Showing posts with label Mysterio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mysterio. Show all posts

Sunday 9 April 2023

The Parker Family Home

 

A very long time ago a young and eager fan wrote a but if a deep-dive into the layout of Mayday’s Room. Today, an older, more cynical, and time-poor fan writes a potted history of the Parker Family Home.

 


 

This will not be a definitive, exhaustive look at every appearance of the Parker residence. The aim of this post is to provide some history and context to the home now owned and occupied by Peter, Mary Jane, May, and Benjy Parker in the MC2 by looking at its published history.

 



Let us start with some background and details about the house. Located at 20 Ingram Street, ‘a quiet street in the Forest Hills section of New York, is the neat frame, two-story house’ (Amazing Spider-Man #316-#317, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1) which was owned by the bootlegging criminal Dutch Mallone during the prohibition era of the 1930’s.  The house was eventually surrounded by treasury agents led by Eliot Ness and Mallone was sent to prison. Rumours abound that Dutch had hidden away millions of dollars somewhere (in his house) that was never found (Amazing Spider-Man #200, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #50-#51).

 



At some point, Ben and May Parker moved into the home and later their nephew Peter came to live with them after his parents died (Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5, Amazing Spider-Man Family #2). Unless I am mistaken, we have never seen a flashback to a younger May and Ben moving in to Forest Hills.

 



Now, for the more straightforward stuff. The Parker House first appears in Amazing Fantasy #15 when we are introduced to Peter’s Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Sadly, after Ben’s murder, May struggles to afford the rent and Peter sets out to earn money to help, and eventually uses money he earned from his Spider-Man pictures to pay off the rent for a full year (Amazing Spider-Man #1-#2).

 


 



We get an iconic look at the house in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, the layout and appearance of which is fairly consistently maintained by future artists.

 

 

 

When Peter is offered the opportunity to move in with Harry Osborn in an apartment, he worries about leaving his Aunt May alone, until she reveals Mary Jane’s Aunt Anna has asked her to move in. Notably, Peter suggests May could sell the house to live comfortably for the next few years (Amazing Spider-Man #46). This implies May now owns the home…so perhaps they were doing ‘rent to buy’ and finished paying it off? Either way, after this we do not see the Parker House for a long time.

 



A detour now, because after a few appearances of what must be Anna Watson’s House including the time where May takes in Doctor Octopus as a boarder while Anna is away resulting in the house being badly damaged during a super-battle (Amazing Spider-Man #53-#55), we later see May lives in an apartment building that may be in Forest Hills and later appearances suggest Anna lives there too (Amazing Spider-Man #110). For anyone who’s interested, their address is given as ‘124-05 24th St Queens, NY’ (Amazing Spider-Man #119) after May runs away to stay with Doctor Octopus, and it’s later referred to as their ‘Forest Hills Apartment House’ and ‘Apartment Complex’ on occasion including when May protests the removal of rental-control on the building (Amazing Spider-Man #167, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #2 and #7).

 




 
















Jumping around a bit, it seems the only time we actually glimpse the Parkers House is in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 during a flashback to Peter moving a trunk to the basement only to discover articles about his parents Richard and Mary’s deaths and the accusation they were traitors. This presumably means May had neither sold nor rented out her old home, though perhaps this was her clearing things out.

 


This would change in Amazing Spider-Man #170 where we witness a scene of a realtor showing the house to someone who is very interested in the premises and agrees to rent it. Notably, the realtor mentions May still owns the home and will use the rent money as a pension.

 


This proves true, as after suffering a heart attack during a protest in Amazing Spider-Man #176 and an eventful extended hospital stay, May Parker leaves for Restwell Retirement Home in Amazing Spider-Man #189. While May settles into the Retirement Home, her Forest Hills house is entirely trashed by her tenant who is searching for something. We learn this is The Burglar who shot and killed Ben Parker when he shows up at Restwell seeking information from May Parker, threatening the Home’s Dr Ludwig Rinehart (an alias of Quentin Beck aka Mysterio) (Amazing Spider-Man #193).

 


 


The Burglar reveals he was looking for something when he entered the Parker Home and shot Ben Parker, but he cannot extract the information from May with her nephew Peter visiting so often. The disguised Mysterio offers to deal with Peter and secretly plans to do the same to The Burglar once he learns exactly what he is after (Amazing Spider-Man #194).

 


The criminal Mysterio, maintaining his disguise as Dr. Rinehart, enacts his plan by faking May Parker’s death to ensure Peter would no longer be around to interfere, sending him a note informing him his aunt has died (Amazing Spider-Man #195). Notably, Rinehart even mentions that May was using her home to pay for her stay at Restwell and asks if Peter wants to make arrangements for this. Peter makes a trip to his childhood home only to discover it has been ripped apart which leads him to realize he recognizes the name ‘Rinehart’ (Amazing Spider-Man #196).

 





With Peter Parker out of the picture, The Burglar tells ‘Rinehart’ what he is after; Dutch Mallone’s hidden millions. Turning the tables, Rinehart reveals himself as Mysterio and tells The Burglar of his Nursing Home scam: ensuring the residents’ wealth and properties are signed over to him so he profits when they pass away. However, having learned of The Burglars plan to find the hidden millions, Mysterio changes his plan and captures him. Spider-Man makes his way to Restwell Retirement Home and battles Mysterio who now technically owns the Parker’s house. Their fight continues at Spider-Man’s old home in Forest Hills where Mysterio is now searching for Mallone’s treasure, before returning to Restwell where Spider-Man is rendered powerless with a dart full of ‘depressant’. Mysterio apparently cuts his losses and escapes as he does not appear in the following issue (Amazing Spider-Man #198-#199).


 







 


Meanwhile, The Burglar escapes his bondage and Peter returns to his Aunt May’s old home and decides to solve the mystery. Paying a visit to Anna Watson next door, Peter asks about the tenant living in May’s house but she can only suggest he ask the rental agency. Peter does so and learns the name of the tenant: it is The Burglar who killed Uncle Ben. Piecing things together, Peter learns the story of Dutch Mallone’s treasure, the reason The Burglar went to the Parker’s home the night he shot Uncle Ben (Amazing Spider-Man #200).



 


The still depowered Peter returns home only to be captured by The Burglar, who reveals that Mallone shared a jail cell with him and had spilled the location of the treasure while talking in his sleep. Eventually taken to the warehouse where Spider-Man first captured The Burglar, Peter learns Aunt May is alive before fighting The Burglar, who dies of a heart attack after Peter shows him he is Spider-Man. In the end, May reveals to Peter that she and Ben had found a box of Mallone’s while pulling down wallboards, but it’s contents had long ago been eaten away by silverfish. The whole event was for nothing. Presumably, with Mysterio’s scam revealed, and May still alive she would retain ownership of her old house (Amazing Spider-Man #200).

 

 






Still recovering from her recent illness and kidnapping, May returns to Restwell Retirement Home (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #38). While there, she meets and begins a relationship with fellow resident Nathan Lubensky (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #47).  May mentions she wants to move back into her home and turn it into a boarding house in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #68. Nathan and May attend a leaving party at Restwell in Marvel Team-Up #120 before unofficially opening her home for boarders in Marvel Team-Up #124. Almost a week later May obtains a special licence as a special-status landlady from the tax authority. We learn that along with Peter and May, Nathan has also invested his own savings to convert May’s house into a boarding house (Amazing Spider-Man #238).

 










May and Peter are targeted by Mysterio in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #50-#51, who returns still seeking Mallone’s treasure. Peter reveals the truth about the treasure being destroyed by silverfish, though Mysterio naturally initially does not believe him. Peter continues to assist May’s boarding house financially, as seen in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #78.


 



 


Much later, the now married Peter and Mary Jane Parker are evicted from their Bedford Towers home on Christmas Eve and forced to move in to Aunt May’s boarding house. Peter struggles with this as he feels he has long since outgrown the situation and it compromises his self-image as an adult. After being offered a room behind a gym by Flash, Peter visits Uncle Ben’s grave and finds Aunt May there which finally makes him realize he should accept her offer (Amazing Spider-Man #314).

 








Having learned Nathan has heart failure and only about six months to live, May considers phasing-out her boarding operations. Peter and Mary Jane are offered a loft above Harry and Liz Osborn’s own place in SoHo (Amazing Spider-Man #321). The couple move out of May’s place in Web of Spider-Man #57 and the other boarders begin to find other accommodations, with the last moving out in Amazing Spider-Man #326, leaving only May and Nathan in the house.


 




Nathan dies after an encounter with The Vulture in Amazing Spider-Man #336 and following his burial, when Peter and Mary Jane offer to have May stay with them for a while but she says she must get used to living alone again (Amazing Spider-Man #337). While May does find a new companion in Willie Lumpkin, she seems to continue to live alone.


 


Let us skip ahead to Amazing Spider-Man #391 where May, alone and filled with pent up emotions after a visit from Mary Jane, collapses to the ground and fortunately found shortly after by a returning Mary Jane.  It is revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #392 that May has suffered a stroke and fallen into a coma. After some weeks in hospital, May regains consciousness (Web of Spider-Man #123) and returns once more to her home in Forest Hills (Amazing Spider-Man #400).

 






While back in her own house, May deduces that hero daughter-in-law Mary Jane is pregnant (with the aptly named May ‘Mayday’ Parker aka Spider-Girl)  before spending a week with her beloved nephew Peter and, during a trip to the Empire State Building she reveals she’s known for years Peter was secretly Spider-Man. Finally, at home in her bed, May says her last goodbye to Peter. Peter recounts May reading Peter Pan to him as a child as she passes away peacefully (Amazing Spider-Man #400).


 






 

It is worth noting that May’s death occurs amid the Clone Saga and her hospitalization was the impetus for Peter’s clone brother Ben Reilly to return to New York City after five years in self-imposed exile. Ben also observes his aunt’s passing unseen and unable to be present, a truly tragic moment (Amazing Spider-Man #400).

 



Peter and Mary Jane eventually move to Portland and during the events of Spider-Man: The Final Adventure, Peter loses his spider-powers. Meanwhile Ben Reilly assumes the role of Spider-Man. When the expectant couple return to New York, we learn that Anna Watson has begun getting the Parker’s House back into shape (Web of Spider-Man #127) for them. They move in to the house (Amazing Spider-Man #413, Spider-Man #70) and shortly after they are joined by Anna Watson who moves in to help them with their coming baby (Amazing Spider-Man #417).


 






A side note; the Parker House’s address is given as ‘309 Austin Avenue, Forest Hills in Spider-Man #70 when Mary Jane calls 911 for an ambulance when Peter has a seizure. This is not the only instance of a different address for the house, but given the prominence and recurrence of ‘20 Ingram Street’ I am going to stick with it instead.

 


During the Revelations arc, Peter and Ben spend some quality time together in the attic, sorting through their old belongings (Spectacular Spider-Man #240). This would be their last happy moment together before Ben dies fighting the original Green Goblin aka Norman Osborn (Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75).  Of course, Mary Jane and Peter’s baby May is declared stillborn in Amazing Spider-Man #418. This is part of a horrific plot afoot and in the MC2 she is eventually returned safely to her parents thanks to Kaine (Spider-Girl #48-#49).

 



Before parents and child are reunited, Peter and Mary Jane mourn their loss. As part of this process, Mary Jane repaints the nursery in their home and decides to enroll at Empire State University, and Peter considers returning to complete his masters degree (Amazing Spider-Man #419). In the MC2, we know that Peter did, in fact, do this as he is referred to as ‘Doctor Parker’ and works as a police scientist (What If #105). Mary Jane’s studies also appear to have been successful, as many years later she accepts the position of guidance counselor at Midtown High School (Amazing Spider-Girl #8-#10, #16).


 



Now we can look at the MC2’s established history involving the Parker’s Family Home. We know Peter and Mary Jane continued to live in the house after the MC2 diverged from the Main Marvel Universe, as seen in stories set during Mayday’s early life including the Mr. and Mrs. Spider-Man story seen in Amazing Spider-Man Family #1. There, Mayday is left with Anna Watson when Peter and Mary Jane leave for dinner with the Connors only for Spider-Man to have to battle The Lizard. It appears Anna Watson also continued to live in the house during Mayday’s infancy, though it is possible she was just staying there to babysit in Amazing Spider-Man Family #2.

 


 

The Parker Family remain in their Forest Hills home throughout the MC2’s entire publication run from What If #105 to Spider-Girl: The End. It is worth pointing out that Anna Watson does not make any appearances in the present-day MC2, so not only does she no longer live there, she may have actually passed away.

 


Perhaps the most notable appearance of the Parker Family Home in the MC2 was when Peter and baby Benjy were kidnapped by the current host to the Carnage Symbiote. Carnage left destruction in his wake and a message scrawled in blood (Amazing Spider-Girl #10).


 



The Parker’s attic is, somewhat fittingly, a reoccurring location of some significance. It’s where Mayday learns of the events surrounding her father’s final battle with the Green Goblin and the loss of his own leg. It is also where Mayday finds her Uncle Ben’s costume and web-shooters before heading out to save her father (What If #105/Spider-Girl #0). Mayday would return here on occasion to seek a costume (Spider-Girl #7) and eventually Peter would teach his daughter to make web-fluid there using a makeshift lab (Amazing Spider-Girl #20).

 












In closing, I hope the significance of the humble abode of the Parker’s is not lost on readers. While for a long stretch of time after Peter and his Aunt May moved out the home ceased to hold any relevance it has since become a major part of the not just the Spider-Man mythos, but that of Spider-Girl’s own. Acting as a point of safety and stability, there really is no place like home.

 

 

Until I figure out if Peter paid out the remaining mortgage or if May and/or Ben had just a little left to pay off on a rent to buy scheme, I remain

 

frogoat