But Mark didn't have any intention of intervening to help.
Compared to the bosses other Spider-Men would face on their paths of growth, Dr. Lizard was quite tame.
At best, he was just a low-level boss in a beginner's area.
Such an inept boss was best left for Andrew Spider to handle on his own.
If you don't defeat monsters and accumulate experience properly, how will you level up to face even tougher bosses?
For instance, the combined forces of Electro and the Green Goblin?
And despite the fact that Andrew Spider's neck was ensnared by Dr. Lizard's tail, and they had just gone through several rounds of a "Hulk smashing Loki" scene on the ground...
In reality, as long as Andrew Spider maintained his composure and exerted force with his hands, he could completely free himself from the tail's grasp.
Worst case scenario, he could simply break Dr. Lizard's tail!
However, at that moment, a slender figure with golden hair stealthily approached the battle scene from a nearby building.
Gwen Stacy!
As it turned out, she couldn't bear to see her boyfriend in danger and felt the urge to help.
Mark was somewhat speechless.
Originally planning to arrive in the second part of this timeframe to rescue someone, he had accidentally arrived too early. But he hadn't expected to get a chance to save someone here as well.
Thunk!
Gwen Stacy held a heavy fire axe in her hand. She forcefully swung it, aiming at Dr. Lizard and striking him heavily.
Indeed, "striking" is the right word.
The fire axe was simply too heavy for her to control with her strength.
So, when she swung it, it veered off slightly. She only managed to hit Dr. Lizard lightly.
While this strike didn't manage to harm Dr. Lizard, it did attract his attention due to the sudden impact behind him.
Dr. Lizard suddenly turned around, his teeth bared as he looked at Gwen Stacy. "Gwen!"
Gwen Stacy was startled, and the fire axe dropped heavily to the ground.
Dr. Lizard took a step forward, extending his right claw to grab Gwen Stacy.
However, his move was doomed to fail.
Swish—
A strand of web shot from nearby, sticking to Gwen Stacy and yanking her forcefully.
"Who!" Dr. Lizard was somewhat annoyed by his own failure. He glanced in the direction Gwen Stacy was being pulled away.
High above on a tall building, a figure leaped down, intersecting midair with Gwen Stacy who was being pulled upwards.
Subsequently, another individual, dressed in a red and blue Spider suit, appeared on the ground.
Mark, who had reluctantly intervened, gently put down Gwen Stacy, whom he had been carrying in a princess hold.
Gwen Stacy looked at him puzzledly. "Thank you. Can I ask who you are?"
"You're welcome. I also know a girl named Gwen," Mark replied.
Then, he looked over to Dr. Lizard and Andrew Spider's direction, shouting loudly, "If you keep acting, we're doubling the training for today!"
What?
Double the training!
Andrew Spider widened his eyes in shock.
Thinking about last night's training, then doubling it, he shivered all over.
Quickly, Andrew Spider extended his hands and grabbed hold of the Lizard's tail wrapped around his neck.
"Ahhhh—"
He exerted a sudden burst of strength, and his arm muscles seemed to swell up by a whole inch.
Following that, a somewhat gruesome scene unfolded.
Dr. Lizard's recently regenerated tail was once again torn off!
But unlike the previous time when it was voluntarily severed, this time it was forcibly ripped off!
The two severed tail segments crashed heavily to the ground, wriggling incessantly.
Simultaneously, blood continued to spurt out from the severed end, splattering on the ground and on Andrew Spider's suit.
Taking advantage of the situation, Andrew Spider landed on the ground and took a few deep breaths. After that, he distanced himself from Dr. Lizard.
"Great, Mark, you're here too. How about we team up? But let's not hurt him, just subdue him," Andrew Spider approached beside Mark, his tone excited and rapid.
Until now, he was still focused on not harming Dr. Lizard.
"I think you should go to DC, not be in the Marvel universe," Mark quipped.
"DC? Marvel? What do you mean?" Andrew Spider asked, confused.
"Oh, it's in a world called DC, where there are also many superheroes, but they never kill. They're paragons of law-abiding behavior," Mark said earnestly.
"Superheroes don't kill, isn't that normal?" Andrew Spider questioned.
Gwen Stacy, who was nearby, blinked her eyes. She felt that there was something odd about Mark's tone, as if the intended meaning wasn't the literal words he was saying.
Mark said, "But those super villains who possess the power to pose a serious threat to ordinary people, due to the 'no-killing principle' of DC heroes, result in criminals escaping time and again, committing crimes repeatedly, causing harm to innocent individuals. Do you think that's justified?"
"This..." Andrew Spider was left speechless.
Mark's words left him feeling perplexed.
He thought about Uncle Ben's tragic death on the streets, and how the criminal responsible was still at large.
"Peter, don't listen to him," Gwen Stacy stepped forward, grabbing Andrew Spider's hand. She looked at Mark with a vigilant gaze, resembling a mother tiger protecting her cub. "Only the law can judge a person's guilt. Such authority shouldn't rest in the hands of an individual!"
Mark shrugged. "That's the extent of what I have to say. The choice is yours, but don't wait until something happens to regret it. Hmm, I have something here that you might find interesting."
Mark remained rational, not treating Gwen Stacy differently just because she resembled Spider-Gwen and had some minor flirtations with him, even though he had made certain arrangements with that version of Spider-Gwen.
Similar appearances don't mean the same person, especially across different worlds and backgrounds. And the fact that the Gwen Stacy before him was a character he liked from movies he had seen didn't hold much significance. Movies were movies, real people were real people – they were two different things.
Furthermore, the reason he advised Andrew Spider like this was because in the original storyline, Andrew Spider held back in dealing with his enemies, indirectly causing the death of someone close to him. In comparison, Tobey Spider didn't have this issue. While he also held back, even if someone like Harry came after him and wanted to kill him, he wouldn't hold back as much. His restraint was only limited to not killing.
This difference in upbringing and determination contributed to the subtle gap between the two generations of Spider-Men.
"Never mind, you better go and subdue him quickly, don't let him escape," Mark pointed to the other side where Dr. Lizard was.
During the few sentences they exchanged, Dr. Lizard already showed signs of escaping.
Joking aside, one Spider-Man was already trouble enough, and now there was a second one showing up.
Moreover, sirens could be heard in the distance.
He still had the weight of a great mission on his shoulders, and he didn't want to leave it unresolved here!
"Where do you think you're going?" Andrew Spider roared and lunged at Dr. Lizard.
°°°
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