MY OMD Idea - Would This Have Been Better Or Worse Than Canon?

[Celgress]

Thinking about the infamous storyline I thought of an alternate way to get us there. Instead of Aunt May remaining in a coma after being shot she is murdered by a delusional, cancer-ridden Eddie Brock egged on by visions of "Venom". Peter enraged snaps killing Eddie shortly afterward by knocking him out of a window in his rage (or some other accidental way). Peter's resulting trial is fast-tracked under the new anti-superhero laws. We flash forward some months later when Peter is informed by his lawyer he will likely receive the death penalty as no one has much sympathy for superheroes anymore. While MJ and Peter are crying together during a short visit Mephisto appears. He offers to undo Peter unmasking, which led to May being shot and everything else which followed if they give up their marriage. Peter does not want to do so but MJ decides she has to "do right" by "her hero". MJ makes the deal with Mephisto. So. What does everyone think would this have been a better storyline than OMD or worse?

[Rosebunse]

Thinking about the infamous storyline I thought of an alternate way to get us there. Instead of Aunt May remaining in a coma after being shot she is murdered by a delusional, cancer-ridden Eddie Brock egged on by visions of "Venom". Peter enraged snaps killing Eddie shortly afterward by knocking him out of a window in his rage (or some other accidental way). Peter's resulting trial is fast-tracked under the new anti-superhero laws. We flash forward some months later when Peter is informed by his lawyer he will likely receive the death penalty as no one has much sympathy for superheroes anymore. While MJ and Peter are crying together during a short visit Mephisto appears. He offers to undo Peter unmasking, which led to May being shot and everything else which followed if they give up their marriage. Peter does not want to do so but MJ decides she has to "do right" by "her hero". MJ makes the deal with Mephisto. So. What does everyone think would this have been a better storyline than OMD or worse?

I think this isn't an awful What If? story, so if you can pitch it to an Marvel editor, you do that. But ultimately, it just sounds way too edgy for a real storyline. And it would have really, really left the MU and Spiderman in a weird place...which wouldn't have been bad for the story itself, but what do other writers do with it?

[Alan2099]

I vote against it. It feels like you have too many moving pieces to handle and a bit too much death for death's sake.

[Celgress]

I think this isn't an awful What If? story, so if you can pitch it to an Marvel editor, you do that. But ultimately, it just sounds way too edgy for a real storyline. And it would have really, really left the MU and Spiderman in a weird place...which wouldn't have been bad for the story itself, but what do other writers do with it?

Well, it is basically rendered non-canon post-event just like OMD was in real life (it is a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself). The story merely gets us to single Peter Parker again but in a way that does not dumb down the whole MU, IMO. Yes, it is tragic but that is the whole point. A sacrifice has to matter after all to have any lasting meaningful impact narratively. I can, however, understand your misgivings. The idea is very bleak and would never make a regular Spidey story.

[Rosebunse]

Well, it is basically rendered non-canon post-event just like OMD was in real life (it is a means to an end rather than an end in and of itself). The story merely gets us to single Peter Parker again but in a way that does not dumb down the whole MU, IMO. Yes, it is tragic but that is the whole point. A sacrifice has to matter after all to have any lasting meaningful impact narratively. I can, however, understand your misgivings. The idea is very bleak and would never make a regular Spidey story.

Yeah, I get that it would just become "non-canon" because of OMD, but that isn't really how OMD works. Yes, the characters don't remember what happened, but the fans still do and we still are meant to consider those events somewhat canon.

[Celgress]

Yeah, I get that it would just become "non-canon" because of OMD, but that isn't really how OMD works. Yes, the characters don't remember what happened, but the fans still do and we still are meant to consider those events somewhat canon.

Perhaps I miswrote. I meant to indicate the storyline would in no way be a hindrance to other writers moving forward because Peter would not be a murderer (if only an accidental one) because that event was canceled out by Mephisto. But, if you think my idea is too extreme that's fine. I was merely doing a thought experiment to see if I can build a better mousetrap as they say,

[Revolutionary_Jack]

So. What does everyone think would this have been a better storyline than OMD or worse?

It would depend on the execution. It's kind of similar to that What If comic where it was "what if Mary Jane got shot" and Peter went totally postal and the story went really grimdark and beyond.

As an idea, the problem with this story is that it is essentially the same problem as OMD in that Peter is being rewarded and getting bailed out from the consequences of his actions, he's passively guilting and passing the buck to his wife. One More Day has Aunt May on deathbed and Peter having a breakdown about her death and going all the over the place to find help, and Aunt May got shot as a consequence of Peter unmasking himself out of his commitment to Iron Man and then bailing on Iron Man for moral reasons. Peter acted out of loyalty to Iron Man (which he thought was the right thing at the time), and then later he did the legit actual right thing by turning on the Pro-Reg but he pays the price anyway. He did all he could reasonably as a man. In the scenario you are listing, that entire setup is gone and instead Peter is being bailed out for murder. And as bad and damaging is as OMD which read in sequence from its end to the start of BND is basically Peter trading the married life and being free to hit the scene again...i.e. its glorified adultery as Erik Larsen pointed out...this would be worse.

And in any case, even in the climate of the Civil War I can't imagine Tony Stark and others would allow Spider-Man to get the death penalty. I am not an Iron Man fan in general and yeah the Eisenfuhrer of the Illuminati is always worth taking down the peg, but no that's too far even for him, since he does care for Spider-Man, even in OMD he paid Aunt May's hospital bills and so on. The big problem with OMD's set up is Aunt May. Her being shot and then being hospitalized for a year. JMS mentioned that he wanted Aunt May getting shot to directly lead to OMD and put that at the end, but for some reason Quesada wanted her to be sickbed for a year. So that meant you didn't have desperatiion, you didn't have the urgency that could psychologically cause such a reaction. The other problem is Aunt May herself. Aunt May has been sick multiple times in the comics, and they used that dead horse so often that it's lost any emotional resonance it could have. It worked in ASM #17-18-19, when May being sick led Peter to escape a fight with the Goblin, it worked in the Master Planner saga, but then in ASM #400 they killed her off for real and then later brought the worst version of that character back in Mackie/Byrne's reboot leading JMS to more or less make people like her agian. And the version that JMS created would never in any circumstances want to be traded away in exchange for the future of two people who are like her own son and daughter. And in any case, her memory is going to be erased and we get BND Aunt May who is a total nonentity as a character, so she might as well be dead anyway.


The only way I could imagine accepting OMD in the form and style people present i.e. in what it's intended to lead to (BND) and bury all feelings and so on...
1) Don't use Mephisto, use a random mutant who has Scarlet Witch style powers but is dying. Similar to that Ultimate X-Men issue with that kid. Have this kid be downtrodden and persecuted and Spider-Man be the one to save him or her.

2) Have this kid be hospitalized and brought to the same hospital that May is in. Spider-Man is torn that he can't help this kid and he can't help Aunt May. This kid is a Spider-Man fan and so on and he wants to help Peter but he/she can't control their reality warping powers. It's dying and Spider-Man and Mary Jane tend to the kid and so on.

3) The kid decides to use its power to help Spider-Man. But the use of the powers kills him and it has unintended consequences. As a result of this timeline is altered, Peter and MJ don't get married, and voila you don't have questions of will OMD be erased, and now you have an actual tragedy where it's done out of love but had tragic results and so on, whereas OMD isn't. And you don't have to explain stuff since Scarlet Witch's powers and so on are already established in House of M.

[Rosebunse]

Perhaps I miswrote. I meant to indicate the storyline would in no way be a hindrance to other writers moving forward because Peter would not be a murderer (if only an accidental one) because that event was canceled out by Mephisto. But, if you think my idea is too extreme that's fine. I was merely doing a thought experiment to see if I can build a better mousetrap as they say,

I just think this story is one of those stories that throw a lot of people under the bus because they know that they story will be replaced later, so they think they can do what they will.

[Celgress]

I just think this story is one of those stories that throw a lot of people under the bus because they know that they story will be replaced later, so they think they can do what they will.

No doubt, my other OMD idea I've often posted on this forum involves Spidey having to save a busload of school kids from certain death. He takes the deal with Mephisto because he failed and the kids died.

[Inversed]

I feel like the best way to "fix" OMD, while still keeping all the core elements of story, aka Aunt May gets shot and Mephisto saves her by taking away the marriage, would be to make the actual story itself about either Aunt May, MJ, or both.

I've said that the best way to describe JMS' run of Spider-Man would be the mix between Peter finding himself connected to larger than life mythical forces, and dealing with the relationship with the two most important women/people in his life. Which honestly should fit OMD perfectly, facing the literal Devil, with the two caught in the middle.

The problem is that May and MJ are pretty much non-characters and just there to fill the purpose to push a desired narrative forward rather than telling any kind of compelling story. Maybe you could spend those 4 (or even more) issues reflecting on Peter's relationship with May, and give some argument why he NEEDS her beyond just "it's his fault". And you can also use this time to reflect on his relationship with MJ, show how powerful their bond has been and why that's also so important to him, it could create a greater inner conflict regarding what decision he wants to make. Plus, if you have to get rid of something like the marriage for greater reasons, wouldn't you want it to go out with a bang, instead of just kind of throwing it to the side like an after thought (although I guess Fraction's Sensational Annual basically already did that job way better than anyone else could've).

[SpiderClops]

I think it would've been worse than canon.

[Lee]

That would make Peter a murderer, and have MJ not making a deal with an evil entity to simply save someone's life, but to resurrect them from death. I don't know why this would be considered an improvement - it's the exact same premise, but doubling down on the objectionable content.

[Mister Mets]

I don't think this works because it's shady for One More Day to reverse an actual death (Why do it this time, and not for something that killed more people) and even if Peter's worse deeds are reversed, it's established in-canon that this is what he is capable of when the chips are on the line.

[HypnoHustler]

Thinking about the infamous storyline I thought of an alternate way to get us there. Instead of Aunt May remaining in a coma after being shot she is murdered by a delusional, cancer-ridden Eddie Brock egged on by visions of "Venom". Peter enraged snaps killing Eddie shortly afterward by knocking him out of a window in his rage (or some other accidental way). Peter's resulting trial is fast-tracked under the new anti-superhero laws. We flash forward some months later when Peter is informed by his lawyer he will likely receive the death penalty as no one has much sympathy for superheroes anymore. While MJ and Peter are crying together during a short visit Mephisto appears. He offers to undo Peter unmasking, which led to May being shot and everything else which followed if they give up their marriage. Peter does not want to do so but MJ decides she has to "do right" by "her hero". MJ makes the deal with Mephisto. So. What does everyone think would this have been a better storyline than OMD or worse?

No offense, but that sounds just as bad. That'd be so out of character for Eddie Brock. Why would he kill Aunt May? Eddie would never do that according to his twisted moral code. He sees her as an innocent and this has been reinforced in his appearances where he's interacted with May in the past.

Also why so violent and edgy? Like bad fan-fiction.

[Huntsman Spider]

No offense, but that sounds just as bad. That'd be so out of character for Eddie Brock. Why would he kill Aunt May? Eddie would never do that according to his twisted moral code. He sees her as an innocent and this has been reinforced in his appearances where he's interacted with May in the past.

Also why so violent and edgy? Like bad fan-fiction.

That didn't come out of nowhere, believe it or not. This was part of the plot for Sensational Spider-Man's "Back in Black" issues, in which a dying Eddie Brock was egged on by delusional visions of Venom (that might have come from the remnants of the symbiote in his biochemistry) to kill a bedridden Aunt May in the same hospital, even wearing a black Spider-Man suit to reclaim the feeling of being Venom. However, rather than kill a helpless and dying old woman, even to spite his archenemy, Eddie attempted to kill himself, only to be saved by Peter.