Yu Komori is Earth-70019’s Spider-Man, a high-flying, web-shooting Super Hero who swings in to save the day.
Radioactive Beginnings
Hailing from Earth-70019, middle school student Yu Komori grows up living in Tokyo with his widowed aunt. While performing an experiment involving radioactive materials, he is bitten by a spider, and not just any spider but a radioactive one. Yu becomes quite sick and when he encounters some bullies, he finds that he’s able to hold them off thanks to his newfound strength and wall-crawling abilities. He decides to design a costume with web shooters but keeps this new development a secret.
When the criminal and cyborg Shiraishi, AKA Electro goes on a crime spree and a reward is offered for his capture, Yu decides to use his abilities to capture him and share the bounty with his crush Rumi whose mother is ill and drowning in medical bills. Yu loses his first confrontation with Electro and the cyborg escapes with stolen money in hand. His second encounter leads to the death of a scientist who helped create the villain and offers to restore his humanity for a price, hence the money Electro stole. Electro goes mad from the loss of the scientist and vows revenge against Yu, who becomes known as Spider-Man.
Spider-Abilities
Yu possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, and durability. He can also crawl and stick to walls. He designs a costume and web shooters so he can swing through the city while keeping his identity as a student intact. He can also sense danger, which manifests as a tingling sensation but it’s dampened by Mysterio’s mist.
Friends and Foes
Yu as Spider-Man battles many foes, some originally his allies, including his mentor Dr. Inumaru who becomes the Lizard. He faces off with Electro, the American wrestler and thief, Kangaroo, the Spider-Man imposter Kitagawa, AKA Mysterio, school gangs and the mob known as the Yakuza, and even those he tries to help, like Mitsuo, a young boy who receives Yu’s blood to save his life. Mitsuo becomes empowered but uses his spider-abilities to commit crimes. Yu often faces nearly killing his opponents or they accidentally die in their battles by their own mistakes, and suffers from guilt in how he handles being Spider-Man.
Yu crushes on Rumiko “Rumi” Shiraishi but keeps his dual identity as Spider-Man from her. She ends up noticing his secrecy and becomes disenchanted with him. After the villainous Mad Racer kills her, Yu mourns Rumi.
A Web-Slinger’s Story
Yu and Electro fought and after Yu struck him with a fatal blow, Yu discovered that Electro was Rumi’s eldest brother. Yu as Spider-Man became an instant hero in the media for stopping the villain, but Yu struggled with guilt for killing Rumi’s brother. However, Rumi did not hold it against Spider-Man.
Yu later helps his friend Araki whose father’s medical research company was attacked by Lizard. With Araki by his side, Yu investigated and consulted his friend and mentor, the biologist Dr. Inumaru but discovered blood in his lab. They are then attacked by the Lizard who takes Araki. Yu blamed himself and Araki’s father received a ransom from the Lizard: his son for a recently developed formula. Spider-Man committed to saving Araki and watched the ransom drop occur from afar. He saw that Dr. Inumaru pick up the ransom, which confirms that he is the Lizard, to his disappointment. Spider-Man rescued Araki from Inumaru’s crocodiles and attempted to reason with his mentor, the Lizard. He even revealed his secret identity to try and convince him to change his ways. But the Lizard wouldn’t budge and Spider-Man was forced to kill him. Following this event, Yu questioned his actions.
Spider-Man then faced public backlash after he was blamed for destruction caused by the Kangaroo, a wrestler from America. Despite his efforts to regain his positive savior reputation, the public was still against him. The Kangaroo then stole a deadly bacteria which led him to don his costume and track him down. In battling Kangaroo, he became unsettled and feared that he’d end up like the villain. Yu managed to defeat him and retrieve the bacteria, returning it to police but ended up doubting his heroic lifestyle and threw out his costume.
When an imposter Spider-Man attacked Rumi, Yu left retirement behind and donned a new costume. Soon after, he faced Kitagawa, AKA Mysterio, who dedicated himself to stopping Spider-Man’s criminal activities. Mysterio beat Yu as Spider-Man but survived and saved a young bystander injured in an escape from the police. Spider-Man faced Mysterio again, defeating all his gadgets, and discovered that he was the Spider-Man imposter which results in restoring his reputation. Yu’s secrecy however drove a wedge between him and Rumi.
Yu then went up against a gang at his school when he saved a young girl from them in his civilian identity, leading him to be associated and accused of being part of the gang. He discovered that one of the assailants is the Kendo team captain, Mikawa. After going up against Mikawa and defeating them and their team, Yu got them to confess to their involvement in the gang, clearing his name.
Later, Yu fought an American veteran who killed several people and injured others after a shooting rampage. He then fell into high-school student Inumaru’s drug-dealing gang, seemingly unrelated to his former mentor, Dr. Inumaru. Their relationship was short-lived though when Inumaru fled from police and was killed by them.
He also encountered the Winter Woman responsible for killing others by freezing them, but he was the only one that could see her. Her powers seemed to drive Yu mad and when he was about to kill her, she ended up throwing herself from a bridge, unable to deal with the deaths she caused. Yu later freed a civilian while held captive by revolutionaries and nearly killed the group’s leader but stopped himself.
After the Mad Racer killed Rumi, Yu joined the police to help catch the villain. He trained with Taki Shogo in cycling to be able to keep up with the Mad Racer. He soon discovered that Shogo was the Mad Racer himself and in confronting him, he caused his car to crash. The police then shot Shogo and Yu mourned the loss of Rumi.
When Yu donated his blood to Mitsuo, a young man in need, Mitsuo developed spider powers. Though Mitsuo used his powers to commit robberies and caused injuries to police officers. Spider-Man confronted him and while Mitsuo promised to be different, Spider-Man soon found out that Mitsuo lied and stole from him, specifically taking his web shooters and spider-suit. Mitsuo avenged his family, who was ruined by a steel company, by attacking the company. When Yu came face-to-face with Mitsuo, he threatened his sister’s life, Yukiko, who Yu grew to love. Mitsuo’s powers drove Yukiko insane. She begged Yu to kill her but his refusal sent her over the edge and she became unreachable. Mitsuo forced her into prostitution and as such Spider-Man fought Mitsuo, a battle that ended with his powers fading and his death.
A new telepathic teacher at Yu’s school, Miss Miwa, inspired the students to hurt themselves. Yu learned that she had killed other students in the past and in the process of investigating her, became paranoid and fearful. Amidst Yu’s classmates becoming corrupted by her influence, he became Spider-Man and confronted Miwa. She admitted she lacked control over her powers and allowed herself to be killed by police.
Yu then became involved with a mob group known as the Yakuza after an invisible beast mauled a man who died in Yu’s arms. The Yakuza were after a young singer who wasn’t adhering to the mob’s demands. Yu tried to protect her from the mob’s assassins but found that the invisible tiger, who later became visible, was a manifestation that she created. After battling mobsters, the singer died from her injuries.
When the Inheritors were killing Yu’s Multiversal counterparts, AKA Spider Totems, Yu joined the Spider-Army against the threat on Earth-001.
