Could Spider-Man's actions in OMD be justified by this theory?

[Spidercide]

I saw someone make an argument recently in regards to Peter's agreement to the Devil Deal in OMD that I'd like to discuss.

Whilst this person agreed with most arguments against One More Day and Peter's agreement to the Deal with Mephisto, they disagreed vehemently with the notion that it was out of character for Peter to make the deal because it would bring harm to Mary Jane. They agreed it was OOC for him in general but NOT for that specific reason.

The argument went that Peter agreed to let Mary Jane suffer (Mephisto specifically said they'd both be in eternal torment due to the deal) because she made it clear she was consenting to that happening.

They elaborated that Peter has allowed MJ to take incredibly massive risks in her health and her life just by being romantically involved with him so why should this be different.

Every day MJ is with Peter she runs a huge risk of winding up like Gwen Stacy but that is her choice. In ASM Annual #21 Peter even acknowledged that MJ knew and accepted the risks and that was part of his decision to go ahead with the wedding.

This person's logic was that if Peter respected MJ's decision to risk her life like that, along with all the stress and suffering that inevitably came with it, then when she made it clear that she was onboard with allowing herself to be 'eternally tormented' by Mephisto that Peter would respect her decision and agree to the deal, thereby agreeing to allow her to be seriously harmed.

My own thoughts on this are bubbling away but what say all of you?

[Citizen Kane]

I find that eternal torment outweighs anything MJ went through with Peter. It's still a stupid story.

[LASERlips]

They should have just gotten a divorce.

Instead we get our hero dealing with the devil to end his marriage and consign his wife to eternal torment. Yup, totally relatable and young single everyman! Great job, Marvel!

[WebLurker]

I don't think there's any moral high ground to be found in making a deal with the devil.

[Celgress]

With the proper stakes, it could have been played off as a necessary tragedy. I always use the following example -

Say Spidey has to save a busload of childern from certain doom and there is no other way at the time but making the deal. The catch being Peter remembers the deal but if he ever tells anyone of actively tries to reunite with MJ the kids all die. Thus Peter becomes an even more tragic figure who sacrificed his happiness for the greater good.

[Kevinroc]

It sounds like they're trying to pin everything on Mary Jane. Which is what Marvel ended up doing anyway. (Sweeping that whole "Peter guilt trips MJ into making the deal" completely under the rug.)

[theoneandonly]

eh it seems that being married to Peter gave her a special glimpse into hell and what it entails so she was totally on board due to it by this logic.

[Miles To Go]

They should have just gotten a divorce

But there would still have been continuities where they were making it work and being positive role models, so no, it wouldn't have worked.

[SilverWarriorWolf]

I don't think there's any moral high ground to be found in making a deal with the devil.

Thank you. Demons will never offer any deal that will end with good, no matter the intentions. There is no way to justify a deal with the devil.

[farmernudie]

True. Yet this devil deal benefits everyone in every single issue that is incorporated within Pete's ongoing world. An all powerful devil deal that oddly isn't backfiring and is benefiting all. Except for MJ who has been ostracized from the supporting cast of her own book.

[Miles To Go]

True. Yet this devil deal benefits everyone in every single issue that is incorporated within Pete's ongoing world. An all powerful devil deal that oddly isn't backfiring and is benefiting all. Except for MJ who has been ostracized from the supporting cast of her own book.

I kind of think it has been backfiring on a lot of the cast. Parker Industries rise and fall through Ock's shenanigans, May finding love and losing it again, Jonah's wife died, Harry's twisted post-OMD love life (even if it produced Stanley), the ongoing corruption of Liz etc

[Huntsman Spider]

I kind of think it has been backfiring on a lot of the cast. Parker Industries rise and fall through Ock's shenanigans, May finding love and losing it again, Jonah's wife died, Harry's twisted post-OMD love life (even if it produced Stanley), the ongoing corruption of Liz etc

Hey, that's a good angle to work with. The deal wasn't just about convincing a righteous man like Spider-Man to compromise his principles for the sake of avoiding more grief and guilt, but the first domino to fall in a slow but inexorable cascade of corruption for the entire Marvel Universe, with Spidey's unique connection to just about everybody and anybody in the MU making him Patient Zero or Typhoid Mary for this spreading spiritual rot. Would explain quite nicely why a lot of the (other) heroes ended up seeming to lose their minds and/or moral compasses and the crappy events that ensued from there.

[Scott Taylor]

To the extent that a deal with the devil will taint souls, it does explain a lot of what has happened with Peter and with his friends over the past few years.

To the original question, Peter and MJ made the deal to save Aunt May. That trumped any harm to either of them personally, and both were sacrificially putting May before themselves in making the decision. I doubt harm to MJ would have even crossed Peter's mind because the harm Mephisto spoke about was pretty obscure and unremarkable-sounding. A tiny piece of their souls would be in torment. Big whoop. Peter's probably tormented more when the local bodega gets his sandwich order wrong.

[farmernudie]

I kind of think it has been backfiring on a lot of the cast. Parker Industries rise and fall through Ock's shenanigans, May finding love and losing it again, Jonah's wife died, Harry's twisted post-OMD love life (even if it produced Stanley), the ongoing corruption of Liz etc

So are you saying this is all (everything in the spider books) an ongoing ramification of the devil deal and Marvel is writing it that way?

To me, it's more about the "Parker Luck" they talk about. If it is everyone suffering from the devil deal, then maybe Marvel IS heading to some sort of unraveling, or closure in this ongoing world created by Mephisto? I have a hard time believing that though.

[Spidercide]

With the proper stakes, it could have been played off as a necessary tragedy. I always use the following example -

Say Spidey has to save a busload of childern from certain doom and there is no other way at the time but making the deal. The catch being Peter remembers the deal but if he ever tells anyone of actively tries to reunite with MJ the kids all die. Thus Peter becomes an even more tragic figure who sacrificed his happiness for the greater good.

There is still no morality in doing that because Mephisto is an inherently untrustworthy figure. Rule #1 when dealing with him is to simply NOT deal with him under any circumstances. It is a hard guarantee that he will lie and manipulate things to your detriment.

BTW That also has nothing to actually do with the OP