Watchmojo's Top Ten Controversial Spider-Man Moments

[Rzerox21xx]

wow watchmojo must really hate OMD lol

[Mister Mets]

One More Day is probably the most divisive and controversial Spider-Man story ever. A true controversy does require people being on the different sides of the argument.

However, the death of Gwen Stacy should've been included, since that's pissed off a lot of people at the time.

As an aside, I have heard middle school students talking about how MJ died in Reign #4, so that seems to have some power.

[wleakr]

One More Day is probably the most divisive and controversial Spider-Man story ever. A true controversy does require people being on the different sides of the argument.

However, the death of Gwen Stacy should've been included, since that's pissed off a lot of people at the time.

As an aside, I have heard middle school students talking about how MJ died in Reign #4, so that seems to have some power.

I'm not sure the Death of Gwen Stacy falls under "controversial". It was a story that shocked folks and there may have been some that didn't want that to happen, but it was a fairly straightforward story and it could even be debated that it was a natural, organic story. Nothing out of character or that made you have to question any type of continuity "logic".

Most these Mojo stories do seem to involve some type of stretch to tell their story.

Even the much acclaimed Kraven Last Hunt story was a bit of a stretch. It was a story that had nothing to do with what was going on in the Spidey titles at the time, came out of nowhere, felt kinda "elseworlds" like while being told, and really wasn't mentioned much in continuity. I do find it "controversial" in the sense that a little used villain finally gets the drop on the hero, seemingly kills him, takes his place, and having accomplished all his goals in life, takes his own life. Not really the most natural story to tell at the time.

[Mister Mets]

I'm not sure the Death of Gwen Stacy falls under "controversial". It was a story that shocked folks and there may have been some that didn't want that to happen, but it was a fairly straightforward story and it could even be debated that it was a natural, organic story. Nothing out of character or that made you have to question any type of continuity "logic".

Most these Mojo stories do seem to involve some type of stretch to tell their story.

Even the much acclaimed Kraven Last Hunt story was a bit of a stretch. It was a story that had nothing to do with what was going on in the Spidey titles at the time, came out of nowhere, felt kinda "elseworlds" like while being told, and really wasn't mentioned much in continuity. I do find it "controversial" in the sense that a little used villain finally gets the drop on the hero, seemingly kills him, takes his place, and having accomplished all his goals in life, takes his own life. Not really the most natural story to tell at the time.

Controversy isn't about continuity or whether someone was out of character. The Night Gwen Stacy Died pissed off a lot of people, and excited others.

As for Kraven's Last Hunt, I can't recall anyone complaining about Spider-Man being buried alive. There were some complaints about the suicide, although that's something the people at Watchmojo should have focused on.

[SuperiorIronman]

I'd say that Superior Spider-man is a pretty controversial moment in that a milestone ended with the hero losing and had an advertisement for a book nobody asked for that followed it up. Coupled with the assertions the Spider-office made at the time and people got rightfully pissed. In it's own space I feel its better off, but man did it suck to be a Spider-man fan at the time.

[wleakr]

Controversy isn't about continuity or whether someone was out of character. The Night Gwen Stacy Died pissed off a lot of people, and excited others.

As for Kraven's Last Hunt, I can't recall anyone complaining about Spider-Man being buried alive. There were some complaints about the suicide, although that's something the people at Watchmojo should have focused on.

For KLH, there were some that complained how dark the story was overall. Essentially, it was Batman told under the guise of a Spider-man story.

I agree that Death of GS was highly argued direction at the time. I guess it's just a matter of how one defines "controversy". Maybe it does fit...I'd throw in the Spider-man drug story in the mix as well.

[comicscollector]

Big fail,by this list not including the death of Gwen Stacy story.

[Mister Mets]

For KLH, there were some that complained how dark the story was overall. Essentially, it was Batman told under the guise of a Spider-man story.

I agree that Death of GS was highly argued direction at the time. I guess it's just a matter of how one defines "controversy". Maybe it does fit...I'd throw in the Spider-man drug story in the mix as well.

That's fair. It is also controversial for that reason.

Oddly, Death of Jean Dewolff is pretty damn dark as well, but I haven't gotten the impression it was especially controversial.

[CrimsonEchidna]

I'm not sure the Death of Gwen Stacy falls under "controversial". It was a story that shocked folks and there may have been some that didn't want that to happen, but it was a fairly straightforward story and it could even be debated that it was a natural, organic story. Nothing out of character or that made you have to question any type of continuity "logic".

Stan Lee mentioned that they got so much hate mail for the story that he pushed to have Gerry Conway reverse it.I do think that qualifies as "controversial" to say the least.

[Ursalink]

This is my opinion about these spider-stories:

1º) "Spidey Unmasked" and "One More Day": As far as I see, this could have been avoided if Spider-Verse would have happened at this moment. I mean, it's not the first time that, while a group of heroes hava an arc, another group has its own. So, if something would have happened during the Civil War, causing Spider-Man to leave his home reality before it started, these two disasters could have been avoided. Well, maybe not the Spider-Verse event itself, but something similar that would prepare us for it. After that, Spider-Man could have returned just when the Secret Invasion started. Of course, the problem is that, during the Dark Reign's saga, Norman Osborn would have known Spider-Man's secret identity; puting him and his family on the worst danger.

2º) "Sins Past": This could have actually worked, if they would have done differently. Instead of Gwen having an affair with Norman (Gosh, how could they be so imbeciles?!!), Norman could have used Jackal's tech to artificially create Gabriel and Sarah with Peter and Gwen's DNA. That way would have been way more acceptable, removing the disgusting part.

3º) "Superior Spider-Man": I truly HATED this story. However, if it would have been like now, with a clone body of Peter instead of the real Peter, I would have accepted it. This way, people would go after Octavius for what he did, instead of going after the real Spidey.

4º) "Death by Sperm": It's an alternative reality, so there are no rules for these. However, I find interesting that Spider-Man's inner radiation could have killed MJ. Something similar was used when we though Betty Ross was poisoned by Hulk's Gamma Energy; until we discovered it was all Abomination's doing.

5º) "Aunt May's end... Not": I would have missed Aunt May a lot, but I would lie if I say I wouldn't have prefered to see Spider-Man rescuing his baby May like in MC2's reality.

6º) "The Clone Saga": This was one of my favourite sagas, but the whole part of messing who's the clone and who's the real one, I would have skipped it. Although this is truly the kind of miserable and coward scheme Norman Osborn would execute to turn Peter crazy.

[Inversed]

One More Day is probably the most divisive and controversial Spider-Man story ever. A true controversy does require people being on the different sides of the argument.

However, the death of Gwen Stacy should've been included, since that's pissed off a lot of people at the time.

As an aside, I have heard middle school students talking about how MJ died in Reign #4, so that seems to have some power.

Yeah, while Reign itself has kind of faded into obscurity, I always hear about the "spider semen" being brought up and made fun of by people all the time.

Death of Gwen Stacy is probably a case of being controversial at the time, but has become such an ingrained part of the Spider-Man legacy, that majority can't imagine the book without it.

I would agree One More Day is the most controversial, and in my opinion the worst Spider-Man story, because I don't think I have seen anyone like it.

[WebLurker]

One More Day is probably the most divisive and controversial Spider-Man story ever. A true controversy does require people being on the different sides of the argument.

However, the death of Gwen Stacy should've been included, since that's pissed off a lot of people at the time.

Well, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" has been vindicated by history, OMD has not (in terms of the stories themselves, not talking about the repercussions on the franchise). Also, a lot of OMD division and controversy is centered on whether the retcon to the status quo was good/needed/etc. or not. (In fact, I think that the the "OMD discussion" has not become about the story itself but the marriage.)

[Inversed]

Well, "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" has been vindicated by history, OMD has not (in terms of the stories themselves, not talking about the repercussions on the franchise). Also, a lot of OMD division and controversy is centered on whether the retcon to the status quo was good/needed/etc. or not. (In fact, I think that the the "OMD discussion" has not become about the story itself but the marriage.)

I do think "making a deal with the devil" is the real major sticking point to why people hate it so much. I believe if it had just been something like a divorce, people would've still been upset but the backlash would not nearly be as bad.

[Celgress]

I do think "making a deal with the devil" is the real major sticking point to why people hate it so much. I believe if it had just been something like a divorce, people would've still been upset but the backlash would not nearly be as bad.

I, for one, hate it becomes IT MAKES NO SENSE in-universe. You mean to tell me in Marvel Comics there is no one other than Mephisto who could save an old woman who has been shot? And that is just the most glaring problem. The story was created and shoehorned into continuity because it served an editorial purpose not because it was a good or even logically functional tale. It is a clear cut example of bad writing at its absolute worst. Even as a lowly fanfic author I would NEVER write something so terrible. While I'm not against the idea of a single Peter Parker there had to be a better way than OMD to get there.

[Inversed]

I, for one, hate it becomes IT MAKES NO SENSE in-universe. You mean to tell me in Marvel Comics there is no one other than Mephisto who could save an old woman who has been shot? And that is just the most glaring problem. The story was created and shoehorned into continuity because it served an editorial purpose not because it was a good or even logically functional tale. It is a clear cut example of bad writing at its absolute worst. Even as a lowly fanfic author I would NEVER write something so terrible. While I'm not against the idea of a single Peter Parker there had to be a better way than OMD to get there.

I agree, I wouldn't have had as big of an issue if they had just done what ended up happening in the second half of One Moment In Time. I can kind of understand why they didn't because divorcing would "ruin/cheapen their love", but I don't think "making a deal with the devil so you were never married to begin with" is the better option of the two.

And like you said, the other major problem is compared to other badly executed stories like Sins Past or Spider-Man Reign, at least they are fully-fledged stories and the problems just come from the storytelling decisions. One More Day exists not to be a story, just an excuse to semi-reboot the book and character, so the bad decisions are that much more transparent.