Should Spider-Man be a dad?

[Vakanai]

A thought that kind of came out during a discussion of why I don't like Jon over in the Superman forum made me think of this question. Would you want the main continuity Peter Parker Spider-Man to have a kid and be a dad permanently? No alternate universe or way in the future scenario, but like if Pete and MJ decided to have a baby and be parents this year, would you be cool with that?

[MajorHoy]

A thought that kind of came out during a discussion of why I don't like Jon over in the Superman forum made me think of this question. Would you want the main continuity Peter Parker Spider-Man to have a kid and be a dad permanently? No alternate universe or way in the future scenario, but like if Pete and MJ decided to have a baby and be parents this year, would you be cool with that?

Unless they don't practice safe-sex, isn't it a wee bit early to consider that just yet?

[Snoop Dogg]

He's already Fred's daddy.

[Dicer]

He doesn't need to be a dad but there's also no reason he shouldn't be.
The only thing that matters is if it's well written.

[Celgress]

He's already Fred's daddy.

LOL, it's funny cause it's true.

OP Question -

Sure, I say.

[Vakanai]

Unless they don't practice safe-sex, isn't it a wee bit early to consider that just yet?

Maybe Pete and MJ's years of wedded history gets restored, whatever. The focus is more on the idea of Spider-Man becoming a dad ultimately in the comics, not whatever the current continuity is in the latest issue.

[Vakanai]

He's already Fred's daddy.

Who's Fred?

[Celgress]

Maybe Pete and MJ's years of wedded history gets restored, whatever. The focus is more on the idea of Spider-Man becoming a dad ultimately in the comics, not whatever the current continuity is in the latest issue.

Yeah, those in charge of Marvel will never allow it as a kid would "age the character". Such a thing could be interesting if written well.

[Celgress]

Who's Fred?

You're better off not knowing...

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Would you want the main continuity Peter Parker Spider-Man to have a kid and be a dad permanently? No alternate universe or way in the future scenario, but like if Pete and MJ decided to have a baby and be parents this year, would you be cool with that?

RYV showed Peter and MJ as parents in Slott's first miniseries and then Conway and Houser's ongoing. I liked Dad Peter there a lot. Especially when Houser wrote him. Chip Zdarsky is going to show a Real-Time Peter Aging across six issues so he might show that, maybe.

I am all in favor of Peter and MJ being married and have that continue and stick, and I consider that an overwhelming definite improvement on the unreadable attempts at romance done by Slott to try and have Peter pretend he has chemistry with all the Post-BND rebound girls, and all the annoying teases with Bambi, Randi and so on in the Pre-Marriage days. Having said that, for me Peter and MJ becoming parents is very much a case of context and situation. To me there needs to be a synergy between audience demand and progression. The audience asked for Peter and MJ's marriage in 1987, and they got it, and Peter and MJ were ready to be married by 1987 but they weren't ready to be parents during the time of the Clone Saga, that struck me as "too much too soon" and I don't know if audiences at the time were as much in favor of them being parents as they were for the marriage. I am in favor of growth and progression but on a curve with many intervals and not too much too quick.

Right now Spencer's gotten Post-OMD Peter and MJ back just now, so I don't want to see them as parents by the end of the year. I want to see them married. And that itself is unlikely.

When JMS was writing the series and he reunited Peter and MJ and hit Issue #500, I thought as a fan what would be the ideal scenario for Issue #1000. And I made a mental road-map. Peter and MJ just reunited in JMS' run so it wasn't the right time then. You need to have a long romance and marriage before they become parents in my view. To me how I would do it is Peter-MJ getting married, then Aunt May dies, they age into their mid-30s, and then they have kids after being married for 7-10 years comic years. To me this entire timeline would have gone, had OMD not occured for some 500 more issues, and Issue #1000 would have been the birth of Peter and MJ's child. That's how I saw things then. I even planned out ideas or made idea notes for all kinds of stuff that could happen along the way. That I have forgotten or at the least unwilling to share.

[Vakanai]

RYV showed Peter and MJ as parents in Slott's first miniseries and then Conway and Houser's ongoing. I liked Dad Peter there a lot. Especially when Houser wrote him. Chip Zdarsky is going to show a Real-Time Peter Aging across six issues so he might show that, maybe.

RYV? What's that?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

RYV? What's that?

That's Renew Your Vows, an AU Spider-Man series started in 2015 as a tie-in to Secret Wars and ultimately became a successful spinoff indeed outselling the main title on two different occasions (that rarely happens).

[Orbus]

I'll share with you a dirty secret of mine; I don't have strong feelings for or against the marriage to Mary Jane. Maybe it's because I started reading Spider-Man through UK books like Exploits of...and Astonishing Spider-Man which would normally reprint current-ish Spider-Man stories alongside classic ones so my primary exposure to the character was both as a married man and single also I got in early starting a collection so had a good idea of the full history of the character before it was cemented in my brain that the marriage was the natural default.

There have been good and bad storylines and eras with both Peter married and singles and I've enjoyed other love interests too such as Felicia, Gwen, Betty and I even really liked the Paul Jenkins stories during the time Peter believed MJ was dead and he was written as widower. As someone who hates OMD my issue with it is not that the marriage was dissolved but how it was dissolved.

Getting married is a natural progression for the character but then people in the real world get divorced, widowed, some men remain bachelors with things never quite working out with a lover. Those are all natural progressions for a character also. I find the current obsession from comic fans that every hero should be married with an insta-family to be a bit odd. Fans used live vicariously through a superhero's adventures now they seem to live a happy family life with them. For me some heroes suit being married and having a family (Ben Grimm) others don't (Batman) and some are inbetween.

If there's anything that makes me lean against the marriage for Spidery it's that the best representation of the marriage is when stories actively involve Mary Jane. These usually require villains like Venom or Norman and Harry Osborn who know Peter's secret identity, I actually think this was one of the better aspects of the 90s clone saga. But now all Spider-Man villains can have a connection with Peter, not all stories can be about the Parker family. That leaves a lot of stories were MJ is just waiting at home either in sexy negligee "tiger you're back" or ready to nag him about always being away being Spider-Man both don't really do MJ any favours as a character. I think this is why the idea that the idea of Mary Jane having powers of her has become popular in certain circles.

I feel the same about Peter having a child. It's already a big conceit that we're supposed to buy that Peter has enough hours in his day to have a job and/or college, have solo adventures enough to fill two books and whatever team or guest spots he's in and be a devoted husband. Put a child in that he seems a more than neglectful parent. The other possibility is go the route the Renews Your Vows ongoing did by not only having his wife be a crime fighting partner but also his child. To be honest I don't think the Spider-Incredibles is something anyone signed up for.

Not that it couldn't be good direction for the character or lead to interesting stories. Again it would make stories with villains that know Spider-Man's dual identity more interesting, presumably he or she would be a mutant you could have some interesting crossovers with the X books but ultimately it would be a big change that you'd never really be able to go back on in the same way you could with a marriage.

[blackspidey2099]

I wouldn't be against it, but I do think it would be terrible/OOC writing for Peter to be a dad and continue being a superhero without retiring. Just goes against the whole "great responsibility" shtick. That's why I don't think it would be a good idea in 616 since I don't want Peter to permanently retire. An AU which explores the concept can definitely be done really well, though.

[Frontier]

Setting aside whether her should be one...I think he'd definitely be a good dad.

I also think his kid should also be a girl but I'm biased to Spider-Girl .

I wouldn't be against it, but I do think it would be terrible/OOC writing for Peter to be a dad and continue being a superhero without retiring. Just goes against the whole "great responsibility" shtick. That's why I don't think it would be a good idea in 616 since I don't want Peter to permanently retire. An AU which explores the concept can definitely be done really well, though.

I don't think it would be OOC so much as a drama bomb in the making because Peter would be torn between needing to uphold his responsibility as a father and his responsibility as Spider-Man.

It's probably why he had to get that injury in the MC2 universe to finally stop and settle down. He never would physically stop being Spider-Man otherwise.