Marvel Reveals the Problem With Spider-Man's New Status Quo

With the relaunch of Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel has taken the web-slinger back to basics and nothing about Spider-Man is as basic as the "with great power comes great responsibility" mantra. However, that concept has manifested in an unexpected way in the series' first story arc and it's becoming a real problem for Peter Parker.

SPOILERS for Amazing Spider-Man #3 by Nick Spencer, Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn, and Laura Martin follow.

Part of bringing Spider-Man back to basics means bringing Peter Parker backs to his roots. He's no longer a rich industrialist. He's considering returning to school since his degree was revoked. He's as down on his luck as he's ever been.

The series has also taken Peter back to his roots as Spider-Man. He and Dr. Kurt Connors, aka the Lizard, have reconnected and, as it turns out, Connors has been studying the Isotope Genome Accelerator, the very same device that irradiated the spider that bit Peter and turned him into Spider-Man. Connors has been studying the device in the hopes that it could separate his human persona from the Lizard.

However, an attack by Taskmaster and Black Ant forced Peter Parker into action. During the fight, Peter became exposed to the Isotope Genome Accelerator. The result is that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are now two separate individuals.

This should be Peter Parker's dream come true. Now he can focus his energy on more personal matters like his rekindled relationship with Mary Jane Watson and attempts to get his career back on track without any guilt about giving up his responsibilities as Spider-Man because Spider-Man is actively protecting the city at the same time.

Amazing Spider-Man #3 lays out the problem with the situation. As Doc Connors explains to Peter, the Isotope Genome Accelerator may create a second physical body that appears to be a copy of the device's target, but all of the intangible parts of the subject - skills, personality traits, attitudes - get split between those two bodies.

What that means for Peter is that he no longer has any of his powers. Those went to the newly independent Spider-Man. What's more worrying is how Peter's personality traits were split up. Spider-Man got all of the power, but Peter Parker kept all of the responsibility.

That means that Spider-Man is out there fighting bad guys, but he's not doing it from a sense of responsibility towards the people of New York. He's doing it to show how powerful he is and having a good time at it without considering who may be hurt in the process, the perfect example being Spider-Man gleefully riding the Tri-Sentinel as it falls out of the sky towards the New York City streets on the issue's final page.

Peter sees the problem for what it is, but what can he do about it? He can't hope to fight Spider-Man when Spidey has all of their powers. Fans will have to wait and see what happens next.

What do you think about Spider-Man's current predicament? Let us know in the comments!

Amazing Spider-Man #3 is on sale now.