Tag: spiderman

In issue 149 of The Amazing Spider-man, back in 1975, Peter Parker discovered that he had a twin brother, a clone created by the Jackal named Ben Reilly who died in that same episode. However, twenty years later, in the infamous Clone Saga, readers were amazed to discover that he was still roaming the Marvel Universe and, in fact, adopted the name Scarlet Spider, which follows him to this day. He is a vital character in the character’s ecosystem, right? Well, maybe not for everyone.

Are you really telling me this?

It has been 30 years since the first resurrection of Ben Reilly, and the character has undergone continuous changes in name, powers, aliases, and status quo. So much so that Jonathan Hickman, in his Ultimate Spider-man (the best current comic about the Web-Slinger), has made it clear that he does not intend to add more fuel to his background. Thus, in issue 10, he has made a simple nod indicating to readers that there would be no clones of any kind here.

J. Jonah Jameson and Ben Parker (yes, Uncle Ben) are writing a news article for their online newspaper, The Paper, about Wilson Fisk. But they don’t want to write it under either of their names so that Kingpin’s power doesn’t fall on them, so they decide to invent a name. Exactly, Ben Reilly. And you have no idea how much of a relief it is to know that there will be no clones in this origin adventure. It’s about time.

This stage of Spiderman in the comics might not be the most beloved by fans, but Marvel is refocusing it, setting aside the drama with Mary Jane, who now has a new boyfriend that no one likes, to focus on what Spider-Man does best: street fighting and gang warfare. And of course, as it couldn’t be otherwise, this shift in paradigm has started with an unexpected death that could literally change everything.

A head for hammering nails

Al Ewing has kicked off this mega-crossover among all the Spider titles with an issue that explains why the New York mafia has engaged in an all-out war. But first, a quick update on this never-ending soap opera: during Randy Robertson and Janice Lincoln’s wedding, the daughter of Tombstone, things turned sour when Randy got shot and now lies in agony in a hospital bed. Got it? Let’s dive in.

With their enemy lying there dying, the rest of the street-level criminal associations decide to divide up Harlem, Randy’s territory, which obviously won’t happen without bloodshed. Janice shows up at the meeting demanding her father’s seat, something Hammerhead agrees to on the condition that she’s able to kill… Randy Robertson, her ex-fiancé (the wedding, post that incident, didn’t end well, for whatever reason).

Of course, as much as she appears willing in front of him, she won’t do it. Disguised as The Beetle, she warns her ex about what’s about to happen while he’s giving a speech. Too late, of course: Hammerhead shoots him, and he ends up in the hospital alongside Tombstone. Shortly after, the mobster reveals his plans to his innocent girlfriend, who, as always, is not what she seems. Here, we’ll need a sudden touch of magical realism because this could only happen in a Marvel comic book.

Actually, the anonymous girlfriend is Madame Masque, who faked her death at the wedding and now, knowing everything about Hammerhead, is ready to make her final move. Literally. She takes a human femur lined with adamantium (no one knows where she got it from), enchants it, and crushes her boyfriend’s skull, seemingly killing him on the spot… or so it seems. And thus begins a gang war where Spider-Man will assemble a team, thanks to Mayor Luke Cage (it’s a long story), with all fronts open. Sometimes it’s a pleasure to be a Spidey fan. Not many times, though.

For decades, Marvel has been determined to make Peter Parker suffer over and over again. Does he have a girlfriend? She dies. Does he have a daughter? She disappears. Does he have a wife? Mephisto makes her vanish. Do they reconcile? She ends up lost in another dimension and falls in love with someone who happened to be around. Those affected by ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ had been asking for something good to happen to Peter for years. And then, once again, the Ultimate universe arrived.

The last universe

When the Ultimate universe was first published back in 2000, the idea was to showcase the renewed origins of superheroes with a team of top-notch artists. Ultimately, it was merged with the 616 universe, and the comic line disappeared… until 2024, where they’ve promised to come back strong and, most importantly, with completely different and unexpected stories.

And one of them is the new ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’ in which Peter Parker is happy, married to Mary Jane, has a son and a daughter. Then, in his maturity, he gets bitten by a radioactive spider. That’s the big novelty here: for once, neither his children can have the powers (I’m looking at you, Spider-Girl), nor will we see his origins as a teenage acrobat. Now, Spidey is mature, adult, and reluctantly heroic.

The story will be written by Jonathan Hickman, who always stirs things up when he takes charge of a project. There have been other collections that have kept the married couple with children (like ‘Renew Your Vows’), but this is a unique case that will be released alongside ‘Ultimate Black Panther’ and ‘Ultimate X-Men.‘ Will the big M realize that we want to see a happy Peter, or will they miss the hint? Probably the latter, but for sure.

Zeb Wells, the current writer of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’, is facing backlash from fans… rightfully so. The writer, who began with a promising question (“What did Spider-Man do to be hated by everyone around him?”), has ended up with Mary Jane married to a character we hadn’t seen before, whom she met in an alternate reality, and with whom she had two children who have vanished. And unfortunately, this isn’t the worst of it.

Spiderblack

Spider-Man has always had to deal with Goblins. The Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin, the Grey Goblin, the Kingpin Goblin, the Red Goblin… And now, he himself has become one in the most complex, absurd, and Marvel-esque way possible. Yes, you heard it right: now, Peter Parker is the Black Goblin and he’s ready to cause mischief around. Just in time for the next – sigh – 24 issues of Spider-Man. A year with this. Utter laziness.

To understand what happened, we have to go back a few years when the Sin-Eater shot Norman Osborn while he was wearing the Green Goblin suit and freed him from evil (yes, he’s been a good guy for a few years now, hard to believe). What happened to the sins he carried within him? Well, they turned into a kind of slimy monster that Doctor Kafka, a former benefactor, became the Queen Goblin. Wait, Marvel always has one more twist up its sleeve.

What happens? Well, the Queen Goblin got involved with Kraven the Hunter, who managed to remove her “sins” (Norman Osborn’s sins, to be clear) by transferring them into a special lance. At this point, I wouldn’t overthink it too much either. So, when he’s about to transfer them back to Osborn, Peter steps in the middle and ends up receiving all the evil from his archenemy, becoming the Black Goblin.

This signifies the return of the black suit, a pursuit against Kraven (the hunter becoming the hunted), and a story that, as they promise us, will be very dark and change the character forever. It’s the usual Marvel fare. Is it possible that suddenly and unexpectedly Wells can revive a dying era that no reader is truly enjoying? Who knows. Apparently, we have 24 more issues to find out.

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Someday, the damage caused by ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ to the history of comics should be analyzed. Not the comic itself, which is a masterpiece, but all those that came after, wanting to emulate their own Frank Miller without the author’s talent, enthusiasm, or know-how. One of the finest examples of this crude imitation is ‘Spider-Man: Kingdom,’ a graphic novel from 2006 that portrays an aged Peter Parker, becoming increasingly grotesque as the years go by.

Radioactive fluid

‘Spiderman: Reino’, created by Kaare Andrews, is better known as “the story in which Spider-Man kills Mary Jane with radioactive semen.” Yes, you read that correctly. Peter lives alone and hasn’t worn the superhero suit in a long time, until we finally discover that it’s because he killed his wife through, let’s say, a “fluid exchange.” An absolute madness that overshadows anything else they might want to tell (which, by the way, isn’t anything extraordinary either).

But in the midst of the revival of formats and stories, someone at Marvel has thought, “Hey, why don’t we wrap up that story with a triumphant return?” and they’ve decided to bring it back. For Marvel, it remains the most “notorious” Spider-Man comic (although only for them), which is why they believe a sequel will be well-received among an audience that has been mocking the original series for the past fifteen years.

The first issue will be released in November, and for now, they announce to us that the story “isn’t over yet,” with an image showing Spidey carrying the ghost of Mary Jane on his back. It’s worth noting that in the current ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ series, MJ and Peter are not together because she married another man in an alternate dimension, where they had two non-real children. Well, that’s a Marvel move.

In the preview that has been released this month, we see a monstrous Kingpin and an MJ saying, “So much hurt and pain and death… Too many things you can’t rewind. What did you let them do, tiger? And what are we going to do about it?“ Well, it’s a testament to how much unintended damage Frank Miller caused.

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