Hours after his involvement in the Kingpin/Schemer feud, Spider-Man, still groggy, swings home to fi nd Harry, Gwen, and Captain Stacy waiting for Peter. Retrieving civilian clothes from his apartment without detection, Peter enters, obviously bruised and ailing. He allows his friends to believe he was beaten up by Spider-Man, and they depart, with Gwen upset over the apparent danger of Peter’s “association” with Spider-Man. Meanwhile, the Black Widow, who has designed a new costume and weapons to commemorate a new life after parting with the Avengers, wonders if she can somehow acquire Spider-Man’s powers. She swings through the city on her web-line, prompting J. Jonah Jameson’s irritation over an apparent Spider-Man imitator. Jameson quarrels with Spider-Man himself soon afterward when the hero swings by while trying to dispel his malaise. After checking on May and Anna, accidentally frightening his Aunt who glimpses him at the window, Spider-Man is attacked by the Widow. Still unsteady, Spider-Man is slow to react, and the Widow binds him in her web-line, heckling him over her rapid victory. Annoyed, Spider-Man easily breaks free and jams her wrist-shooters with his webbing. Assuming he was toying with her, the Black Widow departs, concluding Spider-Man’s powers are not something she can duplicate. Having exhausted his strength, Spider-Man cautiously returns home with the growing conviction he is losing those powers.