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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

lalalei2001 Since: Oct, 2009
#34726: May 16th 2024 at 5:20:22 PM

RE: Peter, while I wasn't into science, I enjoyed it and heavily disliked sports, so Peter was relatable for me growing up XD But what really made him relatable for a lot of people were his life-work-school problems and the balancing act, which Miles also has.

The Protomen enhanced my life.
TomWithoutJerry Tyranny Bad, Democracy Good. from Where Might Makes Right and I have no Might. Since: Dec, 2023
Tyranny Bad, Democracy Good.
#34727: May 16th 2024 at 5:42:45 PM

Please keep us informed on who is the favorite villain of the girl.

Frankly, when reading or watching Spider-Man I always did it mostly for the villains, the soap opera aspects of Peter's life rubbed me wrong. The thing that upset me the most was how most of the friends would know Peter was struggling and yet be so quick to snap at him when he failed to do something or show up in time for anything. I did like Jonah since being an amusing jerk was supposed to be his thing, but he wasn't meant to be a friend of Peter as such.

Most of the time I just felt entitlement vibes from Peter's friends and romantic interests.

Please remember that, ultimately, fictional works of entertainment are just that.
IndirectActiveTransport plays capoeira from Chicago (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Every rose has its thorn
plays capoeira
#34728: May 16th 2024 at 6:25:43 PM

I don't care too much for Silk, but I hope she gets a series out of spite. I'm not much of a fan of Anya, either, especially not after she lost her entire supporting cast, potential rogues gallery and initial spider-powers for more a more "familiar" setup. I'm not that into Jessica Drew and Julia Carpenter, but I like them all more than Spider-Gwen...Ghost Spider. A successful Silk series would feel like vindication.

Buldogue's lawyer
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#34729: May 16th 2024 at 9:29:31 PM

[up][up] We're going at a VERY slow pace, but I'm very curious if she's going to be fooled and think Harry is the Green Goblin since the transition from him leaving the prom and the Goblin suiting up can really trip people up from what I noticed.

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
Zarius Since: Nov, 2012
#34730: May 16th 2024 at 10:23:30 PM

Spectacular Spider-Men#3 preview

Yep, it's that time of year again Peter trapped in a fantasy where he's 'ideally' married to Gwen, only this time the fantasy involves Aunt May engaged to George Stacy and Miles dating Kamala

Edited by Zarius on May 16th 2024 at 10:23:37 AM

GateStarX The Formatter from The Great White North Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
The Formatter
#34731: May 16th 2024 at 11:23:22 PM

Well at least if it’s a dream world people can stop saying Miles is cheating on Starling. At least I think that’s what they’re saying. Tbh I haven’t really paid attention to miles’ side of things in a while.

Edited by GateStarX on May 16th 2024 at 11:58:33 AM

It's gonna be fun on the bun!
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#34732: May 16th 2024 at 11:26:15 PM

Who is Starling?

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#34733: May 16th 2024 at 11:33:29 PM

Miles has had a crush on Kamala, so it's not much of a leap.

slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#34734: May 16th 2024 at 11:38:26 PM

[up][up] Vulture's anti-heroic granddaughter.

Currently Miles' girlfriend.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
GateStarX The Formatter from The Great White North Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
The Formatter
#34735: May 17th 2024 at 12:01:09 AM

Would Starling count as a Canon Immigrant MCU Liz Toomes, like how Nadia van Dyne is basically Hope van Dyne?

It's gonna be fun on the bun!
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#34736: May 17th 2024 at 12:06:27 AM

I mean, is Liz Toomes fighting crime?

Beside, Vulture has had all sorts of grandkids in his long history.

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
GateStarX The Formatter from The Great White North Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Buried in snow, waiting for spring
The Formatter
#34737: May 17th 2024 at 12:21:25 AM

I don’t remember Vulture having any family before starling was announced. So I was thinking maybe she was introduced because of Liz’s role in homecoming. And because superheroes can’t have supporting cast that aren’t superheroes anymore, need led to be some kind of super.

It's gonna be fun on the bun!
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#34738: May 17th 2024 at 12:25:20 AM

What? You don't remember the time when Vulture did some crimes to fund the treatment of a dying grandchild he had? Or when his nephew died in a gang war, and Vulture went on a rampage in Vegas to get revenge?

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
Cortez from Parts Unknown (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#34739: May 17th 2024 at 12:39:15 AM

For all his faults, Toomes at least loves his family.

Saiga Since: Feb, 2011 Relationship Status: Getting away with murder
#34740: May 17th 2024 at 1:19:49 AM

Giving Peter shit for bullying Electroc is hilarious when Miles bullied Spot into a much, much bigger villain in Across the Spider-verse.

Doesn't the Venom Symbiote literally consider Peter it's absolute worst host?

It flip-flops between that and the symbiote having a lot of respect/admiration for Peter still. I like the second characterization more because frankly, blaming Peter for the symbiote's very obvious issues is just not it.

IndirectActiveTransport plays capoeira from Chicago (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Every rose has its thorn
plays capoeira
#34741: May 17th 2024 at 3:42:24 AM

I've read enough comics to know that Gwen Stacy was supposed to be the furthest thing from Peter Parker's fantasy. She was supposed to be as good as he could ever hope to get, and actually kind of a horrible person. Not horrible enough to deserve death, neither her nor her father, but they were far from ideal friends or family.

I get it, if one thinks Peter actually fulfilling one of his fantasies and marrying Mary Jane was too much of a win for Spider-Man. As far as I'm concerned One More Day is a permanent stain on the character, such that I didn't even care when Doc Oc body jacked Parker, but I get it, happy marriage is bad. What I don't get is the Gwen Stacy obsession. I should compile a list of all the writers I think have it and put attempting to interview them on my "to do" list. I'm fine with Peter Parker being sad his girlfriend and her dad died, with him having happy memories of them in spite of their faults, but let's not pretend like these characters were supposed to be pleasant human beings. If Peter's going to fantasize come up with someone who was actually better than Mary Jane in some way. Mistress Death perhaps? She did stand up for Spider-Man when he was being bullied by her herald/boyfriend, dumped Thanos for it in fact. Maybe Firestar, since she was originally a Mary Jane expy. Black Cat, in a scenario where she brought him better luck instead of making it worse? Hell, Carlie Cooper was the one who figured out Doc Oc was joyriding Spider-Man. Even she's better wife material than Gwen Stacy, from an "In-Universe" perspective.

Buldogue's lawyer
lalalei2001 Since: Oct, 2009
#34742: May 17th 2024 at 3:46:37 AM

'It remains to be seen who is causing these dreams to come true. It could be the work of the classic Spider-Man villain Mysterio or a reality-changing foe like Mephisto. The main clue we have indicates that it's the work of genius bad guy Arcade, whose silhouette can be seen in the background of Humberto Ramos' cover, though this level of deception is far grander than he's typically shown to be capable of.'

He's making them live the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure game XD

The Protomen enhanced my life.
Joshbones Since: May, 2015
#34743: May 17th 2024 at 5:21:50 AM

Okay, so I'm not the only one who thought they were hinting at Miles and Kamala getting together for the longest time.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#34744: May 17th 2024 at 6:48:45 AM

What I don't get is the Gwen Stacy obsession.

I was going to say that his obsession probably comes from his regret at letting her die, but I guess you mean why are the writers obsessed?

That's harder to figure out to be honest. Despite always hinting that Peter's ideal world would be one where he's married to Gwen again and again (probably due to the anti-Mary-Jane Marriage thing), they've never seriously considered reviving Gwen at all.

And all attempts to give her more character have utterly failed. MJ is just so dominating that she's stomped out any and every chance of Gwen having a role in the series.

I can only assume that they do it for the same reason they do many things in comics: drama and conflict.

One Strip! One Strip!
immortaleditor Since: Aug, 2023
#34745: May 17th 2024 at 8:41:13 AM

It's the weird toxic nostalgia thing a bunch of Silver Age fanboy writers and artists like Alex Ross or Quesada or so on have. Gwen was the love interest when they were kids and therefore "must" be the one true love interest with everyone else as some loser that Peter settled for. The fact that this is not even remotely what the character was actually like when she was around is irrelevant, all they care about is that she was the one Peter was dating when they were young and is therefore emblematic of what they think "proper" Spider-Man is.

HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#34746: May 17th 2024 at 8:43:38 AM

I'm unconvinced Quesada is a jilted Peter/Gwen shipper tbh. If so, why wouldn't have he brought her back in addition to Harry? In fact I've heard it remarked more than once that OMD reset everything to the Silver Age except undoing the original fridge-stuffing.

immortaleditor Since: Aug, 2023
#34747: May 17th 2024 at 8:47:35 AM

It is a weird thing where there's this creepy fetishized obsession with Gwen, but they won't dare bring her back. I imagine because they fear Gwen coming back would lead to Peter marrying her, and the idea of him being married to anyone they won't tolerate. So by leaving her dead but constantly bringing her back they can satisfy their obsession without risking a disruption to their vision of Spider-Man as some single dude who never leaves high school mentally.

RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#34748: May 17th 2024 at 9:38:43 AM

I think it's really quite simple: they recognize the value in having Gwen as The Lost Lenore - the more they idealize Gwen/Gwen's relationship with Peter, the more pathos they can get from it.

Akirakan Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#34749: May 17th 2024 at 11:07:51 AM

[up][up][up] He DID wanted to bring her back during OMD. It's just that most of Marvel's committee opposed the idea.

For example, if the Spidey books had remained under Axel Alonso’s oversight, they would be different than they are right now. I can’t speak authoritatively for what he might have done or who he might have hired, but I’m relatively certain that AMAZING wouldn’t be coming out three times a month. That was an idea that had been floated by Joe Q several months earlier and rejected at that time for assorted reasons that I quickly latched back onto when the books were handed over to me. The other thing I know would have been different is that, had AMAZING remained with Axel, Gwen Stacy would in all likelihood be alive again. Gwen’s resurrection was one of the most hotly-debated elements of “One More Day”, and something I argued against from day one. But at the end of the day, if the books were remaining in Axel’s hands, he needed to be able to do whatever he thought was best for them, my involvement was only advisory. When the titles switched hands and came over to me, I reopened discussions about bringing Gwen back, even thought the decision had previously been made, because my point of view and preferences aren’t the same as Axel’s would have been. That’s not to say that I’m right and he’s wrong—he and his team may very well have been able to get some outstanding stories out of Gwen’s return, in the same way that Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting made the return of Bucky a success. But I felt that bringing Gwen back was a bridge too far, Steve Wacker and the creators we were bringing onto the Spidey books agreed, and the decision was overturned.

They even tried to bring her back duringSecret Invasion, but again, part of Marvel's editorial do refuse to bring her back.


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