All of Marvel’s future-foreseeing drama may currently be focused on Ulysses and “Civil War II,” but quietly, in his corner of Parker Industries, Miguel O’Hara has created quite the time catastrophe of his own. He’s let a warrior from the future get into the hands of terrorists and now the Sinister Six from a broken dystopia is on the verge of invading the present. Even though this issue raises the stakes of the story and adds a cool new twist, Spider-Man 2099 #12 doesn’t really boost the momentum of the series, which remains solid, but not essential.

The centerpiece of the issue is a face-off between Miguel and the Sinister Six, although this is more of a rescue mission than the final showdown. This Sinister Six runs Alchemax and all of Nueva York, but Peter David portrays most of them as the average dumb super criminal. Vulture and Sandman rush headfirst into an illusion; Electro is shown to have quite a lot of smarts, but he quickly and violently loses a hand-to-hand battle with Miguel; and Venom and Dr Octopus are sucker-punched before they can get a shot in.

This battle scene seemed to be a lost opportunity for the art team as it takes place high in the sky on the Alchemax skyscraper, but Will Sliney never gives us a page or panel that reveals that perspective, especially when small-scale wide shots are one of his strengths. We don’t see any of this future’s surroundings or the ruins of past New York in the background. To my dismay, Sliney also doesn’t get a chance to show off this new Sinister Six of 2099. Venom stands still for two or three panels before he is literally “zwaakowww’ed” off the page, with the only real standout image being the army of Miguels flying into battle.

There’s not a lot of opportunity for character development here but we do get some small doses.  As usual, Miguel is obsessed with revenge and delivering his brand of justice, even when it’s not clear what he’s fighting for. He vows to stop the terrorists who forced Gabe into a world of virtual reality, even though Gabe makes it clear that he’s happy in that state. Miguel is promising to take them down instead of worrying about correcting the mistakes that led to the situation in the first place. Just like Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, it seems that Miguel is always angry. As a lead character it doesn’t seem that Miguel has a dynamic arc yet, which may be a reason that this series is struggling despite an interesting premise.

The character of Lyla, Miguel’s holographic assistant, has always been a convenient plot device to help get the story from point A to point B. However, in this issue, she’s able to do so much, that it actually distracted me from the story. Lyla communicates through space and time to activate Roberta/Captain America 2099 and have her open the time portal that links 2099 to the present. This is pretty next level for Lyla, who usually just has the ability to change what Miggy’s costume looks like. In fact, her power set seems to adjust depending on the situation at hand. Sometimes, she’s all-knowing; other times, she’s a know-nothing. In this issue, she personifies both roles in a single panel. Lyla has the wherewithal to connect to Gabe’s virtual projector without being asked, but she also plays dumb when asked the simple question, “Where did you come from?” Even though Lyla is used for comedic effect in this instance, it still demonstrates that her rules and limitations aren’t clearly defined.