The following is an edited and extended version of a previous article. It is more than double the length of the previous unedited version I believe. I would also like to say that everything after the third arc in this story is in fact a small collaboration. A user on this site:
ILoveStargirl
gave me several ideas, which I used in part to construct what I have set up here. Thanks for the ideas ILoveStargirl.
Now to begin:
So, Spiderman huh? Marvel's , most profitable character. He's loved by millions, so why is his book so... lackluster? Why does Marvel keep messing up with him? One of the big problems was the recent arc, Worldwide. I actually want him to have his own company, but it wasn't earned. Still, cool idea. Now, he no longer has the company, so that's a problem...kinda solved? See, actually it isn't solved. Here's the thing, the issue is only partly that Marvel keeps doing gimmicks and running circles. Spiderman keeps having stuff happen to him, then ending up right where he started, through no fault of his own. He's not responsible for anything because it's all out of his hands. Here is the problem:
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
I think the main issue is none of Spiderman's development has been earned. He inherited a company from Doc Ock. He lost it because Nazi's took over the world. None of this was his fault, none of it was in his hands, he's just pushed into different directions randomly. He doesn't develop either, he just ends up back where he started. He needs to change and develop. That's why I think he needs to deal with this head on. We need a story of him fixing his greatest modern mistake: ONE MORE DAY.
Picture this, He has, once again, ended up back at default Spiderman. This is the first arc. I'm gonna break this into year arcs.
PHASE ONE
First Arc: Back to the Basics ( one year long)
Poor guy with bad luck working at the daily bugle, a bachelor, it's back to the basics. A few changes though, for example, Peter now iss occasionally teaming up with Miles Morales to train him. He becomes a supporting character in this book, with his own book, and Peter learns from him as much as he does him. We do this right, no big events, just small stories. Have him fight minor, street level organized crime. Lets bring in Black Cat, Mr. Negative, and Kingpin going through a gang war, and it starts to effect Peter's life, such as with characters like Aunt May, JJ Jamson, and Jameson's father getting involved in various ways. That's the backdrop of the first year of Spiderman comics. That would be cool. Now, We begin with Peter going through minor girlfriends, nothing lasting too long, Black Cat starts to soften on Spiderman once more after the Superior stuff, she could be a potential love interest, then, Mary Jane ends up back in his life. We get that romantic drama love triangle element that made the early Spiderman comics great. At the end of the one year arc,
the gang war is over,
Black Cat is in control(through natural character development that ends up leaving her in a good place that makes her an enemy of Peter who doesn't outright hate him, but they end up on opposite sides)
Peter and MJ are getting back together
Aunt May has been shot by a wayward bullet when caught in crossfire
Now, It's time for the second arc:
Second Arc: Spiderman vs The Devil( we are definitly calling the arc that) (1 year, but split into two parts)
Part 1
Aunt May is in the hospital, in a coma, she is predicted by the doctor that kinda resembles Mephisto to only have about a month or two left to live. Peter and Mary Jane are back together. Jameson and his father have some cool arcs revolving around this. Peter begins to start trying to find a way to save Aunt May, searching the Marvel Universe, but for some reason, Doctor Strange has disapeared along with the entire Sanctum Sanctorum, Elixer of the X-men has lost his powers, and Dr. Doom just laughed at him and kicked him out of Latveria, which is somewhat out of character considering his recent arcs in the comic and doesn't make sense. MJ worries about him because he's going nuts, and believes he's responsible for what happened to Aunt May for not stopping the gang war sooner. Then, litterally the exact same thing that happened in one more day happens again, and Mephisto show up. He wants their love. Peter feels Deja Vu. The deal making begins, Peter and MJ discuss whether they should really do this, MJ feels deja vu, hey decide they have to, then suddenly, remember this has all happened before. It's revealed Mephisto has been doing this over and over again for years, and the only one we saw was in one more day. Every time he does this, he plays on Peter's insecurities and removes anyone who can fix things from the equation. Why? Because it's fun and he likes F***ing with superheroes. Peter develops as a character and realizes some things are out of his control and not his fault, then MJ and Peter beat Mephisto with folding chairs in the hospital waiting room. He disappears and Aunt May makes a full recovery. At the end of this half arc:
Peter and MJ are stronger emotionally
Aunt May is ok now
Peter is developing as a character
Mephisto has finally had negative repercussions for what he did, but he plots his revenge
Part 2
MJ and Peter decide after learning about one more day they should get married. Preparations are made, old friends from throughout comic history return, as well as some enemies. Leading up to this Doc Ock(brought back to life in a clone body in Secret Empire) rebuilds the Sinister Six. Every villain that knows who Peter is but have been in hiding return as well. Norman Osborn, Doc Ock, and Jackel are all preparing to either kill MJ and Peter now, or just wait until the wedding to do it in Norman's case. Miles Warren/ Jackel floods New York with exactly 100 Gwen clones with the powers of Spidercide programed to kill Peter. One one level, the clones make for cool fights, on another, they represent Peter's doubts on the marriage. Each of these three villains believe they have the leg up from the average villains like Rhino and Shocker Peter normally fights because of the info they have. Then, on the day of the wedding, Mephisto undos one other thing he took away on one more day: the public knowledge Peter is Spiderman(the knowledge and proof suddenly appears on every tv on earth for 30 seconds). Insanity ensues, all of Spiderman's enemies attack at once, but fortunatly a large portion of the people at the wedding are secret identities of superheroes/ anti heroes. Miles, Ben Rielly, Human torch, Black Cat( she has her own book involving trying to use her power as the new kingpin for good), Deadpool, Spider Gwen, Silk, and Tony Stark are there fore example. It ends up being the largest capture and arrest of Spiderman villains in history, and the wedding happens. Osborn escapes in the commotion. The end result:
Major Status Quo shifts
Now, you might be saying, isn't this just setting things back to the pre One More day days? Not exactly, this is just a way to bring back the marriage, and one idea that didn't get nearly enough done with it before it was destroyed: Everyone knowing who peter is. You can do more with this than you can without it. It brings things to a new direction. Now, I'm gonna let Peter grow.
Third Arc: The Return of Parker Industries( 1 year)
Now, Peter realizes he can't keep taking pictures of himself anymore, everyone knows who he is now. His relationships with various supporting characters (like Jameson) who didn't know his identity is also damaged. He also refuses to do tv appearences as Spiderman because it kinda brings him back to Uncle Ben's death reasons. He decides to call up old currently unemployed scientist friends fboth rom Parker Industries and other places and ask them to help him start a new company. This doesn't go as planned, and in the end only Anna Maria(former doc ock love interest and scientist at Parker Industries) and Morbius (the Living Vampire) show up. They work out of morbius's apartment. It's gonna be a slow rebuilding, lots of work and dedication, and in the end of the arc, they don't return to their former level at all, it's still at morbius's, but a few more people join the company, and it starts making some money. One issue during this year long arc will involve whether or not Peter can really be happy without feeling guilty. Another plot in this year long arc will revolve around Morbius attempting to cure himself and going temporarily feral after the failed attempt. Another story within this arc will be a crossover with Doctor Strange in which Dr. Strange, Spiderman, Morbius, and Ghost Rider team up in an attempt to capture Mephisto and trap him in a magical artifact as Strange recently escaped after Mephisto kidnapped him( why he was gone in the previous arc) and has been entering our dimension far too often. The media will be a big background thing in Peter's life now, as well as crazed spiderman fans and anti-spiderman people trying to get him arrested. This all leads up to Norman Osborn/ The Green Goblin returning to wreck Peter Parker's life after never getting a chance to fight him during the wedding, now with temporary 24 hour Demogoblin powers given by Mephisto in a last ditch effort to get revenge on Spiderman before he got trapped in that artifact. Basically, he's a true goblin with hellfire power for 24 hours. No matter where Norman's life goes, Dark Reign, anything like that, he always ends up back in New York fighting Spiderman, because he's unseeded with him. He can't help himself. We get a knock out fight and in the end we have a large crowd surround the fight in the streets to cheer on Peter. Green Goblin is arrested. We put him in a place where he could return if another writer wants him, but we'll have it so he doesn't return for a long time.
Return of Parker Industries
New job for Peter
Goblin in prison
End of Mephisto storyline
PHASE 2
So I already fixed One More Day. But now, what are some other infamous stories I could fix? Maybe... Sins Past? The problem with that is, it's a different kind of bad, the kind that unlike One More Day, can't be undone. But you can use the characters from it, and do something interesting with them!
4th arc: American Goblin(1 year but two parts)
Part 1(6 months)
Gabriel Stacy is released from the asylum he's been in with a clean bill of health. He, much like Peter Parker, becomes a public figure, a superhero whose real identity is known named American Son. He doesn't really say anything about the green goblin being his dad and being an ex supervillain to the press, but he does save a little girl from traffic. Peter, on the advice of MJ, goes to see him as a friend and see if he's really changed. Gabriel claims to understand all the lies Osborn told him and is better now. Even though Peter isn't Gabriel's father, over time he starts to see him as a close friend and teaches him about heroism as they fight Hydro-man together. After a day of working together, Gabriel reveals this has all been to mess with Peter and now he's going to ruin his life. This arc is going to basically be, after this point, Peter's life getting torn apart. We built him up and made him happy for the past three years combined superarc, We need to see him face adversity and come back stronger. So, Aunt May's health begins to get worse as Peter waits for Gabriel to strike. Eventually, on the advice of Miles Morales, he attacks Gabrial head on, is seen as the bad guy because he's beating up a guy named American Son. After this, Gabrial reveals the entire Sins Past storyline to the press, and due to its startling character assassination, numerous affairs. and soap opera like quality, papers like the daily bugle run with it. Mary Jane speaks on Peter's behalf, and stops getting model jobs. The still fledgling new Parker Industries begins losing contracts at an alarming rate because of bad press. Alchemex sends Harry Osborn to try to by Parker Industries, and Harry claims the money from the buy out would help him and his Mary Jane, now on hard times. Peter thinks it's a trap, Harry is angered an alienated by Peter thinking he's working with his half brother, and Peter goes to investigate Alchemex, accidently unleashing a frost giant that Alchemex got ahold of and teaming up with Thor. Peter gets sued. At this point, Gabriel officially apologize a for his past actions, states he forgives Peter, and runs for mayor! In the final moments of this story arc, Peter realizes literally anything he does would result in more bad press, which with his identity known, affects everyone around him.
Part 2(6 months)
Sarah Stacy, Gabriel's brother, returns, claiming to know Gabriel's endgame. Peter isn't sure whether or not to trust her or not but decides as in the past she's been against the goblins he can. Sarah claims this is an organized plan by Gabriel, Alchemex, a cabal of villains from around the world, and Harry Osborn to destroy Spider Man's life and reputation and position Gabriel over years of hard work into becoming the director of SHIELD, after which Gabriel and Harry will release Norman Osborn from prison, remake HAMMER, and with the combination of The Cabal, Skrulls, Alchemex, and Hammer will consolidate their forces and take over the world! Also, integral to this plan is May Parker, Mary Jane's daughter that was supposedly stillborn! Peter wants to get the Avengers help, but at the same time, he's being framed by Mysterio and Chameleon for crimes, putting him on the run as SHIELD agents arrive to take him in. Sarah, helps him escape and they road trip upstate to wear Sarah claims May Parker is. Mary Jane is left to care for the sick Aunt May alone. Peter is captured in a trap replaced in a trap and Sara reveals she's working with Gabriel in an out of character move. Peter is placed in a death trap, Gabriel comes to laugh at him and tell him
that although parts of the story Sara told were lies o get him to come with her, many people around the world are in fact funding him so he can get Osborn out of prison. He explains that the Osborn children will be doing the release his father and rebuild hammer thing. Peter will escape the death trap to defeat American Goblin, Sarah, Mysterio, and Chameleon. Everyone is apprehended as SHIELD tracks Peter down except Gabriel and they vouch for Peter as the truth is revealed to the public. Peter apologizes to MJ and Aunt May for not being there and promises to do better in the future. Peter is still unsure whether or not to trust Harry, as Gabriel never revealed if he was involved or not(best lies have some truth) Gabriel, somewhere in Europe, visits the same little girl he saved from traffic at the beginning of the arc in one of his safe houses.
So what have we done?
Set up Gabriel as an important villain
Hinted at Osborn’s return
Brought back May Parker!
5th arc: Hell has new Management(1 year)
Well now, we’re getting a six issue miniseries in which we will see exactly what Norman Osborn has been up to this past year in a flashback story centered entirely around him. Norman was placed in a top secret supermax prison due to how high profile a criminal he is. No civilian on Earth knows where he is. While in prison, he bonds with the recently depowered villainous sorcerer and D-list Spider Man/Doctor Strange team up villain Xandu whom Norman tries to convince to teach him magic, where he learns the sorcerers of the world have a list of people they must never train to use magic and Norman Osborn is one of them. However, Norman convinces him to teach him, so that he can break Xandu(who no longer has magic abilities) out of prison with him, and becomes Xandu’s pupil as the two prepare for a supernatural prison break. Xandu discovers Osborn is naturally a gifted practitioner of the darkest forms of magic, Norman is eventually able to teleport them out, after which Xandu’s true endgame is revealed. Xandu has been teaching Norman different spells than he claimed in order to ensure a magical Norman Osborn would never be able to wreck havoc. The spell cast sends Xandu to freedom, and Osborn to Mephisto’s hell dimension. Fortunately for Norman, the hell he is sent to is currently in complete chaos. With Mephisto gone, minor demons have been left in political control and civil wars have broken out as different demonic forces from throughout the multiverse vie for control of the hell dimension. Souls aren't even being tortured and devoured in the chaotic landscape, they're just running amok! Norman decides to use this to an advantage and over the course of the story completes his training as a sorcerer using demonic goblin magic, kills off rival demon lords, raises an army of demons and goblins, goes to war, and in the end becomes the new ruler of Mephisto’s hell dimension. By the end, a demonic Green Goblin who has, over his time in this dimension grown to strongly resemble Mephisto sits on the throne of the Hell dimension.
Now, in Peter Parker’s life, Aunt May is failing to recover from the poisoning despite being seemingly completely healthy, Gabriel Stacy is still on the run, last sighted on a plane to England but having disappeared before it landed, and Sarah Stacy has remained silent, leaving it unknown why she was working with Gabriel when she last time we saw her seemed dedicated to being heroic and not a goblin. Mary Jane has a modeling job in England that Peter uses to try to find Gabriel and Aunt May uses because she’s always wanted to visit. So Peter heads to England to investigate how Gabriel escaped the plane and meets up with Captain Britain. The two of them encounter the Scriar Cult and the villainous Spot who is the one that got Gabriel out of the plane. We learn Gabriel Stacy has sent Batroc the Leaper to assassinate Mary Jane. Peter defeats Batroc and learns the location of Gabrial’s Cabal meeting place. Before going there, Peter, MJ, and Aunt May go visit tourism destinations, Aunt May tells Peter that no matter what happens she knows he’ll always do the right thing, and she’ll always love him and be proud of him. She then dies because it's her time. Peter blames the poison and goes after the Cabal with Captain Britain and some Excalibur members, which includes Red Skull, Kingpin, The Slug, the Scriar Cult, Arcade, The Fearsome Four, Robert Kingsley Hobgoblin, Phil Urich Hobgoblin, Bullseye, Grim Reaper, Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, and associated representatives of Hydra, the Ten Rings, and the Serpent Society, but not AIM because AIM is too smart to ally with a Goblin. Peter ends up on a one on one fight with Gabriel, having returned to classic Grey Goblin outfit, but despite all he's done resolves to do the right thing, use his powers responsibly, and handle him as he would any villain and not beat him to a pulp, just enough to detain him. At this point, a demonic Mephistophelean Norman Osborn appears in a blast of smoke and brimstone, tells Gabriel he's a disappointment and Harry is better, then kills every supervillain in the room with Supernatural ease before disappearing. Excalibur discovers a little girl in a back room who uses her Spider powers to escape into the wilderness. Peter is shocked.
After this:
Peter knows about May Parker
Aunt May is dead
Gabriel is dead
Dozens of important marvel villains are dead
Norman Osborn is back and more powerful than ever before
6th Arc: Goblin’s Inferno
A company wide crossover event about Norman Osborn, now with the powers of Mephisto, unleashing a demonic goblin army on Earth, destroying major metropolitan cities like Moscow, London, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Francisco(including Utopia), Rome, Bahrain, Munich, Hong Kong, Bejing, and more. Each region of the world gets location appropriate demons. Middle East gets Djinn, Germany has Krampus, Europe has Gargoyles and Dragons, Oni in Japan, and more! Governments are toppled, humans enslaved, and with each passing month more and more Avengers, X-Men, Inhumans, and Fantastic Four die or are transformed into demonic versions of themselves. New York is transformed into the capital of Osborn’s new world order, Doctor Strange is captured and used as a power source for Osborn, Menace and the various Hobgoblins align with Osborn and are transformed into his Goblin Knights, sent out to lead his armies and killor transform heroes into demons in his name. Peter, still in England when the Inferno began, must reunite with Mary Jane, get her out of London before it’s destroyed, and unite with other surviving heroes in a last ditch effort to get from Europe to New York/Goblin City, free Doctor Strange, and with Strange’s Magic abilities stage an assault for the fate of humanity on Norman Osborn. Spiderman, Doctor Octopus, Mary Jane Watson, Deadpool, Captain America, Colossus, Emma Frost, Magik, Doctor Doom, and Reed Richards make up the last resistance against Norman Osborn as they travel the world trying to get to Osborn. Over time Deadpool is killed, Silver Samurai joins the team after they save Japan from giant demonic monsters, Doctor Doom sacrifices himself for Richards, Emma Frost is shattered in diamond form, Captain America gives the world hope and is promptly transformed into a demonic American Goblin, Peter does his best to protect MJ, they team up with RiRi Williams who also died, MJ takes the armor for self defence and becomes Iron Maiden, and they discover Sarah Stacy in an abandoned Ravencroft Asylum, the only one whose cell wasn't opened. She reveals she was brainwashed by Gabriel, the same way his daughter May has been. They release Sarah and she joins them.
They eventually get to Goblin City, which they must now fight through. Miles Morales and various other Spider powered characters(Spider Gwen, Spider Woman, Venom, Silk, Kaine)lead an underground resistance force in New York and call themselves the Slingers. One major threat is a demonized Black Cat. They get Spiderman and friends through the city, demon fantastic four including Sue as Malice attack them, kill Kaine, and transform Miles Morales into a giant Spider. They defeat the new Fearsome Four with the help of Norman Osborn, who was transformed into a demon but still remains good. He and Peter bond, and Peter learns Harry was never involved with Gabriel. They rekindle their friendship and bond. The attempt to rescue DR. Strange from Osborn begins, and they must battle the Goblin Knights. Silver Samurai sacrifices himself to give them time to release Dr Strange, and this has an affect on Doc Ock, who has also been saddened by the death of Aunt May and most likelyAnna Marie.
Our team is now Spiderman, Iron Maiden, Reed Richards, Harry Osborn, Silk, Sarah Stacy, Colossus, Magik(now DarkChilde) Doctor Octopus, Spider Gwen, Doctor Strange, Rogue, and Venom. Doctor Strange claims Norman is far more powerful than him, but in a direct battle, Doctor Strange may be able to out smart him and use his insanity against him. They meet a different resistance force led by Magneto with Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, Kid Apocalypse, Racheal Summers, Ghost Rider, Morbius, and Anna Marie. These characters unite to attack Osborn, first battling the Goblin Knights again. Kitty and Racheal become canonically bisexual because frick it, they be long together! Doc Ock and Anna Marie talk about heroism. Wolverine dies, Morbius dies, Silk dies, and Reed Richards dies, but the Goblin Knights are beaten, Our heroes become trapped in Norman Osborn’s palace, and Osborn himself appears with a demon army to kill the rest off. Everyone dies except Peter, MJ, and Doc Ock. Mary Jane dies. It's the most shocking death of all of these deaths. Right in front of Peter too.Then Doc Ock sacrifices his life to save Peter and tells him to run. Osborn returns to demonic form, kills everyone except Peter, with no other option, with everything he loves gone, with every single bit of his life he had destroyed, with the world conquered, an army of demons rushing for him, a mad goblin god preparing to kill him, he does the one thing he's been to scared to do during every potential life ending trap, every death, every misfortune, and he calls Loki to cash in on that favor Loki owes him(look it up, it's a bit of a deep cut) before Osborn can get to Peter, he's teleported away to Asgard.
So what happens now? I just basically killed everyone. Well don't worry, it gets worse.
Thor, Loki, and a few other Asgardian heroes like Jane Foster, the Warriors 3 and Sif have been keeping Asgard safe as throughout the Galaxy, entities resembling the demonic creatures of each worlds mythology have been appearing. What happened on Earth will soon happen on every world. Spiderman wants Loki’s help to beat Osborn and save Earth. Loki and Thor have already been planning to do this. Loki is searching for the infinity stones(particularly the time and reality stones) which were lost after secret wars. Thor believes they can rewrite reality to keep Norman from ever gaining power.
So our story now is basically a buddy road trip as Thor, Loki, and Spiderman search for the time or reality stones, meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos, Nova, and other cosmic heroes, uniting together as more and more of reality is taken over by Norman Osborn. Worlds are taken over by demons, and Norman eats Asgard, deciding it's too much trouble. The reality stone is discovered, and with an opportunity to change everything, Peter begins to think about everything he's done, everything that's turned him into the man he is now, the people he's lost. His parents, Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, Gwen, Aunt May, May Parker, Mary Jane. What about all the villains who have hurt people. He could undo all of that, make everyone happy, create a perfect world, a world where Osborn doesn't exist, a world where he's forced Osborn into being the perfect father for Harry by brainwashing him with the reality stone. He decides he's going too far, and only undoes all the damage Norman has done with Mephisto power and takes away Norman’s magic. Norman, powerless, swears vengeance and promises to find a way to regain the power he's lost, and to break Peter. He's going to kill everyone! Osborn is set to be placed in an Asgardian prison, when suddenly demons arrive to devour him for breaking his campaign promises by not taking over all reality like he said he would when he took over the hell dimension. Loki decides to run Hell himself and leaves for a comedic miniseries about this. Peter returns to Earth and meets up with MJ, goes on a romantic date to tell her how important she is to him, heads back to New York, goes to see Harry and rekindle their friendship, meets up with various heroes he saw die in the dark future he prevented to greet and team up with in some cases, tells Miles about his idea for a spider hero team, decides to eventually try and talk to the currently in prison Doctor Octopus because he's got some good in him, then gets ready to go search for his daughter May.
So what have we accomplished?
Norman Osborn is dead, having become the baddest villain in Marvel first
Spider Man was given absolute power and was not corrupted
Peter is looking for May.
Set up up for Doc Ock to change to the light side eventually
I have set up a future team of spider based superheroes that could return in the future but probably under different circumstances with a different roster. It would be called the slingers and get all the spider characters under one book.
That's all I have for now. Please comment and tell me what YOU think!