Appearing in "Gold Rush!"

Featured Characters:

• ⏴ Spider-Man (Peter Parker) ⏵

Supporting Characters:

• ⏴ Mary Jane Watson ⏵
• Charles Anderson ⏵ (First appearance)
• ⏴ Aunt May ⏵
• ⏴ Nathan Lubensky ⏵

Antagonists:

• ⏴ Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) ⏵

Other Characters:

• ⏴ Arthur Chekov ⏵
• Henry Trumpsley (First appearance)
• Bainbridge
• Jim (First appearance)
• Joey (First appearance)
• Lisa (First appearance)
• Al (First appearance)
• Louie (First appearance)
• Officer Sam (First appearance)
• Officer Marty (First appearance)
• Beyonder (Only in recap)
• Heroes for Hire (Only in recap)
  • Power Man (Luke Cage) (Only in recap)
  • Iron Fist (Danny Rand) (Only in recap)
• Ronnie (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Beyonders (Only in recap)

Locations:

• Earth
  • North America
    • United States of America
      • New York State
        • New York City
          • Manhattan
            • 38th Street and Fifth Avenue
              • Fisk Towers
            • Park Avenue
              • Heroes for Hire office building
            • Mary Jane's Apartment
          • Queens
            • Forest Hills
              • Ingram Street
                • Aunt May's House
      • Washington, D.C.
        • White House

Items:

• Spider-Man's Suit and Web-Shooters
• Spider-Man's Spider-Signal
• Gold Notepad (First appearance)

Vehicles:

• None

Synopsis for "Gold Rush!"

Story continued from Secret Wars II #2...

The Kingpin is woken at 2:30 am Sunday with troubling news. He places a call to the White House. As he waits for an answer, he figures out the financial worth of the current crisis and realizes that the creation of so much new gold would destroy the world economy. The Kingpin explains to Bainbridge, a government official, what must be done.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, Mary Jane Watson cannot sleep, her mind keeps coming back to the fact that she had recently revealed to Peter Parker that she's known that he's secretly Spider-Man for years.^{[Continuity 1]} She struggles with the fact that she can't be with someone that risks their lives on a daily basis, and although she is still friends with Peter she cannot shake the feelings she has for him. As she considers the strange twist of fate she finds herself in, she notices that there is a fire some blocks away and wonders what the cause of it could be.

At the site of the fire is Spider-Man, who is at the scene of the office building that formerly housed the Heroes for Hire until the Beyonder turned the structure entirely into gold. Realizing that there might be people trapped inside, Spider-Man enters the building and finds that everything except for humans has been turned into gold.^{[Continuity 2]} As Spidey searches for survivors, the few who are awake and nearby find it almost impossible to believe that a building can be turned into gold. However, before anyone can capitalize on this, the Kingpin surrounds the wreckage with 300 henchmen. As the federal government needs help with the crisis, Bainbridge has agreed to a deal with the Kingpin even though he and other officials know that they are making a deal with the proverbial devil.

Spider-Man continues to rescue those trapped in the building. Government agent Charles Anderson arrives, and explains to police that the henchmen are assisting in keeping the area secure for the military. When Spider-Man returns to the outside he recognizes the henchmen as working for the Kingpin. He also witnesses Anderson forcing the owner of the building, Henry Trumpsley, to accept a check for the building and everything in it before he is escorted off the property.

When Anderson tells Spider-Man to leave the Wall-Crawler refuses, as he can rescue the people trapped inside faster than the military. Despite being shot at, Spider-Man slips back inside, wondering what the Kingpin has to do with the recovery. As he is unable to stop Spider-Man, and needing his help, Anderson orders the men to hold their fire and let Spider-Man do his job.

As the work continues on, over in Queens Aunt May and her fiancée Nathan Lubensky mull over the financial problems they're having keeping their elderly boarding house afloat. The military arrives and begins slowly removing the gold and shipping it out of the area. A massive barrier is erected around the building to prevent people from seeing it. The official story is that a gas main explosion destroyed the building, but the press reports on rumors of other explanations.

Inside the wreckage, Spider-Man continues to pull people out of the building. Most are alive, but he finds one dead body. After bringing the body out, Spidey rests and thinks about what the Beyonder has done. Everything has been turned into gold; a discarded notebook in a trashcan is now worth a small fortune. Spider-Man considers how much he and Aunt May could benefit from something as small as a solid gold notebook, but leaves the notebook behind as it is now government property. Spider-Man's finds another person who is trapped in the building. The Wall-Crawler learns that the man is trapped because he attempted to carry out personal possessions that had been turned into gold, and that their weight pinned him to the floor. The man is unwilling to leave them until the roof begins to collapse over their head.

With the building now empty, Spider-Man is about to web-sling away when he notices a black limo pull up to Anderson. Spider-Man is shocked to see that it is the Kingpin, and becomes angry when the agent agrees to pay Kingpin several gold typewriters for his help with the building. Furious that he must struggle through life while a known criminal like the Kingpin gets free gold from the government, Spider-Man decides to get what he believes he deserves. Reentering the wreckage, he recovers the gold notepad. Exiting the building he confronts Anderson and tells him that he saw the transaction between him and the Kingpin, showing him the notepad that he intends to keep as a reward for himself. After angrily chastising the government official, Spider-Man swings off leaving Anderson to consider what they have both done.

This story and Secret Wars II continues in Amazing Spider-Man #268...

Notes

See Also

• 4 image(s) from Web of Spider-Man Vol 1 6
• 4 reprint(s) of Web of Spider-Man Vol 1 6

Links and References

References