Marvel’s Spiderman Reset Button

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As most Marvel fans know, Civil War was one of the biggest events in the company’s history.  It changed the Marvel Universe as a whole, making it into a sort of police state under the control of Tony Stark (Iron Man) who became the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Almost all of Marvel’s characters were impacted deeply in some way by the Civil War series, but perhaps the one most affected was Spiderman.  During Civil War, in a show of support for Iron Man and his movement to make heroes more controlled by the government, Peter Parker unmasks on a nationally televised press conference.  Everyone from J. Jonah Jameson to Norman Osborne (the Green Goblin) became aware of who Spiderman really was.  Some fans rejoiced at this, praising Marvel for truly making a huge change to such a well known character while diehard Spidey fans were angered and terrified of the changes to come in Peter’s life now that his identity had been revealed.

While the feedback was mixed, overall the event was a success.  However, Marvel began to rethink it’s take on Spiderman.  In the wake of Civil War, Aunt May is gunned down by a Spiderman hater.  Peter’s life is shattered and he sets out on a quest to save Aunt May at any and all costs. He seeks help from the likes of Iron Man and Dr. Strange, even going so far as to try to use a time traveling spell on his own despite Strange telling him not to.  Nothing works and Aunt May remains dying in a hospital bed.  Peter is then  approached by a young girl who reveals herself to be the demon lord, Mephisto (Marvel’s version of Satan), and agrees to save Aunt May for a high price.  He doesn’t want Peter’s soul, he wants Peter’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson.  Peter and Mary Jane talk it over, and at last decide to give the demon lord what he seeks.  Mephisto gleefully resets Spidey’s life to what it was before Civil War, erasing not only the attack on Aunt May and Peter’s marriage but also the public revelation of his identity.  Harry Osborne is also resurrected from the grave by this reboot which is known as “Brand New Day” and began in issue 546 of the Amazing Spiderman title.  Things in the Spidey-verse are much different now and have a feel closer to the early Stan Lee issues of Spiderman.  Spidey’s new history does say that he had a relationship with Mary Jane, but it ended badly and they are cold to each other at best.  Mary Jane is a huge star and model, living her own life, while Spidey is once more back at home with Aunt May, and in college.  With this clean slate, Marvel hopes to spark new interest in Spiderman, and even add new villains to his rogue gallery, as literally anything can happen now that he is back to his pre-marriage web-slinging self.

As of January 1st of this year, Mavel rebooted the daily online Spiderman comic strip to conform the new things happening in the current world of the real Spiderman monthly title.

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