Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

FLIPSIDE versus SPIDER-MAN

Bugaboo (Marvel)
Where: Spider-Man 2099 #30 When: April 1995
Why: Peter David How: Roger Robinson

The Story So Far...
In the year 2099: corporations battle for control over market share and literal dominion of entire districts. That's the fate of the town of Nightshade when it comes under attack from Alchemax Corporate Raiders!

The Spider-Man of the future does his best to rescue innocent townspeople and Nightshade's defenders, but soon finds himself caught in the hostile takeover, and a building rigged to explode by Alchemax Headhunters!

His unconscious body discovered in the rubble; Spider-Man is taken back to the lair of Packrat and his forager gang, where they force him to work on dormant technology discovered in an old research bunker. Little do they realise the faceless machine in their possession is an old AIM Adaptoid and its about to activate!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Spider-Man 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Flipside 6 (Generator)
Agility: Draw 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Draw 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Draw 2 (Projectiles)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

The future of 2099 is filled with technological marvels, but sometimes you just can't beat the classics!

Flipside is a relic from the 20th century: an adaptoid stored in an old Advanced Idea Mechanics research bunker, with a database of heroic references, everyone from Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, to the Fantastic Four and X-Men.

When the Spider-Man of the future happens to pass its scanners, it can't quite determine the identity of the new hero.

Split between possible matches for Spider-Man and Venom -- the adaptoid manifests a bizarre hybrid, becoming the violently psychotic cybernetic synthesis of the classic quipping Spidey and murderous lethal protector! A red & blue Spider-Man looking like a dollar store knockoff of the real web-slingers.

Miguel O'Hara was a gifted geneticist working for Tyler Stone and the Alchemax Corporation, but when he attempted to resign after reluctantly participating in failed DNA manipulation experiments, he was dosed with a highly addictive hallucinogenic drug in an attempt to keep him dependent on the company.

In an act of desperation, Miguel used the genetic coding process on himself to purge the addictive gene-drug, imprinting himself with the properties of a spider, with a little interference from a saboteur.

Miguel gained enhanced strength, speed, agility, as well as retractable talons on his fingers and feet, spinnerets able to project webbing from the backs of his wrists, and fangs that secret a non-lethal paralytic substance.

Needing a costume made from unstable molecules to accommodate his new physical characteristics, he dons a novelty death's head costume purchased while on vacation in Mexico, and becomes the Spider-Man of the year 2099!

How will the future's Spidey fare against a strange concoction of past reference? At this stage he hasn't had the time-bending adventures that will bring him face to face with his predecessor, so we'll just have to find out for ourselves!

The Tape: Spider-Man Ranking: Draw (Not Ranked)

What Went Down...

With the bodies of scavengers piling up in front of him -- Spider-Man snatches Flipside by the wrist before it can kill the gang's leader Packrat.

His attempt at glib banter backfires when Flipside takes it a little too seriously and grabs him by the head -- slamming him face first into the chest cavity made by the gang's shotgun blasts.

The cybernetic psychopath begins self-repairing its wound, pivoting to slam Spider-Man against the wall while its body slowly works to suffocate or decapitate the wall-crawler.

Quick thinking with taloned feet gives Spider-Man a foothold on the adjacent wall, but all he can manage to do is bridge to his trapped head and push desperately against Flipside's torso.

Failing to escape -- Spider-Man's body falls limp and he begins to consider giving up, but to die in such an undignified way? Not this time!

With an all mighty thrust Spider-Man jams his taloned fingers into Flipside's torso, pulling at a vital energy wire, while gaining the necessary purchase to at last pull his head free!

Flipside is able to reroute power temporarily, but quickly goes on the offensive to reclaim the vital power cable!

Spider-Man dodges his charging doppelganger and wraps the power cable around its cybernetic throat.

There may be no windpipe to squeeze, but the tightening cable gives Spider-Man a leash to bring Flipside to a hard stop -- and slams him to the ground!

Spider-Man keeps on the offensive, using the tether to swing Flipside into the machine-lined walls.

"Stop it! Don't you--! You got it... backwards! You're the one who wanted to die... Not m-- EEEEEEEEEE!"

With one final rotation, Spidey swings Flipside by the cable until his head pops off and his cybernetic body goes flying into the wall, bursting into a light show of explosions across his broken joints and torso.

The Hammer...

The leader of the forager gang excitedly declares Spider-Man the winner -- even as he draws his gun on the wall-crawler who just saved him.

Packrat will have a change of heart and allow the hero to walk out of their lair, but that isn't the only twist of fate. By the time Spider-Man is well clear, Flipside will have reassembled itself, presumably waiting to cause more harm to the ranks of the foragers.

We don't actually know what becomes of Flipside. Although the original run of Spider-Man 2099 is chock full of high-octane action, it doesn't feature the regular rotation of a rogue's gallery, which means we've never seen Flipside again.

With a design that screams repainted bootleg toy, I'm not sure we particularly needed to see more, but the potential to expand upon this basic premise is somewhat interesting. Flipside could've become more deranged and enhanced with 2099 technology had he become a recurring villain, or perhaps drilled deeper into its roots as a 20th century hangover from Advanced Idea Mechanics.

In five issues the series will actually introduce its own 2099 host for the Venom Symbiote, making the cracked mirror version of Flipside all the more obsolete. 11 issues after that the series will be over, concluding a forty-six issue run that doesn't actually feature as many memorable superhero fights as you might expect. A contributing factor in today's selection.

We featured Miguel O'Hara as Hero of the Week back in 2010 [via 1up.com], but I was finally inspired to formally open the file on the 2099 Spider-Man ahead of his upcoming featured appearance in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

The Oscar Isaacs voiced future Spider-Man will lead an army of Spider-Men (and Women) against Miles Morales in the animated sequel to Into The Spider-Verse.

I've got mixed feelings about all of this muddying of the Spider-Man brand, and exceedingly lackadaisical mainstream approach to the "multiverse", but it seemed appropriate to parlay the festivities into an interesting look back at Marvel's foray into an ultra science-fiction future, and a forgotten "spider" who probably won't make an appearance in the movie's encyclopaedic references.

If I have greater misgivings now about the increasing focus on multiple Spider-Men than I did back when this issue was on stands, it's in part because of the experience of Spider-Man 2099, and an appreciation for the discipline more contemporary versions continue to lack.

Launching an entire imprint's worth of titles dedicated to a world more than 100 years in the future was a tricky proposition. Leveraging the name recognition of characters like Spider-Man gave the concept an easy hook, but it demands the balancing act of living up to that, without becoming a redundant also-ran.

The double-edge sword didn't cut quite so deep back then. Readers still regarded new and exciting ideas with a premium, and publishers weren't quite so hyper-dependent on clinging to established brands and retreads.

The balance Marvel was able to strike got it somewhat right, creating an almost completely original vision for their new characters and the future-world they occupied. It was arguably much stronger for maintaining its individuality and separation from the mainline titles.

Of course, fans will always be tempted to wonder what the passing of a century will mean to their favourite heroes and villains, and I have to acknowledge: there could be some joy in exploring the corners of a future directly connected to our present. A series tracing and revealing how things have changed, along the lines of the unfolding Marvel Universe found in a series like Mutant X, but Marvel 2099 did a wonderful job of resisting that low hanging fruit.

2099 wasn't just the Marvel Universe with some neon lights and cyberpunk makeovers. There are fun occasional nods -- like a persistent religion dedicated to Thor, and a United States President who may or may not be the genuine Victor Von Doom -- but for the most part they remain focused on creating a wholly original experience, without grafting 2099 to every familiar friend & foe.

That discipline makes it a little more interesting in general, and noteworthy when something familiar does show up, like a winged scavenger answering to "Vulture", or an old adaptoid adopting a strange amalgamation of contemporary characters.

I suspect Flipside, the soon to arrive Venom 2099, and Goblin were all symptoms of the series' rapid approach towards cancellation, but into its fourth year, it at least felt like these references were well earned. Moreso than later incarnations that leaned directly into the more obvious cycle of repeating the past.

On that note: Flipside didn't return, but I do note that he reminds me of a similar concept published a few months later -- the ill-fated FBI agent Joe Wade, who became a second Scarlet Spider after the genuine article destroyed the virtual reality machine he was strapped to, and became bound to a hard light hologram.

Perhaps we'll explore the cybernetic Scarlet Spider another time. For now: you can catch up on all the featured fights by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winner: Spider-Man
#359 (new) Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara)
#1004 (new) Flipside