There is no greater superhero in all of Marvel Comics than Peter Parker, aka the Amazing Spider-Man. With his striking costume, incredible abilities, hilarious quips, and relatable moral center about responsibility coming with power, Spider-Man is practically the face of Marvel. Obviously, many of his stories are considered pioneers of the industry, thanks to their thought-provoking plots and engaging characters. However, while Spider-Man does have some of the best stories of all time, he also has some of the worst. Such abysmal stories often contain terrible mischaracterizations, contrived plotlines, and sloppy retcons that rewrite history for the worse. These are the Spider-Man tales that should have been left on the cutting room floor.
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While it’s completely understandable that not every Spider-Man storyline would be perfect, at times the choices writers have made are completely mindboggling. Sometimes these stories were so bad that Marvel retconned them, while other times it just dug its heels and doubled down on these poor narratives despite understandable fan outcry. Out of the countless stories involving the Wall-Crawler, these are the worst.
10) “Clone Saga”
The sad thing about “Clone Saga” was that it had a good start, with the return of fan-favorite Ben Reilly and the introduction of the complex villain-turned-anti-hero Kaine. Unfortunately, even with these positives, this storyline needlessly extended well past its expiration date. The initial story involved Spider-Man’s clone, Ben Reilly, returning with proof that he’s the original and that Peter Parker is the real clone. Afterwards, both as enemies and as allies, Peter and Ben uncovered a conspiracy concocted by the villains Jackal, Kaine, and Norman Osborn. However, the story soon became stale, with clone after clone and unnecessary twist after unnecessary twist, creating a dragged-out, convoluted mess that lasted for two years.
9) “Parker Industries”
When Doctor Octopus controlled Spider-Man’s body, he used his genius to create a multi-billion-dollar tech company called Parker Industries. When Peter regained his body, he inherited this company. While the idea of Peter using his genius to build a successful company isn’t bad and could have been a welcome change to Peter’s lowly status quo, the execution fell flat. Almost immediately, Peter went from a lovable and relatable hero to an egotistical and selfish jerk. There was no build-up, and Peter’s abrupt character shift after stealing work from someone else felt completely forced. When Parker Industries collapsed, the entire abysmal storyline was completely forgotten, with Peter back to being a broke loser.
8) “The Return of Peter Parker’s Parents”
For three decades, Spider-Man’s secret agent parents, Richard and Mary Parker, had been presumed dead. Then, suddenly, the pair returned, apparently having been stuck in a Russian prison for years. While the sporadic reemergence of Peter’s parents was already strange and led to a lot of confusion among readers, the ultimate reveal that occurred two years later made the entire storyline too ridiculous to be taken seriously. It’s revealed that Peter’s “parents” were shapeshifting robots built by the Chameleon under the orders of the Green Goblin. “The Return of Peter Parker’s Parents” was incredibly convoluted and cemented the idea among readers and writers alike that Spider-Man’s mom and dad should remain buried.
7) Spider-Man: Chapter One
Like many superheroes, Spider-Man’s story has been going on for decades and can be hard to follow. To give new readers a place to start as well as update the character, Spider-Man: Chapter One acted as both a retelling and a reboot of the Wall-Crawler’s origin. Unfortunately, this reboot completely fell flat for several reasons. Firstly, Peter’s origin was unnecessarily retooled so that he was in a massive radiation explosion before being bitten by the spider. Secondly and more importantly, the story felt less like a reboot and more like a CliffsNotes version of Spider-Man’s origin, with many iconic moments condensed, skimmed, or skipped over entirely. Lacking emotional weight or pacing, Spider-Man: Chapter One was soon abandoned and retconned.
6) “The Gathering of Five and the Final Chapter”
“The Gathering of Five and the Final Chapter” completely botched the climactic return of Norman Osborn after he was seemingly killed during the events of “The Goblin’s Last Stand.” In this story, Norman tries a ritual to become immortal. After that plot goes nowhere, it’s revealed that Spider-Man and MJ’s baby daughter didn’t die during childbirth; Norman kidnapped her. It’s then revealed that Aunt May, who seemingly died in a previous storyline, was still alive and had been replaced by an actress who died in her place. Spider-Man and MJ’s baby is then completely forgotten. From undoing the impactful death of Aunt May to the misdirection of Spider-Man and MJ’s baby’s return, “The Gathering of Five and the Final Chapter” fails on every level.
5) Trouble
For some reason, some writers at Marvel couldn’t stomach the idea that Peter Parker was raised by his Aunt May and not his mother. In an extremely bizarre attempt to revitalize romance comics, Trouble was a prequel story that followed younger versions of Peter Parker’s parents, Richard and Mary Parker, along with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. In a complete derailment from canon, May cheats on Ben with Richard, leading to her becoming pregnant with none other than Peter Parker. To avoid her strict parents’ wrath, May gives Peter to Richard and Mary to raise as their son. Trouble was a weird and uncomfortable storyline that completely mischaracterized Aunt May and overcomplicated her relationship to Peter. Thankfully, the story has since been retconned.
4) “Dead Language”
The infamous writer Zeb Wells started his run on The Amazing Spider-Man with a time-skip in which everyone suddenly scorns the Wall-Crawler, and Mary Jane is married to a guy named Paul. “Dead Language” revealed what happened six months ago that led to this situation. After a one-note villain called Emissary trapped MJ in a dimension where time moves faster, Spider-Man tried to rescue her. However, by the time he saved MJ, years had passed from her perspective. MJ met and fell in love with Paul. In the present, Spider-Man is fighting the Emissary again, and Ms. Marvel suddenly appeared only to sacrifice her life. Everything about this story, from Spider-Man and MJ once again separating to Ms. Marvel’s awkward death, feels completely forced and unnatural.
3) “One Moment in Time”
After “One More Day” retconned Spider-Man and MJ’s married life, Marvel needed to rub salt into the wound with “One Moment in Time.” This storyline explains how events unfolded since the pair’s marriage, which never occurred. In this rewritten timeline, Spider-Man missed his wedding with MJ because Kaine kidnapped him. Later, after having previously revealed his secret identity to the world, Spider-Man asked Doctor Strange to make everyone forget this information. When Spider-Man spared MJ from the spell, she was uncharacteristically furious at him for not letting her forget that he’s Peter Parker. It was a pathetic, lazy attempt to justify “One More Day” that only further cemented fans’ hatred of the retcon.
2) “Sins Past”
“The Death of Gwen Stacy” is easily one of the greatest stories in comic book history; so naturally, Marvel had to go and ruin it. In a misguided attempt to add more drama to the event, writers retconned it so that, before her death, Gwen Stacy had a sexual affair with Norman Osborn behind Peter’s back. This affair led to Gwen giving birth to twins, Sarah and Gabriel Stacy, the latter of whom would grow up to become the supervillain the Gray Goblin. It was completely out of character for Gwen to have this relationship with Norman, and no explanation was given as to why she even did it in the first place. Despite the storyline’s universal negative responses, Marvel wouldn’t retcon it until 17 years later.
1) “One More Day”
Was there ever any doubt over which Spider-Man storyline would take the top spot? “One More Day” is one of the worst stories in comic book history because of how it undid 20 years of Spider-Man and MJ’s marriage to ensure that the Wall-Crawler would stay miserable. To save his dying Aunt May, Spider-Man sells his marriage to the demon Mephisto. Instead of having Spider-Man and MJ naturally grow apart, Marvel took the easy route by bringing in the devil. Nothing in this story felt like an authentic expression of art, but instead a corporate-mandated retcon. To say that fans were livid would be the understatement of the century. “One More Day” did irreparable damage to the Spider-Man brand and can still be felt nearly 20 years later.
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