Dark Web: Finale Reviews/Spoilers

[Rift]

Okay, let's see what kind of train wreck they pull out next

Chasm and Janine/Hallow's Eve are having a good Christmas, what with them destroying New York and ruling over Limbo. To celebrate, they plan to march a parade of demons onto the city.

Maddie and Spider-Man argue about who gets to take Ben down. Maddie thinks Pete can't do it now that Chasm is powered up, but Peter points out that Ben hates him so much, it makes Ben stupid. Also, Ben's whole plan about making Peter eat evil fruit was stupid, to which Maddie agrees. The X-Men and Maddie agree to fight off the demon horde while Spider-Man and Rek-Rap go after Ben and Eve.

The demons march, but the X-Men show up to fight them! Also the art is suddenly worse.



They do battle with the Insidious Six, Ben's demon minions. Synch isn't even synching with anyone, he's just punching one of them. Maddie shows up, but a monster-fied Eddie Brock sides with her. (She mind-wiped him and he liked it, you see. In retrospect, I probably should have covered the other issues at some point.) Eddie Brock, now called Bedlam, happily murders demons.

Peter takes on Ben while Rek-Rap faces Eve. The X-Men can tell that they're just wasting time with the Six, so they have Magik transport them away.

Havoc meets with Maddie and Bedlam, who are now staring down every demon in Limbo, who now follow Ben. Luckily, the X-Men show up to help them. Jean calls Maddie family, which makes the latter give her a weird look.



Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Rek-Rap are getting their asses kicked. Ben says, "You wouldn't share your life with me, Peter. But I have your city!" He'll have everything and Peter will have nothing ... Except his friends! Because Gold Goblin and my former girl, Ms. Marvel, show up to help him.

Maddie is overcome by demons, but she flies into the air and is now wearing her original Goblin Queen outfit. Impressed by her cleavage, the demons now bow to her and accept her as their queen. She says if that anyone still denies her, she'll eat their face.

Ben and Janine fight Norman and Kamala, but are soon outnumbered by the forces of Limbo. Ben gets his ass kicked. Eve and Chasm know they won't win, but Janine refuses to leave Ben behind. Not wanting her to get hurt, Ben uses Maddie's scythe to transport her away from the battle.

Ben's losing the fight, but he talks about how he all he knows is pain. Maddie says that she sees his pain, and knows that he needs to be stopped. Magik swoops in and smacks him, allowing Maddie to reclaim her scythe. She's back in her new outfit.

Unfortunately, Ben is still too strong to defeat. That is, until Hellion flies in. See, the Academy X kids were planning pitching a Limbo-based mini where they work alongside Magik, as a throwback to that Limbo arc in New X-Men vol 2. But since these jerks stole Limbo from them, they need to come up with something new. Furious, Hellion slaps Ben so hard with his prosthetic hands, Ben loses consciousness.

So Ben is defeated, and Scott wants to take him into custody to pay for his crimes. But Maddie says that she sees his pain and recognizes him as a citizen of Limbo. She will see him answer for what he has done, but on her own terms.

Flash forward to Spring, and Peter is visiting Ben in what looks like a jungle by some waterfalls. He's been cleaning up Ben's mess, but hasn't been able to find Janine or Rek-Rap. But he wanted to see if Ben is alright. Ben still hates him.

Peter is asked to leave Ben's cell. (It was created by demons, who had a confused idea of torture.) Maddie explains that Ben confessed his crimes, and she's awarding his repentance. She's through holding grudges. She opens up her arms to anyone rejected, starved, or in need of healing. To give them a home.

Maddy has up an embassy for Limbo in New York, and Alex seems to be working with her now. Though this is just a temporary set-up, as they're planning on giving the embassy over to the Academy X kids for their mini.



And Peter never shared his memories with Ben. Mads came out of this smelling like roses, while Ben is in a worse position than when he started. But he's not an X-character, so I consider this a happy ending.

Notes:

• I coulda sworn Maddie's alias was Goblyn Queen, with a Y. I remembered that because I thought it looked stupid. But I couldn't find anything about this on the Wiki, so maybe I just imagined it.
• Rejoice, Spider-Fans! Pete got his butt kicked yet again, and wasn't even the one to stop his enemy. Other people did it for him.

[Huntsman Spider]

We're not rejoicing. Not at all. That said, this was hugely disappointing. Your review --- and your unabashed love for Hellion --- did get me to smile a little, though, so . . .

[Devaishwarya]

That Embassy tower is fucking ugly. The least Maddie could have done was make it look like a "normal" skyscraper...just with the Limbo colours (which I actually like)

[JB]

Great recap as always, Rift. I'm glad Hellion saved the day.

Maddie's awkward smile just cracked me up because I think I made the same face when I read Jean saying she's family. Like what? Hahaha. Agreed with Deva, that is one ugly ass building. The mailbox is cute though.

[Rift]

That Embassy tower is fucking ugly. The least Maddie could have done was make it look like a "normal" skyscraper...just with the Limbo colours (which I actually like)

I like the tower, but I'm wondering what the hell they're going to do with it. It's such a big, noticeable thing. But there's no way most books are going to acknowledge or this giant demonic building, despite it standing out like a sore thumb. Imagine if it ends up being forgotten in the annals of comic history.

[Outburstz]

Hold up what is the Embassy for exactly for the citizens of Limbo? Trust me I will never turn down Acadamy X kids content but how do they factor in to Limbo.

When they traveled to Limbo it wasn't exactly a good experience for them. Prodigy got stabbed half the kids split up and Pixie was force to give up a part of her soul

oh wait you trolling I'm dumb lol

[Rift]

Hold up what is the Embassy for exactly for the citizens of Limbo? Trust me I will never turn down Acadamy X kids content but how do they factor in to Limbo.

When they traveled to Limbo it wasn't exactly a good experience for them. Prodigy got stabbed half the kids split up and Pixie was force to give up a part of her soul

oh wait you trolling I'm dumb lol

Look, most of them have been in limbo since New X-Men ended. They're used to it by now.

[Kingdom X]

This was not great. Currently feeling more appreciative of the X-Men tie-ins cause at least that brought Maddie from point A to point B character development wise. Ben is still acting petty after all this. Speaking of, I don’t get why Maddie and Jean didn’t offer to use their telepathy to help Peter share his memories with Ben.

The Limbo Embassy was a bit much. Maddie should be at the very beginning of her redemptive journey and she spent this whole issue acting real big and bold for someone who caused most of the problems in this event in the first place. I saw someone post an idea that LaVelle could use the embassy, Maddie, and Havok in his third series which could be cool.

[justanotherclassic]

I really feel for Ben Reilly fans. This was not a great event for him. I'm also echoing the question why Maddie and Jean couldn't help Peter share his memories. I feel like Maddie's redemption created some plot holes. And while I'm glad Madelyne got redemption, it feels like she got off way too easy this event.

Also...I don't love Madelyne vibing in a Limbo embassy. It seems almost too much of a copy of Jean vibing in the Krakoa embassy. I was hoping for something to set her apart more.

[HomoSuperior]

I now feel dumber and poorer for having read this story.

[Frontier]

This was not great. Currently feeling more appreciative of the X-Men tie-ins cause at least that brought Maddie from point A to point B character development wise. Ben is still acting petty after all this. Speaking of, I don’t get why Maddie and Jean didn’t offer to use their telepathy to help Peter share his memories with Ben.

The Limbo Embassy was a bit much. Maddie should be at the very beginning of her redemptive journey and she spent this whole issue acting real big and bold for someone who caused most of the problems in this event in the first place. I saw someone post an idea that LaVelle could use the embassy, Maddie, and Havok in his third series which could be cool.

This really could have all been resolved if characters actually communicated and acted like real people instead of like Supervillains to justify a mediocre comic book event.

But I guess Maddie got her redemption story so she gets to get a pass for that. Ben Reilly? Not so much.

[Vegeta]

I love that the demons would only acknowledge Maddy after she switched back to her superior original Goblin Queen outfit.

[Steroid]

For me at least it is now safe to say that this event was unnecessary and just all around bad.

[Kurolegacy]

This really could have all been resolved if characters actually communicated and acted like real people instead of like Supervillains to justify a mediocre comic book event.

But I guess Maddie got her redemption story so she gets to get a pass for that. Ben Reilly? Not so much.

Worst part is, now that Peter is actually trying to sit down to help Ben, Ben’s decided to be passive aggressive and petty. Like, dude, now that Peter knows exactly where you are he’s extending an olive branch to help you and you’re being pissy despite him showing he care runs contrary to how you think he is towards you. Of course it really doesn’t help that even at the end the 2 people who could easily fix Ben are right there and they ignore that solution.

[Lukmendes]

This was not great. Currently feeling more appreciative of the X-Men tie-ins cause at least that brought Maddie from point A to point B character development wise. Ben is still acting petty after all this. Speaking of, I don’t get why Maddie and Jean didn’t offer to use their telepathy to help Peter share his memories with Ben.

The Limbo Embassy was a bit much. Maddie should be at the very beginning of her redemptive journey and she spent this whole issue acting real big and bold for someone who caused most of the problems in this event in the first place. I saw someone post an idea that LaVelle could use the embassy, Maddie, and Havok in his third series which could be cool.

I really feel for Ben Reilly fans. This was not a great event for him. I'm also echoing the question why Maddie and Jean couldn't help Peter share his memories. I feel like Maddie's redemption created some plot holes. And while I'm glad Madelyne got redemption, it feels like she got off way too easy this event.

Also...I don't love Madelyne vibing in a Limbo embassy. It seems almost too much of a copy of Jean vibing in the Krakoa embassy. I was hoping for something to set her apart more.

Honestly, I would at least say that Spidey wouldn't want Madelyne anywhere near his head.

Even if she's "good" now, she still caused this invasion, he does not have any real reasons to trust her with his secret identity.

On the other hand, unless he's in a really bitchy mood about keeping his secret identity, letting Jean know to help out Ben should be fine (And that's assuming she doesn't know already, sometimes characters know his identity even though he didn't reveal it to them onscreen, like Cap).

And honestly, if I didn't know about the embassy before I read the issue, I'd burst out laughing when it showed up at the end.

Madelyne is the reason the invasion happened, and the ending talked like she forced US of A to let her make that embassy, and it's treated as a happy ending.

It's certainly a happy ending for Madelyne, but still, the fucking audacity.

This really could have all been resolved if characters actually communicated and acted like real people instead of like Supervillains to justify a mediocre comic book event.

At the very, very least, Madelyne doesn't want to beg as she claims in Dark Web: X-Men, and it's slightly more understandable for her to not expect the X-Men to help her 'cause they have a bad habit of ignoring she exists lol.

Ben though? He's just being stubborn...

But I guess Maddie got her redemption story so she gets to get a pass for that. Ben Reilly? Not so much.

They're way too forgiving with Madelyne in this...

Like, I know that villains who turn into "heroes" get away with too much usually, but, still, she caused this invasion to begin with, it feels like she's forgiven too fast lol.

Also, the way Madelyne said "Ben fully confessed to leading the attack on New York City." makes me scratch my head the more I think about it, like, did Ben only confess that he was leading the invasion during its very end, or did he "confess" by saying he led the invasion from the beginning? It's vague in a way that can make Ben into a colossal scapegoat...

Worst part is, now that Peter is actually trying to sit down to help Ben, Ben’s decided to be passive aggressive and petty. Like, dude, now that Peter knows exactly where you are he’s extending an olive branch to help you and you’re being pissy despite him showing he care runs contrary to how you think he is towards you. Of course it really doesn’t help that even at the end the 2 people who could easily fix Ben are right there and they ignore that solution.

I think not wanting to give Ben his memories is somewhat understandable if he shows no desire to stop being evil, but that's about it...

Honestly though, while what's going on with Ben can make it look like he's being treated decently, he's still in a cell alone with his thoughts, the guy really needs to go to a therapist, those issues he has are not gonna be solved by mostly alone with only an occasional visit.