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Spider-Man General Discussion

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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?).

     Original Thread OP 
Since everyone likes talking about him. I know little about him(Ironically,I got nearly all I know about him from a Batman thread),but he's apparently important so I made this thread. Enjoy.

Edited by MacronNotes on Jul 10th 2023 at 10:58:13 AM

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#33201: Feb 11th 2024 at 8:39:32 PM

Well the comic age-difference is off-putting and plus its another case of Miles receiving a hand-me down story element from another character.

Miles deserves originality, not taking stuff from other characters.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 11th 2024 at 8:47:33 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#33202: Feb 11th 2024 at 8:47:29 PM

I mean she's a fantastic character and they have great chemistry.

And it's not a hand me down because that demeans Spider-Gwen.

Honestly, the treatment of Gwen Stacy as "Just" Spider-Man's girlfriend is one of the big problems the character suffers.

Spider-gwen has long since transcended that.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#33203: Feb 11th 2024 at 8:53:11 PM

Well this is basically just making her Miles' girlfriend which is ultimately no different.

Now what would be really good for the character is to have her stand on her own without being grafted to either of the 2 men.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 11th 2024 at 8:53:36 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#33204: Feb 11th 2024 at 9:08:57 PM

I feel like any character who gets diminished by being in a relationship with another character needs a new writer.

If you can't write a relationship making both character better then you're doing it wrong.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#33205: Feb 11th 2024 at 9:29:54 PM

It's very hard to write a good romance between two characters whose books are with different writers.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
immortaleditor Since: Aug, 2023
#33206: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:15:46 AM

The thing with Miles and Gwen as a couple is that it only works in the specific context of the Spider-Verse movies, where they're nearly the same age and are designed from the ground up to be a good pairing, written with good chemistry between them and strong character development that their burgeoning relationship feeds into.

Trying to backport that into the comics - where to my knowledge Gwen is an adult and Miles still a teenager (unless they aged him up into an adult for college, but I don't think they have) - and where their personalities are radically different, such that they no longer really have anything in common or any kind of heat between them, is the problem. Since it obviously doesn't work in that context and is just a bad attempt at synergy like the comics all too often suffer through nowadays.

On a vaguely related note, I'm surprised nobody has really talked about how the... odd implications and feelings that should logically come with Miles dating an alternate version of his mentor Peter's first love. Like, what would go through your head if your girlfriend died and several years later you saw a younger version of her dating some kid you just met?

Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#33207: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:21:08 AM

Could work if you lean on the soap opera side of comics, really.

Wake me up at your own risk.
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#33208: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:28:18 AM

They still constantly compare Spider-Gwen to Gwen so its not like they don't do it anymore. But I feel like they are avoiding bringing up the fact that Peter and Miles romanced technically the same woman cause they are aware of the baggage that would open up.

Its like how Spider-Verse wanted to avoid this in 2 with Gwen's line "Every time Spider-Man is with Gwen Stacy it ends poorly." She says Spider-Man putting distance to the fact that most of those Spidey's would be Peter Parker.

They don't want to acknowledge it.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
immortaleditor Since: Aug, 2023
#33209: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:32:52 AM

It's a prime example of writers not thinking through the implications of something until far too late and they've put themselves into a very uncomfortable little corner and the only solution they can think of that wouldn't make their characters look utterly bizarre at best, completely dysfunctional at worst, is try their best to just not acknowledge it.

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#33210: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:37:38 AM

It would call into question the age gap.

If Peter's relationship with Gwen is acknowledged, then Spider-Gwen has to be treated as an adult so Peter isn't acting weird around a minor.

Of course treating her like an adult would acknowledge that Miles isn't an adult yet and no he has not graduated high-school.

So Gwen is constantly flip-flopping on being older or younger depending on who's interacting with her.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#33211: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:40:01 AM

I guess that's why Peter spent the entire time he met Ultimate Gwen awkwardly smirk-grimacing about her death and vaguely answering her questions.

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Joshbones Since: May, 2015
#33212: Feb 12th 2024 at 10:13:41 AM

Spider-Gwen/Miles is the Marvel version of Batman/Wonder Woman, in that it only works in one specific adaptation and trying to backport it to the comics is a terrible idea

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#33213: Feb 12th 2024 at 11:19:53 AM

I'd argue that the one place Batman/Wonder Woman wonderworked came at a detriment to Wonder Woman

But she and Superman both got the short end of the stick in that show at times

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Tiamatty X-Men X-Pert from Now on Twitter Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: Brony
#33214: Feb 12th 2024 at 2:26:19 PM

In terms of the age difference between Gwen and Miles, I would just note that if it's, like, 19 and 17, that's not a particularly inappropriate gap for a relationship. If Gwen was 20 and Miles 16, sure, that'd be weird. But if Gwen is just starting college, and Miles is almost done high school, then that's not a big deal.

X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#33215: Feb 12th 2024 at 2:28:52 PM

I thought Gwen is a little older than that.

Plus Miles comes across as younger, like a freshman in high-school.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#33216: Feb 12th 2024 at 2:30:53 PM

Wasn't she about to start college when she went to jail for a year? And then she went to Some Amount of college in the 616 when she was kicked out of her home universe by the Storms.

Edited by Bocaj on Feb 12th 2024 at 2:31:40 AM

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#33217: Feb 12th 2024 at 2:59:10 PM

Trying to backport that into the comics - where to my knowledge Gwen is an adult and Miles still a teenager

To be fair she is in her late teens, she's not much older than Miles. It's she also thinks of 616 Peter as an old man.

Bocaj Funny but not helpful from Here or thereabouts (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Funny but not helpful
#33218: Feb 12th 2024 at 3:00:29 PM

Peter is a 40 year old man in his late 20s or 30s depending

She is right to think that

Forever liveblogging the Avengers
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#33219: Feb 12th 2024 at 3:01:50 PM

She is hilariously in a position of being both too young for Peter and too old for Miles.

Edited by slimcoder on Feb 12th 2024 at 3:02:36 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
lalalei2001 Since: Oct, 2009
#33220: Feb 12th 2024 at 6:17:11 PM

TIL Spider-Man is weak to ethyl chloride.

He also seems to get colds and other sicknesses a lot more than other superheroes, and he's had an ulcer at least twice.

Edited by lalalei2001 on Feb 12th 2024 at 9:22:13 AM

The Protomen enhanced my life.
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#33221: Feb 12th 2024 at 6:20:50 PM

Peter really doesn't take good care of himself.

Wake me up at your own risk.
TrashJack Confirmed Doomer from beyond the Despair Event Horizon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Confirmed Doomer
#33222: Feb 12th 2024 at 7:54:44 PM

Peter also has a rather low tolerance for alcohol, at least compared to other Marvel heroes. He even had to fight Hobgoblin while drunk in Web of Spider-Man vol. 1 #38 due to someone spiking the punch at a party he was at. According to that trope page, Kaine also once passed out drunk after having drank only three beers, but I'm having trouble finding a source for that.

Edited by TrashJack on Feb 12th 2024 at 10:57:49 AM

"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#33223: Feb 12th 2024 at 8:34:56 PM

And dude towers over regular Peter.

Wake me up at your own risk.
immortaleditor Since: Aug, 2023
#33224: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:07:36 PM

I do kinda like the idea that Peter actually isn't nearly as strong as he could be because he coasts off his spider powers and doesn't bother much with training beyond his work, plus just generally not taking good care of himself health wise because of the stress he puts himself in and often mixed to bad living conditions. One could work changing that into a rather good part of his character development.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#33225: Feb 12th 2024 at 9:34:13 PM

The idea that Peter coasts off his powers makes sense.

He had get help from Shang Chi to invent The Way of The Spider martial Art when he lost his Spider-Sense, and he realized just how much he relied on it.

The Spider-Sense is highly tied to his reflexes too (and the reason he's so hard to tag on a good day/when the writers don't choose to forget or ignore it).

So him training a bit more to both master his powers but also not rely on them would probably make him even more formidable. Add in a bit more taking care of himself better and watch out villains.

One Strip! One Strip!

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