POLL: Spider-Man's Single Status

[Scott Taylor]

What's not more in keeping with the nature of the character than a devil deal marriage retcon?

Skinning puppies?

Comes close - trusting Otto to be Spider-Man and condoning it because he said some words and did some things. Thankfully, Ghost Peter reversed that apparent happenstance.

[charlesthehammer]

I don't mind the character returning to his single status; I would have preferred him just getting a divorce. That seems more in keeping with the nature of the character, to me.

Yeah but if your main reasoning for doing it is "aging the character" making him have a divorce would not exactly help.

[Darthfury78]

I think Spider-Man and MJ should stay together.

Agree. However, it should be Betty Brant x Peter Parker x Mary Jane relationship triangle. Meaning when Mary Jane decides to put a stop to her relationship with Peter, Betty would take her place like a shift in and shift out and vice versa.

I don't mind the character returning to his single status; I would have preferred him just getting a divorce. That seems more in keeping with the nature of the character, to me.

A divorce would not have made any sense given Peter and Mary Jane's history together. An interesting option was to have revealed that Mary Jane Parker was actually a female Skull imposter the whole time when her married her. And the real Mary Jane was captured by the Skulls and replaced with a spy.

[Jim Thompson]

Yeah but if your main reasoning for doing it is "aging the character" making him have a divorce would not exactly help.

Well, I know of no one who wanted to "age the character". That said, plenty of young people go through divorce, and, given the amount of trauma Peter has already gone through in his life, I'm not sure how much more a divorce would have further aged him as a character.

[Jim Thompson]

A divorce would not have made any sense given Peter and Mary Jane's history together.

Really? They'd never had troubles that caused them to separate before? Their marriage was always one of bliss?

An interesting option was to have revealed that Mary Jane Parker was actually a female Skull imposter the whole time when her married her. And the real Mary Jane was captured by the Skulls and replaced with a spy.

I know there are those who likely would have loved this; I just would not have been one of them.

[David Walton]

Well, I know of no one who wanted to "age the character". That said, plenty of young people go through divorce, and, given the amount of trauma Peter has already gone through in his life, I'm not sure how much more a divorce would have further aged him as a character.

If Marvel didn't want to age the character, no one told Stan Lee, who put the weight of the world on Peter's shoulders at a very young age.

[charlesthehammer]

Well, I know of no one who wanted to "age the character". That said, plenty of young people go through divorce, and, given the amount of trauma Peter has already gone through in his life, I'm not sure how much more a divorce would have further aged him as a character.

That was the main point I would hear, that being married took him away from his youthful roots. I am sure that Joe Q said something like that at one point. Same reason they said he couldn't have kids. Of course that argument doesn't really mean much to me (I would love to see a more grown up Peter) but it has been made. And, at least for now, it has won.

[oldschool]

If Marvel didn't want to age the character, no one told Stan Lee, who put the weight of the world on Peter's shoulders at a very young age.

Just remember that no one thought they would need to worry about keeping the character fresh 50 years on when Stan was writing those stories in the 1960's. With the benefit of hindsight, a lot of decisions seem quite different.

[whiteshark]

I think the return of the Spider-Man single status worked great to revitalize the stories.
Even with the talented writers that were in the spidey comics during the 20 years of the marriage ,that direction just got stale,by making a drastic change in the status quo it made the stories with that x-factor in terms of surprising storylines that was missing from the stories.

[Scott Taylor]

If Marvel didn't want to age the character, no one told Stan Lee, who put the weight of the world on Peter's shoulders at a very young age.

I get the impression no one tells Stan Lee anything. He just goes with the flow, anyway, so what would be the point? Really nice guy.