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TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains discussions of sexual assault and using rape as a narrative device.
Every active reader of Spider-Man comics, for better or worse, is familiar with the controversial One More Day story, in which Peter Parker gave up his marriage with Mary Jane Watson to Mephisto. While this story is undoubtedly upsetting to many, there are far worse ways the dissolution of Spider-Man’s marriage could have played out, as confirmed by a Marvel writer’s distasteful joke.
In 2008, CBR covered a Spider-Man panel at Wizard World LA in which Marvel writers discussed the Web-Slinger. Several fans brought up 2007’s One More Day by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada, which was still fresh in readers’ minds.
When asked why Spider-Man hadn’t simply divorced Mary Jane, writer Marc Guggenheim reportedly said, “I pitched having her raped then murdered,” to which Jim McCann replied, “This isn’t DC Comics.” While Guggenheim was clearly joking, albeit in poor taste, the implication here is that it would have been easier to kill Mary Jane than to have her and Spider-Man get divorced, culminating in a much darker narrative.
Spider-Man’s Most Controversial Story Was Never Written, And That’s For the Best
A Marvel Writer’s Joke Hints At A Bleak Outcome for Mary Jane Watson
Looking back on the early 2000s, it’s clear that Marvel wanted to end the marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in any way possible, as the writers in this panel all stressed that they preferred an unmarried Spider-Man. Of course, a problem arises in that divorce doesn’t make for the most entertaining story for a character like Spider-Man, so an alternate way of ending their marriage was needed. However, Guggenheim’s suggestion – even if it isn’t serious – is needlessly graphic and makes light of brutalizing a female character for no reason other than to write out a romance.
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Guggenheim’s alleged joke, and McCann’s jab at DC in response, indicate that they’re mocking DC Comics’ Identity Crisis, an infamous comic by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales. In this story, Sue Dibny – the wife of Elongated Man – was burned to death in the first issue, then it was later revealed that she’d been raped prior to her demise. Killing off a female character to fuel a man’s pain is difficult enough to stomach, but adding sexual assault does nothing to further the narrative and only exists for shock value – just as it would have for Mary Jane, had Marvel gone in the same disturbing direction.
Spider-Man Sacrificing His Marriage with Mary Jane Watson Wasn’t the Worst Outcome
As Controversial As “One More Day” Is, It Could’ve Been Worse
In One More Day, Mary Jane isn’t the victim of gratuitous violence or abuse. Instead, Spider-Man makes the choice to sacrifice their marriage in order to bring Aunt May back to life. However questionable that choice may be, it’s far less gruesome than the other options for severing their union would have been in the grand scheme of things. Their relationship was going to end one way or another, so it was only a matter of how that could occur without divorce. Even if the actual outcome isn’t ideal for Spider-Man, at least Mary Jane wasn’t killed off in the process of making him single again.
Source: CBR
“}]] An infamous Spider-Man comic could’ve been worse. Read More