Adrian Toomes' Campaign was a series of events in which Adrian Toomes, who began living a criminal lifestyle after the Department of Damage Control drove him out of business, came into conflict with the costumed superhero known as Spider-Man.
Background
Losing It All
- "So now the assholes who made this mess are being paid to clean it up."
- ―Herman Schultz[src]
Immediately following the Battle of New York in 2012, salvage company owner Adrian Toomes received a contract from the city to take part in the massive clean-up job.
Around the same time, the S.H.I.E.L.D. branch Damage Control was purchased by Stark Industries and the federal government, who later renamed it the "U.S. Department of Damage Control". Under what the government referred to as Executive Order 396-B, any and all post-battle cleanup would fall under the Department's jurisdiction.
While cleaning up Grand Central Terminal, Toomes was approached by the Department's director Anne Marie Hoag, who relieved him and his colleagues of their duties. When Toomes attempted to argue with her, Hoag advised him to speak with Tony Stark about the contract.
As he was watching the news report, his crew member Randy Vale notified him that they still had a truck load of alien weapons that they were supposed to turn in, as per Damage Control's legal request. Toomes' friend and employee Phineas Mason, an engineer who often tinkered with the Chitauri weapons they salvaged, remarked that it would have been cool if they were allowed to use the alien tech to create stuff. Realizing that the world had changed and that they must adapt to survive, Toomes deemed Mason's idea to be sound and told his crew to keep the alien stuff.
A Booming Business
Adrian Toomes becomes the Vulture
Using the Chitauri weapons they kept, Phineas Mason created an exo-suit for Adrian Toomes to wear as well as a Matter Phase Shifter, which allowed a surface to become intangible. Using the exo-suit and the phase shifters, Toomes stealthily hijacked Damage Control trucks and stole few Chitauri tech under the radar. Mason then combined the alien tech with human engineering to create hybrid weapons, which they used to improve their own equipment as well as sell on the black market for a profit. As more superhuman battles occurred, such as the Battle of Greenwich and the Battle of Sokovia, the Dark Elf and Stark Industries technology left behind were recovered by Damage Control and periodically stolen by Toomes, who declared to his crew that business was good.
Selling Illegal Weapons
Jackson Brice sells guns to Aaron Davis
- "Yo, this high-tech stuff makes it too easy! Told you it was worth it."
- ―ATM Robber[src]
Over a period of four years, Adrian Toomes' Crew continued to create hybrid weapons and sell them to local criminals on the black market for profit. Jackson Brice and Herman Schultz, two crew members who were former members of Adrian Toomes' salvage company, were tasked with meeting and selling the weapons. While Schultz kept his composure and liked to remain below the radar, as Toomes expected them to, Brice had a habit of giving potential buyers public demonstrations, firing the hybrid weapons out in the open as well as using a modified gauntlet to destroy cars while calling himself the Shocker, an act Toomes likened to being akin to a professional wrestling antic.
Robbery at Queens Community Bank
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Spider-Man is shot with an Anti-Gravity Gun
- "How did jerks like you get tech like this?"
- ―Spider-Man[src]
Sometime in 2016, Adrian Toomes' Crew successfully sold an Anti-Gravity Gun to four criminals, who used it in an attempt to steal large sums of cash from the Queens Community Bank branch on 21st Street. However, their actions were spotted by Spider-Man, who nearly succeeded in thwarting them. Although the criminals managed to escape with the cash and their weapons, the encounter alerted Spider-Man to the fact that alien tech was being sold on the streets, a fact he alerted Happy Hogan to, although Hogan did not take his complaint seriously.
Campaign
Skirmish in Queens
Jackson Brice tries to subdue Spider-Man
- "Look, times are changing and we're the only people selling these high-tech weapons."
- ―Herman Schultz to Aaron Davis[src]
After Spider-Man crashes an arms deal between Shocker and Prowler, the former, along with his partner Herman Schultz attempt to flee, only for Spider-Man to continue pursuing them. Realizing that they are having trouble losing their tail, Schultz calls in Vulture to deal with Spider-Man. As Vulture manages to successfully prevent Spider-Man from tailing them back to their base, the skirmish leaves a Chitauri core in the streets, which Spider-Man gains possession over, as well as leads Vulture to realize that Shocker is not a reliable crew member. After being fired, Shocker threatens to expose Vulture's operation, prompting Vulture to murder Shocker and appoint Herman Schultz as the new Shocker.
Attack on the Damage Control Truck
Vulture, Randy Vale, Tinkerer and Shocker traveled to Maryland, where three Damage Control trucks were driving in tandem on a lone road. Aiming for the last truck, Vulture used the Matter Phase Shifters to infiltrate the truck and place certain items in a bag. While exiting the truck, however, his heist was interrupted by Spider-Man, who stole the bag. However, Spider-Man, along with the bag, fell into the opening, with the impact of the landing dislodging the Matter Phase Shifters and closing the opening. With no way to get back into the truck, Vulture was forced to return to the base empty-handed.
Rescue at the Washington Monument
Returning to their headquarters, Tinkerer notified Vulture that while they had enough materials left to complete their next order, they would be unable to fulfill the rest as they did not acquire the necessary equipment from the truck. Seething at the heist's failure, Vulture remarked how for years they had performed their heists without anybody noticing, including the federal government or the Avengers, but that all of a sudden their livelihood was being thwarted by Spider-Man. As Vulture declared his intention to find Spider-Man and kill him, Shocker responded that he found Spider-Man and pointed to the television, where a news broadcast announced that Spider-Man had saved the Midtown School of Science and Technology's Academic Decathlon Team from certain death at the Washington Monument. Vulture's mood immediately shifted to one of care and concern, as his daughter was one of the students there.
Skirmish on the Staten Island Ferry
Vulture battles against Spider-Man
- "You're messing with things you don't understand."
- ―Vulture to Spider-Man[src]
Spider-Man made his way to the Staten Island Ferry where he intervened Vulture's group and his new buyer Mac Gargan. Spider-Man easily took down his enemies using multiple types of webs. Spider-Man was then confronted by Vulture and the two engaged in a short fight before a Chitauri weapon malfunctioned causing several beams to shoot out, splitting the ferry in half and letting the Vulture retreat.
Spider-Man quickly acted and webbed the two parts of the ferry together. He then tried to pull the two parts together himself by pulling on the webs, the other webs started to break off causing the the ferry to continue to sink. Suddenly Iron Man arrived with several mini repulsor-powered thrusters to assist in pushing the two parts together, repairing the ferry and saving everyone.
Ambush on Peter Parker
Shocker furiously attacks the Spider-Man
- "He gave you a choice. You chose wrong."
- ―Herman Schultz to Spider-Man[src]
After discovering that his daughter's date, Peter Parker, was actually Spider-Man, Vulture offered Parker a deal; if Parker forgot they had ever met and never again interfered in their business, he would spare his life and the lives of his loved ones. However, Vulture contacted Shocker and told him to remain posted outside Midtown School of Science and Technology in case Parker did not adhere to their deal. When Parker ran out of the school, dressed in his homemade suit in order to apprehend Vulture, he was immediately punched by Shocker's Gauntlet.
Shocker warned Spider-Man that Vulture had offered him a choice but that he chose the wrong decision, and proceeded to hurl Spider-Man through a bus. With his Web-Shooters detached, Spider-Man was unable to defend himself until his friend Ned Leeds, who had followed him out of the dance, had snagged Shocker's gauntlet with the discarded Web-Shooter, allowing Spider-Man to disarm Shocker and trap him against the side of a bus.
Hijacking of the Stark Cargo Plane
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Duel at Coney Island
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Aftermath
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