Look, you can’t have a comic book event about a serial killer without a few deaths, right? But even with that ground-level expectation set, the second part of Marvel’s Death Spiral in Amazing Spider-Man #23 was a true shocker, killing off a 59-year-old Spider-Man villain created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. Spoilers past this point, but new villain Torment killed Herman Schultz, aka The Shocker.
…You see what I did there? I bet you did. Anyway, to break it down a little further, we first met the mysterious Torment in the Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral one-shot which set the stage for the current status quo of Spider-Man, Venom (who is Mary Jane Watson), and Carnage (who is Eddie Brock). With Carnage now knowing Spider-Man’s identity (for the sake of consistency: Peter Parker), he’s been texting on the sly with Torment, who has been working his way down the Parker and Brock bloodline on a “spiral” towards killing his ultimate prey. Carnage also learned that Mary Jane is Venom, and Torment will be coming for her, as well.
But first, it’s Herman’s turn to die. After a brief fight with Spider-Man and Venom, Herman is back home drinking a beer and surprised that Tombstone, it turns out, is a very good boss and let him off the hook for losing to Spidey and his former costume. That’s when Torment uses a barbed whip of some sort of Herman, slicing his Achilles tendons and knocking him to the floor. Turns out, Herman is distantly related to Mary Jane… He’s the son of Marrianne Sinek and Henrik Schultz, and Marianne’s sister married a Carro, and “their daughter married a Watson.”
Herman tries to get to safety, but in a final bit of ignominy for a man who shoots sound waves from his gauntlets, Torment cuts off his left hand. And yeah, the last page has Herman lying dead on the ground, his mask nailed to the wall with blood spelling out “Carnage Ruled” as a cop looks on.
In case you’re still not convinced The Shocker is dead, here’s the note from editor Nick Lowe in the letter’s page:
“Herman Schultz was ‘born’ almost sixty years ago in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #46 thanks to JOHN ROMITA SR. and STAN LEE. He’s had a checkered (quilted) past through the last sixty years, but certainly he deserved better than to be massacred by a murderer, right? Sadly, ‘deserve’ doesn’t mean much in this world, does it? Next week, in VENOM #255, we will honor Herman Schult, but tragedy’s foot stays heavy on the gas pedal, and you’ll get your first full confrontation between Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage. Did I just say ‘first’? I’ve said enough.”
So is Shocker the villain Torment kills so we know he means business and is one bad hombre, and that’s it? Or are more characters about to get offed? Heck, we haven’t had a really good Spider-Man massacre since the Sin Eater ran amok, so bring it on, Torment. The Death Spiral has just begun.
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