Ai Apaec was imprisoned for an untold number of years within the federal government's Special Containment Center (SCC) underwater supermax prison, and his detest for those that worked there was clearly apparent, especially Officer Martin. He expressed that even the most psychotic among them was Martin's better, and Martin doused him in bright light, nearly blinding him. During a prison riot to free the criminally insane Norman Osborn, Martin checked the prisoners in Ai Apaec's cell block and was seized by Ai Apaec through the cell's bars. Another cellmate, June Covington, convinced Martin to radio a colleague to open their cells but when the other officer refused, Ai Apaec killed Martin without hesitation. Eventually they were all released by Osborn, and Ai Apaec became his temporary lackey, doing his bidding including capturing journalist Norah Winters; who was brought to the prison by former inmate Carl Rives. Ai Apaec and his allies, found a mini-sub to take them from the prison to the surface just before Osborn destroyed the jail to cover their escape, and Ai Apaec helped the others survive by creating a bubble of air around the submersible, made from his webbing, and towed them to the surface. Once freed, he went back to the Brazilian jungle to take his place at the top of the food chain.
After Osborn's second escape from Rykers Island, he journeyed to the Brazilian jungle to offer Ai Apaec a new life on the mainland as payback for his role in freeing him from the SCC. Accepting, Ai Apaec was transformed through scientific means into a black-costumed version of Spider-Man to serve with Osborn's Avengers. Although Osborn's campaign to turn the media against the true Avengers was succeeding, his team of imposters was undone by Skaar, who was secretly a double agent working for Captain America (Steve Rogers). Ai Apaec felt Osborn tricked him, rejected his Spider-Man identity but was still defeated by the Avengers. During the "Spider-Island" epidemic in Manhattan, Ai Apaec manipulated the Bride of Nine Spiders to capture the other Immortal Weapons. Iron Fist (Danny Rand) and Shang-Chi tracked and freed the Weapons, and Shang-Chi collapsed Ai Apaec's lair on top of him, incapacitating him until the Avengers arrived to arrest him. While incarcerated at the Raft penitentiary, he again assumed Spider-Man's identity and was recruited onto Luke Cage's Thunderbolts after the previous group was seemingly lost in the time stream.
