UNCANNY X-MEN #35: Along Came a Spider...!

The X-Men fight Spider-Man for... reasons.

Originally Published August 1967


We begin this week's adventure in the Alps Mountains of Central Europe, where Banshee has been doing some pro bono work for Professor Xavier, trying to locate the hidden base of Factor Three.

Now, some of you chuckleheads out there might be thinking that he should probably already know where they're located since he used to work for them, but let's not forget: Banshee was coerced into working for them, so he probably had limited security clearance.


No sooner does he locate their mountain base than he is attacked by a mechanical spider-type creature and knocked unconscious. But before being abducted by the F3'ers, he is able to fire off a vaguely-worded warning to his allies, the X-Men, to "Beware the Spider."

You see where this is going.


A Factor Three Mechanical Spider™  does indeed touch down in Westchester, but encounters not five young mutants in brightly-coloured tights but one young non-mutant in brightly-coloured tights:

In costume as Spider-Man, he manages to take care of the robot, which then self-destructs, leaving not a trace to prove the fight ever happened.

The X-Men, in full "Beware the Spider"-mode, arrive on the scene a moment too late to see any metal spiders (or in this case, something with a bunch of legs that can sorta be called a spider...) and take the offensive on the only spider on the scene, leading to a 4-on-one fight scene (Jean had stayed home to continue monitoring the radio.)

The group fights to more or less a standstill until Jean gets in contact and reveals that Cerebro is no longer on alert, which means Spider-Man probably isn't the bad guy. Spider-Man declines to hug it out with his opponents, who jet off in Professor X's Rolls Royce.

The X-Men learn that Factor Three is located in Europe and resolve to go searching after the Professor there. To be continued!

Further Thoughts:

One of my favourite writers-on-comics, Chris Sims, had a very good article recently about the nature of hero-on-hero fights, the gist being that they are irresistible because both sides are designed to "win."


But in the end, that's why these things are always disappointing: the lead-up has to be so contrived, full of nonsensical logical leaps and lacks of communication (from your theoretical protagonists) and they never really get a resolution: the last time the X-Men fought another group of heroes, it was when they had to spar with the Avengers to kill the bulk of the an before taking two panels to knock out Lucifer.


The main attraction then has to be, the excitement of actually seeing Spider-Man in action against four X-Men, but the fight doesn't really distinguish itself, and the rural setting - near a literal old abandoned mill - doesn't exactly play to Spidey's strengths.


Well, at least we're marginally closer to learning what the deal is with Factor Three. Small consolation...