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.
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- 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.
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Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM
A lot of people do think the Gauntlet/Grim Hunt was one of the better post-OMD Spider-Man events, but yeah other than a cult following for the Squirrel Girl stuff, what else is there to enjoy of Kraven's return?
(BTW, I don't even like the Squirrel girl stuff)
Edited by Zarius on Aug 23rd 2023 at 8:32:51 AM
Personally, I prefer Spidey and Gobby having one climatic battle to the death that Spidey wins. I’m thinking around when Peter is nearing 30 and just before Annie was born. I like to headcanon that’s how they ended things in RYV.
Admittedly, if it was up to me, I’d have Green Goblin be the big bad of RYV instead of Regent.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Aug 23rd 2023 at 11:45:58 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"See Goblin living and worse Peter actually working for Goblin (seriously screw you Wells) just reminds me of this scene from Under the Red Hood
Beyond the dimishing returns of Goblin constantly returning or "this was all my secret plan lol" it's simply insulting to his victims that he makes it off scott free for that long.
Edited by FKJ10 on Aug 23rd 2023 at 9:13:07 AM
When it comes to bringing a character back from the dead, the question is always if you can bring something new to the table or if you're just spinning wheels.
With Kraven, he was made immortal after coming back to life, and Slott didn't want to touch the story he had set up. But there was potential there, just potential nobody but Ryan North seemed to want to do anything with.
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You... you realize the point is that Jason's in the wrong there BECAUSE he doesn't kill Joker himself, right? The point of the story is that despite all Jason said about how Joker was 'a threat to society' and 'should have been put down years ago', he refuses to do the deed himself and whines that Bruce should kill him. The problem with the Joker is not 'Batman should kill', it's 'Batman won't do it, so someone else really should', which reveals that Jason's more upset with Bruce than his murderer, ergo why when Bruce drops the gun and basically goes 'fine, it's your choice now' he's in the wrong when he tries to shoot Bruce.
While the overall circumstances are different, Peter's made it clear that he is a person who never wants to kill, and anytime he's either come close or has done it (vs Wolverine somehow still being in continuity is ASTOUNDING) it's mentally traumatized him. Peter made his choice when he confronted the gunman that killed Ben to not be a killer, and if he faults on that principle then it is ultimately a betrayal of his character. Peter accepts the responsibility of everyone his foes hurts - that's half the reason he's so dour and mopey.
Edited by CausativeDust on Aug 23rd 2023 at 10:11:36 AM
I liked the comics version. Where Jason points out that Batman not killing is actually fine but that the Joker should be a Godzilla Threshold.
In the case of Norman, he arguably crosses it because not only is he a guy who kills women, children, and other innocents indiscriminately but the legal system refuses to punish him. Hell, they even made him head of the Super CIA.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Aug 23rd 2023 at 10:46:34 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.I genuinely don’t know why he was running it. Last I remembered he thought he was Cletus Kasady.
It was a pretty fun story when Spidey was forced to team up with him IMO when the Sin Eater came knocking. I have a soft spot for Enemy Mine as a trope, but Spidey has his limits.
He legit tossed Gobby to Sin Eater when the former made a sleazy flirt at Spider-Gwen just to piss Peter.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Aug 24th 2023 at 1:48:15 AM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"So, issues with Wells aside, has anyone been keeping up with Spider-Boy.
Since, I'm surprised I'm saying this, I kinda like him. The Remember the New Guy? shtick is trite, but I do like how Slott is trying to differentiate him from Peter and Miles.
He's, in a word, a brat. Cocky, impulsive, has only really handled C and B-Listers, and doesn't always treat superheroing with the gravity it deserves.
Like a ten-year-old.
More than anything, he feels genuine. It's not like Silk where she existed basically only to bang Peter and look pretty (god has her writing gotten better since other people grabbed her). He's a poor, homeless kid with a lot to prove and a desire to make something of his misfortune and his one tether in Peter. He makes mistakes, basks in the attention a bit too much, has a bit of an inflated ego, but his heart is in the right place. And the story isn't afraid to make fun of him either, as shown by him getting ambushed while bragging about how his extra eyes makes it impossible for him to be ambushed.
"I get it. And you're right. Spider-Man doesn't need a sidekick. But this sidekick needs a Spider-Man."
It doesn't diminish the ridiculousness of his presence, but it does sell the pathos of him needing someone to believe in him when he's got almost no one else.
And Slott avoids Glurge by making it so Peter doesn't remember, but instead he gives Spider-Boy a chance because his story sounds plausible enough to be true and he knows too much about Peter himself for it to be a coincidence.
And as far as characters retconned in goes, that's a pretty interesting angle.
Edited by reppuzan on Aug 23rd 2023 at 3:43:21 AM
Additionally besides the lack of nuance despite it supposedly being an intent, there's also the matter of the reset button being pressed even if they kept the fallout in effect for several years.
The betrayal of one another should have meant that the unity the hero community had should have never be reversed. Whereas whatever missteps Injustice made, it would be like if DC made it part of the main continuum and without a cosmic reset eventually having both divided faction of heroes making amends.
And if heresay on the matter is true, Civil Wars was to originally be another Ultimate tale which means yeah would have worked better in the books that could keep the consequences intact.
It's just especially in the 2000s, they hype up stories for their realistic nature (or realistic in terms of the universe) when yeah the reset button makes even the illusion of such impossible.
It's another point of Gargoyles though not the biggest for me, is that especially the Greg Weismab helmed stuff tries to keep it's own narrative consistent, plus is willing to stick with changes going forward.
Yeah, the thing is that I took the Pro-Registration people as trying to protect the superheroes by trying to ride heard with it as they were ready to break out the Senintels and Cape Busters. Which I feel like should have been emphasized more.
But yes, off the top of my head:
- Every superhero meeting usually turns into a fight
- Hank Pym creating Ultron and the Jan business
- Hawkeye turning on his wife for murdering her assailant
- Avengers Disassembled by Wanda
- Sending Hulk into space
Admittedly, most of these are fairly recently.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.I think Hank creating Ultron gets him too much flack
The thing went from baby’s first AI experiment to murder in six seconds
That’s like if a potato battery wipes out a city. That’s drastically out of left field!
Forever liveblogging the AvengersI think it was to show how strong mockingbird was and of course strong women cant have had horrible things happen to them, so it had to have been her choice because shes strong and independant. that honestly was the worst part of that run, who cares about a shirt, or a tampon when you do that to a character. and thats around when she was dating peter, or right before at least.
I recently finished reading that arc as originally published
And there’s no ambiguity and no room for ambiguity
Phantom Rider drugs Mockingbird into being his girlfriend. Some other cowboys shake the brainwashing by using unconvincing Hawkeye cosplay. Mockingbird hunts down Phantom Rider for yknow sexual assault and kicks the shit out of him. He ends up falling offa cliff and Mockingbird declines to try to save him.
Mockingbird had not much expectation that she’d see Hawkeye again due to the time nonsense involved so she wasn’t trying to cover up a situation. But when she does reunite with Hawkeye, she claims Phantom Rider fell off a cliff by himself because he was so coo coo crazy. She didn’t want to tell Hawkeye because he was firm on avengers don’t murder, despite this being more like manslaughter. She also doesn’t want to admit what happened to her.
She keeps almost telling Hawkeye but either gets interrupted or it’s just a Hawkeye robot. She does confess to some of her teammates and also random guest stars but the cowboy ghost that’s been haunting her gets mad that she might confess to Hawkeye and he might be cool about it. Ghost Phantom Rider spills the beans and frames the story to make Mockingbird look worse.
Hawkeye is super mad - that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him what happened! But everyone pretends this is actually a debate on whether superheroes should manslaughter. Since Hawkeye and Mockingbird are both way too proud and stubborn they wind up yelling at each other and eventually escalate to divorce without even trying to work things out.
Founding Avenger Wasp even tells Hawkeye hey we weren’t this strict on the no murder thing and I would personally not give her shit over this. Hawkeye goes oh I’m sorry I thought I was in charge of this team not you
Suffice it to say, Hawkeye is an ass and I think cowboy manslaughter is situationally okay
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

They really should not have touched the character after Last Hunt as no story since has justified his return.
Spencer trying to pull oh the real Kraven is dead this is just a Clone is understandable but a hollow jester.