Spiderman 3

by Larbo

Written before Raimi's actual Spiderman 3 was released, bears remarkable similarities to the movie, except there's no Sandman and the Venom/New Goblin plot is the primary focus.

2. Act 2

Act 2, Scene 1

Mary-Jane is shutting the door of her trailer and sighing in relief. There's a knock on the roof of her trailer.

MARY-JANE: Hello?

SPIDERMAN (OOV): Room service?

She opens the skylight and in he scrambles, practically pouring his body through the tiny hole. Spiderman removes the mask and he's Peter again. They kiss.

MARY-JANE: What are you doing here?

PETER: Wanted to wish you luck – while I had five minutes. I'm sorry I wasn't here for your first day.

MARY-JANE: You're here now, aren't you?

PETER: Yeah, I know…

MARY-JANE: You didn't just come here for that, did you. Something's wrong.

PETER: Wrong?

MARY-JANE: Spider-sense isn't just restricted to superheroes, tiger. Tell me.

PETER: It's the Goblin, MJ. He's back.

We see a quick flash of Mary-Jane falling from the end of the first movie. We come back to reality and see the haunted look in her eyes. Clearly she still has some recovering to do from that ordeal.

MARY-JANE: But you killed him.

SPIDERMAN: I told you I wanted to. He died, but I didn't kill him. That's not who I am. This Goblin is...someone else, wearing his mask and using his powers.

MARY-JANE: Someone else? Who?

Just as Peter's about to say something in response, there's a shout from outside.

SHOUTER: It's on the big screen! It's everywhere!

The world goes into spider-time. Peter snatches his mask up, kisses Mary-Jane on the cheek and leaps out the skylight all in an instant. Normal time resumes with Mary-Jane.

MARY-JANE: Wonder what that's a-

She glances beside her and sees that Peter is gone. A frown creases her forehead and she touches her cheek where he kissed her in that briefest of moments. A sad smile appears on her lips.

MARY-JANE: Go get 'em.

Act 2, Scene 2

A huge videoscreen erected in Times Square is being watched by thousands in the streets below. We see Spiderman's feet landing on a nearby ledge as he joins them. Across the bottom of the screen is the banner 'Shuttle Crisis'.

NEWSWOMAN: …live pictures now coming from NASA. No-one yet knows how the terrible accident occurred, but confirmed once again; at least one of the shuttle astronauts has been killed and the shuttle itself badly damaged. The pilot is now attempting an emergency burn back to Earth.

SPIDERMAN: Jameson…

Act 2, Scene 3

Space, the shuttle. John Jameson is wrestling with controls, hitting switches and punching in commands like a man possessed.

NASA: Praetor, your shield is at 92 of tolerance! Throttle down, repeat, throttle down!

JOHN JAMESON: Houston, we have exactly ninety minutes of oxygen left on this crate and over one hundred thousand miles to travel. I'm coming in full throttle.

NASA's response is cut off by increasing static. He leaves the command chair to float into the back of the ship. The lights back here are flickering on and off wildly, creating a strange sort of rapid photography stop-motion.

Suddenly, a leering face looms out of the darkness! It's Stevens, dead. John curses and tows the corpse over to the nearest bulkhead, where he uses one of the affixing straps to anchor it in place. The man is still wearing his spacesuit so it's not easy. Those dead staring eyes glare accusingly at him the entire time.

JOHN: What the hell happened to you down there…

A hand clutches his wrist! John cries out in fear, but the hand belongs to Chang. Her eyes are wide and staring like her colleague's, but she's alive – just.

JOHN: My God…

CHANG: Brought him back…

John steers her over to one of their extending beds. She too is wearing her spacesuit except for her head, which is uncovered. He manages to strap her down.

JOHN: Try not to move.

CHANG: (screaming the words through pain)Brought him back!

JOHN: (soothingly)Yes. Yes, you did.

COMPUTER: Shield stresses at 97.

JOHN: What happened to you down there?

NASA: Praetor, respond! Status!

JOHN: Stevens is dead, Houston. Some sort of massive shock to his system. Chang carried him to the shuttle. She's injured but I can't treat her through the suit…and I'm not sure the suit isn't the only thing holding her together.

NASA: Preator, repeat…you're breaki…

The signal dies through extreme interference. Chang screams. John examines her suit with his fingertips until he comes to her abdomen. There is a rip there, a tear, big enough for him to prod with a finger.

JOHN: What the…

When he takes his finger away, there's a black viscous substance around the tip. He reaches for a specimen jar, rips it from its Velcro holdings and manages to extricate it from his finger into the jar.

Chang begins to shake violently. Blood comes from her mouth in streams. She chokes and splutters.

CHANG: BROUGHT HIM BACK!

John opens up a sealed container and grabs a syringe. He propels himself to her convulsing body and applies the syringe to her neck.

JOHN: Sssh…don't speak. Just sleep.

She stops convulsing and looks at him with a trace of lucidity for the first time.

CHANG: John…kill me.

JOHN: (shocked) What?

CHANG: It brought him back. Don't let it…bring me back. Please…

JOHN: It?

Her eyes close and she lapses into unconsciousness. John pushes himself away from her bed, fear etched across his face.

JOHN: It?

There is a smash of breaking glass. We cut to see that the specimen jar John placed the drop of black matter into has been broken…and not only that, but that the glass is floating on the outside, suggesting that something broke through from the inside out.

JOHN: Oh Jesus…

We cut to Stevens' dead body. A black substance is spreading up from his neck to his chin. Black tendrils enter his head through his mouth, nose and ears…and moments later his eyes snap open. He lets loose a horrific scream of rage and what sounds disturbingly like hunger and makes to reach for John, but is prevented from doing so by the restraining belt.

JOHN: Mother of God!

John scrambles for the corridor connecting the cockpit to the main living quarters as the Stevens corpse struggles to free itself from its bonds. Jameson throws himself forward with every ounce of strength in his body, propelling himself with his arms and legs, swimming through the weightlessness.

He reaches the corridor and slams the door control, just as the Stevens corpse rips the belt free and makes a lunge for him. The door closes and Stevens' face is pressed up against the viewing window, screaming soundless rage through the foot-thick separating door. Stevens' fists pound on it, but to no avail.

COMPUTER: Shield stresses at 98. Approaching critical.

NASA: Praetor, respond…

John flicks a switch.

JOHN: Houston, we have an uncontained quarantine situation up here, code red. I'm taking immediate action to prevent planetside exposure.

NASA: Colonel, that is a negative! Prepare for remote control.

JOHN: Sorry, Houston, but I'm not landing this bird.

He floats to the cockpit and presses a series of buttons before reaching for the throttle control toggle. With one final longing look at the Earth in the (rapidly approaching) distance, he throws the switch to maximum.

COMPUTER: Warning. Shield stresses at 105. Breach is imminent.

Behind John, the connecting door shudders under its assault from whatever is reanimating the Stevens corpse.

JOHN: (sad smile)You don't say…

Act 2, Scene 4

Back on MJ's TV set, she and the cast and crew are assembled around a television watching the drama in space unfold. MJ looks horrified.

NEWSWOMAN: …the shuttle app1ears to be venting vapors from its aft section. Although the exact design of the new shuttle has been kept secret, our experts believe that the oxygen supplies must be approaching critical levels…

MARY-JANE: Oh God. John, no…

A comforting hand drops on her shoulder. Reflexively she reaches up and squeezes it, before noting by touch that the hand belongs to-

MARY-JANE: Harry?

HARRY: Hey MJ. I was coming down to say hi when all this started.

We get a good look at Harry Osborn, and he's a different figure from the pathetic slumped shadow of a man left sobbing in the alleyway. This Harry stands tall, seems composed and collected, and generally more sure of himself than the old Harry. The other main difference is the eyes; still as big as before, but with a new steel to their stare, and very occasionally, if one looks hard enough, a hint that all is not well in the mind that lurks behind them.

MARY-JANE: Isn't it awful? My God…

HARRY: John will make it home, MJ. He's the best pilot we have. That's why he's up there.

MARY-JANE: Yeah…

HARRY: Guilt?

MARY-JANE: (angrily) Of course guilt. You don't jilt someone at the altar and ever not feel guilt every day for the rest of your life, Harry.

HARRY: Why'd you do it?

MARY-JANE: What?

HARRY: It's a fair question isn't it?

MARY-JANE: You're asking this now?

HARRY: You wouldn't answer it before when I asked, so why not now? Might help you feel better.

Mary-Jane is speechless.

MARY-JANE: You think I'm worried about me right now?

HARRY: I'm sorry, MJ. You're right. Must be…I don't know, I'm just so worried about John too (an obvious lie) it's hard to know what to say…

MARY-JANE: (not entirely sincerely) Well, it's okay Harry.

HARRY: Your reasons are your own.

MARY-JANE: Thank you.

Beat.

HARRY: Where's Pete?

Mary-Jane flinches and we see Harry's mouth curl in disgust, unseen by her. He composes his expression by the time she returns her attention to him.

MARY-JANE: He just…I don't know…I haven't seen him in a couple of days. Why do you want to know anyway? I thought you two were still sore at each other.

HARRY: A little.

MARY-JANE: I wish you'd fix it.

HARRY: I do too, MJ. Who knows...maybe you can help us...

His fingers curl slightly around the skin of her shoulder. We see that Norman Osborn glint in his eye as he smiles.

Act 2, Scene 5

Houston's control room. Pandemonium reigns.

CONTROLLER: Shield stresses at 110! Breach in about one minute if we don't shut it down!

CONTROLLER 2: We can't! He disabled our link!

CONTROLLER 3: (on the telephone)Uh…sir?

CONTROLLER: President?

CONTROLLER 3: Not exactly sir…but I think you'd better talk to him…

CONTROLLER: Gimme that. Hello, who is this?

Act 2, Scene 6

J. Jonah Jameson's half-ruined office. Tarpaulin sheets have been hastily affixed over the gaping hole in the wall. The wind whips at them, but Jameson pays it no heed. He sits in front of a computer panel, telephone in hand.

JAMESON: J. Jonah Jameson here!

CONTROLLER (V/O): John's father? The newspaper guy?

JAMESON: The newspaper guy with a backup control system for your fancy bird up there, yes! Now shut up and listen! My son is overriding your commands but he can't override mine, so take your systems offline and let me and my team guide the shuttle back home!

CONTROLLER: You have…our systems…your team...what the hell are you talking about!

JAMESON: Son, I don't have time for semaphore! Your computer systems were built by an organization run by a friend of mine. I have his personal workstation here, complete with hardwired backdoor that the Praetor can't override. If you don't want to watch your shuttle explode in about twenty seconds then TAKE THE GOD-DAMNED SYSTEMS OFFLINE!

The controller slams the phone down. A military type appears at his shoulder.

CONTROLLER: General?

GENERAL: Was that Jonah?

CONTROLLER: Sir…yes, sir.

GENERAL: Do as he says. Now.

One of Jonah's hastily-assembled 'team' (of three people) exclaims in triumph at his station.

TEAM GUY: Sir, NASA's systems are offline.

JAMESON: Assume control!

TEAM GUY: Done, sir. We have control.

JAMESON: Bring that throttle down! And start calculating a re-entry trajectory, anything you can get! And let me speak to him, now!

TEAM GUY: Yes, sir.

Act 2, Scene 7

Space. John Jameson is holding MJ's picture over the stars. He moves it slightly and we see that it was obscuring the blue marble of Earth, coming up fast. Another huge thump comes from behind him, as Stevens' corpse tries once again to break down the door.

COMPUTER: Shield stresses at 96. Breach averted.

JOHN: (horrified)What…?

He throws switches but to no avail. And then from above a familiar voice echoes through the speakers.

JAMESON (V/O): Son?

JOHN: Dad?

JAMESON: You're alive. I knew you were alive.

JOHN: Dad…Dad, are you doing this?

JAMESON: Me? I'm just a newspaper guy. How could I be doing this?

JOHN: Dad, please, you have to stop. I can't bring this shuttle back to Earth.

JAMESON: Wrong, son. See I've grown kinda fond of you over your whole life. So you're coming home.

JOHN: Dad, dammit listen to me! There's something up here with me, do you understand! Something killed Stevens on that asteroid, but it wasn't done with his body, and now it's loose on this shuttle! Who knows what it could do on Earth?

There's a long silence. John looks hopeful, as if he might have gotten through to his old man at long last.

JAMESON: You mean my son is going to bring back…an alien life-form? My son is going to be responsible for the single biggest story in human history?

JOHN: (slumping in his seat)Oh God.

JAMESON: Strap in tight, John. Might be a bumpy landing but you'll get there, I promise. Trust your old man!

The transmission light goes out.

JOHN: He's writing the headlines already.

Act 2, Scene 8

Jameson's control centre. He sits perched on his desk, hovering over his team, practically frothing at the mouth with nervous excitement.

JAMESON: 'Heroic Astronaut Makes Historic First Contact With Being From Another World'. (presses intercom) Robbie, get in here! We got a special edition to print, and a sixty-page pullout on my son to publish!

ROBBIE (V/O): Coming, Jonah.

TEAM GUY: Um, didn't your son say the alien had murdered one of his crew?

JAMESON: Alright – 'Heroic First Contact With Monster From Another World'. Either way it's gold!

TEAM GUY2: We might have a problem…

JAMESON: Problem?

Robbie enters.

TEAM GUY2: The landing gear control systems are gone, sir. Fried, most likely. That makes a standard glide landing almost impossible.

JAMESON: Are you telling me they stuck a 50 billion dollar new propulsion system on that damn thing and forgot to add parachutes?

TEAM GUY2: No...but the damage the shuttle sustained taking off will most likely render at least one of the atmospheric parachutes inoperative. Maybe two.

JAMESON: So? We're not gonna to aim for the pavement, idiot! We'll go for the ocean!

TEAM GUY1: Well, yes…but even so, if the shuttle doesn't slow its velocity enough even a splashdown impact will be extremely dangerous. If two parachutes are gone it's extremely unlikely your son would survive.

JAMESON: What do we do?

TEAM GUY3: We can slow it down with the thrusters, but we don't know how effective that would be. The parachutes are vital. If they're gone…you'd need some other way of slowing down the shuttle.

JAMESON: Slowing down a space shuttle! And how in hell are we supposed to do that!

ROBBIE: Uh…

The entire office gives them their undivided attention. He licks his lips nervously.

ROBBIE: There might be someone…

Act 2, Scene 9

Spiderman is webbing to get a better view of the screen when a mobile rings. Surprised, he loses his perfectly-timed momentum and crashes flat into a wall.

SPIDERMAN: (face still pressed to wall) Ow.

He scrambles to a ledge and twists his body to try to see where the mobile is.

SPIDERMAN: Aw, would ya look at that-

There's a perfectly rectangular bump on his arse. Clearly he left his mobile in his inner pocket this morning. With some suit-wriggling he manages to get it free.

SPIDERMAN: Hello?

JAMESON (V/O): Parker!

SPIDERMAN: Jonah?

JAMESON (V/O): Shut up, Parker! Can you still get ahold of that worthless web-spinning menace, or has he finally scuttled back into the hole he came from?

SPIDERMAN: Spiderman? He's…around.

JAMESON (V/O): Good! Tell him…tell him…(clearly Jonah's having some trouble saying these words)…tell him I need his help.

Instinctively Spiderman reaches out with his free left hand to stop himself from falling off the ledge in shock.

SPIDERMAN: What did you say?

JAMESON: Shut up! My son's shuttle will be splashing down a few miles into Manhattan Harbor in less than twenty minutes. He doesn't have enough parachutes left to slow his descent and after what the webhead did for that train last year...well...seems he's the only one who might be able to somehow slow the shuttle enough. I'll have a helicopter on the roof of the Bugle building in five minutes ready to take him to the area. Get him Parker, I don't care how but get him.

SPIDERMAN: He'll be there.

Act 2, Scene 10

It's started to rain in New York. The rain lashes the roof of the Bugle building as the helicopter touches down. A raincoated figure rushes over to the pilot. It's Jonah.

JAMESON: Keep her hot! Passenger should be here soon!

Right on cue, Spiderman drops to his feet nimbly beside him.

SPIDERMAN: JJ, you're coming?

JAMESON: (clambering aboard)Damn right I'm coming, webhead! You think I'd sit on my hands while my son drops from the sky with that…with…the weight of the world on him?

SPIDERMAN: Alright…

JAMESON: (gesturing to the empty seat beside him)Well, you coming or not?

SPIDERMAN: You're a real charmer, Jameson.

He gets on board and they take off at top speed for the harbor.

SPIDERMAN: Talk to me. What can I expect?

JAMESON: It'll be dropping at something close to three hundred miles an hour. Helicopter will take us as high as it can and you…do whatever you can. We're clearing the area of ships, but we should be far enough out to sea for that not to be a problem.

SPIDERMAN: New York isn't exactly a landing pad for space shuttles, Jonah…

JAMESON: I had it redirected here. I knew you were the only thing that could slow it down enough at this short notice for my son to have a chance.

SPIDERMAN: Thing?

JAMESON: Person. Whatever.

SPIDERMAN: Jeez, Jonah…what did I ever do to annoy you so much? Except sell a ton of your newspapers? It must have killed you to call for my help.

JAMESON: I'll do anything for John.

SPIDERMAN: An honest-to-God virtue in you. Do I sound surprised? Because I am.

JAMESON: To be honest I…was surprised when you showed up. I thought because of who I was…you might not take the job.

SPIDERMAN: It's not a job, Jonah. I'd do this even if it was your ass on that shuttle and not your son's. That's what being a hero is; it's not a job, it's a life.

JAMESON: What do I look like, a demographic? Save your sermons for the kiddies. I've seen too much in this life, lost too much. But I…I can't lose John. He's everything I never was.

SPIDERMAN: He's the hero.

JAMESON: Yeah. And even if that's not enough for the Mary-Jane Watsons of this world, when he comes back…I'll make him the most famous man on the planet.

PILOT: We're coming up on the co-ordinates.

Spiderman slides open the helicopter door and leans out. Far below, the rain-lashed sea churns. He leans back in to Jameson.

SPIDERMAN: You ever think to ask John if he wants to be famous, JJ?

Jameson looks surprised at the question. Not waiting for an answer, Spiderman scrambles out for a better look at his surroundings. He ducks back into the helicopter.

SPIDERMAN: We might have a problem.

JAMESON: What!

SPIDERMAN: What exactly am I gonna web to slow this thing down? The ocean?

PILOT: I've got something on radar…

JAMESON: Are you telling me you can't save my son?

SPIDERMAN: Shut up, Jonah! (to pilot)Take me as high as you can. I need to get on that shuttle.

The pilot complies and the helicopter ascends into the rainstorm. The series of blips on the monitor come faster and faster until-

JAMESON: There!

SPIDERMAN: I see it. (to pilot) Can you get me within five hundred feet?

The shuttle, lights blinking, is descending rapidly, having achieved re-entry to achieve precisely this trajectory. Spiderman opens the helicopter doors again (the blast of freezing air takes Jonah's breath away) and clambers outside.

JAMESON: (shouting over the terrific noise of the wind)Spiderman!

SPIDERMAN: What now?

JAMESON: Thank you!

SPIDERMAN: Thank me in the headlines, Jonah!

Spiderman closes the outer door…and gathers himself. The shuttle is shooting past at a speed the helicopter can't hope to match. He's only going to get one shot at this, and he knows it.

We cut to Jameson, watching the proceedings with paternal worry written all over his face.

Spider-time kicks in, and Spiderman leaps, measuring his jump to the microsecond, kicking high and free of the helicopter, rising more than fifty extra feet into the air. His right arm extends and a webline snakes from it – we follow the webline as it shoots toward empty air…

…empty air occupied by a space shuttle. Weblines don't go at three hundred miles an hour, after all, so a little adjustment was required. Spiderman is yanked at the end of the enormous line through the skies. He begins to climb the line hand-over-hand at superhuman speed, resisting the tremendous buffeting of the wind and rain. The New York skyline is approaching on the horizon.

Act 2, Scene 11

Mary-Jane's set. Everyone is still watching the TV feeds. We focus on Mary-Jane and Harry beside her.

NEWSWOMAN: …and, yes! We can now bring you live feed of the shuttle coming in over…New York?

The feed switches to an image of the shuttle coming in, and beneath it…

NEWSWOMAN: …reports…of Spiderman trying to get onboard the shuttle?

MARY-JANE: (whispers in horror) Pete…

She catches herself saying his name, guilty at her slip, and glances around to make sure no-one's paying attention. It's only now that she notices…

MARY-JANE: Harry? Harry…?

But Harry's gone…

Act 2, Scene 12

Spiderman lays his first hand on the shuttle and manages to climb onto it. Using every ounce of his superhuman strength to avoid being ripped off, he crawls to the rear end of the craft.

SPIDERMAN: Parachutes…

He begins webbing with both hands, creating an enormous amount of webbing in just a few seconds. When finished, he affixes the web-shape to the shuttle's exterior and, gathering it up in his arms, lets it go. The wind immediately whips it off, throwing it far behind the craft and causing the shape to fill with air. It flowers open…into a parachute made from webbing specially thickened so that its usual porous makeup has been solidified.

The shuttle jerks backward slightly, but it's not enough. Spiderman creates another parachute, and a third, before his spider-sense kicks in to warn him of danger. He looks around to check the source, and finds it's New York itself – they've run out of time. The shuttle is heading right for the city, and while it might have slowed significantly, the problem now arises of how and where to land it safely.

Inside the cockpit, John Jameson is screaming into the communications port.

JOHN: Give me control back, now!

TEAM GUY 1 (V/O): You have control.

He immediately sets to work, grabbing the steering column and yanking it hard to the left, steering the shuttle high into a New York avenue and avoiding collisions. We see terrified New Yorkers get out of their cars as the shuttle shoots past overhead.

Inside the cockpit, the airspeed monitor continues to tumble toward 100mph. Spiderman braces himself on the back of the shuttle and webs the buildings they go between just as he did with the train, decreasing their airspeed yet further. The shuttle is only thirty feet or so now above the New York streets. Ahead of its landing path, people are sprinting from their cars, passengers from their buses etc.

A woman leaves a department store and takes in the situation. She screams.

WOMAN: My son! My son!

We cut ahead to a boy of about seven sitting in the back of a large people carrier. He's watching the shuttle come toward him with slack-jawed paralysis.

Spiderman leaps from the back of the shuttle and webs toward the car. He lands on the hood, the crashing shuttle filling the space behind him with each passing moment, sending empty cars and buses flying.

Grabbing the roof of the vehicle Spiderman heaves once and the whole roof comes off in his hands. He tosses it aside and gathers the boy in his arms before webbing off. An instant later the people carrier is utterly crushed by the shuttle. Spiderman deposits the boy to safety and springs off again. Three people about to be crushed are webbed and yanked to safety.

The shuttle grinds to a halt. It has wrought a trail of vehicular destruction almost one hundred feet long but, thanks to Spiderman and John Jamesons' piloting skills, no fatalities.

Spiderman clambers onto the shuttle, just as the side escape door pops open and the inflatable escape chute inflates. A silhouette appears in the doorway. Some people in the rapidly growing crowd cheer, but these cheers turn to screams of horror when the figure falls forward. Spiderman catches it and brings it gently to the ground. It's Stevens, eyes wide and staring. He looks dead – again.

Another figure appears in the doorway, and this time it IS John Jameson. He slides down the escape chute.

JOHN: Don't touch him! Don't touch him! Don't anyone touch him!

Spiderman lets Stevens loll limply to the ground.

SPIDERMAN: Are you OK?

JOHN: I'm – look out!

An explosion goes off close behind Spiderman, sending him flying. Maniacal laughter cuts through the New York night. The Goblin comes soaring from above on his glider.

GOBLIN: Time to bring you down to Earth!

SPIDERMAN (THOUGHTS): Not now, Harry…

Spiderman leaps for the glider and tags it with one hand. The Goblin looks down.

GOBLIN: No passengers!

He kicks out at Spiderman.

SPIDERMAN: Harry, stop this! You don't have to do this!

GOBLIN: (falteringly)Peter…? Peter…?

The Goblin staggers, and the glider goes off course and crashes through an office window, throwing both men off. The Goblin gets to his feet at the same time as Spiderman.

GOBLIN: Help me, Peter. I can't control it…you were right.

Spiderman approaches him.

SPIDERMAN: Fight it, Harry.

We see the Goblin's hand behind his back, activating another pumpkin device.

GOBLIN: I…help me, Pete…I don't want to hurt you…

He brings his hand out from behind his back and throws the device.

GOBLIN: …but it's so much fun!

It goes off, sending lethal razorblades through the air…and nothing else. Spiderman is gone. The Goblin reacts, and from behind him comes a kick that sends him sprawling.

SPIDERMAN: Y'know Gobby, you might not want to bluff someone with a sixth sense. Just a tip, genius.

He launches himself at the Goblin, but his attack is anticipated and he finds himself held in a choke-hold, the Goblin's arms around his neck.

GOBLIN: I was…always…better than you, Pete.

SPIDERMAN: (struggling to breathe)Tell that...to Mary-Jane.

The Goblin screams with rage, but loses his concentration enough for Spiderman to wriggle free. He webs the Goblin's chest and yanks, sending his assailant rocketing out of the building. We follow the Goblin as he falls, his body rearranging itself until he's feet-first, his hand activating the recall signal on the glider. Seconds later it maneouvres itself into position beneath his feet and he's airborne again.

His head snaps around. Spiderman is just landing on a nearby building. The Goblin produces another bomb. We see that they're directly above the shuttle crash site. A thousand people or more have gathered below. We focus on the bomb as it's held high above their heads.

GOBLIN: I drop this...how many will die? Fifty? A hundred? More?

SPIDERMAN: Just one. And I'm looking at him.

GOBLIN: (laughing)Now who's bluffing?

SPIDERMAN: You are.

GOBLIN: You'd better be sure.

He drops the bomb. Spiderman reacts, but then pulls back, remembering the earlier trick. We see his spider-sense freeze the bomb in mid-fall and analyse it, until we penetrate its casing and see that it's dull and lifeless inside. A dud.

GOBLIN: Come and get me, Spiderman!

He rockets off. Spiderman tenses his body and web-springs after him. He manages to intercept the Goblin's path and knocks him to the ground, sending him tumbling...

...as the bomb hits the ground...

...standing over the prostrate body of the Goblin, Spiderman brings his fist back...

...and the world freezes. His spider-sense goes back to the bomb as, with a sound like an engine kicking into life, its internal systems activate.

GOBLIN: Timer switch, bug. Wrong guess.

SPIDERMAN: NO!

He abandons the Goblin and makes the biggest leap of his life, but it's too far out of reach, and he'll never reach that glowing orb as the light within it begins to pulsate more and more furiously, building to detonation-

-and a hand curls around it. That hand belongs to Colonel John Jameson, in a flat-out sprint.

JOHN: DOWN!

People scatter left and right as he hurls the bomb high into the New York night. At the height of its parabolic arc it explodes, its shockwave knocking to the ground the running citizens for a hundred metre radius. John Jameson, closest to the epicentre, is worst hit; he is picked up and thrown backward, slamming into the side of the downed shuttle. Our world blurs as we see it through John Jameson's eyes; the fuzzy outline of the shuttle...and on its rear starboard side, a hole, a tear in the shuttle itself.

A blue and red face appears above us.

SPIDERMAN: Colonel! Colonel, are you alright?

A new voice makes itself heard.

JAMESON: All right! My son saved these people, no thanks to you! You allowed that lunatic to drop a bomb on these people!

Jameson has just emerged from the lead vehicle in a convoy of emergency services, arriving wholescale on the scene. Police cars and ambulances screech up. Two paramedics attend to John Jameson, while his father storms up to Spiderman, furious beyond words.

JAMESON: You'll pay for this, wall-crawler! But for my son there would have been a massacre here tonight!

SPIDERMAN: What?

In a flash he has Jameson by the scruff of his suit, picking him up bodily off the ground. Their faces are mere inches apart.

SPIDERMAN: But for me your son would be a smear in the harbour, or have you forgotten that already, JJ, you-

Police officers fan out.

POLICE OFFICER 1: Put him down slowly, and place your hands above your head!

Jameson smirks in Spiderman's face. Spiderman looks ready to throttle him, but any action either would have taken is interrupted when John Jameson fights to sit upright on his stretcher.

JOHN: Seal the shuttle! Jesus Christ, seal it! It's in there! Don't you understand, it's in there!

One of the paramedics manages to administer a sedative to him. He slumps unconscious.

SPIDERMAN: What's in there, JJ?

JAMESON: Just one more dead astronaut.

POLICE OFFICER 1: Put him down, or we will open fire!

SPIDERMAN: (to the cop)You know you people are really beginning to annoy me.

JAMESON: (desperately)No, don't go in there!

Too late - a team of paramedics has entered the shuttle through the hole ripped in its side. One of them pokes their head back outside.

PARAMEDIC: We got a live one! Needs a hospital now!

Everyone - police officers, bystanders, paramedics - looks automatically to Spiderman.

SPIDERMAN: I'll take her.

He sets JJ down. Jonah immediately leaps clear and bounces up and down in rage.

JAMESON: Well? What are you waiting for! Arrest him!

Spiderman webs to the paramedics and is handed the body of Chang, which he cradles in his arms. He casts a final look at the assembled police officers.

JAMESON: Shoot him!

The police officer who had been screaming warnings fires a shot straight up in the air, deliberately nowhere near Spiderman.

POLICE OFFICER 1: Missed.

With a leap Spiderman is gone. We stay with Jonah and the assembled crowd for a moment. Amazingly, he turns to address the public.

JAMESON: Ladies and gentlemen, you can be sure of reading the full story in tomorrow's Bugle.

The crowd boo. Someone in the crowd throws something at him.

Act 2, Scene 13

Spiderman is swinging through New York, the unconscious body of Chang slung over him. As he swings past a huge all-glass skyscraper, far above we see the reflection of the Goblin on his glider, following him. Seconds later the first explosion rocks the night, following Spiderman's swing path. He is buffeted off course and has to hastily re-web back, hampered by the extra weight of Chang around his left arm, restricting him to only right-handed webs.

The Goblin is in fits of laughter as he produces bomb after bomb, tossing them with casual abandon at his nemesis. Spiderman is forced to use every trick he knows to avoid being blown to smithereens; evasive maneouvres that he might be confident of performing at peak are now made immeasurably tougher by his passenger restricting his movement. A stray bomb heads for a crowded intersection and Spiderman is forced to web it and fling it to safely, something he barely accomplishes.

GOBLIN: Who's bluffing now, bug!

Out of control, Spiderman is forced to swing high and fast and crash-land on a rooftop, sliding along on his back cradling Chang's body to protect her from the impact. The Goblin rises to meet him, a picture of carefree insanity.

SPIDERMAN: Harry...let me get her to a hospital. She's an innocent in all this. You and me can finish up after.

GOBLIN (hopping off his glider to land on the rooftop): Innocent? Innocent? You know what, Parker? There's no such thing as an innocent.

The extent of his madness is becoming distressingly clear.

SPIDERMAN: No-one? What about MJ and Aunt May, Harry?

Chang begins to thrash in his arms. Her eyes roll whites.

GOBLIN: I make no promises.

SPIDERMAN: Listen to yourself. You're Harry Osborn! My best friend my whole life! You don't kill people!

Chang goes limp in his arms, the life fleeing from her body at long last.

GOBLIN: I am Harry Osborn.

And we see Norman Osborn standing beside Spiderman, beaming proudly, arms outstretched.

NORMAN: You are my son.

GOBLIN: Daddy...

And beaming smiling benign Norman washes away, to be replaced by the psychotic Goblin persona in all its hideous glory. As he says the following words we actually see the flecks of spittle fly from his foaming lips-

NORMAN: KILL HIM!

And it's now that Chang's eyes snap open, her pupils pools of black. Her mouth spreads unnaturally wide and with a snarl she bites into Spiderman's shoulder. He cries out in pain and surprise. We see a blackness spreading from her into him through her mouth, a suffusion which darkens his suit momentarily.

Ironically, it is the Goblin who tears Chang off, ripping her mercilessly from Spiderman and tossing her body aside, where it slides to a boneless halt. Spiderman manages to stand unsteadily for a second longer before he sinks to his knees. As we did with Jameson, we see the world through his eyes, a crazily spinning vortex with only the green leering mask of the Goblin a central constant.

GOBLIN: Well now...

He lands a massive punch to Spiderman's solar plexus, driving Spiderman clean off the roof and nosediving into the streets below.

GOBLIN: ...wasn't that interesting.

Spiderman manages to web and arrest his fall to some degree, but not fully, and the impact hurts him further. He tries to rise to one knee and hollers in agony, clutching at his ribs. We see his skin ripple and bulge as Chang's bite takes effect on him. His spider-suit, torn in many places now, shows flesh which pulses with an inner blackness. Spiderman howls in agony.

A pair of green boots hit the ground before him. The Goblin is enjoying himself.

GOBLIN: Misery-

A huge punch.

GOBLIN-misery-

A huge kick.

GOBLIN-misery!

And a second uppercut, which sends Peter fully forty feet up into the air before he crashes back down again.

GOBLIN: You took away everything I ever had.

He picks up Spiderman and holds him in place as he rains blows down upon him.

GOBLIN: You took my father's approval without even trying. Was it because you didn't have a father, Pete? You had to have mine? And then...when he wasn't good enough for you...you killed him. Before I had a chance to showhim what I could do.

Spiderman feebly tries to deflect one of the Goblin's blows. Effortlessly the Goblin catches his fist in his own. He squeezes and we hear the popping and cracking of bone. A low moan of pain is all Spiderman can manage. It's a clear echo of the moment during the social event earlier when Peter had caught Harry's fist. Now the tables have turned.

GOBLIN: You won't survive this, Pete. Get over it.

Calling his glider to him, the Goblin rises into the air with Spiderman his captive. New York's neon tapestry spreads out below them.

GOBLIN: So long, Spiderman!

He holds Spiderman high above his head and hurls him downward. They're over six hundred feet above ground level - in his weakened state, a lethal fall for Spiderman. We follow his falling body as he tries to web with his broken hand and finds he can't move his fingers for the pain. With his other hand he webs successfully, but his aim is shot and the webline goes between two buildings and snags on nothing. With only a second to spare, a second webline manages to snag a nearby building and change the trajectory of Spiderman's plummet. The Goblin watches as Spiderman avoids the ground below, swinging far enough to splashdown in the Hudson river.

GOBLIN: Hmm.

He produces a new type of bomb, activates it with a twist and drops it into the river. We follow it as it submerges, activates, shoots out many small capsules...each of which then explodes powerfully. We go back to the Goblin as he watches the river bubble and surge from above.

GOBLIN: Never hurts to be sure...

He laughs his trademark laugh and flies off. Below, the waters of the Hudson calm down, an unbroken mirror from which nothing emerges...

Act 2, Scene 14

We see a television screen showing us the Goblin flying off. The camera pans down to the Hudson. We pull back and see the screen belongs to Aunt May, watching with her hand over her mouth in horror.

REPORTER (V/O): Nothing's emerging...ladies and gentlemen, I think he's gone. Spiderman is gone. Spiderman is dead.

AUNT MAY: (beginning to sob)Peter...Peter, no...

Act 2, Scene 15

The giant screen is showing the same picture of the Hudson river. MJ stands silent watching for a moment, then breaks into a run, not stopping when the sidewalk ends.

MARY-JANE: TAXI!

A cab stops, having no other choice since she's standing directly in its path. She runs to the passenger side.

DRIVER: Lady, are you crazy!

MARY-JANE: (pointing to the image on the screen) Take me there. Now.

Act 2, Scene 16

The riverbank, about half a mile downriver. A figure washes up, crawling on its hands and knees. It's Spiderman. The remains of a spider-suit cling to him at various points. His mask is in tatters. Finally he loses all strength and collapses face-first. We see the skin on his back is mottling, fading into black before going back to normal and then back to black. It looks as if snakes are crawling beneath his skin. His head raises and we see the same is happening there - only his eyes are unaffected, but they scream of someone at the very end of their endurance for pain.

We hear a car screeching to a halt. Footsteps approach.

SPIDERMAN: MJ...

But it's not Mary-Jane. It's two men. They bend down and pick up Spiderman very gently, almost reverentially, before taking him to the back of a van.

CARRIER: We got him. Go.

The female driver nods in front and the van moves off. As we follow it, it passes a taxi going in the opposite direction. We linger long enough to see the passenger is a heartbroken Mary-Jane, little suspecting that the man she seeks has just been driven past her.

In the back, Spiderman tries to sit up.

SPIDERMAN: (weakly)Who are you...

The world swims. We cut to Mary Jane, running in slow-mo from the taxi to the water's edge before collapsing to her knees, sobbing helplessly.

SPIDERMAN: Mary-Jane…

He passes out again, and we see the world go black above him.

Act 2, Scene 17

Flashing images pass by so quickly we can barely register them: the spider biting Peter Parker that fateful day in the laboratory - Peter discovering he can wall-crawl for the first time - Uncle Ben's death - Norman Osborn's unmasking as the Goblin - a tearful Harry at his father's funeral - MJ and John Jameson announcing their engagement - Doc Ock causing havoc - Pete dumping the Spiderman outfit - MJ's kidnapping - Harry unmasking Pete - Pete and MJ on the giant Spiderweb.

Peter's eyes snap open. He's suspended in absolute blackness.

PETER: Hello?

There's a low growl from somewhere in the darkness; an animalistic noise. Peter struggles to turn but finds that when suspended in a vacuum it is practically impossible to move.

PETER: Harry...

And in front of him comes the faintest hint of light glinting off eyes, and below those eyes a row of razor-sharp teeth...the thing speaks, and when it does it has a voice plucked straight from our nightmares, a rumbling throaty growl full of menace.

THING: Ha...rry...

Act 2, Scene 18

Peter wakes - again. This time however he's in a normal - if excessively large - bed. The room at large is very grand and ornate, clearly belonging to a house of some size. To one side of the bed stands a large piece of medical equipment. There are three other people in the room; the two men who brought him to the van and the female driver. The woman moves to his side as he tries to sit up.

WOMAN: Try not to move. You're healing fast but you're not done yet.

PETER: Who-

WOMAN: Sssh.

She presses a button above the bed. It's an intercom system of some sort.

WOMAN: He's awake, sir.

MAN'S VOICE: Excellent. I'll be down straightaway.

WOMAN: Drink this.

PETER: What-

WOMAN: Hot soup. You had hypothermia when we brought you here. That seems to be clearing up too, but a little extra warmth can't hurt.

The two men help him into a sitting position and adjust pillows at his back. The soup is placed before him on a bed tray. Peter lifts the spoon before his brain catches up.

WOMAN: If we'd wanted to hurt you, Peter, you'd be dead by now. Eat.

PETER: How do you know-

But he flashes back to a day or so earlier, during his happy little first-day routine at the Sentinel, being greeted with 'Good morning Mr. Parker' from the two female receptionists. One of them is the girl who speaks to him now.

PETER: You work for the Sentinel.

LYNAS: She works for me.

He enters the room and motions for the two men to leave. They do so.

LYNAS: They all do.

He walks to the side of Peter's bed and checks the readouts on a bank of monitors there. The soup is removed.

LYNAS: You're doing well, Peter. Miraculously well, if you consider your condition when we brought you in not eight hours ago.

PETER: Eight hours? I've been out for eight hours-

He moves and winces, but has a little more capacity to move than the last time he tried.

LYNAS: Want the highlights? Punctured lung. Healed. Broken leg. Unbroken. Massive internal bleeding. Stopped. Eight broken ribs...then six broken ribs...then three, and to look at you now...

PETER: Why are you doing all this?

LYNAS: Repaying a debt.

DRIVER: We all are, Peter.

PETER: I don't understand.

LYNAS: I've always been a very wealthy man, Peter. This is my family home. Eighty-six empty rooms for a child to get lost in. I hated it. I love to be surrounded by people. That's why I don't use a limousine. And that's why, about a year ago, I happened to be on a certain train.

Super-quick flash of the train incident, except this time we see Lynas amongst the passengers as Peter's unconscious body is carried shoulder-high.

We come back to Peter. There's a light of understanding in his eyes, and we sense that he's begun to relax a little about this for the first time.

PETER: You carried me.

DRIVER: We all did.

PETER: We?

LYNAS: There are thirty-four of us. When Octavius took you and we were left waiting for rescue, we had nothing to do but talk. And we realised we owed you for what you'd done. Being used to chairing commitees and the like, I was chiefly responsible for the gathering of telephone numbers, of email addresses. We kept in touch with each other.

He pulls back his shirtsleeve and displays his wrist to Peter. There's a small tattoo of a spiderweb on his skin, discreet enough not to be noticeable.

LYNAS: We, uh, we call ourselves the Web. Not original I'll grant you.

PETER: (to the woman)Do you have a tattoo?

DRIVER: (looking at Peter hungrily)Yeah...but mine ain't on my wrist.

PETER: (hurriedly sitting up) So, er, thanks for everything, but I-

LYNAS: I wouldn't, Peter. There's only one wound on you that hasn't healed.

He points. Peter looks down at his shoulder. Chang's teethmarks are still there, red and sore. He touches the area with a finger and winces.

PETER: What did she do to me...

LYNAS: We scanned you with everything we could get. (shrugs) Couldn't detect a damn thing. All I know is your skin, top to toe, was jet-black until about three hours ago. Then it just...faded away. If you wait here and we can get some better equipment-

Peter shakes his head and throws back the sheets, swinging his legs free and hopping to the floor. He's wearing only briefs. The driver reacts. He flexes himself, testing his body, and seems fine.

PETER: I know where to go. And besides, I have other things to do.

LYNAS: The Goblin?

PETER: He's gotta be stopped. (off Lynas and the woman's reaction) What's happened?

LYNAS: He's been busy.

He reaches for a control and presses a button. A wood panelling slides back to reveal a hidden television. A news channel shows a few images of destruction from New York; a ruined bank vault; a smoking armoured van, etc.

PETER: Oh my God...

His fists clench. It seems the penny has finally dropped to Peter that Harry is beyond help. We see determination enter his expression.

PETER: Thank you for everything, but I have to go, now.

LYNAS: Uh, you might not want to leave just yet (he nods to Peter's less-than-dressed current state)

PETER: Oh...do you have anything I could-

We cut to a sliderobe being opened. More than a dozen Spider-suits lie behind it. Peter's eyebrows raise. He's pleased, but he's also a little dubious.

PETER: Nice.

LYNAS: We tried to think of everything.

He excuses himself. Peter removes a suit from the sliderobe. He's standing in a changing area in front of a full-length mirror. He touches the spider-suit...

PETER: Whoa…

His fingers discolour red and blue. Startled, he drops the suit. The discolouration spreads up through his fingers to his arms and down to his legs. He staggers backward…

We cut to Lynas waiting outside. Peter emerges a few seconds later fully clad in a spider-suit. He looks, to put it mildly, perturbed, and is pulling at it and stroking it with his fingers.

LYNAS: Good fit on you?

SPIDERMAN: Very...

Lynas hands him a business card.

LYNAS: You need anything, you call me.

SPIDERMAN: I will. And thanks.

He takes the card and lets his hand drop to his side. His 'suit' extends a tendril and absorbs the card into its skin. Peter's eyes widen. His hand slaps the skin where the card vanished, and a second later it re-emerges, ready to be taken. Peter leaves it where it is and it is re-absorbed. Lynas sees none of this.

LYNAS: Everything alright?

SPIDERMAN: Eh...sure.

They're on one of the outside balconies of the house.

LYNAS: See you at work, Peter, one way or the other.

Spiderman springs from the balcony and begins webbing his way into the city. Lynas watches him go.

Act 2, Scene 19

Aunt May's house, later that morning. She sits opposite a police officer while he takes notes. Her eyes are red-rimmed and she looks haggard.

POLICE OFFICER: Anywhere else you can think of, ma'am?

AUNT MAY: (shakily)No...

POLICE OFFICER: Ma'am, it's been less than 24 hours. Being honest with ya, if it weren't for the fact that a news photographer might have been tempted to get a little too close to the crash last night, we probably wouldn't be pushing ahead with an investigation at this stage. I think there's a very good chance of your nephew turning up unharmed.

We leave the living room through the front window and travel upward to the roof. Spiderman lands softly and, checking to make sure the other officer in the squad car saw and heard nothing of his arrival (he didn't) he web-swings into his old room on the first floor, landing on the carpet.

We see Peter cocking his head to the side. The conversation carries up to him from downstairs, clear as a bell.

AUNT MAY (V/O): Can you try by the river please...close to where Spiderman fell?

POLICE OFFICER (V/O): If you don't mind me saying ma'am, what makes you ask that?

AUNT MAY (V/O): He...he took pictures of Spiderman. And with the bomb that awful Goblin let off...Peter might have been-

She trails off. Peter looks upset. He looks about the room and lifts up a few objects.

PETER: Clothes, Auntie...where'd you put my clothes...

He passes a mirror and starts in surprise. Apart from his Spiderman mask, he is now sporting casual Peter Parker attire from head to toe, including shoes! He looks himself up and down.

PETER: What the hell is going on...

He pats the mask and, right on cue, it simply fades from existence, draining down into his neck and being re-absorbed into his T-shirt and jeans.

POLICE OFFICER (V/O): We'll be in touch, ma'am. Take care.

The front door slams. Peter walks to the window and waits until the squad car pulls away before he makes as if to go downstairs...then thinks better of it.

We cut to the front door. It rings. We follow Aunt May as she goes to open it, and it's on her we stay as she registers who stands there. The change in her expression, from one of despondency and despair to one full of joy and happiness, is wonderful to watch.

AUNT MAY: Peter...

We see Peter, with an equally broad and genuine smile.

PETER: Hey, Auntie.

And before he can say anything more, a wrinkled old hand shoots out and clips him around the ear.

PETER: Ow!

AUNT MAY: Shame on you, young man! Shame on you for scaring me like that! Get in here right now!

Pouting a little, Peter trudges in, rubbing his head. As soon as he's within the house he's enveloped in a huge hug.

AUNT MAY: I thought I'd lost you.

PETER: I'm so sorry, Aunt May.

They separate.

PETER: I need you to do something for me.

AUNT MAY: Anything.

PETER: I need you to visit Aunt Nellie.

AUNT MAY: Nellie? She's in Atlanta! And she and I-

PETER: I know. But now would be a really good time to go make up with her. I want you out of New York. Just for a while, Aunt May.

AUNT MAY: Whatever for?

PETER: The Goblin...he attacked you three years ago, and now he's back...I'd feel a lot better if you were out of the city until he's stopped.

AUNT MAY: All right.

PETER: Please Aunt May, this is really im...did you just say all right?

AUNT MAY: I'm sure you're just fussing over nothing, Peter. But if it puts your mind at ease, then I'll go. That worthless excuse of a husband of hers had just better have improved his habits since last time.

PETER: I love you, Aunt May.

AUNT MAY: I love you too, Peter Parker. Now are you going to help me pack?

PETER: I'd love to, Auntie...but there's someone else I have to see.

Act 2, Scene 20

Peter swings through the city. It's the afternoon, and raining again. His spider-sense kicks in, and we see a family being menaced by a group of thugs. He changes direction and heads toward it.

We cut to the crime scene. One of the thugs has a gun trained on a teenage girl while the other two extort anything of value from her parents.

MOTHER: Please don't hurt her, please-

THUG 1: (brandishing a watch he's just taken from her wrist)Don't hurt her for this piece of crap? You'd better do better than this, lady...

FATHER: It's all we have!

The third thug, holding the gun on the girl, is mightily surprised when a piece of webbing tags his gun and snaps it upward before he can blink. He's even more surprised when a half-second later another piece of webbing attaches itself to his head and does the same to him.

SPIDERMAN: Actually, they do have one more thing.

He drops in the midst of the remaining two.

SPIDERMAN: Me.

The other two thugs set upon him. He ducks their attacks easily and swings to punch one of the thugs-

-we hear, just on the edge of our perception, the same snarl Peter heard in his dream-

-and the thug is propelled backward fully thirty feet down the alley. He lands in a trench of rainwater, sending a huge spray up. The other thug, about to try and tackle Spiderman from behind, stands frozen to the spot. Even the terrorised family stand agape. Not least surprised is Spiderman himself, who stares down at his closed fist.

He holds up his arm. The red and blue of his suit have gone, to be replaced by a uniform black, save for the familiar spider emblem on his chest, now in white.

SPIDERMAN: I didn't mean to...

The other thug snaps out of his stupor, screams with rage and picks up a nearby trashcan lad to smash over Spiderman's head. Viewing this from a point just in front of Spiderman's mask, we see him go from normal-time to Spider-time and to a point beyond it, until he's almost frozen completely.

Spiderman turns. He walks (with no great hurry) completely around the thug, who's still downswinging.

And then he sees the raindrops.

They too are slowed down almost to the point of not moving. He reaches out and touches one and it retains its shape as it's geography shifts.

SPIDERMAN: (wonderingly)This...is officially...weird.

He winces in sudden pain and touches his temples. Time moves normally again. The thug completes his downstroke - just a shame Spiderman is now behind him. He overbalances and topples over. With two quick bursts of webbing Spiderman has him affixed to the alley surface.

The family, now huddled together, regard him with a mixture of gratitude and slight trepidation. The girl is the first to speak.

GIRL: Thank you, Spidey.

MOTHER: You hit him so hard.

SPIDERMAN: He was going to-

MOTHER: I didn't say it was a bad thing.

SPIDERMAN: Call an ambulance for him. And lay off the trips through the jungle, okay?

Spiderman shakes his head and his black spider-suit shimmers back to red and blue. He webs a line and prepares to leave, but before he can-

FATHER: Are you going after the Goblin?

SPIDERMAN: Yes.

GIRL: You're gonna kick his ass aren't you!

SPIDERMAN: I'm gonna kill him.

The reply startles them a little. Spiderman leaps and is gone, leaving them shaken and alone in the alley.

FATHER: Let's go.

GIRL: What about the ambul-

MOTHER: You heard your father.

They leave the alley. We fade out on the fallen body of the punched thug, crumpled in a sodden heap.

Act 2, Scene 21

An enormous pile of booty - money, jewellry etc. We see it sits in the Goblin's secret lair in the Osborn mansion. The Goblin's mask sits upon its plinth. We travel through the lair until we come to the mansion itself, and eventually to a body slumped over a large leather sofa. It's Harry Osborn, sleeping.

Someone (we can't see their face) kneels beside him, putting their lips close to his ear.

VOICE: Wake up, Harry.

Harry stirs. He turns around to see himself, an exact duplicate, kneeling beside him. There's a dancing, gleeful madness in the other Harry's eyes.

HARRY: What do you want?

HARRY TWO: You've done so well, Harry. I have something to show you.

Harry rises. He's barefoot, and his suit looks crumpled and much slept-in. As he follows his double (who by contrast is immaculately tailored and coiffured), he stumbles over something on the floor. Catching his balance, he looks down...and stumbles backward, out of shock, clutching at the wood panelling behind him.

HARRY: Ray?

A crumpled body lies still upon the plush carpet. Harry's double looks over his shoulder and smiles.

HARRY TWO: You've done so well.

Harry goes to the corpse and turns it over. Ray's cold, dead eyes stare up at him.

HARRY: Oh God...

HARRY TWO: Don't you remember?

We go into a black-and-white flashback. Harry is storming into the Goblin's lair, clad in full Goblin regalia with the exception of his helmet. His head snaps around and we see Ray, the Osborn family's loyal manservant, entering the room. He takes in Harry's appearance and his eyes widen in shock and horror. Flashback Harry smiles a doom-laden smile and begins walking toward him purposefully.

Back to reality. Harry looks as if he's about to vomit.

HARRY TWO: Stand up. He's not going to get any less dead, Harry. Follow me.

His face numb, Harry complies, staggering after his doppelganger like a zombie. He comes to a stop facing the mirror into the Goblin's lair. Only he has a reflection in the glass. His double does not.

HARRY TWO: Call to him. Call to Daddy.

HARRY: Daddy...(begins to sob) oh Daddy please, help me...

He looks up. It's no longer his reflection in the mirror - as has happened before, it now belongs to Norman Osborn. Harry's doppelganger smiles the same smile we saw Harry smile in the flashback, and walk toward the mirror in the same way.

NORMAN: Son? Son, what are you-

HARRY TWO: This is your reward, Harry. Enjoy it.

NORMAN: Harry, no! Harry, stop him-

It's too late. Harry's doppelganger reaches the mirror and steps into the reflection, so that he stands side-by-side with the image of his father. Norman backs away from the apparition. The real Harry sinks to his knees, tears running down his cheeks, watching this.

NORMAN: Who are you...

HARRY TWO: Don't you know me? I'm the son you always wanted, Dad.

And before the ghost of Norman Osborn can reply or move, this Harry pulls a curved knife (the same knife Harry brandished when he had Spiderman helpless in Spiderman 2) and stabs Norman quickly and efficiently through the heart.

HARRY TWO: Now how about a hug?

Norman gasps once, and then simply fades.

HARRY: NOOOOO!

HARRY TWO: Get up. I said get up.

HARRY: You killed him.

HARRY TWO: Spiderman did that. Get over it. You don't need Norman anymore, Harry boy. You've got me. And look at what we've done. New York is in terror of us. Of you, Harry Osborn.

HARRY: I killed Peter...

HARRY TWO: Can't kill one without the other. And so what? You know what Harry, what bothers you isn't the things you do...it's how you're coming to like it.

Harry says nothing. We can see in his eyes he's accepting the truth of this.

HARRY TWO: At first it was all for Daddy...but it's time to grow up. Spiderman was just the beginning. You have some other people to visit, don't you...

Harry looks at the mirror, and it's his true reflection again, tattered suit and all. His back straightens, his eyes lose any warmth, and that cruel, cold smile resurfaces. He's the Goblin again, and for the first time he's the Goblin not to live up to some projected image of his father's desires, but because he truly wants to be.

Harry's very soul is being eaten away, piece by piece.

Act 2, Scene 22

Mary-Jane's apartment. We get a good look at it for the first time and it's what we might expect from a young girl who suddenly finds herself with money, fame and a large apartment - practically empty. Only one corner of the apartment looks lived in, and it contains a bed and a wardrobe (clothes are strewn randomly from this). One of the wardrobe doors is open and we see that, as she might have done as a high school girl with her locker door, MJ has plastered the inside of the door with pictures of her and Peter together. There's a window by the bed. It's closed.

Mary-Jane enters the apartment. She's led in by two police officers, one male and one female.

FEMALE OFFICER: Miss, we'll let you know as soon as we know anything. You really can't stay at an incident site. It's for your own good.

Mary-Jane only nods. She looks ashen.

MARY-JANE: You have the address?

MALE OFFICER: We'll call on May Parker's house as often as we can. I doubt she's gone far.

FEMALE OFFICER: Get some sleep, sweetheart. Have a nice day.

They excuse themselves and close the door behind them. Mary-Jane stares around the vast expanse of her expensive home with undisguised loathing. She pads to her bed and sits down on it.

The wind ruffles her hair. She glances up and sees that the window by her bed is now open. Eyes wide, she rushes to the window and looks out. Behind her, we see a figure drop nimbly from the ceiling. It's black-clad, but as we watch that changes to blue and red.

SPIDERMAN: (as his mask drains away to reveal Peter's face)See anything you like?

Mary-Jane whirls around.

MARY-JANE: Peter!

In seconds they're in one another's arms.

SPIDERMAN: (between kisses)I kinda broke the phone.

MARY-JANE: (likewise between kisses) Who cares…you're alive...oh thank God...you're alive. I thought you - I thought the Goblin had -

SPIDERMAN: He almost did.

He stops Mary-Jane's kisses with a firm hand.

SPIDERMAN: You have to go, MJ.

MARY-JANE: Go?

SPIDERMAN: I've sent Aunt May to her sisters in Atlanta. I want you out of New York until the Goblin's stopped.

MARY-JANE: Not a chance, tiger!

SPIDERMAN: Good, then you can get pack...what?

MARY-JANE: Leave you to that maniac? Are you crazy? He's already nearly killed you once! I'm not running, Pete. I've faced these things before.

SPIDERMAN: And so far the score stands at Mary-Jane...zero, kidnappings by supervillains...two.

Mary-Jane's eyes flash with anger.

MARY-JANE: How can you say that?

SPIDERMAN: Because it's true? MJ, I have to take the Goblin down. I'm going to have enough to deal with without-

MARY-JANE: Without me? Is that what you're saying?

SPIDERMAN: You think it was easy for me to watch you put in danger?

MARY-JANE: You think it was easy for me to be in that danger? What do you think, I like being kidnapped by maniacs?

SPIDERMAN: I don't believe this. I'm asking you to get out of danger because I love you, can't you understand that?

MARY-JANE: I'm not going to dangle off the nearest bridge wearing a DROP ME sign! You told me this was just someone wearing the Goblin's mask. What makes you so sure he's going to go after me?

SPIDERMAN: (finally snapping)Because it's Harry.

Mary-Jane reacts. We see her eyes widen with shock, and then as her brain catches up, a frown of scepticism surfaces.

MARY-JANE: (bemused) Harry...Harry Osborn? Harry Osborn is the Green Goblin?

SPIDERMAN: I didn't want to tell you.

MARY-JANE: You're actually serious...

SPIDERMAN: (waving his arms in frustration and impatience)What, you think I'm making this up?

MARY-JANE: No...but come on...he's just Harry. Where would he get-

SPIDERMAN: His father.

That one registers on her.

MARY-JANE: He was the one who dropped me?

PETER: I can never see that again, Mary-Jane. I can't.

MARY-JANE: I know. But Harry's my friend...how could I not know something like that about one of my friends?

By way of silent reply, Peter simply quirks his eyebrow and we pan down from his everyman face and neck to the superhero suit from the neck down.

Mary-Jane has the decency to be slightly embarrassed, but that embarrassment quickly gives way to shock.

MARY-JANE: Harry...oh my God. We have to help him, Pete.

SPIDERMAN: I have to stop him. And I can't do that with you here and at risk, MJ.

MARY-JANE: I can't just...you can't think he would do what his father did-

SPIDERMAN: (hotly, and with more than a trace of simmering resentment)He almost beat me to death, or have you forgotten that?

MARY-JANE: You are going to help him, aren't you?

SPIDERMAN: Sure.

MARY-JANE: You're lying. I don't believe this, you're lying...

SPIDERMAN: Hold on a minute here-

MARY-JANE: (shouting) What are you going to do, Pete, when you catch him? Turn him in? Hand him over? Rough him up? Well? What are you going to do!

SPIDERMAN: Stop him.

MARY-JANE: Kill him?

Spiderman looks away, unable to say it to her. There are tears of disbelief in Mary-Jane's eyes. She runs her hands through her hair and paces up and down, unable to process it all. After a few seconds the silence is too much for Spiderman.

SPIDERMAN: Harry's gone.

His spider-sense sounds and, just like at the Bugle, an explosive device shatters the wall. Spiderman has the jump on it this time though and webs MJ a split-second ahead of the blast, pulling her to him and to safety, shielding her from the impact of the explosion. The Goblin's glider appears.

GOBLIN: Gone? But I'm right here!

Spiderman backs away with MJ behind him. His mask flows up to cover his head, and his suit drains of blue and red to go black once more. MJ notices this, but has more pressing concerns at the moment.

SPIDERMAN: Stay behind me.

MARY-JANE: I have to know if it's true!

GOBLIN: Does this help?

Still hovering about twenty feet in front of them through the hole blown in the side of the building, he reaches up to his helmet and, pressing a release, lifts it away. We see Mary-Jane's reaction as she beholds the revealed face of Harry Osborn.

HARRY: Hey, MJ. Wanna go out for a drink sometime?

For a moment we think MJ might burst into tears, but no - seeing Harry standing there smiling, something in her is pushed too far. She erupts in rage and actually picks up an ornament and flings it at the Goblin. He throws up an arm and bats it away easily.

MARY-JANE: How could you! You son of a bitch!

HARRY: Raincheck, huh? Never mind.

SPIDERMAN: Leave her out of this, Harry.

HARRY: She got herself involved, Pete, or have you forgotten that?

MARY-JANE: He knows? He knows about you?

HARRY: I've known for a long time, MJ - Pete, don't think I don't see that about-to-spring-into-heroic-action stance - but you and Pete together...that was a recent addition. Might say it made the man I am today.

SPIDERMAN: Fascinating as all this is Harry...what's say you and I finish this.

HARRY: (hatred in every syllable)Oh you got it, webhead.

SPIDERMAN: Not here and not now. MJ isn't a part of this. You said it yourself.

HARRY: I said no promises.

SPIDERMAN: You said you were a man. Act like one.

There's a long and dangerous pause. Harry's hand reaches behind his back, as if to grope for one of his pumpkin devices. But the hand stops, hovers...and relaxes.

HARRY: Fine.

SPIDERMAN: Name a time and place and I'll be there.

HARRY: Oh you'll know when the time comes. Believe me, you'll know.

He reaffixes his helmet, dips the glider and it performs a one-eighty. Now the Goblin again, he looks back over his shoulder.

HARRY: Be seeing you, Pete. Oh...and I like the new look.

He flies off, gone in an instant. Spiderman relaxes, obviously relieved at not having to face him with MJ caught in the midst.

SPIDERMAN: Are you ready to go?

He puts a hand on MJ's shoulder as if to comfort her and she pulls away from his touch.

MARY-JANE: I preferred the old one.

Act 2, Scene 23

Spiderman and MJ land softly on the outskirts of a train station. It's getting dark. She has a large satchel bag with her and is wrapped in her disguise coat.

MARY-JANE: You're sure about this.

SPIDERMAN: Trust me. May and Nellie will love having someone else in the house to break up all those silences. You have the address?

MARY-JANE: Yes. How will I know when-

SPIDERMAN: There are about ten million phones in this city. I'll call you.

MARY-JANE: Don't I get a kiss, at least?

Spiderman takes a step backward. His appearance shimmers for a moment before his spider-suit ripples, erasing the black all-in-one in favour of Peter Parker civilian clothes.

MARY-JANE: What's happened to you, Peter...

PETER: I'm not sure...when you're safe I'm going to go find out. But...I think it's another gift. Like the spider-bite in the laboratory.

MARY-JANE: So that was a gift?

PETER: What else would it be?

Mary-Jane simply nods. We sense that she's deeply, deeply worried about Peter, but unable to begin thinking about how to vocalise her concerns. Peter senses her mood and moves to kiss her, but it's not the passionate kisses of old; Mary-Jane holds back slightly, and it's more of a chaste affair.

PETER: Don't worry, MJ. I'm going to win.

MARY-JANE: Yeah...well, you know what? I believe you. And that worries me.

She kisses him on the cheek and walks away. Peter stares after her, confused and conflicted as to her reaction, and for a moment looks as if he will call after her, but seems to think better of it. He steps back into the shadows...we see a brief shimmer...and the black-clad Spiderman swings off into New York.

Act 2, Scene 24

Jameson's office, the Bugle. Night. Builders are packing up their stuff, putting the final touches to the repairs to his wall from the Goblin's bomb. One of them nudges another one. The second builder swallows and approaches Jameson's desk. Jonah is in the middle of an extremely heated phonecall.

We only hear Jonah say the following lines, as the whole time we're staying with the builder as he very, very nervously approaches JJ's desk. We see him get increasingly nervous.

JAMESON: No, you listen to me. I want round-the-clock updates on my son's condition. I don't care if he's in some god-damned secret military hospital, on the aft deck of the Titanic, or halfway to the centre of Mars - I want to know how my son is doing every ten minutes on the dot, or I open up a certain file and review if certain pictures would be in the public's interest to publish. Is that clear enough for ya, Mister President?

At those last two words, the builder performs a swift U-turn and makes a break for it. He has his hand on the doorhandle when-

JAMESON: You there!

The builder turns.

BUILDER: Y-yes?

JAMESON: Do I employ you to bring me coffee?

BUILDER: Um...no?

JAMESON: Well find me somebody I do employ to bring me some, you idiot! And get the hell out of my office!

The builder exits as if all the fires of Hades are after him. He passes Eddie Brock, who puts a hand on his chest to stop him. He has a Starbucks-type coffee container in his hand.

EDDIE: Is he in a good mood?

The builder simply laughs pityingly in Eddie's face and scampers onward.

EDDIE: I can do this.

He pushes onward into Jameson's office and sits down in the chair opposite Jonah. Jonah looks him up and down, totally astonished that ANYONE would dare have the cheek to exist at the present moment.

JAMESON: Where's my coffee?

EDDIE: Uh...right here, sir.

He hands him the coffee.

JAMESON: Good work, son. You'll go far. Now get the hell out.

EDDIE: Uh sir...Eddie Brock. You requested a meeting with me?

JAMESON: (taking a swig of the coffee and pulling a face) Ugh! You're fired!

EDDIE: I can get you a better one...

JAMESON: Not for the coffee, you idiot! Your column isn't working out. Bad reviews, and celebrities seem to think you're a...

He flicks through papers on his desk until he plucks the requisite page. He holds it up and reads from it.

JAMESON: '...desperate, cloying, bumbling fool who'd need an injection of charm to bring him up to a sleazeball'. Tough luck. Now scoot - I promised a guy your desk and he needs it by tomorrow morning.

Eddie has gone deathly pale.

EDDIE: Wait a minute...you're telling me I'm fired?

JAMESON: Despite that keen journalistic sense, yes.

EDDIE: But I have tomorrow's column ready! I can...I can change it, improve it-

JAMESON: (getting up and shepherding Eddie to the door)Type's set already for tomorrow. It'll be your last, so make it a good one.

EDDIE: I need another chance, please!

JAMESON: Son, you need a miracle.

The door slams. Eddie walks through the crowded chaotic office like a dead man walking, in a daze. One of the secretaries, Betty, calls to him.

BETTY: Someone to see you, Eddie.

EDDIE: Tell him to beat it. I'm gone.

He reaches his desk. Someone's sitting in his chair, facing toward the window and the world outside. Eddie's frown of annoyance at this intrustion evaporates somewhat when the chair spins around to reveal Harry Osborn, smiling broadly.

HARRY: Eddie Brock, have I got a story for you...

Act 2, Scene 25

NYU campus in the small hours of the morning. A darkened laboratory inside. A figure is bent over a large machine while it whirrs and hums. A shaft of light coming in from the reflective surfaces reveals it to be Dr. Connors, Peter's professor at NYU, pulling some serious overtime. He murmurs to himself as he works.

A noise from behind him. His hand drops to below the table, and we drop down too to see a handgun has been affixed there.

SPIDERMAN: Dr. Connors?

CONNORS: Who's there?

A black-clad finger flicks a lightswitch, and Spiderman is revealed. Connors takes in his appearance and his costume change in a brief pause.

CONNORS: The police can be here in four minutes.

SPIDERMAN: I can be gone in four seconds, Doc. Don't bother.

CONNORS: What do you want?

SPIDERMAN: You seem very jumpy, Doc. Had any visits from any other costumed freaks recently?

CONNORS: That's none of your concern.

SPIDERMAN: Wrong. I need to know what he came for and what he got. Relax, I'm just asking for your help here.

But his body language is wrong. It's threatening. Spiderman shouldn't scare us, but now...he does. He moves like a predator as he takes a few steps toward us, waiting for Connors to make his move.

CONNORS: Ask somewhere else. I have my own work to do - I don't have time for this. Get out of here or I'll call the police, four seconds or not.

He turns his back and resumes his work at the machine. There's silence from behind him. After a few seconds he turns back. Spiderman is gone. He breathes a sigh of relief and turns back to the machine - and looks directly into Spiderman's upside-down face, suspended from the ceiling directly in front of him.

SPIDERMAN: You're not the only one pressed for time.

CONNORS: (angrily) Get out!

He backs away toward the phone on the wall. Spiderman releases the webline holding him from the ceiling, flips himself upright and sends one precise web-bullet to the phone, smashing it to pieces. Connors' eyes widen in fear and he turns to run. In an instant Spiderman is upon him, pushing him to the nearest table. A glass beaker tumbles off and smashes. Connors is pinned.

CONNORS: Just...asking, huh?

SPIDERMAN: Want me to insist?

We pan down a little to see Connors remaining hand. It clenches, and as we watch, turns a shade of green. The skin runs together into what look like the beginnings of scales. Connors trembles, and closes his eyes, forcing himself to breathe. The hand reverts back to normal. Spiderman sees none of this transformation. Looking terrified at the prospect of losing control - and perhaps seeing the transformation continue beyond his hand - Connors' shoulders slump and he relents.

CONNORS: What is it you want me to do…

Act 2, Scene 26

Jameson's office. He's on the phone again. Robbie is there too.

JAMESON: ...stable? No change? Good. I want him back when you're finished your damn tests, do you understand? Goo-

His door bursts open and in comes Eddie Brock, man on a mission.

EDDIE: Hold the front page, Jonah. In fact, hold all the damn pages!

JAMESON: I'll call you back. I have a murder to commit. Shouldn't take long.

He puts the phone down.

EDDIE: You said I needed a miracle. Well, I got one. The story of the century, JJ!

JAMESON: Son, a space shuttle landed in downtown Manhattan, and you, Eddie Brock, think you can come into my office and tell me you've got something bigger?

Eddie throws a file on JJ's desk. JJ opens it. We don't see what he sees, but we see his hands moving and his reaction - a mixture of delight, excitement and sheer fury. He grabs the phone.

JAMESON: Stop printing! We got a new edition to write!

He slams the phone down and ignites a cigar.

JAMESON: Welcome back to the Bugle, son.

Robbie, having also gotten a look at the contents of the file, takes the opportunity to slip out of the room quietly. He jogs to his desk, picks up his phone and dials. As he sits down we cut to his pants-leg and we see, in the few inches of flesh we can see between his sock and the bottom of his pants, something that looks like a tattoo...

ROBBIE: Mr. Lynas? We have a problem...

Act 2, Scene 27

Connors lab. Connors jingles a set of keys in his hand before opening up a locked cupboard. He extracts a vial of the Goblin's serum carefully, holding it as if were high explosive. Spiderman, meanwhile, is hooked up to an expensive-looking machine.

CONNORS: He came to me and demanded that I take this apart chemically. When I refused him, he...well, he made it clear that wasn't an option.

SPIDERMAN: You improved it.

CONNORS: Yes. He wanted the physical and mental effects enhanced. I warned him it could be done, but that it would come at a price.

SPIDERMAN: Price?

CONNORS: His sanity. The original serum had destablising mental effects, yes, but they could take time to build and manifest. This...(he brandishes the vial) this is a one-way ticket to permanent psychosis.

SPIDERMAN: You'd never guess to look at him.

Connors walks to the machine Spiderman is connected to and works the controls. We see a virtual display of Spiderman's body on a screen. Connors whistles.

CONNORS: I have never seen anything like this...

SPIDERMAN: Let me guess. It's an extra-terrestrial symbiotic life-form, dependent on me to survive.

CONNORS: (surprised) You have a keen mind. Ever thought of enrolling?

SPIDERMAN: I'll bear it in mind.

CONNORS: Largely, you're correct...it's bonded to you on a microcellular level, and it seems to be influencing your musculature...

Spiderman flexes his hand, clenching a fist and relaxing it. When he speaks it's with quiet satisfaction.

SPIDERMAN: I noticed.

CONNORS: ...this really is the most astonishing thing...the life-form requires tremendous amounts of energy to sustain. Probably why the astronauts were insufficient as a host body. But you...you're perfect. You can feed it. And it produces even greater amounts of energy in return.

SPIDERMAN: It creates more energy than it consumes?

CONNORS: Yes. Pity we can't hook it up to the National Grid. I'm running a nanocellular scan on it now to determine our retrieval options.

SPIDERMAN: Retrieval?

CONNORS: Well, yes...you are wanting to be separated from this, I assume?

Spiderman stands up and begins taking off the probes.

SPIDERMAN: Not part of the plan.

CONNORS: But...you can't seriously be thinking of allowing an alien life-form to bond with you! Look at this! (he taps a section of the screen displaying Spiderman's body) It's connected to your cerebral cortex! This thing is aware of what you do...don't you understand that? It may even be able to exert an influence over your actions!

SPIDERMAN: I doubt it, Doc. Besides, if I'm gonna beat the Goblin, I need this thing giving me a boost.

CONNORS: And after the Goblin?

SPIDERMAN: We'll talk then. Thanks for your help.

Connors clearly doesn't believe Spiderman will come back. As he prepares to web off, the scientist grabs another serum from the locked cupboard.

CONNORS: Wait!

He hands the serum to Spiderman.

SPIDERMAN: What's this?

CONNORS: You didn't think I'd take that serum apart chemically and erase the data afterward, did you? I've been working on this for two days.

SPIDERMAN: (incredulously)An antidote?

CONNORS: Maybe. There's only one living subject I could test it on to find out and I feared he might have been...reluctant. But you...if you can get close enough, one shot of this to his sytem and it might just flush out enough of the serum. But if it's not administered within the next twenty-four hours...it'll be too late.

SPIDERMAN: I don't think within twenty-four hours will be a problem.

He leaps twenty feet up and out a small window near the ceiling. Connors watches him go.

Act 2, Scene 28

Dawn is breaking over Manhattan, and Spiderman watches the light spill over the buildings from his vantage point on one of the highest corners of the Empire State Building. He runs his fingers over the forearms of his suit.

SPIDERMAN: Ready?

With that, he springs free of the building, his body a perfect gymnastic arrow. Gravity takes its toll and he plummets, the ground rushing up to meet us at a stomach-lurching rate. With the ground a fraction of a second away, a webline is snaked and snags, and he's off, rocketing down the New York avenue in huge looping arcs. This is Spiderman revelling in his powers as we haven't seen him in a long time.

A voice carries to him. It's a little girl, crying.

LITTLE GIRL: My balloon! My balloon!

Spiderman arrests himself in mid-swing and tracks the rising red balloon, which is already some distance above him. With one precision leap of over a hundred feet straight up, he clasps his hand around the string and web-zips to the side of a building, descending more slowly so as not to burst the balloon.

When his feet touch the ground, the little girl is waiting for him. She's about four years old, and currently jumping madly up and down in excitement.

SPIDERMAN: Somebody lose a balloon?

LITTLE GIRL: Me me me me me me!

Kneeling down, he hands it over. The girl hugs him.

LITTLE GIRL: Thank you, Peter.

Spiderman stands up quickly, unable to believe what he has just heard.

SPIDERMAN: What did you call me?

LITTLE GIRL: That's your name isn't it? Pe-ter Par-ker. Pe-ter Par-ker.

SPIDERMAN: Where did you hear that?

LITTLE GIRL: My Daddy was reading it to me this morning. And it was on TV when I left the house. I live just over there (she turns to point) and my Daddy-

When she's turned back, Spiderman has gone. We stay on the little girl for a moment as she pouts, and then her face clears with the air of someone having a fantastically good idea. She lets go of her balloon. It begins to rise into the air.

LITTLE GIRL: (hopefully)My balloon...my balloon...

Act 2, Scene 29

A newsstand. In fact, it's the same newsstand as in Act 1, Scene 1, with the same grumpy vendor. He has an enormous pile of Daily Bugles and he's selling them as fast as he can hand them out.

VENDOR: Read all about it! The story of the century!

One of the unsold bundles is webbed and yanked up to a nearby rooftop. Spiderman rips apart the packaging and holds up the top copy of the Bugle in horror. The headline is SPIDERMAN REVEALED! Underneath, the sub-headline screams WALL-CRAWLER REALLY BUGLE PHOTOGRAPHER PETER PARKER!

We pan down. Two photographs lie underneath the headlines. One is a classic Spiderman pose, ironically taken by Peter himself. The other is a shot of Peter in the spider-suit with his mask off.

SPIDERMAN: (with fury in his voice)Harry...

We go back to the front page, and the tagline in particular - EXCLUSIVE OF THE CENTURY - BY EDDIE BROCK.

SPIDERMAN: Brock...

He crumples the paper with his fist, just as Harry did in Act 1, Scene 2. Moments later the pages scatter in the wind and Spiderman is gone.

Act 2, Scene 30

The Bugle's newsroom. Naturally it's a scene of complete and utter chaos. A hastily erected new seating area houses twenty new telephonists, all with headsets. As we pan past the nearest she holds her hand to her ear.

TELEPHONIST: Daily Bugle Spiderman-Peter Parker hotline. What's your scoop?

We cut to the theatre Mary-Jane was performing in at the beginning. In one of the corridors, Angela - MJ's ditzy blonde co-star that night - dials a number on her mobile. She has a copy of the Bugle in her hand.

ANGELA: I'm a friend of Mary-Jane Watson...and, well I'm not sure I should be saying this, but...

We cut to Jameson's office. He's sitting opposite Brock, puffing on another cigar. We see Brock has one too, albeit a smaller one.

JAMESON: Selling out faster than we can print it! I'm having to hire other presses to meet demand! Eddie my boy, congratulations - this is the greatest comeback since Lazarus!

EDDIE: (blowing out smoke luxuriously) This is just the beginning, Jonah.

JAMESON: That's still Mr. Jameson to you. Don't get cocky. I can't believe it! All the time the wall-crawler under my nose and I didn't see it! I knew there was something odd about that boy, I knew it!

The office door bursts open, and the telephonist who took Angela's call bursts in.

TELEPHONIST: You are not gonna believe this.

BROCK: What'd I tell you...just the beginning.

We cut to a new batch of newspapers being delivered to the newsstands. The new headline now reads SPIDERMAN'S SECRET SWEETHEART! Underneath now is the picture of Peter in the suit alongside a publicity shot of Mary-Jane Watson.

People are snapping this up too. Two women buy it.

WOMAN: Hey whaddaya know? She dumped the astronaut for a superhero.

WOMAN 2: (sarcastically)Some girls got it real tough, don't they.

We cut back to Jonah. He's simmering with rage.

JAMESON: I want Parker. I want Parker now.

EDDIE: (on the phone) Our source at the NYPD just called. The lawyer of some street punk Spiderman punched is pressing charges. The NYPD's put out an APB for Peter Parker's immediate arrest on suspicion of assault.

JAMESON: God bless New York. Get me Channel Six.

Act 2, Scene 30

A crowd has gathered to watch the televisions at a television store. Unseen, Spiderman drops to the street opposite. Ducking into the shadows he emerges as Peter Parker. He touches his head, concerned still that he will be spotted. Luckily there's a stall selling baseball caps beside him. He grabs one and pulls it down low over his eyes.

Jameson is on every television in the store window. Peter crosses the street to watch with the rest of the crowd.

JAMESON: ...the New York Police Department have had enough. I've had enough. And you, you the great public of this great city, you've had enough of this...this menace!

Peter's mouth sets in a thin line. We get the impression he, too, may have had enough of a certain newspaper runner.

JAMESON: That's why I'm personally offering one hundred thousand dollars to anyone, anyone who can bring in Peter Parker, or "Spiderman"!

The crowd murmur in amazement.

CROWD GUY: A hundred Gs? For that money I'd do him myself.

CROWD GIRL: Geez man, you are sick. Spidey's tried his best for scum like you and you'd stab him in the back for money?

Some of the crowd agree with her, but not many. Most are either silent or throwing in similar comments to the first guy.

CROWD GUY: I say we form up. He'd cream us one by one. Who's with me?

The girl curls her lip in disgust and walks away, taking a few with her. Nine or ten, mostly men but some women, stay behind.

CROWD GUY: We get weapons and we keep an eye out. Likely someone else will bag him, but ya never know in this town. Am I right?

He nudges the figure next to him for agreement. That just happens to be Peter.

We cut to inside the clothes shop across the road, the same shop Peter stole the cap from. We hear a thump and see something large coming toward the window-

The window shatters. With the tail end of a scream, the body of the crowd guy sprawls over the downed rails. He moans and tries to sit up before passing out.

We go back to Peter, standing with a truly terrible expression on his face, one of a man who's fast losing all restraint in the face of his world unravelling. He stands in the midst of a crowd of stunned onlookers, hardly able to believe what they have just witnessed.

PETER: You're not wrong...

END OF ACT TWO