so, I love spider-man, he is my favorite superhero, and one of my favorite literary characters. He is even the inspiration of a superhero I am trying to create. I first saw him when I was playing the 2002 movie tie-in game. However, being a fan is not easy. marvel, since the mid-1990’s has ruined spier-man every single way possible far from the original concept that stan lee and Steve Ditko created long ago in the 1960’s. in fact, I like the older comics better than the new ones. I no longer read the current comics anymore. Here is some of the worst mistakes marvel has made that ruined spider-man.
-Sins Past:
An “ahem” great decision and masterpiece by marvel, Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada, and J. Michael Straczynski during their run in the 2000’s (if you get my sarcasm). “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” is considered by many to be one of the greatest spider-man storylines ever made, and yet marvel has ruined that as well. Aside from starting the infamous “clone saga” (more on that later), for some reason marvel decided to repeat the same horrible mistake from that infamous ‘90’s storyline. Here is the plot, Mary jane revealed a dark secret to his husband, Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Are you ready for this? If you thought the plot twist from the empire strikes back, coco, or the video game Infamous was shocking, well, you have not seen anything yet. The secret is that Gwen Stacy had an affair with Spidey’s arch-nemesis, Normon Osborn, A.K.A. the Green Goblin. The result from Gwen’s infidelity is that she got pregnant, this was what really set down the path to “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”. the fact that the Green Goblin, who knew Spider-Man’s secret identity, wanted revenge against him by killing his girlfriend had nothing to do with what led to the events of “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”. And yet somehow, she gave birth to Norman’s twin children. Thanks to Osborn’s altered blood, the twins are even much older than they should be and have enhanced strength and stamina.
Shocked? Most likely yes. Was it any good as Luke Skywalker finding out that Darth Vader is really his father, Ernesto de la Cruz killed Héctor and is really Miguel’s real great-great grandfather, or even the main antagonist Kessler Is the Future version of the protagonist Cole? No, not even close. First off, the love triangle affair between Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy, and the Green Goblin was SUPER GROSS! Second, Gwen Stacy’s reputation was besmirched by this story arc. Third, it was downright disrespectful and offensive. Oh, and if you want more of this garbage, there was a sequel called “Sins Remembered”, where one of Norman and Gwen’s daughters; Sarah kisses Peter Parker - in front of his wife, Mary Jane. Both pasts and remembered unsurprisingly angered long-time readers and new fans alike.
-The Superior Spider-Man:
For the end of Spider-Man’s 50th anniversary, Marvel wanted to do something big, something memorable, something shocking. And they got it but ended up making history for all the wrong reasons. Spider-man’s nemesis; Doctor octopus was dying of cancer, so he decides to switch bodies with his foe; spider-man. Peter himself dies in Octavius’ body. And otto takes over as the superior spider-man. Impressed, if the answer is no, well than congratulations you are smarter than whatever marvel and writer dan slot was smoking when they thought of this terrible idea. Peter eventually came back and regained control of his body. But this moment was controversial and too dark, even for spider-man. And don’t even get me started on the consequences of this storyline, including ruining peters and Spidey’s reputation.
-cancelling “The Spectacular Spider-man”:
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 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. It was nowhere near the greatness that was “The Spectacular Spider-Man”. Clearly, we will never get another cartoon like “The Spectacular Spider-Man” ever again.
-Not Allowing Spider-Man and Mary Jane to Have a daughter in The Mainstream Universe:
So, during the clone saga, Mary jane gets pregnant. This was great news for the couple. But wait, 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". This was all before the “One More Day” storyline erased those events, more on that later. 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 children deserved better.
-Changing Spider-Man’s Powers (And Origin) From Science into Magic:
Remember the original Star Wars trilogy, where Obi-Wan introduced both Luke Skywalker and the audience to the force. The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power. It is an energy field created by all living beings. It was mysterious. It was powerful. However, when the Star Wars prequels came along, it was all ruined by introducing midichlorians. microscopic creatures that connect characters to the Force. This completely undermines the faith-like way the Force was previously presented. The Force was awesome on its own – it didn’t need a backstory. Sometimes, less is more. Well, spider-man too faced a similar situation in the 2000’s when Joe Quesada became editor-in-chief and Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski began writing The Amazing Spider-Man.
There they decided to change spider-man’s origin, from being bitten by a radioactive spider (geneticly-engineerd spider in the original spider-man movies, the spectacular spider-man cartoon, and the ultimate comics), to reveal that 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, 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). Spider-man was originally a science-fiction story, through a mere science accident turned any person into a spider-human hybrid with spider-traits sounded awesome! It was a great fantasy, and it made spider-man realistic. But somehow marvel, Quesada, and Straczynski ruined it. This made spider-man not realistic any way at all and ruined that fantasy. Spider-man is a science fiction story, and that is that. This was what also led to the infamous “Spider-Man: The Other”, please don’t even get me started on that storyline.
Granted this a 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. If Peter Parker was destined to be bitten by a spider and it turned him into a superhero, then I believe that there is only one God who was responsible for spider-man’s creation: God, as in “God the Father”, “God in Judaism”, “Jehovah”, or the god from Judaism and Christianity. I, myself am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of letter-day saints and I believe in God. Changing spider-man from science to magic makes no sense for me and wound up making no sense for spider-man at all and was just plain stupid. less is more indeed. This is also a sign of things to come from marvel, Quesada, and Straczynski as they would eventually work on the infamous “One More Day”, more on that later.
-The "Clone Saga":
Beginning back all the way in 1976, two years after “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” storyline, spider-man battled against a clone that was of himself. 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. While the premise sounded okay on paper to some marvel execs, the same can’t be said for many fans who hated the idea. Peter Parker even hit a pregnant Mary Jane, as Peter nearly lost his mind from the shocking revelation. 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.
add in how over convoluted plot and way too many clones to list, and you got yourself a recipe for disaster. 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.
-One More Day:
Oh, where do I even begin with this. Spider-man’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. 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.
