NEWSARAMA - Speaking of upcoming events in Civil War, Quesada said that no Spider-Man fan should miss Civil War #2, as it features a very significant event in the life of Spider-Man.
Civil War, yadda yadda, Spider-Man’s life will change FOREVAR OMG WTF BBQ!!!
God, haven’t we heard that before? Wasn’t that the pitch for The Other? Or Disassembled? I’m not saying that change is bad. I’m just saying there’s been a lot of changes recently, one on top of the other and none of them are getting much attention.
My Mom used to say that Lenny Bruce said “You can’t hit a hooker in the head and say ‘I Love You’.” (I can’t find the actual wording of that quote, but you get the idea, I hope.) There’s only so many times we can hear ‘In this issue… THIS PERSON DIES!’ or ‘This character’s life is changed FOREVER” before we start to lose that thrill. It’s common knowledge that death is not permanent, a self-referential joke about a simple short-coming. I’m almost to the point of wanting characters to die so they can get a fresh start again when they come back. Heck, kill Rogue! Get that girl away from Gambit and a new life! Kill Xavier and Magneto so they can reboot back to working as a team and watch things fall apart. Hell, let Punisher kill the whole damned lot and let me catch up on my TPs.
But that’s my inner grouchy old cat lady talking.
It’s almost a given by this point that Spider-Man is going to fess up to being Peter Parker. Marvel could pull a different rabbit out of the hat, but I’d give it a 85% chance. At work, my manager thinks this will radically change the character and is enthusiastic about the development. Me, I’m not so thrilled. Sure, there would be some good stories to come out of the change and would certainly put the crosshairs on Mary Jane and Aunt May, but… for how long? How long will it take for writers to get bored of the change and put things back? A couple years? I just don’t see this having any staying power.
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I think the unmasking of Spider-Man is going to be a fake-out, especially given how much effort Quesada has given lately to trying to make the case that the Spidey/MJ marraige is a “bad idea.” If the marriage is a bad idea, how much worse is the idea of an unmasking? No, my cynical gut reaction is that we’ve got some kind of “Peter Parker: Widower” storyline to look forward to.
Hank thinks that he’ll unmask and she’ll get shot and BLAMO! Insta-story.
Because heaven forbid Spider-Man be frikkin’ happy for like FIVE minutes… grr..
I keep trying to tell myself “there’s no way he’ll unmask and make his identity public. It’s too stupid, MJ and Aunt May would be dead in less than a day.”
Then I remember I’m talking about something Joe Quesada’s in charge of, and I suddenly feel very cold.
Hey, his sandbox, his rules. Look at Daredevil and what misery he’s gone through. Now, just add some blue to a red costume and we’ll skip a year ahead to see Spider-Man hiding out from his nervous breakdown…
… god, that sounds plausible. Ick.
mmm… to play devil’s advocate, how much MORE danger can Aunt May and MJ be in? I mean, some of Spider-Man’s greatest, most deadly enemies ALREADY know who he is and how to hurt him most, and so far, so good.
On the other hand, if Doc Ock knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, maybe he wouldn’t have put the moves on Aunt May. And maybe your typical low level criminal would be less likely to kidnap international supermodel Mary Jane Parker if they knew Spider-Man and the freakin’ Avengers would be coming after him.
And it would certainly rob J.J.J. of his strongest argument against Spider-Man, which is that he’s faceless vigilante accountable to nothing and no one, which, ya’ know, he is.
The Fantastic Four have NEVER hid their identities, they do okay, and DR. DOOM hates Reed Richards PERSONALLY.
So maybe Peter SHOULD unmask. Maybe he should have a long time ago.
(yes, I think the same thing about Superman. No, it wouldn’t make sense for Batman, who’s pretty much okay with being a faceless vigilante accountable to nothing and no one).
Hrm. Well, that takes a lot of past continuity into consideration, which is something I can’t really depend on Marvel to do right now. And while I see your point, at least for me Spider-Man is all about being the Everyman. The Fantastic Four lost that with their almost celebrity status of being unmasked and prominent.
But all of us can kind of smile to ourselves at the idea of secret identity. Joe Schmoe by day, friendly neighborhood hero by night, kind of thing. Of all things, I think it makes it a little more personable.
But then again, it could just be me.
My favorite theory (I think I heard it on the iFanboy podcast) is that Peter will unmask to the press and proudly declare, “My name is Ben Reilly.”