The Amazing Spider-Man #1 is a nice little piece of Spider-Man goodness. The Amazing Spider-Man kicks off with Peter Parker looking for a job, and getting shot down in several interviews. However, the Parker luck reverses itself when an old school of friend of Peter’s — Brian Nehring, who the issue implies was something of a wild child with Peter in middle school — gets Peter a job at Rand Enterprises. Peter goes to visit Brian at the Rand Enterprises headquarter, reconnecting with his old friend. However, because this is Spider-Man, things go a little pear-shaped when Peter hears loud booms from outside. Looking out the window, Spider-Man sees one of his most dangerous villains causing havoc on the streets of New York City — Rhino.
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Rhino and Spider-Man have a long history with each other. Rhino has always been one of the strongest villains that Spider-Man fights, his titanic strength and invulnerable skin making him one of the biggest challenges that Spider-Man faces on a regular basis. In fact, Rhino has gone toe to toe with the Hulk himself in the past, showing just how dangerous he could be to the Wall-Crawler.
Rhino’s a Bigger Threat to Spider-Man than Most of His Foes
Back in the ’60s, Marvel was all in on American exceptionalism and the Cold War, so a lot of villains were Russian. The Rhino was one of the many Russians villains of the time. Aleksei Systevich was a Russian mafia thug who was recruited by spies. He was subjected to a life-threatening series of chemical and radiation exposure. However, instead of killing him, he was given superpowers, and soon had a special costume created, becoming the Rhino. Rhino was sent to the US to kidnap astronaut John Jameson, the son of Daily Bugle editor in chief J. Jonah Jameson. Spider-Man would get involved, having his first major battle with Rhino. Spider-Man was able to take down his much stronger foes because of two reasons — Rhino couldn’t change directions very quickly once he started running and that he was very dumb. Spider-Man, while vastly weaker than Rhino, has constantly been able to outsmart Rhino, allowing him to win the battles between them.
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Rhino would end up fighting other Marvel heroes as well, including the strongest one there is — the Hulk. Rhino and Hulk had multiple battles over the years, the two rather dim titans fighting it out with pulse-pounding pugilism. At first, Rhino could only lift about 20 tons, but since then various enhancements have seen him lift 75 tons and beyond. Rhino worked with the Leader and the Abomination in battle with Hulk, a big dumb pile of perfect henchman muscle. Rhino became one of the supervillain communities most prolific mercenaries, working with villains many times over the years. However, recently, Rhino has gone through something of a change. After the death of his mother, he started cleaning up his act a bit, surrendering himself to SHIELD and being paroled for good behavior, working with Captain America and Miles Morales to rescue his niece, teaming with Spider-Man to take down Taskmaster and Black Ant, and joining Kingpin’s Thunderbolts. He went back to villainy a few times during this period, but even Spider-Man knows Rhino has changed.
Rhino’s Latest Attack Opens Up an Intriguing Mystery
Spider-Man immediately realizes that something is wrong with Rhino during the villain’s latest attack. Rhino may be dumb, but he and Spider-Man would constantly quip at each other throughout their fights. However, this fight sees Rhino more bestial than he’s been in a long time, roaring and bellowing. Spider-Man has to think fast to take down the rampaging Rhino, leading to some gorgeous pages form Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia. However, because of his friend Brian, Peter is able to keep his new job.
Readers soon learn that the Rhino’s latest transformation may have something to do with a returning Hobgoblin, and the unease that the fight caused Spider-Man leads him to investigate Rhino’s apartment. However, his spider-sense starts going off something fierce, leading another beautiful two page spread from Larraz and Gracia. Rhino’s fate looks to be a major part of the upcoming storyline, and if this fight is any indication, Spidey will have his work cut out for him.
The Amazing Spider-Man #1 is on sale now.
