This thread's for the Spider-Man comics and spin-offs, whether they're decades old or brand new.
- Apart from the main Marvel Universe titles, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man "What If?" stories, crossovers, guest appearances in other books, Alternate Universe tales and things like Marvel's manga adaptations are all on-topic here.
- Spider-Man 'family' books are on-topic (as are their own crossovers, guest appearances etc.) - e.g. Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales, Spider-Woman, Silk, Spider-Gwen, Venom, Carnage, Black Cat, Red Goblin and Spider-Verse.
- Characters and comics that originated in Spider-Man but are no longer directly connected to the spider-franchise (e.g. Punisher, Silver Sable) are not on-topic, unless you're discussing historical connections and crossovers. If in doubt, check before you write a long post. If this isn't the right place, there's a more general Marvel Comics thread
which covers them.
Technically, Marvel's Infinity Comics (and their predecessors, Infinite Comics) are webcomics, not comic books, but it's fine to talk about their Spider-Man stories here.
Discussions that are only about Spider-Man adaptations in other media (films, video games etc.) are off-topic, but discussing the differences between the adaptations and the original comics is fine - as long as spoilers for the adaptations are tagged.
Please follow the spoiler policy rules
- tag spoilers for the latest issues, for any previews or content leaks, and for off-topic comics. When including spoiler tags, try to write so that tropers can make an informed decision before viewing them (e.g. which series and issue will they spoil?).
Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
The Spider-Man extended universe is wanting for original names. Just in 616 alone right now, we have between 2-4 Spider-Men, 2 Scarlet Spiders (not counting the fanboys/further clones introduced in some other comic) who themselves are also sometimes Spider-Man, and about 3-4 Spider-Women (not counting the Skrull who impersonated Jessica Drew for a while).
It's a bit of a mess, especially when many of them overlap with each other in terms of superhero service.
They need at least a six issue miniseries where they hire a marketing director who gives them all new code names, ends up being a supervillain in disguise, and is then beaten before everyone just gives up and continues using their old names thus rendering the entire mini-series pointless.
Admitably the whole multiple Spider-Men name usage is more intolerable than say cases like Hawkeye
Cause with Hawkeye its just the 2, Clint and Kate who are the only mantle holders.
But Spider-Man is a whole big franchise so it has way more characters. It's not just 2 guys or so.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."Well OMD is a different case.
But Nick Spencer made it explicit that Mephisto is basically Spider-Man's Big Bad. He was the power behind Norman Osborn's rise to power via a retconned bargain for Harry's soul, which also factors in to Harry's turn to evil, he made sure MJ and Peter split because he doesn't want their daughter defeating him in the future, ETC.
OMD was written in a way that would allow future writers to just ignore the deal, but Nick Spencer set all this shit up that ends up foreshadowing a confrontation between Spider-Man and Mephisto that will NEVER happen because editorial, as well as making Mephisto responsible for Spider-Man's greatest foe.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 25th 2023 at 3:20:18 AM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"I don't see it any differently
If writers can ignore the OMD deal they can ignore Spencer's set up (and they will).
OMD is a permanent part of the character's status quo and they can't ignore that he cannot be married again. That's honestly a way more permanent mark on his character than Spencer setting something up for the future that will never need to happen
Mephisto being responsible for Green Goblin is less of an impact that Mephisto being responsible for being separated from his soulmate and never being able to find true happiness forever (given that was what was said in OMD).
Edited by Saiga on Mar 24th 2023 at 1:24:46 AM
At least Marvel are done pretending the marriage never happened in their history, or the baby, seeing as "The Lost Hunt" explicitly references both. That's progress at the very least, and the best thing about Lost Hunt is you can write off anything post-OMD as bad fever dreams an anxiety-ridden Peter is having.
Edited by Zarius on Mar 24th 2023 at 4:44:31 AM
I really wish they'd give Jm D his own Spider-Man ongoing in it's own continuity. Just ignore current ASM entirely....
JMD's Word of God is he doesn't even 'acknowledge the other guy', which I suppose is his attitude now, but he did write some stories for 'the other guy' (post-OMD Peter) when Brand New Day started out, most of them fleshing out Harry after his revival
It’s not hard to survive being killed if you have the right comic book bullshit to fall back on
Isn’t that right, Norman?
Forever liveblogging the AvengersTBH, I really don't see how anyone could find the twins' original backstory better than Spencer's one. "Clones created by a supercomputer at the behest of a demon" is the exact sort of glorious comic-book-y stupidity I've seen fans demanding return for years after so long focusing on dreary "realistic" stories, and then when it actually drops, some fans say, "you know what, bring back Norman's Dull Surprise orgasm face."

"Why exactly she's doing to a 616 college I'm not sure." Because she was too well-known in her home universe. She wanted to have a private civilian life, but she was a celebrity, and it bothered her.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.