WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Sinister War #1, by Nick Spencer, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, John Dell, Andy Owens, Brian Reber and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Peter Parker's life has been more complicated than ever lately, and it's about to get even worse with the beginning of Sinister War. Spider-Man's worst enemies have all come together to battle the wall-crawler and each other, and what started with a deal with the devil has now cost Peter everything he loves all over again. No matter how much they take from Peter in their quest for vengeance, though, they'll never be able to do more damage than the past few years already have.
Peter Parker is happy playing second fiddle to Mary Jane during another one of her many red carpet events, although the happy couple don't get to enjoy their evening for very long before it is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the Savage Six. They aren't the only supervillain team hunting him, however, and the Sinister Six join the fray as well. As shocking as all of this is, Peter is caught even more off guard by the revelation that Mary Jane has been working with Mysterio, and that his longtime enemy has apparently gained her trust. The former spider-villain seems to have turned over a new leaf and genuinely wants to help, a desire which itself has been brought on in large part by learning the truth about what has led to this moment.
Ever since making a literal deal with the devil back in 2008's Amazing Spider-Man #545 by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada to trade his marriage with Mary Jane in exchange for Aunt May's life, Peter Parker's own life has been a rollercoaster ride of incredible highs and unimaginable lows. The piece of Peter's soul that was lost to Mephisto is one thing, but it is not all he has given up in recent years.
Not only did Peter lose much of the tech empire he had built for himself during Hydra's takeover of the United States in Secret Empire, but he has even had to give up on his most recent professional endeavors with the online news outlet Threats and Menaces in his pursuit of the Lifeline Tablet. This same hunt for the pieces of the tablet also cost him his best friend, the reformed villain Boomerang, who betrayed Peter for the artifact recently in Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: King's Ransom by Nick Spencer, Rogê Antônio, Carlos Gomez, and José Carlos Silva.
Now Peter is helpless to stop yet another of his loved ones from being ripped away from him as Mysterio disappears into a cloud of green smoke with Mary Jane. This at least gets Mary Jane away from the fray, even if it doesn't offer any help to Spider-Man in the face of over a dozen bloodthirsty foes.
Unfortunately, this is what Kindred has wanted from the very start. Watching Spider-Man's life fall apart around him as slowly and painfully as possible was always Harry Osborn's ultimate goal, at least since he clawed his way out of Hell. Then again, it is hard to imagine that anything Kindred had planned for his old friend could have come close to the amount of heartache that Peter has been through recently.
As it currently stands, there might not be anything left for Kindred to take from Spider-Man but his life, although there is already plenty of competition in that regard. With any luck, Peter will be able to find what he needs to overcome this battle before he's left with nothing at all.