Spider-Man character growth vs. staying in high school and Joe Quesada

[Tuck]

Why can't he continue working at Horizon Labs? Why can't he continue running Parker Industries? Hell, why can't he be a highly successful staff photojournalist at the Bugle or something? Why must he always be in the dumps?

Because that removes a major source of drama from the series. Horizon worked great for the Big Time period. but continuing it indefinitely would have stagnated the book. (Not a fan of Parker Industries. I get why it's an interesting idea to explore temporarily, but it now being part of the character's history causes problems.)

Honestly, if Peter and MJ had never been married . . . especially if they had never really brought back their romantic relationship at all in the 80s, I'd be swayed by the anti-marriage arguments. I get it. But that horse is long out of the barn. No matter where the book goes from now on, not matter how well it is written, no matter how many Word-of-God declarations there are, post-OMD will always feel like 616-b. There's a dissonance that will never go away.

[TinkerSpider]

Peter graduated high school, graduated college, and was successfully on his way to a PhD pre-OMD (with some interruptions). He did not stagnate.

Now, however, he’s locked on a perpetual hamster wheel of big corporate job, big corporate job taken away because he’s a loser. Big corporate job, big corporate job taken away because he’s a loser. We’re on the downward slope of that now, with Peter having the world’s cushiest job at Oscorp (show up when you like, take off when you like, get paid your full salary with no questions asked - yeah, that’s super relatable and the world outside your window LOL) but we know it’s all about to be taken away.

There’s no suspense. There’s no sharing joy with Peter when he gets the job, because we know it’s temporary and can’t go anywhere, can’t build to the next thing, it’s not organic, it’s just yanking the rug out from under him because that’s what time the clock says and because Pete is now frozen as a juvenile manchild instead of someone who is more than capable but his responsibilities collide (the flanderization of Parker Luck to mean Pete is a constant hapless sad sack loser instead of Parker Luck meaning when Spider-Man wins, Peter has a loss and vice versa is one of worst results to come out of the post OMD era IMO). Just like how we can’t get invested in a new relationship because it cannot go anywhere.

Peter was a three dimensional, fully relatable human character but now he’s Wile E. Coyote in a Spider-Man suit. Complete with Spider-Man walking around with his back on fire and smoking like a cartoon character in the last Gang War issue.

[Knightsilver]

Peter graduated high school, graduated college, and was successfully on his way to a PhD pre-OMD (with some interruptions). He did not stagnate.

Now, however, he’s locked on a perpetual hamster wheel of big corporate job, big corporate job taken away because he’s a loser. Big corporate job, big corporate job taken away because he’s a loser. We’re on the downward slope of that now, with Peter having the world’s cushiest job at Oscorp (show up when you like, take off when you like, get paid your full salary with no questions asked - yeah, that’s super relatable and the world outside your window LOL) but we know it’s all about to be taken away.

There’s no suspense. There’s no sharing joy with Peter when he gets the job, because we know it’s temporary and can’t go anywhere, can’t build to the next thing, it’s not organic, it’s just yanking the rug out from under him because that’s what time the clock says and because Pete is now frozen as a juvenile manchild instead of someone who is more than capable but his responsibilities collide (the flanderization of Parker Luck to mean Pete is a constant hapless sad sack loser instead of Parker Luck meaning when Spider-Man wins, Peter has a loss and vice versa is one of worst results to come out of the post OMD era IMO). Just like how we can’t get invested in a new relationship because it cannot go anywhere.

Peter was a three dimensional, fully relatable human character but now he’s Wile E. Coyote in a Spider-Man suit. Complete with Spider-Man walking around with his back on fire and smoking like a cartoon character in the last Gang War issue.

Exactly. OMD ironically made Peter the least interesting character in his own book. Everyone else can progress in their lives without being knocked back to square one...but never Peter. It's not interesting because we know that anything however "important" it may be...will never really matter.