Acquiring Peter's spider abilities completely jumpstarted Tobey's imagination.
If he could absorb Peter's stats by dominating him in combat, did that mean he could do the exact same thing to other Spider-variants?
Normally, the timeline dictated that there was only one Spider-Man per universe.
But 'normally' went out the window the second Tobey was born into this timeline. His very existence was an anomaly, destined to drastically alter the course of the universe.
If Peter could still become Spider-Man under his direct interference, why couldn't others?
For example, Ben Parker, who was a Spider-variant in certain comic continuities.
Or Gwen Stacy, the legendary Ghost-Spider of Earth-65.
If he successfully manipulated events to grant Ben and Gwen spider powers, could he hunt them down, defeat them, and continuously stack their abilities onto his own?
He still had over a dozen genetically modified super-spiders sitting in his terrarium. Should he test the theory?
Tobey was incredibly tempted.
However, he managed to suppress the impulsive urge.
Because Ben Parker and Richard Parker were biological brothers, their shared genetics meant Ben might actually survive a bite from the Richard-coded super-spider.
But Gwen definitely could not.
The super-spiders in this specific universe were encrypted exclusively to the Parker family DNA.
Gwen didn't share that bloodline. If she were bitten, she wouldn't become Spider-Woman; she would die a horrific death from genetic collapse.
Furthermore, Tobey wasn't entirely certain if a single universe could sustainably host two or more Spider-Men simultaneously—especially since Tobey himself was already an anomaly who had acquired his powers outside the standard radioactive-spider method.
He clearly remembered the plot of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. When the radioactive spider from Earth-42 accidentally bit Miles Morales, the timeline's original Peter Parker tragically died shortly after.
If Tobey forcibly turned Ben into a second Spider-Man, would the universe course-correct by killing Peter?
Given the massive risks involved, Tobey decided to shelve his grand Spider-farming plan for now.
Playing God required absolute caution.
Besides, his base stats had just violently spiked by thirty-three percent. He needed time to properly assimilate and master his newly enhanced strength before he worried about hunting for more.
While Tobey was lost in his calculating thoughts, Peter's superhuman regenerative factor finally kicked in, allowing him to slowly peel himself off the gym mat.
When Tobey 'absorbed' Peter's powers, he hadn't literally drained them away. It was more like he had seamlessly copied Peter's biological data and pasted it onto his own genetic code.
So, Peter was still fully powered.
But even with superhuman durability, pain was still pain!
Peter stood up, clutching his lower back in agony. He yanked off his mask and glared at Tobey.
"God, Tobey! Do you have a personal vendetta against my kidneys?! Why did eight out of every ten punches land directly on my lower back?!"
Tobey pulled off his own mask, his expression completely flat.
"Bleed a little more in training, and you will bleed a lot less in combat."
"According to my research, in fatal, super-powered combat scenarios, at least fifty percent of deaths are the direct result of a sneak attack from behind."
"And aside from the head and the heart, the lower spine and kidneys boast the absolute highest mortality rate when critically struck."
"This is because in a fight, human instinct naturally hyper-focuses on protecting the head and the heart. In doing so, fighters almost always leave their incredibly fragile, highly lethal lower back completely exposed."
"The reason I relentlessly targeted your spine was to force your body to recognize and defend its third fatal weakness."
Tobey wasn't just pulling this philosophy out of his ass.
Even ignoring standard human mortality rates, superhero history was littered with tragic examples of heroes being permanently crippled by spinal trauma.
Just look at DC's two greatest titans: Batman and Superman.
Batman famously had his back broken over Bane's knee in Knightfall.
And in various alternate timelines, Superman had his spine shattered by a kryptonite-wielding Batman.
Even within the Marvel multiverse, Spider-Man was notoriously prone to devastating back injuries.
Tobey Maguire's own cinematic Spider-Man—Tobey's namesake—temporarily lost his powers due to a crisis of faith, fell from the sky, and slammed into a car, permanently injuring his back.
Years later, during the Multiversal crossover in No Way Home, it took Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man aggressively cracking Tobey-Spider's spine just to temporarily relieve the chronic pain.
And immediately after getting his back cracked, Tobey-Spider was brutally stabbed in the lower back by the Green Goblin while trying to stop Tom Holland's Spider-Man from committing murder!
So, Tobey teaching Peter to fiercely guard his spine was genuinely profound, life-saving advice.
After all, Tobey really didn't want to see Peter hobbling around twenty years from now, constantly groaning, "My back... my back!"
Hearing the grim logic behind the brutal beatdown, Peter fell silent. He had to admit, Tobey's reasoning was flawlessly sound.
Accepting the harsh lesson, Peter permanently burned the instinct to guard his lower spine into his combat memory.
A few minutes later, Tobey led Peter back up to the sub-basement laboratory and stopped in front of a high-tech glass terrarium.
The moment Peter looked inside and saw the distinctively marked spiders crawling around the enclosure, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck his brain.
Without Tobey needing to explain a single thing, Peter's genius intellect instantly connected all the dots!
These spiders looked completely identical to the classified photographs of the radioactive super-spiders hidden inside his father's briefcase!
On top of that, Tobey had explicitly stated that their powers "came from the spider."
And yesterday, while desperately evacuating the burning Oscorp building, Peter vividly remembered feeling a sharp pinch on the back of his neck.
Splicing these facts together, Peter arrived at a truly terrifying conclusion.
This wasn't an accident. Everything had been orchestrated!
The creation of the super-spiders, his presence at Oscorp, and the spider biting him—it was all entirely premeditated!
The man who had spent his life genetically engineering these spiders was his father, Richard Parker.
And the man who had deliberately ensured one bit him was his cousin, Tobey Parker!
Furthermore, since the spiders were Oscorp property, they were supposed to be locked away in Oscorp Tower.
But right now, a dozen of them were sitting in his basement! Which could only mean...
The catastrophic fire that nearly burned down Oscorp Tower yesterday was entirely Tobey's doing!
Tobey had infiltrated the lab, stolen the spiders, intentionally torched the multi-billion-dollar facility, and then used the ensuing panic to slip a spider down Peter's shirt!
Having just personally experienced Tobey's terrifying, god-like physical power, Peter knew his cousin was more than capable of executing that entire operation completely undetected!
Wait... what if his chance encounter with Dr. Connors was also orchestrated by Tobey?
Was Gwen an accomplice?!
She was the one who had practically begged him to come to the Oscorp Q and A in the first place!
When Peter confidently laid out his grand, Detective Conan-style deduction to his cousin...
Unsurprisingly, he received another ruthless, skull-rattling smack to the back of his head.