In this final (and shortest) instalment I ask if stealing Peter’s body/life is the worst thing any villain has ever done to Spidey?
The short answer to that question is: No. It 100% is not the worst thing.
Do not get me wrong. Stealing Peter’s life and body for a whole year? That’s a huge feat of villainy. It’s something that unquestionably raised Otto’s profile as a Spider-Man villain.
But it is unquestionably a million miles away from the worst wound delivered to Peter by one of his villains.
Many fans and creators (unsurprisingly including Slott himself) have insisted otherwise.
To be blunt though, this is an incredible misreading of the character of Spider-Man, specifically his personal priorities.
Throughout this essay series I’ve tried to provide relevant source images to corroborate my points. However, this time out I feel that’s wholly unnecessary.
Because it should be beyond obvious to anyone possessing even a cursory knowledge of Spider-Man that Peter unflinchingly places others before himself!
For Peter, if the choice were between an innocent life (especially a loved one of his) coming to harm, he’d prefer being harmed himself.
The totality of the Spider-Man mythology is testament to that.
There is simply no end of examples of Peter rescuing people at risk or cost to himself, be they strangers, loved ones or at times even enemies. That’s why I’m not going to list off any examples. It’d be redundant since there are just far too many to choose from. This is utterly fundamental to who Spider-Man is.
In ‘Dying Wish’ and Superior Spider-Man everything Otto did to Peter was all directly aimed at Peter himself.
He ‘killed Peter’.
He ‘defeated’ and ‘erased’ Peter.
He stole Peter’s body.
He inhabited Peter’s life for a year.
What he did not do was knowingly harm Peter’s loved ones. At worst he indirectly caused innocent people to be harmed, killed a few criminals and behaved more brutally to various crooks.
In contrast circa 2013 Norman Osborn’s evil acts included (but were by no means limited to):
- Indirectly causing Peter’s best friend to have a mental breakdown
- That breakdown emotionally devastating one of Peter’s oldest friends and messing up her and his friend’s son (who was also his godson)
- Tricking Peter into thinking the woman who raised him had died
- Causing emotional strife and stress to Peter’s committed partner wife by tricking everyone into thinking Peter was a clone
- Causing further strife to her by assaulting a powerless Peter in front of her
- Wrecking the life and business of Ben Reilly, a man Peter regarded as a brother
- Having Ben brutally assaulted…twice…
- Murdering the man who was like a father to Ben Reilly
- Causing Ben’s death
- Assaulting Peter’s boss/frenemy J. Jonah Jameson
- Blackmailing Jonah by threatening his family and brainwashing his son John into assaulting his own father
- Taking over Peter’s place of work and tormenting the staff, most of who were Peter’s friends and acquaintances.
- Causing Peter’s old friend Joe Robertson to quit the job that had been like a home to him for years
- Burglarizing Peter’s home upsetting his
committed partnerwife and her aunt, whom Peter cared for too - Causing Peter and his aunt emotional turmoil when he revealed how he’d faked her death
- Causing further strife for them by implanting her with a deadly device that would cause mass genocide if removed
- Brainwashing Peter into attacking his friends and family in the guise of the Green Goblin
- Force feeding Peter’s old friend (who was a recovering alcoholic) booze
- Putting that same friend behind the wheel of a truck and crashing it into the school Peter worked at, putting that friend into a coma
- Abducting and faking Aunt May’s death again, this time even burying her alive
- Oh yes and, killing the first woman Spider-Man was in love with
Each and every one of these things at best deeply upset Peter. At worst they left emotional scars he’s had to live with ever since.*
For my final question for you readers, I ask from Spider-Man’s point of view, what is honestly the greater evil?
a) All the things Otto did directly to his life and body
Or
b) All those things (among others) Norman did to the people he cared about
As in the prior instalments, the answer is glaringly obvious.
By extension, it is glaringly obvious which of the two is truly Spider-Man’s greatest villain.
*Which to Norman is a form of victory unto itself; a ‘consolation prize’ if nothing else.
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher