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Background
Peter Parker was the biggest nerd at Midtown High School, until Charlie
Wiederman showed up. Unlike Peter, Charlie came from an abusive family and was
even more awkward. In gym, even the unathletic Parker was able to easliy score
against him while playing volleyball. Peter tried to be his friend, and he
visited Charlie in the hospital after he tried out a "super soldier" serum on
himself. Still, he got no sympathy from the creeps at school. They waited to
beat him up. Every. Day.
One day, as three guys were trying to hustle him for five dollars, Charlie
tried to pull a knife on them, but Peter made him drop it. The coach saw the
knife and Peter said it was his Uncle Ben's, lying to protect Charlie.
Peter managed to not get expelled because he was such a quiet student and
because Uncle Ben lied and backed up his story.
Charlie was still getting targeted by the jocks, but he had a crush on one of
the cheerleaders. A jock set him up to talk to her, but as soon as he told her
she was beautiful, she told him that her boyfriend thought so too. She then
kissed the guy that got them talking, who then tore off Charlie's gym pants.
Wiederman never forgot that humiliation. He tried to get even by slashing the
guy's car tires, but that just got him in more trouble.
He ran to Peter's house for help, but the bullies followed him, and got into a
fight with Uncle Ben. After they left, Ben asked Charlie a simple question: Did
you slash their tires? He lied, and Ben knew it. He then told Charlie that he
was no longer welcome at his home and Peter was to no longer associate with
him. Soon after, Charlie's dad got a new job and they moved to a new town.
Peter didnt hear from Charlie until years after high school.
Charlie had become a military scientist, and was working on an indestructable
metal "suit" that would be applied directly to a soldier's skin. He had run out
of research money and needed Peter as a reference to get a grant from Tony
Stark. Peter agreed, and Charlie got his grant, but only because he lied and
said Peter was part of the research team. Peter was called by Stark's secretary
and was shocked to hear that they believed he was working on Charlie's
experiment.
He confronted Weiderman, and found that he was making dangerous shortcuts while
working on the metal. Peter refused to let his research continue, because if
something went wrong, everyone thought he was part of the team. After he left,
Charlie rushed production of the metal, which caused an explosion and leveled
the building he was in. It also coated him with the indestructable metal.
After the police and firefighters arrived at the scene of the accident, Charlie
woke up and, in a panic, killed two of the fire fighters. He ran to Peter's
apartment, begging him for help. He demanded that Peter get money so he could
do more research to get the metal off of him, but Peter refused, telling him
that he wasnt thinking clearly. At that point, Weiderman smashed his wall,
telling him that if he didnt help him, he would kill everyone Peter knew.
He ordered Peter to go to the bank and cash a check from Charlie worth all of
his money. He would then meet with him at the bank after he cashed the check
and would kill Peter and everyone around him if he didnt do as he was told.
Peter agreed and immediately told Aunt May and Mary Jane to find a
hotel until everything was blown over. Meanwhile, Charlie was watching the news
coverage of his story and he saw one of his old bullies talking about him to a
reporter. In his increasing delusions, he saw the guy and his beautiful ex-
cheerleader wife talk trash about him. He quickly murdered them.
Spider-Man was waiting for Charlie at the bank, and a battle ensued. Much to
Spidey's regret, Weiderman was completely emotionally unstable and got stronger
as he got angrier. Charlie got away and made a visit to Aunt May's house. He
also found Spider-Man at Peter's apartment, which he was burning. Spidey
escaped, but collapsed in an alley from smoke inhalation. While he was
unconscious, he dreamed that he was back in high school, hearing a lecture
about vibranium.
Thats where he got his idea to stop Charlie. He made a quick stop to see Tony
Stark and then went to find Weiderman. That wasnt hard, he jsut followed the
sirens. He managed to drag him to Stark Industries, and threw him to a highly
pressurized atmosphere machine. The high pressure caused the vibranium to
solidify, encasing Charlie in his suit. He would live for the rest of his life
as a statue, being fed just enough to be alive. Checking on May and MJ, Peter
heard the horrible news. While at May's home, Charlie set it on fire. It was
burned to the ground.
Rescue came in the form of Tony Stark, who offered to let Peter, Mary Jane and
Aunt May live with him at Stark Towers. While this seemed like a dream come
true, it soon turned extremely dangerous after Stark decided to become the
enforcer of the Superhuman Registration Act. Peter was given little choice but
to go along with the Act, as he also unmasked to the public. This out him under
constant attack from many of his enemies, such as Chameleon, Doc Ock,
Vulture, Francis Klum, Venom, Sandman and Kingpin. Fisk had
an especially devestating effect on Peter, when he hired a sniper to shoot
May.
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