Panel(s) of the Day #1118

12 Comments

1. @Evan The MCU Spider-man is miles Morales in all but name. They just didn’t have the guts to go all he way with it and just slapped the Peter Parker name on the character. Which is a disservice to both characters since they each are more than capable of carrying their own movies (like into the Spiderverse proved) and have their own personality which are FAR from being interchangeable.

2. @hornacek — That’s right — I completely forgot about that.

3. @Evan – I mean, most of SM3 had Peter planning to propose to MJ. I think if Maguire, Dunst, and Raimi had done a SM4 they would have gotten married in that one.

4. @Sthenurus — Oof. I need to sit down for a little while.

   I’m not sure how much a consideration of consistency between the comics and the MCU is a factor in how these kinds of decisions are made at Marvel, but I suppose it doesn’t help that Peter is single in the films. Then again, there are far more other differences between comic Peter and MCU Peter — and all of his supporting cast, for that matter — so having comic Peter married might not make that much of a difference. I can see some kids being confused, though, if the movies (or cartoons) led to their picking up a comic.

   I will say, though, that Peter and Mary Jane got married in the ’90s Fox cartoon, even if she ultimately turned out to be a hydro-clone.

5. @evan I think you see alot of activity here about the marriage cause we all either grew with a married Peter and MJ or the saw it happen.

   However OMD happened do long ago that an entire generation either didn’t know the marriage or barely did.

   Let that sink in for a minute. An entire generation of Spiderfan NEVER read a story with Pete and MJ (at least without going back).

6. @hornacek — “…everything back to normal,” you say. Riiiiight. Just kidding.

   Generally, speaking, it’s interesting to me how quickly (relatively) Marvel can, story-wise, turn around something major like that. If it’s evident that a plan is in the works (as Spencer is clearly capable of demonstrating), the payoffs are that much sweeter. But I guess if everyone is clamoring for a return to the status quo (or the writers have written themselves into a hole, excepting Peter David), they might not be able to wait very long, even if the outcome, because the result of a quick double-back, is underwhelming. That’s why I’m hoping that, in Spencer’s hands, the return to the marriage will be so capably achieved and the result of so many masterfully interwoven threads that the payoff will — if not make the last several years worthwhile — at least serve as a love letter to fans of the marriage and the wonderful stories that resulted from it and are yet to come.

   And, admittedly, the deal with Mephisto led to the creation of Kindred. Even though I’d argue that much of his initial mystique and appeal may come from his potential to lead to a restoration of the marriage and how that will unfold, his creation led to more enthusiasm and excitement about Spider-man (at least in our community in the Crawlspace) than I have seen in a long time. And that is a beautiful thing.

7. @Evan – The unmasking during Civil War could have been interesting – Peter David seemed to be the only one interested in writing stories about how this would affect Peter’s life as opposed to Spider-Man’s life.

   But the fact that it was happening right in the middle of the CW event, plus everything that was piled on top of Spidey after that, made it clear that Marvel had no intention of dealing with the consequences of this unmasking in any longterm meaningful way. It became clear very quickly that *all* of this was going to be undone very soon, everything back to normal.

8. @hornacek — Right. To me it’s a testament to his realization that he’s been underestimating her and ultimately disrespecting her, especially if Uncle Ben would be proud of him. I suspect Uncle Ben, were he alive, would think it unwise to conceal that from her. As you said, the “Spiders are icky” reasoning can only go so far. Did the Peter of Ultimate Spider-man tell May? I think he did, but I can’t remember exactly how she found out.

   As with JJJ, Marvel has shown that some interesting and rich stories can be told once his identity is known by various characters. Besides, assuming they’ll undo it someday, I always find myself curious how they’ll undo it someday.

   (By the way, back when Peter unmasked during Civil War, I remember thinking “Uh oh. How are they going to undo this? Something weird’s about to happen.” Boy was I right.)

9. @Evan – I can accept the idea that the reason Peter can’t tell May his secret is because her health is so poor that the shock of Peter’s secret would kill her. This seems to be what they’re going for in the Lee/Ditko/Romita era.

   But later stories contradict May being this frail and “shock-able” (some even in the Lee/Ditko/Romita era!). And these are scenes where Peter witnesses that May is stronger than he thinks she is, so he should know that she could take finding out, both physically and emotionally.

   And let’s not get into the fact that post-OMD should know that May can handle knowing the truth since she found it out on her own pre-OMD and survived and was fine with it. So every day he doesn’t tell her the truth now is just dumb.

   In fact, I’d like to see Peter *tell* her his secret – we saw her find it out on her own and then tell Peter that she knew. But I’d like to see Peter be the one to tell it to her.

10. @hornacek — I almost said in my post below that this would have been a perfect moment for him to just tell her the truth. Keeping a secret like that and going to extremes to protect it is likely to drive him far more crazy than she would go if she knew the truth. The writers need their dramatic irony and suspense, I suppose.

11. “Now I’ve made her doubt her own sanity! It’s almost as if me continuing to lie to her about being Spider-Man is causing her more pain than if I told her the truth, helped her accept it, and we both moved on . Hmm, wait a minute …”

12. Sometimes I think that pursuing a particular course out of guilt isn’t as noble as doing it because you know it’s the right thing and your heart is fully committed. I understand Peter feeling this way, and perhaps it’s a bit exaggerated in that these are just his thoughts and yet we can see them openly, but goodness.