In Amazing Spider-Man #55 (496), Ezekiel returns to New York, although he only makes a brief appearance that serves no purpose whatsoever.

In Amazing Spider-Man #56 (497), Spider-Man is investigating the disappearance of one of his students' older brother, who was just released from prison. When he finds him, he also finds Ezekiel, who explains that he recruits ex-inmates who have studied and read great books during their stay in prison. However, the purpose as to why Ezekiel is doing it is not revealed in that issue. Spider-Man and Ezekiel split ways amicably and do not see each other again...until now.

PROLOGUE: Somewhere in Peru, two armed men are guarding an old temple in the middle of the jungle. Cracking jokes and not paying attention to their surroundings, they are suddenly attacked by a shadowy figure. The rattling of their guns goes on for a few seconds but it slowly fades out. Inside the temple, a man sits, waiting for something...or someone. When the sound of the guns have completely faded away, he picks up a torch and heads deeper inside the temple until he reaches an enormous room in which a giant sculpture of a spider seems to rise from the ground. He suddenly becomes aware that somebody is not far behind him, crawling on the ceiling. That somebody is revealed to be Ezekiel. Ezekiel comes down from the ceiling and asks the man for help. The man, who is revealed to be a descendant of Inca Kings chooses to help Ezekiel, in return for what Ezekiel has apparently done for his people. However, the man tells Ezekiel that he will help him this one time more, but that he is never to return, as the door will be closed to him. Ezekiel walks towards a wall covered with hieroglyphs of spiders, leans against it – with his back to the wall – and grabs hold of two ropes suspended from the ceiling. He tells the man to bleed IT out of him, out of his system, enough to buy him the time he needs. The man pulls out a knife from a sheath and slices Ezekiel through the chest.

ACT 1: Meanwhile in midtown Manhattan, Spider-Man is pursuing a horde of bad guys on foot...from the rooftop of one car to the other, across the busy street. As the hoodlums reach the other side of the street, they part ways. Spider-Man manages to catch one of them using his trusty spider webbing, however, one of the remaining thug snags an innocent pedestrian and tries to use her as a hostage, dragging her into a dark alley. Spider-man follows them in and tries to reason with the thug to let the woman go. The thug refuses and goes to shoot the woman when somebody suddenly attacks him from behind. He falls to the ground hard and the savior puts his foot down on his neck to hold him down. It is Ezekiel. Ezekiel grabs the thug and lifts him off the ground and holds him up to a nearby brick wall, threatening to poke his eyes out. Having seen enough, Spider-Man comes to the rescue and stops Ezekiel. The thug starts to run away but the cops, who have just arrived on the scene, surround him. He surrenders without a fight. Minutes later, Spider-Man and Ezekiel are hanging out on a wall, discussing the above situation. Spider-Man is angry with Ezekiel for endangering the life of the hostage like he did. Ezekiel apologizes, saying that he acted impulsively. Apologies accepted, Spidey asks him why he is back. Ezekiel replies that he came back for something that has to do with him. He says that he will tell him the whole story over dinner at his place.

ACT 2: Peter and Mary Jane's apartment. Aunt May is visiting Mary Jane who is obviously lost in thoughts. When May realizes that Mary Jane is not listening to her, she asks MJ to tell her what is on her mind. MJ reveals to May that she did not turn the job down when she went to LA for an audition for a movie role, in fact, the part had already been cast and she overhead one of the studio executive call her "a bimbo model with delusions of talent", so she stormed out of there and came back to New York. May tells her that it seems that the studios hire her because they need someone beautiful to fill a niche in the plot, not because they want someone who can act; and that she needs to play a real character, not just things that move the story ahead. MJ asks May if she thinks that maybe her expectations are too much, that she is shooting too high. May replies that it is possible, but that it is also possible that she has not shot high enough. As she stands up and goes to leave towards the kitchen, May tells MJ that she incidentally left the newspaper behind on purpose. MJ picks it up and starts reading the page at which the paper was left open. It reads: Theater Directory – Off-Broadway Auditions.

ACT 3: Later that night, Ezekiel, Peter and MJ are having supper, discussing such things as the origin of Peter’s superpowers (e.g. his handy spider-sense) and the totemistic aspect of his powers. The tension amusedly rises between MJ and Peter, over the idea of him having eyes behind his head, beneath his hair. Ezekiel uses that opportunity to clear his place while they work things out. As he rinses out his plate, he notices the newspaper that MJ and May were reading that afternoon, laying at the top of the garbage can. The Off-Broadway Auditions section is circled and it says "don't be stupid" beneath the circle. A small spider can also be seen crawling on top of the newspaper. Later that evening, Ezekiel is getting ready to go. About to exit the apartment, he turns around to MJ and tells her that he has the power to see things that will happen, that he sees her on the stage, before an audience and that he sees her every doubt removed forever. He leaves, accompanied by Peter, with whom he needs to talk further. Once they are gone, MJ heads into the kitchen and grabs the newspaper out of the garbage can.

ACT 4: A few minutes later, Peter and Ezekiel, shoeless, have climbed to the top of a tall building, where Ezekiel finally reveals why he came back. He tells Peter that he and everyone he cares about are in terrible danger. He tells him that the supernatural aspect of his powers is what caused him to have to battle forces coming from the supernatural side of the street (i.e. Dormammu, Shathra, the Shade, Morlun, Loki – to a certain extent, Digger, and Morwen – First Lady of Chaos). He tells him that it is not going to stop and that it is about to get a whole lot worse. He adds that power has three components, those that want it, those that give and those who control it – the gatekeepers. He continues by saying that the way he (i.e. Peter) got his powers circumvented the fact that totemic powers come through supernatural channels, and that now that the gatekeepers have noticed him, they are going to come for him very soon, maybe even that night. Ezekiel concludes by saying to Peter that he has two choices: to stand his ground and fight the gatekeeper or come with him to South America. Meanwhile, in an old apartment complex, a street itinerant, kills a small spider using a newspaper. Suddenly, however, thousands of spiders start coming through a crack in the wall. The man flees the scene like a headless chicken, while the spiders merge into one being.