Like Super-Villains Weren't Enough Trouble

Peter Parker's worked as a photographer quite a bit over the years. For the Bugle, the DB, the Front Line, the mayor's office, I think he worked for the Globe for awhile, and Jameson's NOW Magazine. I was wondering how many rivals he's had at work.

He's had a lot of lousy bosses. Jameson, obviously. Dexter Bennett, more recently. Norman Osborn owned the Bugle for awhile in his attempt to make Parker's life unhappy. Thomas Fireheart (the Puma) bought it to try and rehab Spidey's image and pay off a debt of honor he felt he owed the webslinger (which presented different nuisances to Pete), and every comic I read that had Kathryn Cushing as his editor gave the impression she didn't like him for some reason.

For rival employees, I could only think of 2, maybe 3. I'm not sure Ned Leeds counts, because I think their friction was more "you dated my wife/you're married to one of my-exes who I still care about", or maybe it was due to Ned gradually coming unhinged from the mental manipulation the Hobgoblin was using on him. So I'm not sure he counts.

The other two were Lance Bannon and Nick Katzenberg. Oddly, they were killed off within a year of each other. Bannon died because he discovered who was using something called the F.A.C.A.D.E armor*. Katzenberg died of lung cancer (Amazing #385). That one was kind of strange because I don't think they'd used him in awhile, then Pete bring MJ to the hospital to see Nick, hoping Nick's condition will make her stop smoking**. Which it does, so it was a Very Special End of an Issue that had mostly been Spider-Man beating up those armored dimwits, The Jury***.

To a certain extent, both characters conflicted with Pete because they were more willing to give Jonah what he wanted - pictures that make Spider-Man look bad. beyond that, Bannon's issues with Pete were ego-driven. Lance thought he was the best photographer around, and Pete was just some untrained (well-, self-taught, anyway) schmoe whose pictures didn't deserve publication in the same paper as Bannon's. Which doesn't mean Lance never said anything nice about Parker's work. he complimented the angles Parker takes, while simultaneously criticizing his compositions, but it's something.

Nick's problems with Parker are less about their craft, more about ethics. Nick likes to frame his pictures to make Spider-Man look bad****, or try to blackmail people with his photos, or use them as leverage to keep Jonah from giving Pete a job. Parker's just someone in between Katzenberg and a paycheck. Until Peter nearly strangled him in an elevator, at which point Nick decided it was personal. Not sure what form that took.

Those were the only two I could think of.

* I know I wasn't buying all - or even most - Spider-Man comics back then, but I'd never even heard of this story, or the bad guy. I'm not sure it was ever revealed who F.A.C.A.D.E. was, one of those stories that got lost, dropped, whatever.

** When MJ figures that out, she yells at Pete and leaves the room. Pete thanks Nick, but figures it didn't work. Nick's response is 'Look at it this way, Parker: Either she'll come around or pretty soon I'll have me a roommate! *heh*' That Katzenberg, all class, right to the end. I also like the dialogue suggests Pete's been visiting Nick regularly, because it's nice that he'd do that even for someone he was adversaries with for so long.

*** 3 issues later, Peter's fake parents died. 10 issues after that, Pete has a near-death experience after ingesting a serum formulated by Doc Ock to cure Spidey of a virus the Vulture infected him with, and sees Katzenberg floating about what Nick describes as the lower astral plane, waiting to find out where he goes. 2 issues after that, Aunt May died and Peter was arrested for multiple homicides (committed by Kaine, conveniently during the two weeks Spider-Man was in a grave thanks to Kraven, thus robbing Pete of an alibi). The early '90s, huh? Crazy stuff. Can't say they didn't keep things hopping.

**** I suppose it can be argued Pete does this as well, except he uses his photos to make himself look good (though he's been known to sell Jonah photos he knew would make him look bad because he needed the cash and he could deal with the negative publicity). His defense could be that his more accurately reflect what happened than Nick's do, though Nick's have an element of truth as well, if he focuses on the property damage that results from Spider-Man beating Goliath, rather than Spider-Man stopping this rampaging giant criminal.