(Forgot to add Keemia into the last chapter, but that should be up-to-date now.)
And here we are, into the second half of the first real arc of series four of A Spider's Hero Academia!
Wow, isn't that a mouthful?
But anyway, come see how our heroes have changed and evolved since their arrival into the world of Marvel, in this latest arc:
Far from Home!
It's been two years since Spider-Man returned to his home universe, pulling many of his friends along with him, and a lot of things have happened since then.
At first, the group had tried to stick together following their arrival into the Marvel universe, despite the tensions that were growing within the group, fighting together against the Kingpin's criminal empire, the Hand alongside Daredevil, Styx and Stone's Cult of Entropy, and so on.
But then... Aunt May passed away.
It was peaceful for her. She died in her sleep, not too long after they had arrived in this universe. She had been surrounded by her friends and family as she left this world, which had been all that she really wanted in the end.
However, Aunt May's passing had caused a split within the group of travellers. Really, she had been the only thing that had been holding their circle together after all the trauma that they had gone through together, and when she died, this caused the group's bonds to begin to flicker and fade.
And eventually, they separated into their smaller groups and split up, going about their own ways in this strange new world.
Black Cat would go back to being a petty thief and burglar, but her stint would be interrupted by Daredevil, who ends up not showing as much patience as Peter had with her and throwing her in prison. However, Steve Rogers, who at this point had retired and passed the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson had recognised the skills of the young girl and offered her a deal to put her skills to some good use. Felicia would reluctantly take the deal, and she would end up becoming one of the core members of the Young Avengers team alongside America Chavez, Kate Bishop, Iron Lad, and Emperor Hulking.
Mei would take to learning under Iron Man and developing a new Iron Heart armoured suit, and would becoming one of the newest leading inventors in Stark Industries, using her knowledge of support items back from her home universe to build a partnership between Stark Industries and the X-Men in their support for mutant rights across the planet. During this time, she would also find friends in Franklin and Valerie Richards, son and daughter of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, becoming a mentor of sorts for the two and helping them foil a plot by Doctor Doom, becoming an honorary member of the Fantastic Four because of it.
Momo, with the support of her girlfriend Mei, would go on to create a third suit of Iron Spider armour, would enter into a S.H.I.E.L.D. training and education course to get herself up to speed with the Marvel universe, and would take part in the second civil war that would break out between the various heroes across the planet during the two year period of time that she was there. Eventually though, she would grow sick and tired of the fighting between the adults and, embracing her leadership abilities, go on to found her own group known as the Champions alongside fellow teenage heroes Ms. Marvel and Nova, bringing in Brawn, Viv Vision, Gwenpool, and the new Wasp, that being Nadia Pym, after the previous Wasp retired.
Izuku (Agent Anti-Venom), Ochako (She-Venom), and Keemia (Sandgirl) would end up drifting over to the X-Men and taking up their education there, becoming members of the X-Men and finding tutors in the likes of Rogue and Wolverine and Firestar (Liz Allen) and Cyclops and Kitty Pryde before she would leave the X-Men to become an independent hero known as the Shroud, and finding unlikely friends in the likes of X-23, Hope Summers, and Pickles. During their time with the X-Men, they would work with the Defenders, then currently made up of Namor, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Red She-Hulk, and White Tiger, to foil one of Magneto's plots, and they would then come to shelter and care for a group of kids known as the Runaways, helping them to defeat a villainous group known as the Pride and eventually finding them a home in the Xavier Manor.
And Spider-Man?
He would continue to swing around and patrol New York, as he always used to do. He would team up with Daredevil in taking down the Hand and preventing his mentor Stick from killing a repentant Elektra, as well as working with Moon Knight in taking down a cult and rescuing Echo from Kingpin's machinations. He would help Blade take down a Vampire conspiracy, assist Jessica Jones and the Defenders in defeating the Purple Man once again, helping Falcon, the new Captain America and the Winter Soldier in defeating Flag Smasher and the Hulk in taking down Abomination. He would also work with Kitty Pryde, now the Shroud, in destroying an army of Sentinels led by the Tri-Sentinel, helping Thor in foiling another one of Loki's many schemes, assisting in the investigation of Jean De Wolff's murder at the hands on Sin-Eater, help fight against Thanos when he invades Earth looking for the Infinity Stones, and defeating an Incursion in the form of a zombie invasion from another universe with the help of an undead version of himself.
However, since his unwilling departure from the other universe and the memory of it being ravaged by Cindy Moon and S.I.L.K., on top of Aunt May's passing, he has become quieter and withdrawn, more content to stick by himself and not engage with others. He hasn't changed out of his black suit whilst everyone else is updating their outfits, and he's not as willing to talk to others as he used to be before. His remaining closest friends from before he was sent away into the MHA universe, that being MJ, Jessica Jones, Kenny, Liz Allen (who, again, is Firestar now), Johnny, Bobby, and Kitty, try to get him to open up, but he simply chooses to pull into himself and turn away from their efforts, his mind still plagued by feelings of guilt and remorse over everything that he has gone through...
Including Twice's death at his hands.
But then, one day, on the two-year anniversary of Spider-Man's return, every hero, from the street-level to the highest ranking, receives the same message:
The authorities finally have all the evidence they need to arrest the Kingpin, the biggest crime boss in Manhattan.
The police have a warrant, and the Kingpin has a small army.
This is an all-hands-on-deck situation, and they need everyone that they can get.
Every superhero in Manhattan converges on Kingpin's compound, which he has made into a fortress and augmented with hired thugs and goons and reprogrammed Sentients to even prominent villains such as the Wrecking Crew, Bullseye, Hardshell, Typhoid Mary, the Jester, Massacre, the Bushwalker, and his primary lieutenants Hammerhead, Arcade, and the Rose. The forces of the NYPD, supported by dozens of SWAT officers and led by one Carlie Cooper (who is still suffering from Goblin mutations after an attack launched by the Green Goblin some time before the destruction of the Raft and Spider-Man's disappearance), suddenly find themselves being joined by a dozen superhero teams, from the Avengers to the Defenders to the Young Avengers to the X-Men to independents such as the Shroud and Daredevil and Spider-Man himself.
There, Spider-Man catches up with Izuku, Felicia, Ochako, Keemia, Momo, Mei, and Black Cat once more, and they begin to work together once more to take down the Kingpin.
This battle is mainly to show just how far our heroes have come in the time skip between their arrival in the Marvel universe to the present after two years, powering through villains from Bullseye to the Wrecking Crew to the corrupt SWAT teams under the criminals' command to even Hammerhead himself, all the while avoiding Arcane's various tricks and traps throughout the compound.
And then, eventually, they reach the Kingpin himself, and despite his immense strength and power, the heroes are able to overpower the Kingpin and take him down, leaving him wounded and ready to be arrested.
The Kingpin is taken away alongside his criminal underlings, and the dismantling of his massive underground enterprise can finally begin without their leader in charge. The heroes are invited to attend a party, hosted by Tony Stark, to celebrate the biggest crime bust since Pablo Escobar, but Spider-Man, having refused to change out of his costume, wants to leave as soon as he can. The only reason that he's stayed for this long is because MJ, who's now interning as a future S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, asked him to, even if it's just to make an appearance.
During this time, he catches wind of a conversation between the arrivals from the MHA universe, listening to them catching up with each other and what they've done as Mei recounters a story of how recently she, Iron Man, and the Fantastic Four had teamed up with the Silver Surfer to stop Galactus from eating the Earth and-
Keemia suddenly lets out a scream of anger and throws her glass against the floor, shattering it.
Everyone in the gala is shocked at this, including Keemia's boyfriend (Izuku) and girlfriend (Ochako), and Keemia throws her hands into the air in exasperation. Look at them! What are they doing here?! It's been two years - two years! - since they've arrived in this universe (and since she came back home), and not once have they even come close to finding a way back to the other universe! A universe that was in crisis when they left, least she needs to remind them!
They have no way of getting back, they have no way of knowing if things are okay over there, they don't even have any clue if any of their friends back home are- are still alive! And yet, instead of doing anything about it, everyone just seems content to muck about while an entire universe, and possibly even the multiverse itself, is on the verge of destruction!
And her father... her father is still there, in that universe, and she has no no idea if he's okay.
Keemia collapses to the ground, hugging herself, and the other heroes around them do their best to try and console her. She's not failing her friends by being here, and if what she's said is true, then they'd probably feel relieved if they knew that she was safe and sound away from the crisis. And despite Doctor Strange's continued inability to break through the barriers back to their home universe, that doesn't mean it's still in crisis.
Like she said, it's been two years for them here, but that means that it's been two years for them in their universe as well. And like they'd all said before, the other-Earth was saturated with heroes of all shapes and sizes. And considering the fact that Cindy Moon hasn't attacked their universe or supposedly any other universe at this moment in time, then that means that the pro heroes have probably already defeated Cindy Moon and her minions, and restored their world to a possible golden age of heroism.
Keemia's friends are going to be fine. They've probably saved the world already, in fact.
Keemia is comforted by their words, but not by much. That anxiety and worry for her loved ones in the other universe remains, as does the others, particularly Izuku, who worries endlessly for his mother and is still haunted by Bakugo's death.
And Spider-Man?
He decides that it's finally time for him to go, and he leaves, much to the protests of everyone that is present.
He takes himself up to the highest point in New York City, and takes some time to look over the city that he has called home once more.
He's stopped looking for a job of any kind ages ago, he rarely goes back to that apartment of his, and his friendship with MJ is... strained to put it kindly, considering that she's training to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Spidey has developed a trust of such agencies and organisations who claim that they are working to the greater good.
He's stopped bothering to try and live as Peter Parker a long time ago. Or rather, he stopped trying to wear the mask of Peter Parker. Now, all that's left of him is Spider-Man, and it's all that he really wants to be in the end.
Spider-Man hears someone ringing him. It's MJ, along with a bunch of missed calls from Ochako and Mei and Midoriya and the like.
He lets it go to voicemail, just like all the other calls, and promptly ignores the message left behind, just like all the other messages.
He goes back to swinging through the city, hoping that his service, that his mantle of Spider-Man will be enough to atone for everything that he has done.
(He will not have to wait, or hope, for long.)
And here we are, the actual end to ASHA: Series Four's first arc! Don't worry, I'll be going more into depth about how our heroes have been doing in the Marvel universe the next time we see them.
And can I just say that this chapter would probably have a bit more Gwenpool in it if it ever gets fully written out. Because Gwenpool is an absolute gem and we need someone like her in all our lives.
The bit with Carlie Cooper being infected with a sort of Goblin mutation by an earlier attack from the Green Goblin (back before this story began) is both a callback to her transformation in the comics, and is also my way of giving a bit of continuity to this story and fleshing out the world a bit more by showing the consequences of previous events and such, same as with Steve Rogers and Janet Van Dyne hanging up their capes and passing on their mantles as well. Unlike canon Marvel, this world is ever changing and evolving, and I wanted to show it in my own way.