It's been a running joke for decades now that there are only three characters who have ever truly stayed dead in comic books: Bruce Wayne's parents, and Uncle Ben. Outside of those unlucky few, no comic book readers get too upset anymore about the "death" of a character because, as we all know, they'll be back next year, or when their next movie comes out in theaters. All the titans of comic books have fallen at some point or another, and made a glorious return. (Wolverine is about to get his, but don't worry, he'll be back for the next X-Men Origins movie)
There is one, however, that I really wish had stayed dead.
*SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't read issue 700 of Amazing Spider-Man (or any of Superior Spider-Man) skip past this!*
In December 2012, Marvel released the controversial finale of the Amazing Spider-Man series, "Dying Wish" (issue #700). In it, Spider-Man has one final climactic battle with Doctor Octopus, who is on the brink of death. In his final moments, Doc Oc uses a tiny drone of his own invention to swap his mind and memories into the body of Spider-Man, and Spidey's mind into his own body. Peter Parker, from the rapidly dying body of Doc Oc, beckons Spider-Oc to protect his family, and maintain the eternal Spider-mantra, "With great power comes great responsibility."Thus began the year of the Superior Spider-Man, in which Doc Oc, now living out Peter's life, swears to uphold justice better than Peter ever did, to be Superior. He donned a new costume (my personal favorite), and used his super villain genius to finally be a force for good.
*END SPOILERS*
Reactions were understandably mixed. Many praised the extreme shift in gears (myself included), while others went so far as to threaten the life of story writer Dan Slott and his family.
Superior Spider-Man continued from January 2013 until the recent re-reboot of Amazing Spider-Man in April 2014, no doubt leading to the "I told you so" crowd getting heads so big they could make the Watcher jealous. But, as mentioned earlier, with the upcoming release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in theaters, it was no surprise to anyone with even the slightest lick of common sense that Peter Parker would make a glorious return to his own comic.
But if you ask me, it was the wrong move.
Allow me to explain: Spider-Man has been around since 1962, and for over 50 years now, we've watched him beat up the bad guy, save the girl (well, for the most part...sorry Gwen), and never ever break his personal code of minimal violence and no killing, even in the aforementioned death of Gwen Stacy. To be fair, its only natural that everyone freak out when something like that changes, because with Spider-Man, his unbreakable oath of responsibility is all we've ever known. But seeing the total opposite of that was so refreshing! Suddenly nobody had any idea what he'd do next. Every issue was groundbreaking for 52-year-old hero, doing something we'd never dreamed he'd go so far as doing. Each time I finished an issue, my mouth would hang wide, and I'd run to my wife, lips flapping like a little kid telling his parents about a car crash. But the point is, I kept reading. I HAD to know what came next!
And what made it even more powerful was that it wasn't some paltry 3 to 5 issue series, as far as Marvel wanted you to know, this was forever.
But, as we all suspected it would, the series ended. Peter returned, and order was restored. In this universe anyways...
I don't know what it is about Spider-Man, but it seems like of all the Marvel heroes, he always gets the shortest end of the stick. Aside from Earth-616, this is just as obvious in the Ultimates universe.
First appearing in 2011, Miles Morales burst on the scene, breaking grounds as the first biracial super hero. Once again, reviews were less than stellar. Some loved, most were pessimistic. But again, Marvel gave no choice as Peter Parker once again met his grizzly end. (Seriously, this guy needs to join a team full-time...)But the barriers were broken, and Miles became the new guardian of New York in the Ultimate universe. After the media backlash cooled down however, Miles quickly rose to popularity.
So what makes readers so willing to accept the death of the same character in this universe, but not Earth-616?
Both Spider-Oc and Miles Morales can both be easily written off by the casual observer as publicity stunts, and to a degree I do believe that both were created in an effort to boost readership and promote interest in the characters before the movie releases. However to the weekly reader, they were brand new characters.
Weekly comic books have been around for almost 80 years now, with characters like Batman, Superman, Captain America and Spider-Man hitting milestone anniversaries. Introducing new characters nowadays understandably gets a quick shrug from most die hard readers, and those who don't know much about comics are more likely to gravitate to heroes they already know. But with these two series, Marvel did something that took a lot of guts: they took away the reader's choice. If you wanted a Spider-Man story, you had no Peter Parker option left. And this is what it all boils down to: the discomfort of the reader. Any hero can die, but how much more of a slap in the face is it to not only have them die, but have the villain ultimately triumph within the body of the hero?!
It hit me too! After an issue or two of Superior Spider-Man, I was uneasy because I had never seen the likes of this story before. But as I pushed myself further in to each issue, it quickly became my all-time favorite Spider-Man story arc, if not my favorite comic book story period.
What it all boils down to is this: TAKE A CHANCE. The majority of those who ripped these two changes to shreds hadn't even read a single issue of them. They just got angry and boycotted them without giving the new idea a chance.
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