Spider-Man: Married or Not?

[coolghoul]

Some background first on the recent events in Spider-man's past in the comics - Recently (past year or so) in the comics, something happened leading to Peter Parker no longer being married to Mary Jane Watson. I am no longer sure now - 'Brand New Day' was the name of the trade or was it 'Back in Black' that had the changes? During the even-earlier Civil War storyline in the Marvel Universe, Spider-man had unmasked himself and revealed to the world on TV that he was Peter Parker. The 'Brand New Day' change was to reset that event - After the reset, nobody knows that Spidey's Peter Parker. In addition, they also had Spidey no longer married to MJ Watson. In a way, that the entire world (including Peter and MJ) don't know that they had ever been married.

I think there were at least some fans who didn't like the idea of Spidey not being married to MJ. The word was that it was done per some Marvel editorial diktat so that stories could be told where Spidey was no longer married. I myself dislike the idea of him being single just cos of a whim - that's lazy storytelling. However... things in comics keep getting reset....

This diktat even carried over to Spider-man dailies that were in syndication for newspaper funnies. At the end of his adventure (J Jonah Jameson falls in love with a female TV talk-show host from LA who's a Spidey fan! There were some other parts to the storyline that involved super-villains but I don't remember those details ), there was a blurb to announce that Spidey would no longer be married to Mary Jane. And in the new adventure, Mary Jane is living in a separate apartment. She knows Spider-man but doesn't know his secret identity and they're not dating tho' Spidey has a crush on her!

Well, this week, the dailies re-reset that and went back to Spidey married to MJ. In the Monday strip, they said per requests from fans, Peter is back together with MJ and they're married. And lo and behold, there are scenes of wedded domestic bliss

So, what's going on in the Spidey comic-universe? Is there going to be re-reset in the comics too? Has there truly been a huge outcry about Spidey's single status? Has Marvel changed it's editorial stance?

 

[Ayelbourne]

Afaik, there are no plans to revert things in the comics back to what they were before.

Then again, I stopped reading during One More Day for various reasons, the dissolving of the marriage being one of them.

 

[coolghoul]

I normally get my own comics "feed" from my friendly neighborhood library. Generally, I think comic fans who frequent the library suggest a title to buy (I too have suggested several titles recently but none of them Spidey related) but no new Spidey titles have come in at the library that are set in the main Spidey books.

I have seen lots of Marvel Adventures titles related to Spidey (these are absolutely fun to read - I would unhesitatingly recommend it to all comic fans. These are very short stories and generally are all-age friendly. You can detect some 'in-jokes' too - like a recent title for Spider-man in Marvel Adventures was 'Back in Black' or a joke in the Avengers as they head out in a spaceship where Iron Man tells the Hulk to relax and everybody's here - it's not like they are going to trick him into a shuttle and shoot him off to space (a winky reference to the Prelude to Planet Hulk storyline in the main Hulk books).

Another thing that impacts the main Spidey titles is that Marvel has taken a major Spidey-villain like Norman Osborn and mainstreamed him into SHIELD director and taken him out of the main Spidey comics. It almost feels like nothing exciting is going on in the main Spidey books anymore?

 

[coolghoul]

Here's a news article from comicbookresources.com that talks about the same change in the Spider-man dailies.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

He should marry Madame Web. Turns out living with a single older aunt all those years warped Parker quite a bit.

 

[Captain Craig]

Its not the single vs married Peter/Spidey that has me upset. Its the way they went about doing it. I had read single/married/separated tales for years and while sometimes the situations might be non-normal they were never bizarre. Mephisto doing the evil Clarence and doing a vile "Wonderful Life" is what I hate.

Even though the Clone Saga was going to give us a single version of Peter again it still maintained and kept in tact all of Spidey lore. Lets face it, at some point things would've come back around and the MU would've had 2 Spidermen in the same vein it has two Captain Americas or two Iron Men.

The BND saga takes everything we've come to know about Peter and easily tosses it out the window.

-Power and Responsibility: when is it good to utilize evil power? how is that responsible? May would kick his ass if she knew. Its Peter not Blaze or Ketch.

The retcon of the retcon can't happen soon enough.
Give me Clone Saga anyday over this tripe that they've been spewing out 3 times a month.

 

[Anwar]

What made OMD worse was that immediately before it there was a story where God actually came to Peter to answer questions and showed him what good his life and struggles had done for humanity. Peter then thanked him and chose to continue his life and accepted what had happened.

Then OMD tossed that touching story out.

 

[grabmygoblin]

I'm just skipping all 616-Spidey stuff until this all sorts out.

 

[Ayelbourne]

What made OMD worse was that immediately before it there was a story where God actually came to Peter to answer questions and showed him what good his life and struggles had done for humanity. Peter then thanked him and chose to continue his life and accepted what had happened.

There was also that story shortly before OMD, where May's spirit told Peter in a seance to just let her go.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

I'm just skipping all 616-Spidey stuff until this all sorts out.

I gave up on the entire 616 universe some time ago. Fortunately I recently rediscovered my run of Thunderbolts Vol 1, Avengers (Busiek/Perez) post Return and New Warriors Vol1.

Now THOSE are comic books! Not this dystopian "Evil Avengers"/Ultimates clone crap universe that Joey Q has foisted on us...

 

[Mr Light]

I had no problem with the marriage and OMD was more damaging to the character than the Clone Saga. Interesting aside: I got that "20 Years of Spider-Man" DVD-ROM and I've been reading before and after the marriage happened. It's really odd, before the marriage, there was no T&A whatsoever in the comic. The moment the marriage happened, they started showing Mary Jane in the most flimsy tittilating lingerie in every single scene with prominent nipples and bare ass. Of course this is also when McFarlane started drawing it so that may have something to do with it. It's almost as if the Spider-Marriage is responsible for the introduction of T&A into Marvel Comics!

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I think the marriage was damaging the character. A married Clark Kent makes perfect sense. A married Peter Parker (married to supermodel/actress) doesn't work as well. It's about as appropriate for the character as if Batman opened a restaurant or if Wolverine became a lawyer.

 

[coolghoul]

I had no problem with the marriage and OMD was more damaging to the character than the Clone Saga. Interesting aside: I got that "20 Years of Spider-Man" DVD-ROM and I've been reading before and after the marriage happened. It's really odd, before the marriage, there was no T&A whatsoever in the comic. The moment the marriage happened, they started showing Mary Jane in the most flimsy tittilating lingerie in every single scene with prominent nipples and bare ass. Of course this is also when McFarlane started drawing it so that may have something to do with it. It's almost as if the Spider-Marriage is responsible for the introduction of T&A into Marvel Comics!

This post is worthless without a picture citation!

 

[Forbin]

I loved the marriage, I hated the assinine magical retcon to remove it.

God forbid a comic book character should have an adult relationship!

 

[C.E. Evans]

Well, this week, the dailies re-reset that and went back to Spidey married to MJ. In the Monday strip, they said per requests from fans, Peter is back together with MJ and they're married. And lo and behold, there are scenes of wedded domestic bliss

So, what's going on in the Spidey comic-universe? Is there going to be re-reset in the comics too? Has there truly been a huge outcry about Spidey's single status? Has Marvel changed it's editorial stance?

Not unless there's a change at Marvel editorial. It's one thing to reset the newspaper strip, but the editors worked too hard to change the status quo in the comics, and the Spidey braintrust has at least another year of stories already mapped out for the single Peter Parker.

Most of them grew up with an unmarried Spidey and felt he was best that way. Of course, there's also a generation of Spidey fans coming up who grew up with a married Spidey and felt he was best that way too...

I do miss having Mary Jane around though. I don't care if he's married to her or not, but I always liked that she was there for Peter and someone he could talk to about his life with and without the mask.

Personally, I thought it was unnecessary to get rid of the marriage in the 616 universe because we already had an unmarried Petey with Ultimate Spider-man. It does give some credence to the claims by some that the 616 universe has slowly caught up with the Ultimate universe over the years...

 

[Forbin]

Okay, what is this "616 universe" stuff? Been reading the comic for 40 years and I have no idea what that is.

 

[Mr Light]

All the Marvel comic books that have been published since the 60s are in the "616 universe"... except the Ultimate line which takes place in a different parallel reality, I don't know the number.

 

[Norrin Radd]

616 was established by Alan Moore in his Captain Britain comic.

I personally believe the Parker and MJ should have gotten a divorce. It would have mirrored the reality that so many couples go through these days. I though Marvel was supposed to be in touch with that kind of thing. The Mephisto plot was a cop-out.

 

[coolghoul]

All the Marvel comic books that have been published since the 60s are in the "616 universe"... except the Ultimate line which takes place in a different parallel reality, I don't know the number.

The way I understand it Forbin, just like DC has multiple earths/universes (Earth-22 Superman is the Superman in Kingdom Come for example), Marvel too exists in multiple universe. The main universe (which has been used in the main marvel books) is called "616". The universe used in their Ultimate line of books (Ultimate X-men, Ultimate Spider-man etc.) however is called the "Ultimate" universe (I don't know why no numerical designation). As in almost all comics-universes, time flows really weirdly and characters never age.

Also, as I read only those comics that become available to me, I've decided that I'm not going to think too much about continuity and what happened before and such. That way lies madness that will make my head spin!!

Re doing a divorce, I think Marvel would have considered it and rejected it. While some stories/heroes have done questionable things (who's the wife-beater?) , a "main" hero like Spidey with a divorce storyline, they might have considered as "unsafe" or "too controversial". Better to do the "magical reset" (literally in this case!) than risk all that controversy?

I think they had done storylines where Peter and MJ had gone separate ways (she's pursuing her Hollywood career or she's disappeared etc. etc.) but because of Peter's sense of responsibility and attachment to MJ, things always have to come back. Also, showing Peter being adulterous might not have "jived" with his "great responsibility" line. And for some reason, I think they're heading there. Q for all you dedicated fans - was the pairing with Kitty Pryde in the Ultimate universe popular? Maybe the eds took their cue from that.

Re my own feelings - I feel "affection" towards both Peter and Mary Jane. That probably colors why I think they need to be together (married or not).

 

[Mr Light]

The thing to remember about the comic book timeline is that an issue takes place over 1-2 days but only comes out once a month. So while 500 issues went by that's only 1,000 days or just over three years for them. I believe the current established rule is that the DC heroes have been active for 10 years now.