Spider-Man and Mary-Jane swing away from their troubles on J. Scott Campbell’s cover to Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #500 “Happy Birthday, Part Three” (2003), Marvel Comics
Another week, another take on the ongoing Spider-Marriage discourse from Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, who this time around is arguing that the publisher’s inability to let Peter Parker and Mary-Jane get back together in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man should not have any effect on readers’ ability to care about the wall-crawler’s story because “change” is a regular occurrence through the hero’s life.
Spider-Man loves Mary-Jane on J. Scott Campbell’s variant cover to Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #2 (2018), Marvel Comics
Brevoort offered his latest thoughts on the topic of Peter and MJ’s relationship, as he usually does, while answering fan questions for the latest edition of his weekly Man With A Hat Substack blog.
Ostensibly frustrated by the continued insistence from Brevoort, the Spider-editorial office, and Marvel Comics as a whole that “Spider-Man is about youth” (despite him graduating from high school in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #28, meaning he was portrayed as such for only three years of his total life time) and thus he cannot ever move forward or grow-up, one fan pointed to the editor’s recent attempts to defend this narrative and questioned, “So nothing in ASM is going to really matter in the long run? Then why should I care what happens in it? Getting rid of the marriage got rid of any sense that what happens in ASM going forward with the character will really matter.”
Mephisto seals the deal in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #545 “One More Day Part Four” (2007), Marvel Comics. Words by Joe Quesada and J. Michael Straczynski, art by Joe Quesada, Danny Miki, Richard Isanove, and Dean White.
In turn, Brevoort asserted, “I think you have a very limited grasp as to what constitutes nothing.”
“Plenty of things have happened to Peter Parker and Spider-Man over the past seventeen years and most all of them have mattered, both to the character and to the audience,” the editor argued. “Things change in the world of Spider-Man all the time, always have. So sometimes, he has a black costume and then he doesn’t, and sometimes he’s a school teacher and then he isn’t, and sometimes he’s married and then he isn’t, and sometimes Doctor Octopus takes over his body and then he gets it back. It’s all kind of the same thing.”
“But as always,” he concluded, “if you just don’t like Spider-Man without him being married to MJ, you can always stop reading it (or simply read ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN at this point, whichever suits you.)”
Mary-Jane and Peter take to the skies of New York City in Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1 #1 (2024), Marvel Comics. Words by Jonathan Hickman, art by Marco Checchetto, Matthew Wilson, and Cory Petit.
Of course, just like with his previous attempt to deflect from the fact that Peter and MJ being married with kids in Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 is one of the major reasons for its blowout success, Brevoort’s argument that ‘Spider-Man is all about change’ is completely disingenuous.
In truth, it’s the fact that Marvel Comics won’t actually let Peter change that rests at the center of these specific frustrations.
Peter Parker leaves the web-slinging to Ben Reilly in Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 #229 “No More The Hero” (1995), Marvel Comics. Words by Tom DeFalco, art by Sal Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Kalisz, and Clem Robins.
Notice how every point made by Brevoort centers on an element of the web-slinger’s story that are inherently malleable and temporary – It’s not unusual for someone to try out a different fashion style, find a new job every now and again, or go through a rough emotional patch where they lash out at those closest to them (and in the case of super heroes, have such a change be the direct result of supervillain manipulation).
But you know what is unusual? A character being constantly kicked back down to square one, never being allowed to develop past the ‘status quo’ most recognized by casual audiences due to some Disney executive’s fear that even the slightest misalignment of their ‘brand synergy’ will lead to a massive drop in profits.
Seriously. After 63 years in publication, Spider-Man still works at the Daily Bugle as a photographer and struggles with money. He still can’t earn the wider respect of the super hero community. Aunt May is still always in danger, always in trouble, always on the verge of death. And hell, with her upcoming resurrection as the Earth-616 Gwenpool proper, the hero’s romantic life is in some way, shape, or form yet again going to revolve around Gwen Stacy.
Mephisto admits that he fears the wall-crawler in Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5 #74 “What Cost Victory?” (2021), Marvel Comics. Words by Nick Spencer and Christos N. Gage, art by Marcelo Ferreira, Mark Bagley, Ze Carlos, Dio Neves, Carlos Gomez, Ivan Fiorelli, Humberto Ramos, Andrew Crossley, Edgar Delgado, Alex Sinclair, and Joe Caramagna.
When one’s favorite character is kept at his most basic interpretation while practically every other character has been allowed to permanently grow in at least some capacity – the Richard Rider incarnation of Nova has grown from a cocky kid to the leader of a universe-wide peacekeeping force, the Reed and Sue Richards have had kids of their own, and even Peter’s arguable DC analogue, Wally West, has been allowed to grow from a teenage sidekick to a super-powered family man – how can anyone in good faith actually expect them to keep caring?
The answer is, they can’t. And to put these results on the reader is just a bad faith argument all around.
Mentioned In This Article:Amazing Spider-ManDisneyMarvelMarvel ComicsMary-Jane WatsonPeter ParkerSpider-ManTom Brevoort
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Tom Brevoort thinks Marvel Comics’ refusal to undo ‘One More Day’ should have no bearing on fans’ enjoyment of Spider-Man’s current books. Read More