The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #6 and Savage Spider-Man #5, available now from Marvel Comics.
Despite the overwhelming popularity of his career as a superhero, Peter Parker has managed to make a life for himself outside of being Spider-Man that is almost just as amazing. Peter has always been more than just a costumed vigilante, and his innate genius has seen him overcome many seemingly impossible situations. Along the way, his propensity for finding ways to meld the two sides of himself has been the source of plenty of problems. Not the least of which has come in the form of a string of long-running obsessions on the part of some of Marvel's greatest evil geniuses, and the reason why is even sadder than the fact that so few of them will ever get over it.
Amazing Spider-Man #6 (by Zeb Wells, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Wade Von Grawbadger, Cliff Rathburn, Marcio Menyz, Dijjo Lima, Erick Arciniega, and VC's Joe Caramagna) is far from the first encounter the titular hero has had with the Living Brain. Though the villain's new form is also far from anything he has ever seen before. No matter how modern the Ultra Living Brain's new form might be, the mechanized menace has returned with a burning desire that goes all the way back to its very first appearance. In a bid to answer the question of who Spider-Man really is, the upgraded villain kidnaps the Wall-Crawler's friends and foes before unleashing an amalgam of the latter upon its enemy.
By the time the dust has settled, it is clear that the answer to the Living Brain's question lies within Spider-Man's undying empathy. This stands as a stark reminder of why Spider-Man has become such an indelible part of the Marvel Universe, yet it is also the reason why so many other villains of the same caliber have made him a target. Savage Spider-Man #5 (by Joe Kelly, Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava, Chris Sotomayor, and VC's Travis Lanham) gave fans what might be the most prominent example of this when Peter was turned into an overly logical, near maniacal monster.
With the help of the Mad Thinker, who had been the mainframe for Baron Zemo and the Immaculatum's plot, Spider-Man stood poised to remake the world in his own image. Thankfully, Peter was able to regain enough of his humanity to lay that plan to rest. In the process, he drew both the ire and inquiry of the Mad Thinker. Though they shared a common ideal at the time, Spider-Man's empathy could not be quelled even after it was stripped away from him on a psychological and mechanical level. More shocking than that, when Mad Thinker vowed to make Spider-Man his greatest enemy going forward, Peter solemnly promised to still do everything he could to help him.
In spite of everything his enemies have put him through, Peter has remained steadfast in his mission to protect those in need, even when those people are the same ones who would strike him down under different circumstances. It is a confounding principle to Spider-Man's hyper-intelligent foes, most of all because they are acutely aware of the hero's own genius. While their perceived superiority has manifested in narcissistic, frequently cruel ways, Peter's similar intellectual status hasn't made him any less empathetic. For this, many villains have made opposing or dissecting Spider-Man a central theme in their lives.
Of course, the few enemies of Spider-Man who have managed to worm their ways into his mind in a bid to unravel his deepest secrets have all emerged from the experience completely changed. Following Doctor Octopus' time as the Superior Spider-Man, the iconic villain's legacy permanently became one of unwitting heroism. Otto wasn't necessarily redeemed or reformed by his experience, but there is no question that it forever altered the course of his life across the multiverse. It may seem counterintuitive, but the best way for Spider-Man to fight his worst enemies might be to let them simply pick him apart piece by piece.