For countless Spider-Man fans, “One More Day” will always go down as the most frustrating comic book story ever told. Marvel bosses always seemed to regret Spider-Man’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson, and everything built to a head in 2007. There, Marvel Comics editor Joe Quesada pushed through his vision of a rejuvenated Spider-Man line: in a shocking twist, unparalleled in Marvel history, the marriage was literally erased from history.
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I’m no fan of Spider-Man: One More Day. A child in the ’90s, I grew up entirely comfortable with Spider-Man’s married life, and his relationship with Mary Jane was simply part of the Spider-Man story to me. Worse still, Marvel rewrote continuity by having Spider-Man strike a literal deal with the devil (or rather Mephisto, their version) to resurrect his beloved Aunt May, with the marriage erased as the price. Even now, I find the story so hard to reread, because the Faustian pact feels so very out-of-character. But it’s just gotten so much worse.
Marvel Officially Confirms What We Already Knew About Aunt May
Civil War: Unmasked #2 spins back to the superhero civil war, which saw Peter Parker unmask himself – unwittingly drawing fire from the Kingpin, ultimately leading to May’s death. Christos Gage, Edgar Salazar, and Morry Hollowell have crafted a superb issue, with Peter wrestling with the question of whether to reveal his identity to the world. The Super Hero Registration Act didn’t require heroes to do that, but he was asked to do so by Tony Stark, who believed a hero like Spider-Man going public would inspire others to register.
Back in 2006, comics explored Peter’s dilemma in detail. But Gage knows what Marvel readers didn’t in 2006, that this will all end in tragedy for Aunt May, and he confronts Peter and May with it in what can only be direct foreshadowing. In a beautiful moment, May isn’t afraid of death. “Maybe it’s because I’m old, but I just don’t care,” May says. “I like staying in. As for the risk, I’ve had an amazing life. I’m thankful for it. So, when my time comes, I’m at peace with it.”
It’s impossible not to read these words as a direct criticism of Spider-Man: One More Day. The story was bad enough viewed from Spider-Man’s perspective, with Peter literally doing a deal with the devil, erasing his marriage from continuity for the sake of his aunt. Gage’s story points out that it’s just as damaging from Aunt May’s perspective as well, because this is something she would never want. May Parker would be appalled at the idea of Peter saving her life by sacrificing his marriage, not least because she surely saw his relationship with MJ as a core part of her own “amazing life.”
19 years after Spider-Man: One More Day, Marvel’s latest comic underscores just how bad this story was. Marvel may be (frustratingly) reluctant to reverse it, but it seems even Marvel’s writers have huge problems with it. Sadly, it’s certainly true that – despite some tremendous writers – the Spider-Man stories since have often felt locked into a stale status quo, and they have this poor strategic decision to blame for it.
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