An Icon In Ruin

Think of a superhero. Chances are that the first one that came to mind is Spider-Man. Spider-Man is easily one of the most famous heroes- no, characters in fiction. While he is a relatively simple character, it’s in this simplicity that he is able to gain so many fans. Just about anyone can tell you his origin story off the top of their head. He is truly beloved by everyone. Everyone except his recent comic writers.

While most people know of Spider-Man from movies, tv shows or video games, he originally came from comics. He was just a normal smart kid who just so happened to be bitten by a spider and gain superpowers. As he learns how to use these powers, he also tries to handle the great responsibility that comes with it. As more and more comics came out people got to see him grow and struggle with many things such as managing a relationship and trying to find a job. Seeing this powerful superhero struggle with things that any other person would make him seem more relatable and thus becoming more endearing.

The problem is that for whatever reason Marvel seems to think that what fans liked so much was seeing him struggle. This is only partially true; what fans liked was seeing him rise above the challenges he faced and becoming stronger from them. Marvel, however, decided to focus more on the suffering as well as trying to do whatever they can to make him more “relatable”. And the way they go about it is very convoluted.

A long time ago, Peter had actually married his love interest Mary Jane (MJ) and even had a child with her. Fans were very happy to see this as they always wanted Peter to get the girl that he was constantly pinning for. His beloved mother figure Aunt May was even dying, symbolizing that he has finally grown up and is ready to be a man. Marvel, however, felt like this was too “grown up” and thus wouldn’t make him relatable anymore. So, they had the writer at the time create the notorious One More Day comic which effectively got rid of all his character growth. This comic had Peter willingly give up his child and break up with MJ to the literal devil all so that he could save his Aunt May. What made it worse was the fact that this was a decision Peter would have never made at this point in his life, making this an extremely out of character moment.

While the comics have had many controversial moments like this one, they were finally getting a bit better. Peter and MJ were finally back together and it seemed like things were looking good for them. That was until current mainline writer Zeb Wells introduced one of the most controversial characters in Marvel history: Paul. With the introduction of this character any goodwill that Marvel comics had in regards to Spider-Man was lost. Fans were furious that Wells had MJ break up with Peter in order to be with Paul, a man who they discovered help genocide his entire dimension. To make matters worse, Wells did whatever he could to ruin Peter’s relationships with other heroes and make him seem powerless. At this point, many fans decided to stop reading the comics altogether.

The main problem that comic Spider-Man has is that Marvel has seemed to have forgotten what made fans like him so much to begin with. They now believe that suffering is the best way to portray him in order to make him seem relatable. However, there is proof that this isn’t true. A spin-off comic called Ultimate Spider-Man has Peter Parker be a family man and Spider-Man at the same time. While it has only just begun, fans still absolutely love it with them saying how much they love seeing Peter happy. Until Marvel understands what fans actually want, it will only be a matter of time before mainline Spider-Man loses all of his fans. Let’s just hope they don’t give that other family one more day.

Logan Floyd-Mcgee | Writer
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