Comic Book / If This Be My Destiny...!

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If This Be My Destiny...!, also known as the Master Planner arc (ASM #31-33), is the fourth arc of Spider-Man, and is considered the masterpiece of Stan Lee's and Steve Ditko's run on The Amazing Spider-Man.

Peter Parker is just starting college when Aunt May becomes deathly ill. Meanwhile, a new villain called the Master Planner, organizes the theft of radioactive material and various technological devices. Despite being at his lowest ebb with virtually no way to fight back, Peter must overcome the odds to expose the identity of the Master Planner and somehow save Aunt May.

If This Be My Destiny...! provides the following:

• Blood Transfusion Plot: The blood transfusion that Peter gave Aunt May in issue #10 causes her to fall deathly ill from the radiation in his blood and requires a special isotope to save her life.
• Big Bad: The Master Planner, he's the main villain in the largest story arc of the entire run.
• Break His Heart to Save Him: Peter acts like a Jerkass to Betty and Ned, thinking Betty would hate him is she knew he was Spider-Man, and hoping for her to get with Ned instead even if he still has feelings for her. She sees through the act, but Peter refuses to admit it.
• Collapsing Lair: When the Master Planner's base comes down, Spider-Man is trapped under tons of debris and has to push his strength to the limits to free himself.
• Darker and Edgier: This arc is the closest Spider-Man has personally come to dying up to this point, after being pinned down under a ton of machinery in Doctor Octopus' lair.
• Determinator: Spider-Man never gives up trying to defeat the Master Planner so that he can save Aunt May's life, overcoming the odds to save his Parental Substitute.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite being at his lowest ebb with virtually no way to fight back, Peter overcomes the odds, defeats, scares, and exposes Doctor Octopus as the Planner, he finally gets one over JJJ (negotiating a raise), maturely gives up on Betty Brant and passes by, and saves his Aunt. This is one of the first unambiguous triumphs Spider-Man has had after many half-hearted back-and-forth failures in the early run and it's still one of the few outright positive moments in all the books.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: The Master Planner, in #31, at least. #32 immediately subverts this, revealing him to be Dr. Octopus on the second page.
• "Hell, Yes!" Moment: One of the most iconic examples in comics history. Spider-Man lifting himself out of a pile of heavy machinery in a flooded room: "I did it! I'm free!"
• Heroic Second Wind: Perhaps the most famous example is in issue #33, when Spider-Man lifts a massive piece of steel he'd been trapped under, in a room filling up with water, when he reminds himself about the final ingredient of the medicine Aunt May needs before it's too late.
• Heroic Spirit: Issue #33 was one of the best issues of the original Stan Lee/Steve Ditko run. Spider-Man is trapped under a huge piece of equipment after a fight with Doctor Octopus. His Aunt May is dying and needs a serum to cure her. Spidey thinks about giving up but is determined not to let Aunt May down. He uses every ounce of strength and will and finally lifts the wreckage off.
• Hijacked by Ganon: The Master Planner turns out to be Doctor Octopus.
• I Owe You My Life: Dr. Conners' motivation for helping Spidey, since Spidey cured him of being the Lizard.
• Never Found the Body: In the first of many occasions in which Doctor Octopus is left in a No One Could Survive That! scenario, he is last seen getting blocked off by the machinery that collapses onto Spider-Man and doesn't appear at all in the final issue of the arc. Foswell and the police state that they'll send divers to search the caved-in Master Planner's lair to search for him, but acknowledge that if he survived the lair's destruction, then he's probably long gone by now.
• The One Who Made It Out: It was in the background of the If This Be My Destiny arc which heightens the isolation and loneliness Peter faces with Aunt May dying, struggling to pay bills, and coming off as aloof, while the final panel has the doctor noting how Spider-Man gets credit while The Real Heroes like Peter get little reward. This was part of the reason why Peter initially avoided being set up on a date by Aunt May for the as-yet-unseen Mary-Jane because he was drawn to the broader social circle of Empire State University while he felt that Aunt May's match would be a little too typical for his sake (he was wrong of course).
• Perpetual Frowner: J. Jonah Jameson, having gotten word about a story involving Spider-Man, gleefully imagines that the wall-crawler may be in jail, or worse. Betty says, "Mr. Jameson! You're smiling! Is anything wrong?"
• The Reveal: The Master Planner is Doctor Octopus.
• Returning Big Bad: Doctor Octopus takes on the moniker of "Master Planner", committing heists of technological equipment.
• Sick Episode: Aunt May gets sick from radiation poisoning as a result of a blood transfusion from Peter Parker. To cure her, Spider-Man finds out that he needs to get a radioactive isotope to formulate a cure, which unfortunately ends up in the hands of Doctor Octopus.
• The Smart Guy: This storyline would cement Curt Conners as Spidey's go-to ally for scientific problems beyond Peter's usual understanding in-between Lizard transformations.