Infinite Parallel universes in the multiverse; each with their own histories and stories.
Let's explore another one...
In the home of the Thompson family in Queens, New York the high school football star Eugene 'Flash' Thompson had his stoic face down as he was being chewed out by his furious father Harrison Thompson who had just driven them both home. He got his grades back and they were abysmal and it was on top of his unexplanded abscences from class, being late to classes and late homework. "I can't even trust you to make something off yourself! You do know that these grades are your only hope of actually having a future; the only thing you seem to be good at is football and you risk being taken off the team and you think many talent scouts are going to be impressed by your grades? Can anything penetrate that thick skull of your's?" snapped Harrison pushing Flash back and he just muttered that he understood and went to leave back to his bedroom. Flash's mother and younger sister Jessica just watched these events unfold with deep breaths.
"Got nothing more to say? God, you're pathetic... I bet you are still hung up on that dumb girlfriend of yours who got yourself killed... Don't walk away, face me when I am talking to you..." Harrison continued to rant as he went to grab his son's wrist but he touched a wrong nerve as Flash instantly at great speed moved his wrist away and pushed him back. He then went opened up bottles and cans of bear and scooped them up and went to the kitchen to pur them down the drain as Flash's mother and Jessica had their eyes widened. "What do you think you are doing..." snapped Harrison going for the punch but Flash kneed him in the gut hard and picked him up by the collar of the shirt.
"Did you really think that I would just take it forever? I bet you only want me to get a chance at a football career so I would take care of your sorry useless ass but guess what; as soon as I can I am leaving this place and never coming back or contacting you again! Don't bother trying to make empty threats of calling your cop buddies on me for this because it would be admitting to yourself that your favourite target is now stronger than you and that you are weak for not being able to pick on me again... You ever make another jab at Sally again then I swear you will never feel your hands or walk again..." Flash warned him as Harrison yelled in fright as Flash tossed him through the door and then walked over him to his room.
Harrison was seen to by his wife as Jessica went to see Flash before he went through the door to his room; "Give dad some slack Eugene; you know that he had it rough in the force and he has gone through stuff..." Jessica told him softly but Flash put up a hand and turned his head towards her.
"The sooner you and Mum give up trying to excuse him the better; after all these years there becomes a difference between going through shit and just refusing to take responsibility." Flash replied in a tired voice as he just went through his door and closed it. Flash sighed knowing that at school he would last out and mock people thanks to what he was going through with his father but he has had a new perspective of things ever since his life was changed forever.
He then got out a costume that was stored in a safe place; a red bodysuit with a black spider logo, black on the shoulder and upper areas and a black full face mask. He put on the suit and sneaked through the window; seeing no one was noticing and used his web from his wrists to swing away as his superpowered vigilante alter ego Captain Spider.
He remembered how it all started...
Flash groaned as he tried to force himself to listen to the lecture at the public science demonstration at Empire State University; he would rather be at a party with the other popular kids at school but his science grades were down and he had to find a way to get them back up or risk possibly being removed from the football team. The demonstration was showing off some genetically altered fruit flies which was some of the dumbest things that he had ever heard of in his entire life; what the scientists didn't know was that one of the fruit flies escaped and got eaten by a spider which had went down to Flash's hand and ended up biting him on the hand.
He jumped slightly and got stares but pretended that nothing happened.
After getting home feeling a bit unwell; he went to sleep and woke up feeling better than ever. He was surprised to find himself running faster and feeling stronger than ever; he ended up hurting his fellow quarterbacks accidentally during practice and found himself sticking to walls. Plus accidentally shooting out webs from his wrists...
He ended up showing these powers to Sally his girlfriend after inviting her over to his room; she was in shock and said "with those powers; you could be like a superhero... I mean, I know that they are geek stuff but it could be cool..."
Flash pondered the idea but shook his head; "nah; those superheroes put in all the effort of putting in a costume and sacrificing some of their life to do was pretty much an unpaid job... I want to see about using these to get real money..." Flash spoke with a grin as Sally looked a little disappointed.
"Well I could get us some suits made and we could do an act together but still it might feel good if you have the power to do good..." Sally told him and Flash laughed thinking that she was just telling a joke and she then laughed along with him a little nervously.
They spent a few weekends as street performers with Flash in the suit that Sally made for him and she put on her own suit with black, dark blue, white tights, a black and dark blue mask which showed her hair and a dark blue cape. She was using her gymnastic moves and Flash was showing off his moves and webs with quickly put together shoddy wrist devices on to make it look like that the web came from there. He didn't want to look like a freak and they were calling themselves the Spider & Bluebird.
They got a crowd, cheers and a good bit of money that they were keeping safe; plus some offers from talent agents. They went to an alleyway to put their money away but Flash found his extra sense known as 'Spider-Sense' go off as his found his wrist grabbed and his devices ripped off. They then noticed behind them was a smirking important looking man in an expensive suit and their mouths were wide open as they recognised the man.
Carlton Strand who was pretty much the richest man in the country; a massive corporate empire under his belt. "I know that you are no mere street performer; your skills and webs are powers and you are like me..." Strand told Flash and their eyes widened as he showed great electrical power in his hands with his eyes glowing.
"There is a new stronger superior species of humans growing; us 'superhumans' should band together and show this world of mere powerless mortals what real power is..." Strand offered and Flash laughed as if this was a joke and he only then noticed the taller bulkier man with Strand. Flash went to push him past only for his hand to go through him as if he was made of sand.
"You sound like a comic book super villain..." Sally scoffed at him but Strand put up his hand and shocked her with Flash yelling in shock; he went to furiously attack Strand but the man who Strand called 'Boyd' attacked him first with Strand getting a quick getaway.
They fought out in the streets and and after a half hour or so; Boyd escaped by turning into sand and going through a sewer. He found an ambulance at the alley where Strand confronted them and was shocked to hear that Sally had been killed from the electrical attack...
That night after giving himself some time to grief; he went back into the suit and got to Strand's tower of a penthouse home and broke in; "Are you willing to join me now and be like a god? My condolences for your partner but dealing with mortals are a hassle; I am unable to even touch my wife without killing her..." smirked Strand as flash went and grabbed the collar of his shirt.
Flash decided that to honour Sally he would be a superhero like she had wanted him to be; "You can call me Captain Spider and I am New York's newest superhero; first thing I will do is avenge her by taking you to the police!" Flash taunted him and Strand laughed.
"What proof do you have? Plus I would advice you to rethink your life choices as the longer that you don't join me then the longer that you are my enemy and whether it's in business or note... I ruin my enemies!" warned Strand shocking Flash and he had security called.
Flash started his superhero vigilante career as Captain Spider but Strand used the Daily Bugle Communications news network that he owned to smear him and got the police after him; especially with the security footage of him breaking in and assaulting him with the zapping him edited out. In retrospect; he didn't exactly had a clear plan about how to bring Strand to justice. Well he was beating up criminals and villains, rescuing people while thinking of ways to finally take down Electro and Sandman which were his nicknames for Strand and Boyd. Plus he was making an effort to be much nicer at school while his superhero activities were making a dent on his school grades and they were bad enough already.
Flash found himself being chased by police cars and helicopters and did his best to try and evade them; however he saw from the sky there was a black circle floating by and as if it was a portal Ohm dropped down. Flash looked to the strange looking man and jumped down to help him out; Ohmn looked his way and shouted out enraged.
"I am still not home... Spider-Man! You did this to me; you should have stayed out of my business..." Ohm snapped as he opened up a portal beneath Flash and Flash felt his Spider-Sense go off as he then fell down screaming and got out of another portal landing on top of a car. Ohm then opened up a portal underneath a truck and Flash had to dodge as it was now falling right underneath him. "Tell me Spider-Man; if I killed you then ripped off that mask then would it be Peter Parker underneath the masks? Most times when you died or were unmasked it's him!" Ohm shouted his way sending more stuff underneath portals to send at Flash.
Flash was stunned and wondered why this guy was calling him Spider-Man and why did he think that it would be Peter Parker? His former favourite target to pick on and he was doing well actually; managing to score with the pretty redhead Mary Jane Osborn. "Buddy; first of all I'm Captain Spider and I never heard of this Peter Parker guy... Why are you attacking me?" Flash shouted out trying to avoid his attacks some more and wondering how this guy got powers like this?
"Spider-Man on my world ruined my life and I have been failing to get home; I need to take my frustration out and now you are the closest that I can find..." Ohm explained as Flash managed to get close enough to web him up and knocked him out. Ohm opened up a portal beneath him and Flash had to dodge gunfire from the police and so couldn't stop Ohm from falling underneath him.
Flash then made his escape.
In his penthouse Strand was watching the news report of his nemesis Captain Spider fighting this strange new figure that DBC had dubbed 'the Spot'; as lousy as the name was this man was formidable as he gave Captain Spider the biggest fight since Strand and his bodyguard Boyd. All the other criminals that Captain Spider had fought had never challenged the so called superhero since this individual.
All the potential Captain Spider had was squandered on trying to be a hero; he had great purpose as something more. He remembered what it was like being a nobody; a common crook running away from the police in New Mexico for trying to steal mercury when he got into an experimental power plant and ended up being struck and it exploded. He emerged gaining electrical powers and managed to escape.
He took on a new identity as Carlton Strand and uses his powers to steal from banks, manipulate the stock market and kill anyone in his ways and turned from a nobody into one of the most powerful people in the country: figuratively and literally but he wanted more. He came across Boyd who was mutated in some sort of accident that involved atom mixing. He thought that he could gain more power by finding and recruiting more superhumans like them.
"Sir; look at who we found..." Boyd told him entering the room.
Strand grinned as he saw locked up and strapped behind a glass cage was Ohm; "I imagine that you could escape but I am wondering who you are and where you got your extraordinary powers?" Strand asked Ohm showing off his electrical hands and Boyd showed off his sand based fists.
Ohm sighed and explained "I'm Professor Johnathon Ohm and I was a scientist at Roxxon... I discovered a doorway to another dimension that could be used as a renewable energy source through a reactor but Spider-Man got in the way with Cloak & Dagger the terrorists... It was exploded and I was caught in it... Transformed me into this freak and I was sent to a universe not my own, I can make portals to anywhere and I have been trying to find my home Earth..."
"You are saying that you came from a parallel Earth in an another universe; you can travel between universes..." Strand asked surprised and intrigued at the possibilities but Boyd was taken aback; if he was telling the truth and there was no reason to doubt him considering what they had seen what he was capable off...
A whole multiverse of Earths to conquer and this Spider-Man must be Captain Spider's counterpart...
"Yeah; most of them different... Lost count on how many; first one I went to had Snowden as the President and another one was in black and white and it was still the 40s... One was filled with talking animals and was like a cartoon..." Ohm explained and Strand shared a grin with Boyd.
"You are still figuring this place out I bet but I think a bunch of guys like us should team up and do some good." Boyd said and Ohm managed to blink as Strand turned to his goon stoically.
"Boyd... That was terrible... Did you even hear yourself or think before you spoke?" questioned Strand with a deep sigh.
Flash's suit is the Kaine Scarlet Spider suit and sorry that the best I could come up with for Flash's origin is the Fridge trope for Sally (the term 'Women in Refrigerators' coined by Gail Simone for when female characters are killed or have something bad happen to advance the male character's story). I use much inspiration from the cancelled James Cameron Spider-Man movie one of the earliest attempts to make a movie based on Spidey. Plus remember in the last of these chapters, I said it would be a long while before any Multiverse stuff? Well...
