Competition - Recap

Flilnt Marko and Alex O'Hirn are in jail after Spider-Man busted up their last robbery. Someone puts up their bail and gets them out, and outside they find Hammerhead waiting to pick them up.

Peter is trying out his web shooters in his bedroom when Aunt May knocks on the door. He hastily webs all of his junk to the ceiling and has her come in. She tells him that he's off of the curfew and suggests that he ask Mary Jane Watson from next door to the Formal. Peter still thinks there must be something wrong with her and passes on the idea, then heads off for school.

After ditching O'Hirn, Hammerhead takes Marko to a secret OsCorp facility where Dr. Otto Octavius is working on a way to fuse silicon nodules into a human body, making the subject invulnerable to harm. Using a pair of remote manipulator arms strapped to his body, Octavius hooks Marko up to his machine and prepares the experiment.

At school, Peter is trying to reconcile with Harry and Gwen when there's an announcement of fall tryouts for the football team. Peter figures there's too great a risk of revealing his powers. However, when Harry announces he's trying out and Peter overhears Flash and his gang preparing to stomp all over him, Peter decides to try out as well to protect Harry. The two of them both do well at the tryouts, running circles around Kenny "King" Kong. Kenny's girlfriend Gloria looks on from stands and is less then thrilled when he has to cheat to even have a chance of stopping them.

Norman Osborn arrives to supervise the tests and overrides Octavius when he expresses concerns. The silicon nodules enter Marko's body and then there's an energy surge and he's turned into a disfigured mass. He then collapses to the ground, transformed completely into sand. After a few moments he manages to reassemble himself in human form. Hammerhead tries to reassure the new "Sandman," but Marko figures he's better off on his own and leaves. Norman wonders what the Big Man will do but Hammerhead assures him that Sandman will distract Spider-Man regardless of whether he's working for them or not.

Sandman robs a bank and Spider-Man comes after him but runs out of web fluid in the middle of the battle. Sandman boasts of receiving his powers from the Big Man, alerting Spider-Man who has never heard of the criminal. Sandman tries to blow it off and then escapes into the sewers... forgetting his money.

The next day at school, Peter reads about the Sandman's escalating crime wave and prepares to go after him, after the second day of tryouts. He and Harry still do well, but Peter starts to secretly use his powers and outshines Harry. Harry isn't too thrilled at being outclassed. Harry invites the team to the juice bar after the tryouts with the food on him. Flash and his gang go along while Peter goes with Gwen and manages to get her to accept his apology. She tries to hint that he should take her to the Formal but he is too busy worrying about Betty and then sees the Sandman going by after hijacking an armored car. Peter apologizes to Gwen for having to go get some photos but she understands.

At the juice bar, Kenny sees his girlfriend Gloria noticing Harry and tries to play a prank on him. It works, but she's disgusted with his juvenile behavior and leaves with Harry.

Spider-Man gets on the armored truck and fights with the Sandman, and they end up crashing at a construction site. Even with a full load of webbing, Spider-Man is hard put to stop him until he spots a cement mixer. He lures Sandman to it and then fakes being beaten, so that the Sandman gets close enough for Peter to web the controls and dump the cement on Marko, immobilizing him.

When Harry gets home that night, ready to tell his parents the news, Norman notices the football helmet he's carrying and dismisses Harry as having any chance of playing football. Harry keeps silent but resolves to make the team. This time Peter lets himself fail the tryouts so Harry gets his chance to shine. Harry makes the team and ends up with Gloria, while Gwen offers Peter an ice cream cone in consolation.

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