10 Worst Things to Happen to Spider-Man Comics

by

For over sixty years, Spider-Man has been a central figure in Marvel Comics, becoming its most recognizable hero and a fan favorite. Since first appearing in comics, he’s been featured in countless issues and several ongoing series, including popular titles like The Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Web of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man is a hugely popular character, attracting many talented comic book creators over the past sixty years. However, despite this, the comics have seen some significant errors in editing, writing, and storytelling that almost destroyed the character’s overall story. These range from major editorial changes to Peter Parker’s backstory to problematic rewrites affecting other well-known characters – and represent the biggest mistakes ever made in Spider-Man comics.

The Clone Saga Clogged Much of Spider-Man’s ’90s Stories

As a long-time Spider-Man fan, I have to say the Clone Saga is probably the worst example of a story that just went off the rails. It wasn’t just one arc, it basically was the ’90s for Spider-Man comics! They kept throwing in clone after clone of Peter Parker, all thanks to this villain called the Jackal, and it got so confusing. Peter actually started questioning himself, wondering if he was the fake and this other guy, Ben Reilly, was the real Spider-Man! It was a mess, honestly.

The Clone Saga had some intriguing ideas, but it went on for way too long and became overly complicated. Readers had to follow a huge number of Peter Parker clones – like Ben Reilly, Kaine, and Spidercide – and figure out the Jackal’s elaborate, years-long scheme. Ultimately, the story lost most of its readers. Since then, Spider-Man has often made self-aware jokes about disliking clones, which is Marvel’s way of acknowledging that the Clone Saga wasn’t a success.

Marvel Resurrects Aunt May Instead of Peter and MJ’s Daughter

A confusing storyline involved a character named May and a lot of mistaken identity. Marvel initially appeared to kill off a newborn baby named May, but later issues suggested she was still alive and being held by Norman Osborn. After a betrayal, Osborn ordered the baby’s death, but not before she managed to contact Peter Parker and tell him, “May is alive.” Peter assumed she meant his daughter and raced to the rescue, only to be shocked to find that Osborn was actually holding his Aunt May hostage.

This plotline not only undoes the emotional impact of Aunt May’s death in The Amazing Spider-Man #400, but it also feels forced in its attempt to explain a weak conclusion. Writer Tom DeFalco has stated he originally planned for Peter and MJ’s daughter to be saved by the end, but Marvel editors worried that making Spider-Man a father would change the character too much. This decision marked the beginning of a pattern of editorial choices aimed at keeping Peter Parker’s life unchanged, ultimately leading to the controversial “One More Day” storyline.

Marvel Misfires With Peter Parker’s Parents

A surprising turn in the classic Spider-Man story occurred in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5, where the long-held secret of Peter Parker’s parents was finally unveiled. It turns out Richard and Mary Parker weren’t the ordinary people Peter believed them to be – they were actually undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who died while on a mission to investigate the Red Skull. This discovery deeply affects Peter, changing everything he thought he knew about his family.

What always made Spider-Man so relatable was that he felt like an ordinary person. Anyone reading his comics could easily imagine themselves as the hero behind the mask, because Peter Parker was, at his core, just a regular guy. However, giving his parents a background as secret agents complicated that connection, creating a more dramatic origin story that didn’t quite fit his down-to-earth character. The Amazing Spider-Man movies made this issue worse by suggesting Peter’s father’s research made him uniquely suited to become Spider-Man, turning what should have been a random accident into something predetermined.

Marvel Tries to Retcon Spider-Man’s Origin Story

As a long-time comic book fan, I’ve learned that ‘canon’ – the established history of a character – is rarely set in stone. Writers often tweak things that happened before to make their current story work, and sometimes fans don’t love it. Back in the late nineties, this happened with The Amazing Spider-Man. They started a new series and tried to change Spider-Man’s origin story to tie him directly to Doctor Octopus. Basically, the storyline, called “Chapter One,” claimed the spider that bit Peter Parker wasn’t just a random radioactive spider – it was actually part of an experiment Doc Ock was running. They even made Peter’s accident and Doc Ock’s origin story connected, retroactively changing how everything happened.

While connecting Spider-Man’s beginnings to Doctor Octopus isn’t a bad idea in itself, the way Marvel handled it upset a lot of fans. The storyline tried to rewrite the classic Amazing Fantasy #15 origin story – not with a clever new take, but by simply declaring it as the new truth. This created a worrying possibility that any writer could alter key parts of Spider-Man’s past whenever they wanted. Fortunately, this change didn’t stick, and Spider-Man’s original origin, as created by Stan Lee, was ultimately restored.

Norman Osborn Had an Affair With Gwen Stacy

The “Sins Past” storyline revealed a surprising and complicated history: the Green Goblin had a secret relationship with Gwen Stacy while she was dating Peter Parker. Even more shockingly, Gwen became pregnant with the Goblin’s twin children, Gabriel and Sarah. These twins grow up very quickly and eventually reveal to Peter that he’s their father.

Fans were shocked and upset by the idea that Gwen Stacy and Norman Osborn would have a romantic relationship. This felt completely out of character for Gwen and even made fans look back at older stories differently. Luckily, this storyline was later erased from continuity thanks to the “One More Day” event – and many consider that the only positive outcome of that 2007 story arc.

Peter Parker Becomes a Tech Mogul

Okay, so there was this really wild run with Spider-Man back in 2015. They had Peter Parker become, like, a super-rich CEO running his own company, Parker Industries. It was cool seeing Spidey with basically unlimited resources, letting him fight bigger, more powerful baddies and take on huge criminal organizations. But it didn’t last. Eventually, he lost the company and went back to being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, swinging around and dealing with street-level crime like we’re all used to.

Like many of Dan Slott’s bolder storylines, this one had some good ideas, but they didn’t quite suit Spider-Man’s core character. This period, often called “Worldwide,” drastically changed Spider-Man, giving him Iron Man-like technology, a super-advanced suit, and constant team-ups with the Avengers. Although “Worldwide” offered a new direction for Spider-Man comics, the changes ultimately did more harm than good to the overall story.

The Kindred Saga Avoids Its Best Ending

Nick Spencer revitalized The Amazing Spider-Man with a strong run from the late 2010s to early 2020s. He’s best known for the “Kindred Saga,” a storyline where Spider-Man battled a powerful, demonic villain named Kindred who was determined to destroy him. Throughout Spencer’s writing, the story gradually revealed clues about Kindred’s true identity, but the ending ultimately didn’t quite live up to its full potential.

Initially, the story presented Kindred as someone with knowledge of Peter Parker’s biggest mistake – seemingly his deal with the demon Mephisto that erased his marriage to Mary Jane Watson. The comic then led readers to believe Harry Osborn was Kindred, potentially a version of Harry from before that fateful deal, resurrected from hell to punish Peter. A satisfying conclusion would have been to confirm this and reverse the controversial storyline. However, the Kindred saga ended with a less impactful reveal that didn’t significantly alter Spider-Man’s life, making it a major disappointment for many fans.

Aunt May Is Revealed to Be Peter Parker’s Biological Mother

Aunt May and Peter Parker have always been close, like mother and son. However, a comic book series called Trouble took this connection to an extreme and unsettling level. The series revealed that May had a romantic relationship with Peter’s father, Richard Parker, and shockingly, that she is actually Peter’s biological mother. They kept this secret from their spouses to protect their families.

It’s no surprise that the ‘Trouble’ storyline was unpopular with fans. It dramatically and negatively altered the relationship between Peter and May, damaging it significantly. This change also retroactively presented Aunt May in a much worse light. Fortunately, the backlash was strong enough that Marvel eventually revised the story to take place in a separate universe, preserving Peter and May’s relationship in the primary storyline.

Marvel Keeps Insisting That Ben Reilly Is a Villain

The Clone Saga is often considered a low point for Spider-Man, but many readers grew to like Peter Parker’s clone, Ben Reilly. As the Scarlet Spider, he was a popular hero before he died during the saga. Surprisingly, Ben Reilly has come back to the comics several times since then. However, writers keep turning him into a villain. He first became the Jackal, with some heroic intentions, during ‘The Clone Conspiracy.’ More recently, he’s been portrayed as the supervillain Chasm, even leading a demonic assault on New York City.

Look, as a Spider-Man fan, I have to say everyone hates what they did with Ben Reilly. It just doesn’t make sense! He’s always been about power and responsibility, just like Peter, so turning him into a villain feels totally off. And honestly, it’s getting worse with every appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man – he just keeps getting more and more evil, and it’s super frustrating to watch.

Spider-Man Editorial Erased Peter and MJ’s Marriage

Few comic book stories are as disliked as “One More Day.” Published in 2007, it features Spider-Man making a desperate deal with the devil, Mephisto, to save his Aunt May. In exchange, Mephisto wipes Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s marriage from existence, essentially resetting Spider-Man’s life and leading into the “Brand New Day” storyline.

Removing Peter and MJ’s marriage felt like a forced decision, intended to return Spider-Man to his original roots as a struggling, single man living in New York City. This storyline is widely considered the most disliked in The Amazing Spider-Man’s history, not just because it drastically altered established timelines, but also because it fundamentally changed Peter Parker’s character. His strong sense of duty would never allow him to make such a desperate deal, especially one with such devastating consequences. “One More Day” is often seen as the worst event in Spider-Man comics, wiping out years of development and trapping the hero in a repetitive cycle.

Read More

2025-11-08 07:50