvel's greatest Speed. Was able to Stagger a(partially)Phoenix force powered Colossus and Magik. Stagger Apocalypse. Break Apart Iron Man's armor. Hit Ms. Marvel(Carol) hard enough to draw blood. Has been shown to knock out humans with a flick. Held up a portion of a skyscraper, and then kept it together with his webbing. He's yanked Mjolnir out of Thor's hands and has been able to redirect it. Took a hit from Puma, someone the Beyonder said could kill him. Survived point-blank explosions from missiles. Has out sped tracking bullets. Has moved faster than Hawkeye could see. And much much more.
The list of ridiculous feats goes on for longer than this chapter, check it out if you want. But you get my point.
If I wanted to accurately portray comic book power scaling, then I would have Izuku lose to Spinner one chapter, and then one shot All Might a few chapters later, with no explanation.
So like I said, we're going with how strong Spider-Man SHOULD be, not how strong comic book Spider-Man has been SHOWN to be at times.
Sorry if that was ranty or aggressive, I just wanted to set things straight about power scaling.
Anyway, onto the story.
In the streets of Musufafu, Wash was currently battling for his life against a B-class villain.
The villain in question was full green, with reptile-like skin, claw-like hands, fangs, silted yellow eyes, and a big tail. That's right, it was Scorpion!
"I'll kill you! You fake hero! I'll kill you in the name of Stain!" Scorpion shouted out, as he kept trying to stab Wash with his tail.
"AHH! AHHH!" Wash shooting out bubbles at Scorpion, but the villain just popped them all rapidly with his sharp tail.
"Die!" Scorpion shot out venom from his tail, right at Wash.
In response, Wash shot out more bubbles that encapsulated the venom, stopping it in its tracks.
"Gah! You're so damn annoying! All you do is appeal to kids and star in commercials! Just die already!" Scorpion lunged at Wash but was suddenly stomped into the ground by Izuku who just swung in. "AHGH!"
Izuku flipped off Scorpion's head and right in front of Wash. "Man, that guy's head was as thick as it looked! You ok Wash?"
"Spider-Man!" Wash did a small sigh of relief.
Behind you! Your head!
Izuku moved his head to the side, just in time for Scorpion's tail to miss it.
The vigilante jumped back, putting some distance between him and the villain.
"Spider-Man!" Scorpion scowled.
"Man you're still walking after that!? You really are thick-headed!" Izuku quipped. Although under the mask he was quite nervous. That almost killed me. This guy is faster than your average villain. Tougher too. I need to be careful.
"Stay out of this wall-crawler!" Scorpion hissed at him. "This is between me and the fake."
Izuku felt a bit of anger rise up in him at that. "Fake? You think he's a fake hero?"
"Of course he is! All he does is show off to kids! He's on cereal! T.V. shows! Toys! And he's rarely actually defeated a villain! And yet he gets to be in the top ten!" Scorpion shouted, his words dripping venom and full of hate. "He's proof that our hero society is corrupt and needs to be destroyed!"
"Ok smart guy. Tell me this. If he's a fake hero then how come he stayed here and distracted you while getting all the civilians away to safety?" Izuku asked him with a bit of an edge in his voice.
"Huh?" Scorpion looked around and saw that the once crowded street was empty, and some people were in Wash's bubbles, being moved back behind a police perimeter. "W-What!? When did he-"
"Like I said! He did it while distracting you! Even though he's not a combat-based hero! He's a support and rescue hero! Which is why he hasn't taken down a lot of villains." Izuku explained firmly, his voice being loud enough to be heard by the people and the media behind the perimeter. "But he knew that there were no other heroes in the area, so he risked his life to fight you on his own, something he is notoriously bad at doing, so that way he could make sure everyone around him got away! Does that sound like a fake hero to you!"
"Grrr. Tch." Scorpion recoiled back as if Izuku's worse physically hit him before he leaned forward, and his shock was replaced by pure rage. "Why you-"
"What? Can't handle being wrong?" Izuku taunted. "Because that's what you and your precious Stain are. Wrong. Even if there are some heroes that lower the standard and don't deserve the title, psychopaths like you two don't get to decide who is and isn't a fake. And you definitely don't decide that people should die over it!"
"Shut up!" Scorpion lunged at Izuku, and the green-haired teen got ready to fight.
"Spidy jump!" Wash shouted from behind him.
"Huh!" Izuku didn't know what Wash had planned, but he was a high-ranking hero, so he thought it was best to go along with it.
He jumped high into the air, allowing Wash to shoot out a giant bubble at Scorpion that encapsulated him, and floated him into the air.
"Huh! RAGH! Enough of this!" Scorpion popped the bubble, but now he was in a free fall, and he was a sitting duck.
Izuku shot a web-line at the villain, who couldn't dodge at all and then slammed him into the ground, hard.
CRACK!
Scorpion smacked face-first into the ground so hard that it broke apart the road.
"G-Gah. You little-" Scorpion tried to pull himself up, but as he did, Izuku yanked the line forward, causing him to fly right into Izuku's fist, promptly knocking the villain out cold.
"See what I mean. He does support. And I'll have you know, he's really good at his job." Izuku said out loud.
"Thanks for assisting Spider-Man. I was in big trouble there!" Wash told him.
"Yeah, you're welcome but you...aren't you gonna try and arrest me?" Izuku nervously scratched the back of his head. He'd said all that good stuff about Wash and he didn't want to make him look bad by easily escaping him.
"Didn't you hear? I'm a support and rescue hero. I don't do combat well." Wash told him, as he walked away.
Just as Izuku was about to swing away, the media stormed in, and went right for Izuku, making a dense crowd around the poor teen before assaulting him with questions.
"Spider-Man! Why did you become a vigilante?!" Asked one of the reporters.
"Why not use your powers to become a hero!?" Asked another one.
"Who are you under the mask!" Asked one bold and kinda stupid reporter.
They kept pelting him with questions, and Izuku briefly became overwhelmed, before regaining his composure.
Calm down Izuku. You're not weak, timid Deku right now. You're the strong, confident, Spider-Man. Izuku took a deep breath, before turning his Spider-Man persona back on. "Hey, hey, hey! One question at a time! I get everyone wants a piece of me but there's only so much to go around!"
Part of him wanted to just swing away. But if he wanted to get a hero license, he had to be popular. And the press might help him with that. So he'd answer a few questions and then leave.
"Where did you get your gear!?" Asked a female reporter. "One day you go from barefoot with a shabby costume, and then next day, this? What happened?"
Oh, boy was a certain someone waiting for this question.
"That'd be all thanks to the Tinkerer! A support gear prodigy working exclusively for vigilantes." Izuku answered, trying to make it sound like an advertisement to appease Nikku. "So if any other law enforcing lawbreakers want to get themselves a spiffy new costume, get in touch."
The press sure ate that up. The idea that there was a secret dealer for vigilante support items was a juicy piece of news.
"Earlier we heard you defending Wash's honor! What are your opinions on pro heroes?!" Asked another reporter.
"Defending Wash's honor? It was never in danger! What just because that chuckle-head said some rude nonsense? I've seen more valid criticisms of heroes in a Youtube comments section. If we acted like every time someone said something like this it put someone's honor in danger, then everyone would have their honor in danger at all times." Izuku said, easily dismissing Scorpion's words. "And what do I think about heroes? They're great! They save people, they stop villains. What's not to love?!"
"Even if they try to arrest you?" A reporter asked.
Izuku shrugged. "They're heroes. I'm a vigilante. What are they gonna do, not try and arrest me? As much as I would appreciate it, I have to be realistic here."
"What do you think about Stain's ideology? About how some heroes don't act in ways befitting of their titles?" Asked another reporter.
Izuku paused for a second to think about this. When he'd first heard about Stain's ideology, he simply brushed it off as the mutterings of a lunatic. And while he did still think Stain was a lunatic, Bakugo's death had opened his eyes to the possibility that maybe heroes aren't all infallible. And his time as Spider-Man only helped further plant that idea in Izuku's head.
"No one is perfect." Was Izuku's conclusion. "The world likes to portray heroes as if they're gods. Untouchable, infallible, and unquestionable. But they're not. They're human above all else. So like every other human. They make mistakes. It's inevitable. And it's...scary. It's scary to think that the heroes aren't all-knowing and all-powerful. It's scary to think that they won't save us, or that they can't save us."
Izuku was getting flashbacks to Bakugo's death. His friend died because of a mistake. On both the heroes part and his.
"Stain's ideology is completely unrealistic. He wants heroes to be beyond human. To never make mistakes. And he thinks the punishment for failing this should be death." Izuku said. "I don't think I need to explain how sick and twisted that is. And even if some heroes don't deserve to be called heroes, even if he has a point, do we really think we should leave that decision up to killers like Stain?"
The press was eating this up, but as they looked back at Izuku. He suddenly saw fear in their eyes.
Behind you! The head!
What!? Izuku turned around and saw that Scorpion had gotten back up, and his tail was once again heading right for his face.
Izuku leaned back, barely able to avoid the attack in time, but the tip of his tail caught onto Izuku's mask, and as Izuku dodged the attack, Scorpion's tail pulled his mask off.
Scorpion grinned for a moment, thinking that at least he revealed Izuku's identity.
However, that grin didn't even stay on his face for a second, as a look of deep confusion replaced it when he saw Izuku's face. "What the-gah!"
In the moment while Scorpion was frozen in shock, Izuku rushed forward and punched him in the face so hard it sent the man's teeth flying, as blood flew out of his nose.
Scorpion went flying back a dozen feet, and with fearful adrenaline rushing through his veins, Izuku didn't slow down.
Before Scorpion even hit the ground, Izuku shot a web-line at his mask and pulled back to him, quickly putting it back on his face. Then when Scorpion actually reached the floor, Izuku rapidly started webbing him to the ground, using way more webbing than necessary.
With that done, Izuku immediately jumped twenty feet into the air and swung away as fast as he could.
XXXXXXXXXX
Ah. Failure. One might call it an old friend for Izuku. He was a Deku after all.
Just when he thought he was getting used to success, failure shows its ugly head back up in Izuku's life, in the worst of ways.
Just like he failed to be born with a quirk. He failed to save Kacchan. And he failed to not be caught committing vigilantism. Now he had failed to keep his secret identity.
This is what led to Izuku, sobbing in the center of his training room in the abandoned factory, still in his costume, although now without his mask on.
Out of all his previously mentioned mess-ups, this was his least egregious. But that didn't mean much and it was still going to make his and his mother's life exponentially harder.
As Izuku was sobbing, Nikku walked up to him with a laptop folded under her arm. "Hey Spider! You need to check this out!"
"Not now Nikku," Izuku said very quietly, in a sad, depressed tone.
Nikku wasn't taking no for an answer, however, and so she just opened the laptop and played a video, even without Izuku looking.
"Breaking news! Earlier today a villain known as the Scorpion attacked the rescue hero Wash!" The newswoman said. "The hero fought valiantly against the villain, distracting him while getting all the surrounding people to safety. Things were looking dire until the vigilante Spider-Man showed up, and defeated the villain. However, as he was surprisingly addressing the press for once, the villain got back up, and removed Spider-Man's mask."
Izuku cringed as he heard that. I should have webbed him to the ground! I got too reliant on my spider-sense!
"However much to everyone's surprise, there seemed to be nothing underneath!" The newswoman finished.
Izuku's eyes widened in shock when he heard that, and his head turned so fast to look at the computer it was surprising that he didn't break his neck.
There on the news was him without his mask on, but instead of his face being there it was seemingly just empty space.
He saw his headless body takedown Scorpion, and put his mask back on, before webbing up Scorpion and leaving.
Nikku rewinded it to the part where Izuku had just lost his mask, and paused it, allowing Izuku to gaze at the image in shock. "So I'm guessing you didn't know you could do that?"
"What!? No! I...What!?" Izuku had been competently shaken out of his depression and was now completely in shock. Since when could he turn invisible!? Since when could SPIDERS turn invisible?!
"Alright, do it again," Nikku demanded.
"H-huh?" Izuku was caught off guard by this sudden demand.
"Go invisible!" Nikku repeated, about more aggressively. "I'll need to adjust your costume so I need to know what I'm working with."
"I…" Izuku just looked confused. He had no idea he could even do that, let alone know how to turn it on and off.
Nikku sighed and started digging through her lab coat pocket. "I thought this might be the case."
And then she pulled out a gun and pointed it at Izuku's face.
"You have two seconds." She told him, her voice dead serious.
Wait! There's no way she's gonna- Izuku's thoughts were interrupted by his spider-sense going off. Oh my god, she's serious!
Just as Nikku was about to pull the trigger, Izuku's head turned invisible.
"As I suspected." Nikku pulled her finger away from the trigger. "It seems your invisibility is not something meant to be done on command, but rather it's a self-defense mechanism your body activates automatically when it feels it's in extreme danger."
Much like Nikku said, the moment Nikku was no longer going to shoot Izuku and his spider-sense stopped blaring, Izuku's face returned to being visible.
And as she put away the gun, Izuku finally got out of shock.
"You were going to shoot me!?" Izuku was honestly more shocked than angry but he was still a bit miffed that his supposed partner had no qualms about shooting him point-blank in the face.
Nikku rolled her eyes. "Of course I was. You told me how your spider-sense works, remember? I knew if I just bluffed it wouldn't cause you to react. And relax, it was a rubber bullet. It would have been like getting hit with a tennis ball for you. Now take off your glove."
It took Izuku a few seconds to respond, having to take in what she just told him, but he did hesitantly comply, and removed his glove, exposing his hand.
"Alright, now, try and remember that feeling of danger and panic," Nikku instructed him.
Izuku closed his eyes and tried to remember what it was like.
His mask was coming off, behind him was an army of press. It was over. His secret identity was out. He'd made another massive mistake.
"You're doing it! It's flickering!" Nikku told him.
Izuku opened his eyes but in doing so, broke his concentration, and all he saw was his perfectly visible hand.
"Alright now try it again. This time with your eyes open." Nikku instructed.
"A-Alright." Izuku stared at his hand and tried to focus on another stressful, anxiety-filled memory.
This time he went back to the alleyway where he encountered Eraserhead. Just when he realized that a hero had seen him committing vigilantism. He thought his life was over. That his dreams had been firmly crushed. And that he had broken his promise to Kacchan.
And that's when his hand vanished.
It was only for a moment because when Izuku saw this, his concentration broke, and therefore his hand immediately turned visible again.
"Ok, looks like you can trick your body into thinking that it's in danger. However, it looks like this requires extreme levels of concentration." Nikku noted. "You'll want to train that. This could be VERY useful in the future."
"I-I mean I guess. But...how am I gonna use it while in my costume?" Izuku asked. "While I'm wearing clothes this part of my quirk is completely useless. It's probably activated a few times and I just never noticed it because of that reason."
Nikku shook her head in annoyance. "I'll just have to add chameleon tech to your costume."
"Chameleon...tech?" Izuku repeated with confusion. "What's that? I've never heard about it before?"
"That's not a surprise." Nikku sighed. "Chameleon tech is a special stealth technology, that while on its own only creates subpar camouflage when combined with someone who has an invisibility or camouflage quirk, makes the user entirely invisible. And the reason you've never heard of it is because the support gear industry is filled entirely with perverts, and they have been trying to bury this technology ever since it was discovered. Deliberately obscuring it from the public eye, removing articles about it online, and purposely making that technology hard to find and obtained. And if you work inside the support industry and try to blow the whistle, you can look forward to getting blacklisted."
"Wait a minute! There aren't even that many female heroes who have invisibility or camouflage quirks! The support industry would really do that much, just to make sure a couple a dozen heroes go around showing off their bodies, which they can't see!?" Izuku was actually astounded by that much perversion.
"Firstly, it's not just the female heroes, male heroes also get treated this way. Remember girls can be perverts too. Like my sister, who has gotten suspended for sexual misconduct multiple times." Nikku corrected, while also taking the opportunity to slander her sister. "And secondly, if you're gonna be part of the support industry, even temporarily, then never underestimate the power of perverts."
Nikku started walking back to the workshop while urging Izuku to follow her.
"Even though I say that the technology is slowly coming out more and more. And becoming more available." Nikku explained. "It's only a matter of time until its existence becomes public. That being said, someone like me can't just order it online. I'll have to make it from scratch. Some of the components are a bit too sophisticated to make it from the scrap on the beach, I'll have to ask my parents for some of the materials."
"Are you sure you can manage it? It seems pretty complicated." Izuku stopped and thought about it for a moment. "Actually, how are you this smart? Do you have an intelligence quirk or something?"
"You could say that. My quirk is called Download." Nikku explained with a prideful smirk on her face. "Whenever I touch an object with all five of my fingers, every possible use that object has will be downloaded into my head."
Izuku's eyes widened, and he quickly pulled out a notebook and started jotting down notes. "That's amazing! With a quirk like that, you're theoretically capable of making well….everything that can be made! But a powerful quirk like that has to have some major drawbacks."
"Correct." She confirmed. "You see, my quirk is exceptionally hard to use, my brain can only handle so much information at once before I start getting massive headaches. And I mean massive. It feels like your head is getting hit by a train. And while I can kind of choose what information goes into my brain it is also difficult to control. It's like searching for something on the internet, but the results are pretty much everything related to what you're looking for, and you have to search through it all manually. Also, any information gained through my quirk will vanish in about five minutes. Hence all the papers scattered about everywhere."
Izuku wrote down everything she said, intensely. "So many drawbacks. Which makes sense because of the sheer power of the quirk itself. Still, using that kind of quirk effectively must take a lot of hard work. I knew you were impressive but not like this."
Nikku was practically glowing from the praise. "I'm aware of my own greatness. Nice to hear someone else confirm it for once though. Anyway, let's get to work."
So yeah. Surprise, Izuku has Miles's powers!
Now I know I made a big thing about Peter's feats, but it's not like there's anything Peter can do that Miles straight up can't. So in theory all of Peter's feats could potentially be done by Miles.
And yes they were part of different universes so, in theory, their levels of power could be different. But I don't think they have ever explicitly said that any of Miles's abilities are weaker than Peter's. In fact, I think they said some of them were stronger. But I'm not 100% sure about that.
Either way, Izuku is going to need those extra powers. Like I said I'm giving Izuku the power he SHOULD have, and that puts him at about the same level as Endeavor and the other top ten heroes(not right now obviously but in the future) but it does not put him on the same level as All Might, All for One, and the Ninth User. If Izuku wants to punch above his weight class, he'll need those extra powers.
Anyway, that's another villain down. Scorpion was a bit of a tougher one than the last few. So we only have two more to go until this arc reaches the climax.
Because yeah I'm doing the Sinister Six. Remember when I said I had another way to make the weaker villains more threatening? This was it. Also, don't worry. This is just the first iteration of the Sinister Six in this story. Much like in the comics, the Sinister Six will come back with different members.
Also, I know these villains are kinda...personality-less and lack depth. But they're just starter villains to provide Izuku with a challenge. This arc is about establishing Izuku, both who he is as a vigilante to the heroes, to the public, and to the reader. It's basically like level one in a video game, and these guys are the mini-bosses.
Anyway, that's all for now true believers. Have a nice day, and please review.