Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular character and has been since his debut. Spider-Man took Marvel’s “world outside your window” approach and took it into overdrive. Peter Parker was just like the reader, a nerdy lower class kid who had problems with bullies and girls. Spider-Man comics have given readers some of the most exciting stories ever and have redefined what Spider-Man can be multiple times over the years. The Amazing Spider-Man was joined by books like The Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, and Spider-Man, and readers have thrilled to some of the best superhero adventures ever.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The best things in the Spider-Man comics have changed the way that superhero stories looked over the years. However, there have been over 60 years of Spider-Man comics and not all of them can be great. A lot of bad things have happened in the Spider-Man comics, and these ten did huge damage to Spider-Man as a character.
10) Spider-Man Leaving the Avengers
Spider-Man joining the Avengers was a huge change for the character. Spider-Man was a reserve Avenger starting in the ’80s, but he never joined the main team until 2005’s New Avengers. This version of the team saw Spider-Man and Wolverine joining the team, and started off Spider-Man’s tenure as an Avengers. Spider-Man stayed a member of the team until the Superior Spider-Man years, and played an important part in Avengers’ adventure. Spider-Man joining the Avengers showed how integral he was to the Marvel Universe, and since he’s left the team, he’s never seemed as important as he did in the ’00s and early ’10s.
9) Character Regression
One of the biggest problems with Spider-Man comics is the character regression that has been part and parcel of Spider-Man for almost 20 years now. There was a time, from his beginning to about 2007, where Spider-Man grew. He went from high school to college to adulthood and marriage. Readers may have been younger, but mature Spider-Man appealed to them. However, Marvel brass decided that Spider-Man worked better as a poor loser with no girlfriend, and that has been the default setting of the character. Spider-Man always goes back to being lonely and poor, and it’s a huge problem with continually reading Spider-Man comics.
8) Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen Leaving the Spider-Man Comics
The ’80s contain some of the best Spider-Man stories of all time, and the later phases of the decades saw two of the most popular Spider-Man creators ever joining the book. Artists Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen became the two main artists of The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man, and they gave readers some of the greatest Spider-Man art of all time. Both of them were also pretty good writers, although Larsen is better, and Spider-Man books were at their height while they were working on them. However, McFarlane was one of the main agitators of the Image Comics Exodus, and both of them left Marvel in 1992. The Spider-Man books spent the rest of the decade falling from grace.
7) Spider-Man: Reign
Spider-Man: Reign is basically The Dark Knight Returns of the Spider-Man comics, but in the worst way. The book took place in an alternate future where Spider-Man had retired after the death of Mary Jane and New York City became a totalitarian state, having to put the costume back on to save the day. I always liked the book, but it’s impossible to deny how much it depended on its edginess, including introducing the idea that Spider-Man’s radioactive fluids killed Mary Jane. It’s gone down as one of the biggest missteps in Spider-Man history, but it still got a sequel, as much from its infamy as any love that readers had for it.
6) “Sins Past”
Writer J. Michael Straczynski’s run on The Amazing Spider-Man is a highlight of the 21st century Spider-Man comics, but it wasn’t perfect. The first indication of this was “Sins Past”, a story that established that at some point before they died, Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy had sex, having two children who aged quicker because of the Goblin formula. This story was hated immediately thanks to its controversial retcon, and it’s looked at among the worst Spider-Man stories of all time. “Sins Past” would eventually get retconned out of existence, yet the stink of it will never go away.
5) The Spider Who Gobbles
The Zeb Wells on The Amazing Spider-Man is full of terrible moments, but this is one of the dumbest. Okay, here goes — Norman Osborn had his sins as the Green Goblin removed, and is now a good person. However, at some point, Spider-Man had all of Green Goblin’s sins put into his body and he became the Spider Who Gobbles. This is basically the Marvel version of the Batman Who Laughs, except much, much worse. There is some comedy value to the idea, but that doesn’t mean that it was a good idea. The Spider Who Gobbles is one of those ideas that is terrible with the potential for fun, but Wells never figured out how to harness that potential.
4) John Byrne’s Spider-Man: Chapter One
Spider-Man is Marvel’s most relatable heroes, but the ’90s basically torpedoed that. The Clone Saga nearly destroyed the Spider-Man comics, and Marvel decided to take the emergency option. They hired writer/artist John Byrne to reboot Spider-Man, making him the artist/co-plotter of The Amazing Spider-Man and the writer/artist of Spider-Man: Chapter One. Spider-Man: Chapter One retold the events of Spider-Man’s origin and added Doctor Octopus into the whole thing in the worst way possible. Byrne’s run on TASM is also pretty bad, with one of the creepiest Spider-Man moments ever (when he kissed the teenage Spider-Woman). It was a terrible time for Spider-Man fans.
3) The Clone Saga
Spider-Man’s Clone Saga has some fans, but all of them recognize the mistakes that were made. The Clone Saga has some good ideas, bringing back the Spider-Clone from The Amazing Spider-Man #149, and introduced multiple new characters. It even started out pretty well, but Marvel never planned an ending and just kept it going for years. Eventually, the creators who told the good Clone Saga stories were gone, and the books get really bad. The Clone Saga could have worked if Marvel hadn’t decided to keep it going for sales reasons and let the good creators finish it off. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing. Instead, Marvel tried to milk it for all its worth and that led to its infamy.
2) Paul
There are enough problems with the Zeb Wells Spider-Man run that a whole list can be made about them. However, there’s one big problem that basically ruined the whole thing — Paul Rabin. Paul Rabin was introduced as Mary Jane’s husband who she met after being left in an alternate universe by Spider-Man. Paul was yet another way to keep Spider-Man and Mary Jane apart, and he was a bad character who made Spider-Man look bad to boot. Fans hate Paul, and the fact that Marvel shoved him down everyone’s throats for so long has hurt the Spider-Man books. Paul is terrible and the day he dies will be a happy day for Spider-Man fans.
1) “One More Day”
“One More Day” is Spider-Man worst story. Marvel editorial had wanted to get away from Spider-Man’s marriage to Mary Jane almost from the beginning, but it wouldn’t be until 2007 that they’d finally pull the trigger. The story revolved around Spider-Man trying to figure out a way to heal a gravely injured Aunt May, and eventually traded his marriage to Mephisto to get his elderly aunt to survive. The whole story is terrible, and it’s led to fans hating the way Marvel treats Spider-Man. “One More Day” will never get re-evaluated, as some bad stories do in the future, because of the damage done to the Spider-Man comics by it.
What do you think? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
Most Viewed
-
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image Courtesy of MAPPA
