The Sinister Six Returns in Latest Spider-Man Issue

Something sinister this way comes in Amazing Spider-Man. Ever since Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 introduced the Sinister Six — Doctor Octopus, Sandman, Electro, Mysterio, the Vulture, and Kraven the Hunter — the wall-crawler's greatest foes have periodically reunited to team-up against their common enemy. And while the roster has changed, their collective goal has remained the same: kill Spider-Man.

This weeks Amazing Spider-Man #45 (legacy #938), written by Zeb Wells with pencils by guest artist Carmen Carnero, sees Peter Parker and his amicable ex, Mary Jane Watson, visit Anna Watson at the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane. (MJ's Aunt Anna suffered from KDS, Krakoan Derangement Syndrome, and was institutionalized after she tried to treat her dementia with Krakoa medicines hacked by the anti-mutant organization Orchis.) 

Meanwhile, Dr. Curt Connors oversees his own prisoner in the subterranean bowels Oscorp: the Living Brain, the world's most advanced thinking computer, siloed inside a digital cleanroom. When Peter spots William Baker — a.k.a. Flint Marko, a.k.a. the Sandman — he tells the reformed supervillain he's a "friend of a friend." William explains he turned himself in because he's prone to acting out as Sandman, his powers kept at bay by a sonic inhibitor that dampens his sand form. William tells Peter that Flint Marko, the bad part of him, wants out "to do bad things." But the Sandman isn't the only one he's worried about. "I need you to tell your friend. Tell Spider-Man," he says. "They want him out too."

The issue's final page reveals "they" are Doc Ock, Mysterio, Electro, Vulture, and Sergei Kravinoff's cloned offspring, the Last Son of Kraven, who has assumed his father's mantle as Kraven the Hunter.

But it was another villain who brought the Sinister Six back together in the milestone 900th issue of Amazing Spider-Man, when the Living Brain created the "Sinister-Adaptoid": a Super-Adaptoid with the combined powers and abilities of the Sinister Six. 

Spider-Man and the original Six briefly joined forces to defeat the Sinister-Adaptoid, but Sandman quickly abandoned the team when they then turned on Spider-Man and conspired to kill him and the Living Brain. Spider-Man ultimately had to shut down the Brain, but with a promise that he would find somewhere to keep it safe along with everyone else.

When Doc Ock returned in Amazing Spider-Man #27, he upgraded his metal appendages with a new set of tentacles comprised of hundreds of his Ocktoid bots. Spider-Man defeated Doc Ock with his own upgraded tech — courtesy of a reformed Norman Osborn, cleansed of his sins as the Green Goblin — and with help from Octavius' old arms. 

But the Ocktoids escaped with their master, who eventually resurfaced in Superior Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #1. Doctor Octopus only has hazy memories of his time as the Superior Spider-Man — when he placed his mind in Spider-Man's body — but after his former lab assistant Estrella Lopez sought her revenge on Ock as the fiery supervillain Supernova, he remembered Peter Parker's secret identity.

Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus joined forces to rescue Ock's former love, Anna Maria Marconi, from Supernova — only for Ock to try to swap his mind into Peter's body a second time to once more become the Superior Spider-Man. But Peter resisted, and Ock confessed that he needed the Superior Spider-Man to save Anna Maria. Peter then told Ock that the hero she needs... is Doctor Otto Octavius.

Stay tuned, true believers! Amazing Spider-Man #45 is on sale now from Marvel Comics; Superior Spider-Man #5 is on sale March 27.