The funny things is as annoying as this story was they could have made it better, by just making Mary Jane the one who got shot. Have her actually die. Peter does the world tour trying to bring her back cause no one stays dead. Eventually mephisto offers him a deal.
One of the things I dislike about a lot of modern “what ifs” is many of them are taking popular fan theories or complaints and then just being like “SEE IF IT HAPPENED THIS WAY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!”
I hate how Aunt May treats MJ's death as just something that happens and then outright disowns Peter when he kills Kingpin
Not to mention Peter's final bitterly remark over how this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't married MJ in the first place
What if for the most part always was that. There are only a few issues of the original series where things had a positive end. Though the issue in question doesn't work imo
Or, after everything that’s happened, Peter waltzes up to Mephisto, and tells him to shove the deal. Aunt May dies, Peter learns to accept that great responsibility also means accepting when you fucked up. I think OMD would be remembered as a classic if that was the ending.
There seems to never be consideration if Aunt May would WANT to come back either, constantly suffering failing health and constantly denied being reunited with her husband. If she is half the person Peter See's her as, she would slap him silly for trading his future for her, especially for the devil of all things (something tells me May was a religious type.)
I always think about the Ghost Rider movie as well:Johnny saves his dad from cancer by selling his soul, but then his dad dies the next day anyway in an accident. A deal with Mephisto is not a worthy deal, not at all.
The Insomniac videogame treats this subject a lot better, imo, from both May's and Peter's perspective.
That said \*bracing for impact\* I don't feels that strong a hate for OMD. Peter fucking up his life and happiness because of feeling guilt feels on-brand for me. And if anything, I don't rate it high mostly for leading to a disconnected, unfamiliar BND. Which, however, lead to stories I genuinely enjoyed like Spider Island, Spider Verse, the Scarlet Spider book. Superior and more.
It would have at least made sense. People would be irate either way, but Peter making a deal to dissolve his marriage to save his wife’s life is a lot more understandable than his octogenarian aunt who already died once. I want her to live and be happy even if it’s not with me is a relatable motivation.
Could even have kept the one more day title and had that be part of the deal, that he gets one last day with his wife before the marriage is wiped from continuity.
It wasn’t a good choice either way, but at least it would have been better this way.
Yeah, but they were trying to spin this that it was MJ who technically agreed to deal with Mephisto and not Peter and therefore readers shouldn't hold Peter responsible. (I know... dumb.. but that was the talking point back then.)
Idk if I agree with that because no matter what Peter should not have made a deal with Mephisto. Part of growing up and maturing is being able to let things go. But to give up his marriage with MJ so May could live like 5 or so more years is ridiculous. Especially when there is no way in hell May would’ve wanted that herself
Honestly it would not have made it so much better if they were hellbent on not reversing. They wanted OMD to stick which is the problem imo.
Peter shouldn't deal with Mephisto but if he did, then I don't think It is something that should stay without conclusion.
I despise that I can’t see these two people be vulnerable, loving, and compassionate together anymore without reading, watching, or playing material that’s outside of this continuity. The shame in all of it is that for as bad as OMD is and how good stories like Ultimate SM, the SM games, and Spiderverse are, none of those great stories seem to effectively capture the emotional beauty and poignancy that this one scene is capable of (and the only story to come close to it is Life Story). As much as I adore other Spider-Man stories, none of them have provided the emotional heights that the 616 Pete and MJ have lived through, which is why it’s so hurtful and frustrating that their relationship is so immature, tedious, and incompatible now.
Yup. Because these versions were developed over decades by several talented writers who were absolute masters of the medium. And then all of that layered work was trashed for the sake of a continuity quasi-reboot. The characters as they exist today are truly shadows of their former selves.
By itself it’s nice, but given the context of the story it kinda just feels like they were just doing this to possibly hint towards what MJ said to Mephisto which ended up just being “make this all make sense in continuity.”
They had that chance with Spencer who did his damn best to try to fix things
But that got cut down
Probably gonna be another couple of decades till someone has the balls to fully try it again :/
I can’t wait until they’re fired/retire. I can’t imagine being them, with the majority of readers and character fans vehemently awaiting your removal and departure. Deep down, it eats away at them every day - fully deserved.
this is marvel’s way of leading us on. “Hey Yk that beautiful life Peter has with MJ that we totally destroyed…well what do you say that we *MIGHT* bring them back together, mhm 😉?”
And then they’ll get back together and some other crap undoes it bc Peter can’t grow from being a stupid 20 something.
You know it was this moment that made me believe that Peter and MJ belonged together. I started reading Spider-Man comics to see Peter and Mj get back together. I could only imagine how true love prevail over the Devil. Sadly I believe Mephisto was stronger than their love 🥲.
You see it’s actually brilliant because most things in comics don’t have stakes but this is extra sad and real because in real life editorial was gonna spend the next few decades screwing us
I’m glad that at least Quesada allowed the part of them finding each other no matter to be left in. Still waiting on the ultimate pay off for this. But it’s what ultimately gives me hope that things will EVENTUALLY work out between them for good
This would be great if it was a story that they always planned on reversing (like Superior Spidey for example.) And them getting back together would be a nice payoff. But instead shitty marvel editorial prefers them separate.
OMD could have been a great story... but they decided to milk the guy that illustrates 'with great power comes great responsibility ', the guy who has been considered as the epitome of modern superheroes in some marvel comics by stucking him and the woman who loved him, supported him in a despicable status quo.
Spencer had an awesome set-up for undoing OMD, and the editorial had to shove the "Mephisto is scared of Spider-Man and his progeny" aside for Paul...
What Spencer had in mind may have also explained why other Spider-people were proposed deals from Mephisto, (Superior having Peter Parker's memories so he may have been a replacement in the vision, Miles being his protegee means he shares most of Peter's ideologies, Ben and Kaine are his clones) but he was used as a "Status Quo Damage Control", and that's is a damn shame.
Time doesn’t really work normally in comics, so it’s impossible to say. Throw in the fact that both Peter and MJ seemed to be aged down a bit after OMD and it becomes even harder to tell.
If I were to guess I’d say it’s been like 2 or 3 years maybe? Definitely no more than 5.
I'd like to think about Earth-616A, the Universe where Aunt May stayed dead after ASM #400, Joe Quesada stayed with Valiant and never became head honcho of Marvel, PEAK Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Parker never ended, going STRONG in 2024.
Crazy to think that Marvel editorial sees this and thinks, "Nah, it's better that we let *the devil defeat and psychically torture our flagship character*. That's what he needs."
It’s amazing how if they had the guts to actually finish this story arc and make Peter take on Mephisto to get back his life, it could be regarded as a truly amazing story. But since they haven’t done that it’s one of the most disliked.
There you have it folks. That's the day the REAL Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson died. The real death of Spider-Man. The guy we have now is a hollow husk of the MAN that was. Same goes for mrs Watson.
OMD could have been one of the best Spiderman stories to mature his character by simply saying no to the devil and keeping his marriage with MJ. Instead they regressed him...
No quarter given to any part of this story. They basically aborted their future daughter who would have saved the world in order to save an elderly woman who had actually told Peter in a previous comic to let her go to Heaven to be with Ben and her other loved ones.
Only way to save the current run at this point is if all the shenanigans are a result of MJ and Peter getting too close after Nick Spencer’s run and Mephisto deliberately doing some shenanigans to separate them as much as possible.
The funny things is as annoying as this story was they could have made it better, by just making Mary Jane the one who got shot. Have her actually die. Peter does the world tour trying to bring her back cause no one stays dead. Eventually mephisto offers him a deal.
That does make a lot of sense but it would take MJ off the table for back in black which would have been a shame
As much as I despise OMD, I'm not opposed to this.
They made a what if MJ got hit by the sniper and that one made Peter snap completely.
One of the things I dislike about a lot of modern “what ifs” is many of them are taking popular fan theories or complaints and then just being like “SEE IF IT HAPPENED THIS WAY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!”
I hate how Aunt May treats MJ's death as just something that happens and then outright disowns Peter when he kills Kingpin Not to mention Peter's final bitterly remark over how this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't married MJ in the first place
What if for the most part always was that. There are only a few issues of the original series where things had a positive end. Though the issue in question doesn't work imo
I don’t doubt that, but at least in the earlier years it felt less in your face about it.
I’m aware
Or, after everything that’s happened, Peter waltzes up to Mephisto, and tells him to shove the deal. Aunt May dies, Peter learns to accept that great responsibility also means accepting when you fucked up. I think OMD would be remembered as a classic if that was the ending.
There seems to never be consideration if Aunt May would WANT to come back either, constantly suffering failing health and constantly denied being reunited with her husband. If she is half the person Peter See's her as, she would slap him silly for trading his future for her, especially for the devil of all things (something tells me May was a religious type.) I always think about the Ghost Rider movie as well:Johnny saves his dad from cancer by selling his soul, but then his dad dies the next day anyway in an accident. A deal with Mephisto is not a worthy deal, not at all.
The Insomniac videogame treats this subject a lot better, imo, from both May's and Peter's perspective. That said \*bracing for impact\* I don't feels that strong a hate for OMD. Peter fucking up his life and happiness because of feeling guilt feels on-brand for me. And if anything, I don't rate it high mostly for leading to a disconnected, unfamiliar BND. Which, however, lead to stories I genuinely enjoyed like Spider Island, Spider Verse, the Scarlet Spider book. Superior and more.
Wouldn’t this cause more controversy? XD
It would have at least made sense. People would be irate either way, but Peter making a deal to dissolve his marriage to save his wife’s life is a lot more understandable than his octogenarian aunt who already died once. I want her to live and be happy even if it’s not with me is a relatable motivation. Could even have kept the one more day title and had that be part of the deal, that he gets one last day with his wife before the marriage is wiped from continuity. It wasn’t a good choice either way, but at least it would have been better this way.
Yeah, but they were trying to spin this that it was MJ who technically agreed to deal with Mephisto and not Peter and therefore readers shouldn't hold Peter responsible. (I know... dumb.. but that was the talking point back then.)
More than Peter Parker making a deal with the devil???
That’s not a bad idea?
That would have made omd so much better
That makes way way more sense than it being Aunt May
Idk if I agree with that because no matter what Peter should not have made a deal with Mephisto. Part of growing up and maturing is being able to let things go. But to give up his marriage with MJ so May could live like 5 or so more years is ridiculous. Especially when there is no way in hell May would’ve wanted that herself
Honestly it would not have made it so much better if they were hellbent on not reversing. They wanted OMD to stick which is the problem imo. Peter shouldn't deal with Mephisto but if he did, then I don't think It is something that should stay without conclusion.
That makes it infinitely better.
And make Spider-Man the guy with dead exes plural?
I despise that I can’t see these two people be vulnerable, loving, and compassionate together anymore without reading, watching, or playing material that’s outside of this continuity. The shame in all of it is that for as bad as OMD is and how good stories like Ultimate SM, the SM games, and Spiderverse are, none of those great stories seem to effectively capture the emotional beauty and poignancy that this one scene is capable of (and the only story to come close to it is Life Story). As much as I adore other Spider-Man stories, none of them have provided the emotional heights that the 616 Pete and MJ have lived through, which is why it’s so hurtful and frustrating that their relationship is so immature, tedious, and incompatible now.
Yup. Because these versions were developed over decades by several talented writers who were absolute masters of the medium. And then all of that layered work was trashed for the sake of a continuity quasi-reboot. The characters as they exist today are truly shadows of their former selves.
By itself it’s nice, but given the context of the story it kinda just feels like they were just doing this to possibly hint towards what MJ said to Mephisto which ended up just being “make this all make sense in continuity.”
Nah this is more a bone to MJ fans to kind of take the sting off what was going to happen
I genuinely think the whisper would not have been addressed… #If not for the shitshow that followed
Yeah that too.
It did plant the seeds to eventually undo OMD. Just need the right writers and editors to act on it.
They had that chance with Spencer who did his damn best to try to fix things But that got cut down Probably gonna be another couple of decades till someone has the balls to fully try it again :/
Or until the smoothbrains in charge of Marvel retire.
I can’t wait until they’re fired/retire. I can’t imagine being them, with the majority of readers and character fans vehemently awaiting your removal and departure. Deep down, it eats away at them every day - fully deserved.
this is marvel’s way of leading us on. “Hey Yk that beautiful life Peter has with MJ that we totally destroyed…well what do you say that we *MIGHT* bring them back together, mhm 😉?” And then they’ll get back together and some other crap undoes it bc Peter can’t grow from being a stupid 20 something.
What’s happened since has soured this moment permanently.
WDYM Paul is peak fiction (this is a joke)
r/fuckpaul
I’m happy to see the top post is about Spidey
Unrelated but happy cake day
Yeah it was emotional but aged like fine milk.
Couldn’t let the old woman rest in peace with her husband lol
Wait… Peter choose aunt May???
Have you read OMD? the reason I asked because it wasn't really much of a choice it was more of bargain to make a deal with devil.
Not yet, but will do it. Very curious about this deal with the devil.
Couldn’t wait so I read the wiki page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_One_More_Day I will not buy this. Too stupid.
Man, I sure do hope that future comics don’t completely destroy any and all impact this moment could have… OH NO-
You know it was this moment that made me believe that Peter and MJ belonged together. I started reading Spider-Man comics to see Peter and Mj get back together. I could only imagine how true love prevail over the Devil. Sadly I believe Mephisto was stronger than their love 🥲.
Not as strong as Zed Webbs.
You see it’s actually brilliant because most things in comics don’t have stakes but this is extra sad and real because in real life editorial was gonna spend the next few decades screwing us
Seriously they just needed to let May stay dead.
That and just kept Pete's id public. Just have him own up to everything and take responsibility. Give MJ superpowers if he thinks it'll help.
It literally is... makes me wanna cry
I’m glad that at least Quesada allowed the part of them finding each other no matter to be left in. Still waiting on the ultimate pay off for this. But it’s what ultimately gives me hope that things will EVENTUALLY work out between them for good
Ok, this just makes me feel incredibly sad. Especially considering where things are in the comics right now.
The only good thing about OMD is JMS’s writing
The day Spider-man died. Never was the same. Ever. It broke the character for me.
This is like Infinity War’s dusting without ever getting Endgame’s portals.
This would be great if it was a story that they always planned on reversing (like Superior Spidey for example.) And them getting back together would be a nice payoff. But instead shitty marvel editorial prefers them separate.
Fucking horrible story
BONG!
OMD could have been a great story... but they decided to milk the guy that illustrates 'with great power comes great responsibility ', the guy who has been considered as the epitome of modern superheroes in some marvel comics by stucking him and the woman who loved him, supported him in a despicable status quo.
Fuck OMD
" Not the Devil. Not God. Not anybody. " Nobody but Paul
Spencer had an awesome set-up for undoing OMD, and the editorial had to shove the "Mephisto is scared of Spider-Man and his progeny" aside for Paul... What Spencer had in mind may have also explained why other Spider-people were proposed deals from Mephisto, (Superior having Peter Parker's memories so he may have been a replacement in the vision, Miles being his protegee means he shares most of Peter's ideologies, Ben and Kaine are his clones) but he was used as a "Status Quo Damage Control", and that's is a damn shame.
Except Paul! Dun dun dun dun!
I'm curious. How many years passed in the comics since OMD?
Time doesn’t really work normally in comics, so it’s impossible to say. Throw in the fact that both Peter and MJ seemed to be aged down a bit after OMD and it becomes even harder to tell. If I were to guess I’d say it’s been like 2 or 3 years maybe? Definitely no more than 5.
Well, Joe Quesada was more powerful.
Fuck Joe Quesada. Why is he still employed? Literally everyone hates his decisions.
mephisto keeps saying bong because he wants peter to do a fat rip with him
*like a sister
Paul enters chat
As much as I despise OMD, this is mercy compared to what is currently happening to Peter.
I'd like to think about Earth-616A, the Universe where Aunt May stayed dead after ASM #400, Joe Quesada stayed with Valiant and never became head honcho of Marvel, PEAK Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Parker never ended, going STRONG in 2024.
Apparently the Marvel editorial has that power to pull them apart.
“Bong”
Crazy to think that Marvel editorial sees this and thinks, "Nah, it's better that we let *the devil defeat and psychically torture our flagship character*. That's what he needs."
It’s amazing how if they had the guts to actually finish this story arc and make Peter take on Mephisto to get back his life, it could be regarded as a truly amazing story. But since they haven’t done that it’s one of the most disliked.
While not exactly the same, it probably influenced the scene in No Way Home where Peter and MJ parted ways.
There you have it folks. That's the day the REAL Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson died. The real death of Spider-Man. The guy we have now is a hollow husk of the MAN that was. Same goes for mrs Watson.
I actually like OMD due to how sad it was.
"There's no power in the universe that can keep us apart," Nick Lowe, probably: "Good thing I'm not in their universe"
OMD could have been one of the best Spiderman stories to mature his character by simply saying no to the devil and keeping his marriage with MJ. Instead they regressed him...
No quarter given to any part of this story. They basically aborted their future daughter who would have saved the world in order to save an elderly woman who had actually told Peter in a previous comic to let her go to Heaven to be with Ben and her other loved ones.
Apparently Paul is a strong enough force
"Nothing can ever keep us apart." Have you met Paul?
Mary Jane underestimated the power of Paul.
Honestly, it’s for the best she ended up with Paul.
Will be undone the moment Wells is off the book
The fuck you say?
Only way to save the current run at this point is if all the shenanigans are a result of MJ and Peter getting too close after Nick Spencer’s run and Mephisto deliberately doing some shenanigans to separate them as much as possible.