Recently, I was reading the first issue of the new "Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man" series. There's a part in that issue where after Spidey saves a lady from being mugged, they have a bit of a back and forth, and the lady actually asks Spidey out. Spidey, not Peter Parker. Later on in the issue, he does actually call her and they set up a date, with him promising not to be late...but if you've been reading Spider-Man as long as I have, you know he will be. At first I thought, what's Peter's plan here? Is he that desperate for a date lately that he'll take one as Spider-Man? He's obviously not thinking that far ahead, but then I thought to myself, what's it even matter? It's not like anything important will happen with this girl. And that's something really depressing hit me.
Last year in my "Batman: Lovers and Madmen" review, I made a similar crack about how Bruce has an endless line of love interests that are completely forgettable and they don't really have a chance of being a mainstay like Talia or Catwoman. And what's happening right now with Batman in the comics? Bruce just proposed to Selina; she hasn't answered yet, but at this moment, there's the possibility of a big change coming for Batman's world. It's amazing how much can change from ten years ago, when Spider-Man was happily married and Batman was the loner who didn't need a relationship. Bruce has shown to grow as a person, where Peter, despite how much he's been through, doesn't seem to have grown as a person and is basically not allowed to. It's actually made me hate "One More Day" even more.
For those unaware, "One More Day" was the controversial and poorly received storyline where Peter and Mary Jane sold their marriage to the demon Mephisto to save Aunt May's life after she was caught in the crossfire of an assassin hired by Kingpin to take out Peter. The marriage was retconned out of history, and it was stated all the stories that happened over the years still happened, only that the two were not married. This had been the latest, and unfortunately successful, attempt by the heads of Marvel to make Peter single again because they felt him being married aged the character and made him less relatable to young readers. Previous attempts were replacing Peter with his clone Ben Reilly as Spider-Man and even killing Mary Jane, both being undone due to negative fan reaction. Despite negative fan reaction to "One More Day" though, Peter and MJ are still separated as of this writing.
Spider-Man is seen as the everyman's superhero that anyone can relate to, especially the geeks and outcasts like Peter was as a teenager. The thing is though, those types of people do grow up. Peter marrying Mary Jane was a moment of him maturing, and it was nice to see him have someone by his side through it all. By removing the marriage is to take Peter backwards instead of forwards.
But let's play devil's advocate here. Let's say Peter Parker and Spider-Man only works as a character when he's a lovable loser struggling to make ends meet and can never keep a relationship...oh wait, right now in the comics, Peter is a successful CEO of his own tech company with headquarters set up across the world.
During the Superior Spider-Man run where Doc Ock had placed his mind in Peter's body, he started up his own company, Parker Industries. When Peter got his body back, he kept the company going and took it in the direction he wanted. After an eight month time skip, he's shown to have more enhanced tech and is having adventures all over the world as Spider-Man. Essentially, he's the new Iron Man.
Regardless of how you feel about this current state in Spider-Man comics, it shows Marvel's giving Peter a chance to move forward with his life instead of being stuck in the same rut he has been in for decades. And from a reader's standpoint, if people want to read about a young Spider-Man coming into his own, there's Miles Morales, thus allowing Peter to grow up. All that said, Marvel should go all in in that regard, by giving Mary Jane back to Peter.
The basis of "One More Day" and the removal of the marriage was because it was believed a married Spider-Man wasn't as relatable as a single one. If we take into account the general comic book audience, I kind of fail to see how a CEO Spider-Man is more relatable than a married one. Now, that's not to say comic readers can't enjoy rich heroes like Batman, Iron Man, or Green Arrow, but character relatability hasn't factored greatly in their histories compared to Spider-Man. I know not everyone has worked at a newspaper or science lab like Peter has over the years, but the job he had didn't play that big of a factor in his adventures as Spider-Man like being head of Parker Industries has. Not everyone can be a CEO, but anybody can get married.
At the moment, it seems they want Peter to mature but not all the way. If Marvel's going to allow CEO Peter to be the status quo for now and allow him to grow up, then let him have a sustainable relationship as well, preferably with Mary Jane. I wouldn't care if they brought up "One More Day" or not in the process, as long as they got back together. Even DC's learned that splitting up characters' long standing relationships was a mistake. Relationships lost in the New 52 were brought back through Rebirth: Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Barry Allen and Iris West, and Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance. Even Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are finally letting their relationship flourish after all these decades. When it comes to fiction, some characters are just meant to be together. Why should Peter and Mary Jane, whose marriage lasted 20 years of publishing and to the public were a couple as famous as Lois and Clark, be any different? And in what way could them being together affect what's happening with Spider-Man comics now?
While the struggles of Spider-Man will never end, maybe it's time Peter Parker finally got everything he ever wanted in both life and love.
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