When Marvel Comics decided to end the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson-Parker in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, the response from fans was overwhelmingly negative.
That was in 2007 and opinions remain largely the same. The publisher has teased the possibility of them reuniting (they even dated for a while), but it's become clear that their marriage will never be reinstated. On the plus side, Peter and MJ are married with kids in the pages of Jonathan Hickman's Ultimate Spider-Man!
In today's The Spectacular Spider-Men #3, Peter and Miles Morales find themselves unknowingly trapped in their respective dream worlds.
In the latter's case, that involves dating Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, but Peter's is far more noteworthy. Now married with children, we learn that his dream is to be not with Mary Jane, but Gwen Stacy.
Captain George Stacy is alive and dating Aunt May, while Peter and Gwen's children are called Benny and Helen. He's even given up being Spider-Man, revealing what the web-slinger truly wants from his life (Gwen being his one true love before her death has long been hinted at by Marvel).
The Spider-Men will eventually escape this false reality, of course, and the issue ends by revealing that Arcade and Mentallo are pulling the strings. How The Jackal will factor into the story moving forward remains to be seen.
"I love it," writer Greg Weisman, who was showrunner on The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, recently said of writing the comic. "I have been a big fan of Spider-Man since I was a little kid, long before you were born. So, getting to do Spectacular Spider-Man, at this point, over 10 years ago, was a huge, huge deal to me, and I've missed it."
"I missed Peter. I missed the cast. And now I get to write Miles, too. And so, it's just joyous. I don't know how else to describe it. I'm thrilled to be on the book. I'm so glad they asked me to do it. It sort of came out of nowhere, but it's been a lot of fun. So much fun."
Check out some panels from today's The Spectacular Spider-Men #3 below.
Love is in the air at the Empire State University Coffee Bean as Miles Morales and Kamala Khan get their first date alongside Peter Parker and - GWEN STACY?! You aren't going to believe this issue of the best new book of 2024.
THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MEN #3
Written by GREG WEISMAN
Art & Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
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