9 - The Grey Goblin
Almost everyone knows the story of Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy. Gwen, the girlfriend of Spider-Man’s alter ego Peter Park, was kidnapped by the Green Goblin to threaten Spidey. Norman Osborn took Gwen to the George Washington Bridge, holding her hostage in a confrontation that resulted in her death.
And until the early 00s, that was Gwen’s story – another casualty of Spider-Man’s superhero career. That is, until writer J. Michael Strazcynski went back in time and revealed that Gwen had carried on a sexual relationship with Osborn before her death, even resulting the birth of twin babies who were secretly raised in Europe, where they rapidly aged to adulthood thanks to Osborn’s enhanced genetics.
Eventually the pair, Sarah and Gabriel, returned to the U.S. to seek Peter Parker, who Osborn told them was their father, with Gabriel eventually becoming the villainous Grey Goblin.
Unlike many of the entries on this list, while definitely a retcon, this story has almost never been referenced since, with most fans and writers preferring to leave this secret history a secret.4 - Clone Saga
Peter Parker’s life has been fraught with lies, secrets, and hidden truths – and one of the biggest is the true story of his clone.
Back in the 70s, Professor Miles Warren, one of Peter’s college teachers, became obsessed with cloning Spider-Man, even succeeding in pitting his clone against Peter Parker in a seeming fight to the death, leaving Peter victorious and the clone having died in the fight.
But the infamous 90s “Clone Saga” twisted the story – it supposed that the Peter Parker whose adventures fans followed since the original clone fight was in fact the clone, the genuine article seemingly having died with the clone taking his place. The original Peter, now calling himself Ben Reilly, returned with the plan to take his rightful place as Spider-Man.
From here, things just get more and more complicated, with multiple clones, threads, twists, turns, and revelations coming to the surface over the ever-expanding (and seemingly unending) Clone Saga.
In the end, the one true Peter Parker won out, with the guy we all knew being vindicated as the genuine article when Ben Reilly’s body disintegrated.
As for Miles Warren, he’s returned time and again as the cloning-obsessed Jackal, even cloning almost everyone from Peter’s life in 2016’s Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy- which permanently returned both Doctor Octopus and Ben Reilly to life.https://www.newsarama.com/43308-10-t...n-history.html1 - One More Day
2007’s One More Day is likely one of the first examples many fans will call to mind when thinking of Marvel “destroying” its universe – the controversial story still draws ire from longtime Spider-Man fans for its handling of the end of Peter Parker’s relationship to Mary Jane.
Owing partially to the perception that Spider-Man’s stories had become limited by his marriage with Mary Jane, Marvel Comics tapped writer J. Michael Straczynski to pen a story in which Peter and Mary Jane trade their marriage to Mephisto to save the life of Aunt May. As a result, Marvel’s timeline was altered so that Peter and MJ were not only no longer married, their marriage never happened.
The ripple effects of the erasure of their marriage were widespread – Peter Parker’s true identity was made secret again, Harry Osborn was brought back to life, and numerous other changes cropped up for years following the tale.
Hardcore Pete/MJ fans who have held out hope for a retcon of the retcon are currently getting their wish (partially) as the most recent volume of Amazing Spider-Man has brought the pair back together.