Marvel Won't "Undo" Spider-Man: One More Day "Any Time Soon," But "Never Say Never"
Marvel's Spider-Editor addresses one of the most controversial storylines in Spider-Man history.
Speak of the devil. One More Day is among the most divisive stories in the 60-year history of The Amazing Spider-Man — and one that is unlikely to be undone "any time soon," according to Marvel's Executive Spider-Man Editor Nick Lowe. The 2007 storyline spanned Amazing Spider-Man #544, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24, Sensational Spider-Man #41, and Amazing Spider-Man #545, set in the aftermath of Marvel's Civil War crossover event and Back in Black. It was a mythos-shaking status quo reset that relaunched the character for the "Brand New Day" era: a single Spidey who never married Mary Jane, his Aunt May alive and well, and his secret identity forgotten by the world.
"We have mostly moved on, and I wouldn't hold my breath for an undo any time soon," Lowe wrote in response to a fan's question about One More Day in the letters section of December's Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 6) #39. "But I'll never say never."
To recap: after Spider-Man unmasked in support of the Super-human Registration Act, an assassin's bullet left his Aunt May on the brink of death. The demon Mephisto offered a desperate Spider-Man a bargain: he would save May's life in exchange for Peter and MJ's marriage.
"You will not consciously remember this bargain, or this moment, or the life you lived to this point," Mephisto said. "But there will be a very small part of your soul that will remember, that will know what you lost." Out of time, the Parkers agreed to Mephisto's terms. The magically-annulled marriage meant that not only were Peter and Mary Jane no longer married, the marriage never happened.
Marvel officially retconned the wedding issue, 1987's Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, when the "One Moment in Time" storyline explained why the couple never married in Amazing Spider-Man #638-#641.
Then-Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada defended the controversial storyline in 2008, telling CBR that One More Day didn't "invent the retcon or is the first comic story to ever do one."
"Yet fandom has managed to move on in light of the fact that it's happened in comics before and to even greater extents. In the end, what's important is what you're left with and how you move forward," Quesada said. "Secondly, if you look at our motivation behind [One More Day], it should give you solace that we did it with [the fans] in mind, with the goal of telling incredible Spidey stories for you guys moving forward. Perhaps for some this isn't easy to see right away, but given time and as each issue of [Brand New Day] comes out, I think it's slowly becoming evident what we're trying to do."
Nick Spencer's run on the book romantically reunited Peter and Mary Jane, but their reconciliation was shortlived: the 2022 relaunch under writer Zeb Wells revealed that the couple broke up during a six-month time jump. Subsequent issues revealed that the mad mathematician Benjamin Rabin — who was introduced during the "Brand New Day" era in Amazing Spider-Man #555 — transported Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson to an apocalyptic version of New York so he could sacrifice them to the Mayan god Wayep. Mary Jane was stranded in this alternate dimension for years with Rabin's son, Paul, and their magic-made adopted children, Romy and Owen.
The Spider-Marriage is restored in Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checcheto's Ultimate Spider-Man #1. Meet the Parkers when the Ultimate Universe relaunch hits stands on January 10, 2024.
