- "The Spider-Man swooped in and heroically saved an Academic Decathlon team from Queens. The identity of the masked hero is still unknown."
- ―Fox News reporting on the aftermath[src]
The Rescue at the Washington Monument, dubbed the Attack at the Washington Monument by the media, was an attempt by Spider-Man to save both his classmates and his teacher from a damaged elevator in the Washington Monument.
Background
- "No, no, no, no! Karen, what's going on up there?"
"The Chitauri core has detonated and has caused several structural damage." - ―Spider-Man and Karen[src]
Successfully managing to prevent Vulture from stealing a bag of high-tech equipment from a Damage Control truck, Spider-Man accidentally knocked himself unconscious and was trapped within the truck. Waking up hours later in Damage Control's Deep Storage Vault in Washington, D.C., Spider-Man was notified by Karen that the timer lock for the doors would not be opened for a few hours. Forced to kill time, Spider-Man took a refresher course on all the various combinations his Web-Shooters were capable of and spoke to Karen about his feelings for Liz Toomes, before being snapped out of his thoughts when Karen alerted him that only thirty-seven minutes have passed.
Deciding to take advantage of his position, Spider-Man decided to explore all the artifacts in the vault, beginning with the items that Vulture had placed in the bag. After pulling out a few items, including an Ultron head, he came across a Chitauri Energy Core, which he recognized as he had picked one up from the streets following the Skirmish in Queens. However, he was stunned when Karen revealed to him that the core was explosive. Realizing that his best friend Ned Leeds, who was carrying the core on his person, was in mortal danger, Spider-Man had Karen lower the voltage on the timer and ran through over 250 different numeric sequences before finally getting the right code. With the doors open, Spider-Man sneaked out of the building and had Karen plot out the fastest direction to the Washington Monument. He successfully managed to place a call to Leeds and attempted to warn him about the bomb, but to no avail. Desperate to save his friend, Spider-Man hitched a ride on trucks and cars before running across the Memorial Plaza and reaching the monument. As Spider-Man arrived the base of the monument, the energy core in Leeds' backpack exploded, severely damaging the elevator's structural support system.[1]
Rescue
- "Hey, don't worry. I got you."
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!"
"Hey, Big Guy! Quit movin' around!"
"So sorry, sir. So sorry." - ―Spider-Man and Ned Leeds[src]
At the base of the Washington Monument, Michelle Jones remarked that her friends were up there. Spider-Man assured her that he would handle it and leaped up to scale the monument. As he was making his way up, the security personnel at the monument helped evacuate the elevator, with classmates Abe Brown, Sally Avril, Cindy Moon and Flash Thompson safely getting out, although Thompson valued the Decathlon trophy over the lives of his peers. As Spider-Man was half way up, Karen notified him that he had less than two minutes to save them as the elevator's support system would fail, thereby putting all of the elevator's occupant in fatal danger. Spider-Man asked Karen how to get into the monument, and she activated the Spider-Drone in response, scanning the monument and notifying him that the south-west window was the optimal entry point. Spider-Man then reached the window, but hesitated as he had never been this high up before. Aware that he was pressed for time, he tried to kick the window open, only for Karen to alert him that the window was comprised of ballistic glass and therefore would only break when enough force was exerted.
Spider-Man then shot a web and tried to swing himself into the window, although he only managed to crack the glass. His efforts to save his classmates were hindered when the Metropolitan Police Department showed up in a helicopter, warning him to return to the ground immediately and threatening to open fire. Spider-Man responded by climbing to the very top of the monument and then leaped off, activating his Web Wings to glide over the helicopter while simultaneously turning in mid-air, and then fired a web to the tail of the helicopter and used his newfound accelerated momentum to crash through the glass. As he entered the monument, the elevator's cables snapped and began to plummet down the shaft; however, Spider-Man shot a ricochet web that snagged the elevator and briefly managed to stop the elevator from falling by bracing himself against the elevator doors. When the doors gave in, Spider-Man fell down the shaft and landed on the elevator, but quickly used his Web-Shooters to keep himself, Ned Leeds, Liz Toomes and teacher Roger Harrington from mortal danger. Leeds became ecstatic at Spider-Man's arrival and began jumping around the elevator, and the strained Spider-Man asked him not to move around. Using his webs as a pulley, Spider-Man pulled the elevator back to the top, allowing Harrington and Leeds to escape. However, the webs supporting the elevator broke free, sending Toomes plummeting for a moment before Spider-Man caught her with her web. As he brought her back to the top, he asked if everyone was okay while Karen advised Spider-Man to take the opportunity to kiss Toomes. However, the web supporting Spider-Man broke as well and he fell down the elevator shaft, while Harrington thanked him for saving them.[1]
Aftermath
Spider-Mania
- "This past weekend, Midtown's Academic Decathlon team defeated the country's best to win the national championship. Later that day, they also defeated death. No one was seriously injured, thanks to the Spider-Man. Thank you, Spider-Man. Up next, the Spider-Man mania is sweeping through the school! How can you show your spider spirit?"
- ―Jason Ionello[src]
Having saved the Academic Decathlon team, the parents and guardians of the students involved were notified, with Doris Toomes and May Parker driving to Washington, D.C. to see Liz and Peter. Spider-Man's public reputation increased, as he was previously only known to the Queens borough of New York City as well as through the few videos found on YouTube, with Fox News reporting on his rescue and referring to him as both "Spider-Man" and "Man Spider", unaware of what to describe him as.
Meanwhile, a frenzy occurred back at Midtown School of Science and Technology, where the already well-known Spider-Man was held in high esteem, with both faculty and students actively discussing Spider-Man's role in saving the Decathlon members in D.C. Ned Leeds asked Parker how it felt to be famous when nobody knew it was him and offered to tell everybody. Despite relishing in Spider-Man's new reverence, Parker reminded Leeds not to tell anyone. Parker then decided to skip school in order to pursue his hunt for Vulture, although he was intercepted by Morita, the school's principal, who gave him detention from skipping the Decathlon. When forced to watch a Captain America PSA in detention, Parker ditched, returning home to continue his superhero duties.[1]
Iron Praise
- "I just called to congratulate you on what you did in D.C."
- ―Tony Stark to Peter Parker[src]
A few hours later, Spider-Man tracked down Prowler in Queens and demanded to know the whereabouts of Vulture, wanting to prevent the weapons from being sold and used on the streets. When Spider-Man mentioned Delmar's deli, whose sandwiches Prowler was a fan of, he admitted that he did not want those weapons on the street either as he had a nephew who lived in the area, and notified Spider-Man that a crazy friend he used to work with was meeting with Adrian Toomes' Crew on the Staten Island Ferry at 11:00. Realizing that 11:00 was not too far away, Spider-Man made his way to the ferry terminal and used his web wings to glide onto the side of the ferry. As he spotted Shocker and Vulture on the boat, Karen notified him that Tony Stark was attempting to place a call. Despite Spider-Man's request to not connect the call, Karen did so anyways and Stark praised Spider-Man for his actions in D.C., telling the young hero that he did not have a great relationship with his father and thus did not fully know how to compliment him for a job well done, and attempted to pass on some fatherly wisdom before Spider-Man disconnected the call, wanting to prioritize and focus at the task at hand.[1]