in 1962, the same year that the first James bond film; Dr. NO debuted on the big screen, another beloved literary hero was born. marvel, stan lee, and Steve Ditko introduced a new superhero called Spider-Man. it tells the story of peter parker a nerdy teenager who, although was well-respected by his teachers, he was bullied and couldn’t get a date with any girl. That all changed after a freak accident where, while attending a scientific laboratory demonstrating radiation, a spider got caught within its waves. shocked by the waves, the spider fell from the radiation and onto the hand of peter parker. the now irradiated spider bit peter before it died. peter soon got ill and collapsed on the floor in his room. after waking up the next morning, peter discovered that he'd had mutated into some form of spider-human hybrid.
peter now had super-strength, enhanced agility and reflexes, the ability to climb on walls, spider-sense, and gaining the knowledge how to make his own spider-webs. at first, peter used his powers for his own personal gain of fame and fortune, but after he'd let the thief go, who would later murder his uncle ben, peter decided to become spider-man to fight crime and use his powers for good. the comic was a massive success and spider-man became marvel's greatest success. However, since the 1990's, marvel has find was to abuse the character and ruin him beyond repair. to marvel "with great power, comes no responsibility" here is the fall of spider-man and how, thanks to marvel, spider-man is far from his glory days from the early '60s, to the late '80's.
beginning back in 1973, the green goblin killed then-spider-man's girlfriend; Gwen Stacy. However, this set off a chain of events that was tragic than more than anyone could realize. Miles Warren is a professor of biology at ESU/Empire State University, where he meets Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. During his tenure there, Warren becomes secretly infatuated with the much younger Gwen to the point of obsession and jealousy of Parker. (this makes warren a pedophile, by the way). After Gwen is murdered by the Green Goblin, Warren swears vengeance on Spider-Man, since it was reported that it was Spider-Man who killed Gwen. Gwen's death drives Warren into depression, despair, and insanity as a mad geneticist who eventually turns into the Jackal. Miles is also the brother of science teacher Raymond Warren of Midtown High School.
The day after Gwen's death, Warren's lab assistant Anthony Serba reveals that he successfully cloned a frog using their research technology. Warren gives Serba tissue samples of Gwen and Peter, telling Serba that they come from rat cells. Serba later confronts Warren, stating that the clones are human and must be destroyed immediately. Panicking, Warren attempts to cover Serba's mouth to shut him up, accidentally suffocating Serba. Unable to accept responsibility for his actions, Warren develops a second personality to carry the weight of his misdeeds dubbed "The Jackal". He further develops his alter ego by fashioning a green suit and gauntlets with sharp, claw-like razors on each finger, and by training himself athletically. Out of his numerous attempts to create clones of Peter, only one is a perfect copy of the original, discovering Peter is Spider-Man as a result. The Jackal kidnaps Spider-Man and forces him to fight his clone. Both men believe they are the real Peter Parker.
The two Spider-Men soon decide to work together, but one is seemingly killed by the same bomb that kills the Jackal. The surviving Spider-Man determines he is the original because he is in love with Mary Jane Watson, which did not happen until after Professor Warren created the clone. Years later in 1994, peter’s clone resurfaces, now going by the name Ben Reilly. However, everything went downhill after it revealed a plot twist revealed that peter parker was a clone in the comics for the past 20 years in comics. Peter Parker even hit a pregnant Mary Jane, as Peter nearly lost his mind from the shocking revelation. That is just the tip of the iceberg, the plot soon became over-convoluted, and there were way too many clones to list. Although it was intended to wrap up in less than a year, the comics sold very well and the writers were encouraged to prolong the saga as long as possible.
This is partly due to the change in editors at marvel, partly due to the crash from the comic book boom of the late ‘90s. there are so many ways this was controversial; first off, While the premise sounded okay on paper to some marvel execs, the same can’t be said for many fans who hated the idea. Unsurprisingly, the clone saga made a lot of fans rage quit, resulting in sales plummeting. The clone saga was also one of the contributing factors in marvel going bankrupt in the ‘90s, along with the crash.
during the clone saga, peter parker's wife Mary jane gets pregnant. But moments before MJ goes into labor, she was poisoned by Alison Mongrain, an agent of the Green Goblin, and the baby was stillborn (or seemed to be, as Mongrain took the infant away with her). The "Identity Crisis" storyline seemingly intended to reunite the child with Spidey and MJ, but instead just simply revived the recently deceased Aunt May. Finally, In Marvel Knights Spider-Man issue #9, Mac Gargan, while speaking of Norman Osborn, states "He kills your unborn child, you kill his son". There was an alternate universe version where the child survives, and May "Mayday" Parker becomes Spider-Girl, after she had inherited her father’s powers which emerged when she hit puberty. However, this never happened in the main marvel universe, because apparently marvel felt like that having peter grow up was a bad idea, and they did not like the idea of Spidey becoming a father.
spider-man's original origin was peter was bitten by a radioactive spider, where it mutated him, by giving him spider-like powers. although this was changed in the original movies and ultimate comics where peter was bitten by genetically engineered spider that was made in a lab and escaped. When he returns home, he falls ill due to a retrovirus inflicted by the spider-bite. some parts of the spider-D.N.A. infiltrates peter's own D.N.A., and the two genetic codes merge with each other, causing peter to mutate. and gained spider-powers. when you exclude the super-hero aspect, spider-man sounds like a science-fiction story, or sci-fi for short. marvel, it's then new editor Joe Quesada and writer J. Michael Straczynski decided to change spider-man's origin story again, though this addition was controversial. a mysterious man named Ezekiel Sims, who possesses similar spider powers, reveals to Peter Parker that the spider that bit peter did not gain his powers from radiation, and that instead that the spider had bestowed powers onto peter and had the ability to do that before it was exposed to radiation, and that it was not merely a scientific accident/fluke, but instead was chosen and destined to gain those powers since birth. You see spider-man had a connection to a totemic spider spirit. In other words, spider-man was imbued and bestowed by the powers of the spider gods (this could be Arachne from Greek mythology, Anansi from African mythology, Jorōgumo, or Tsuchigumo from Japanese mythology).
This explanation stood in stark contrast to the original sci-fi story that had existed for forty years, as well as the fact it turned spider-man's origin from sci-fi to magic fantasy or supernatural horror. this was probably a response from several sources from the then-emerging internet that explained why it is impossible for spider-man to exist. Although we suspend our disbelief from these stories for obvious reasons, and there have been many times science has been proven wrong. anyway, it destroyed the sci-fi fantasy fans had enjoyed for the past forty years and stripped away the feeling that made spider-man realistic and reducing it to an unrealistic mumbo-jumbo. Putting it in a nutshell, this was the midi-chlorians of the star wars prequels.
Peter Parker's greatest, famous, and mostly enduring love interest; Mary Jane Watson first appeared in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #25 in 1965, though she was really introduced to spider-man and fans in 1966 in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #42. Eventually, Peter Parker revealed his secret as spider-man to MJ, and the two got married in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 in 1987. There was even a live performance called “Spider-Man's wedding” that happened at Shea Stadium in 1987 was a publicity stunt and live performance adaptation of the comic book storyline. It took place at home plate in front of more than 45,000 fans just before the New York Mets played the Pittsburgh Pirates. It also featured an introduction by Stan Lee. that was how important the marriage between spider-man and MJ really is. The couple had a great time, and MJ was a great ally to spider-man. Fans love the romance between Spider-Man and MJ. The marriage lasted roughly two decades. But it all tragically came to an end in late 2007.
Apparently marvel, Quesada, and Straczynski thought peter parker getting married was considered to “grown-up” by marvel, so they decided to fix that, or maybe they felt like they were running out of stories to tell. There are many good ways to reboot a character – and then there’s “One More Day.” The storyline begins when Spider-Man unmasked himself to the public during the “Civil War” storyline, this resulted in Peter’s life being thrown into chaos. Aunt May wounds up getting shot by a stray bullet from a goon of the Kingpin meant for Spider-Man, Spider-Man seeks help to save her life. He encounters the demon Mephisto, who offers to save her life and erase the world’s knowledge of Peter if Spider-Man gives him his marriage. Spider-Man and his wife, Mary Jane Watson, agree, and this part of their history is erased so that, effectively, they have never been married. The story was so poorly received that Marvel even attempted to “fix” it with a follow-up story called “One Moment in Time”, but the damage was done. And it remains one of the most despised moments in Spider-Man’s long history. in 2018, spider-man and Mary jane started dating again.
However, in 2022, the couple broke up again. with Mary Jane starting a relationship with Paul. proving marvel has learned nothing and has not changed its habits.
For many, the theme song of the 1967 cartoon “Spider-Man” is a beloved classic, and the 1994 cartoon “Spider-Man” is considered by many to be the best animated incarnation of Spidey. However, there was a cartoon that appeared in the late 2000’s that had the potential to be the definitive version of the character. It was called “The Spectacular Spider-Man”. It is based primarily on the Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita Sr. era of The Amazing Spider-Man of the 1960’s, the Ultimate Spider-Man comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley in the 2000’s, and the original Spider-Man film trilogy. It was produced by Sony and developed by Greg Weisman and Victor Cook. The series follows Peter Parker (played by Josh Keaton), who struggles to balance his responsibilities as the costumed hero Spider-Man with the problems of his personal life. Meanwhile the series has managed to balance comedy, drama, and action all into one great animated series. Add a unique art style, the character designs by Sean “Cheeks” Galloway standing out, and balanced Western animation with clear Anime influences, you got yourself a recipe of success.
this series was a perfect amalgamation of all the best parts of Spider-Man, taking specific inspiration from the Ditko and Romita Sr. eras of the character. The series received critical acclaim from both fans and critics and looks like it would be a mega-hit in the 2010’s. This series is truly a masterpiece. Sadly, everything went downhill when there were legal problems between Disney (who had entered into an agreement to acquire Marvel during the show's run) and Sony Pictures Television (the series' distributor and parent of Adelaide Productions). For Sony to keep the film rights to spider-man, they returned the tv rights to spider-man to marvel, as part of the deal. This resulted in the series being canceled after two seasons for two years. Although the series was well received, the cancellation was not, and many children and fans were left disappointed. To rectify the situation, Disney and marvel made a new animated series called “Ultimate Spider-Man”, it was hated by fans and critics, mainly because of its unnecessary comedic tone, and its only purpose is to sell toys. the fact that spider-man himself was unlikeable did not help.
as I’ve said before all of these terrible decisions are a departure of what stan lee and Steve Ditko had made spider-man to be from the early 1960's to the late 1980's.
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