After the events of "No Way Home," Peter Parker is suffering depression, because Aunt May died, he lives in a crummy apartment, and nobody in the world knows who Peter Parker is anymore (the Avengers, Dr Strange, even Ned and MJ), and Ned and MJ's lives seem to be better without remembering him. And even worse J. Jonah Jameson of DailyBugle.net is labeling him a total menace. Some of New York considers him a hero, while the rest agrees with Jameson. At one point, the Prowler brings down a billboard and Spidey rescues civilians from being crushed, but the next day, news footage looks like Spidey destroyed the billboard HIMSELF! Jameson wants Spiderman to be stopped once and for all. He bails a man named Mac Gargan. The latter was a former private eye who was arrested for bribery and assault. Considering him the best, Jameson hires Gargan to spy on Spidey and know his weakness. Wanting more of the upper hand, Jameson hastily submits Gargan the subject of a somewhat unstable experiment, which grants him the abilities of a scorpion, including armor with an articulating and deadly stinger. Scorpion and Spidey fight, but Spidey prevails. Scorpion ends up going insane from the Scorpion poison and vows to kill both Spidey and Jameson, whom he blames for his freakish transformation. The one Avenger who serves as the mentor of the story is Bruce Banner/Hulk, who helps create an antidote when Spidey gets stung.
