While most people were understandably upset that Sony pulled the plug on Spider-Man in the MCU for no good reason, I have seen an outlier who defends it by saying that Spidey's stories work best when he's alone, when it's just him against the world, and his corner is better as a isolated setting as it's already self-contained.
Personally, I find the argument that Spider-Man exists in a vacuum to be completely untrue, but I'd like to see what you guys think?
Here are some of the facts about Spider-Man and his verse that have had large effects on the Marvel Universe:
- Spidey is often characterized as a loner, and while he often avoids being a full-fledged team member, he has been a member either officially, honorarily, or temporarily. He's had a close association with the Fantastic Four since the early days of Marvel, as the "Fifth Beatle". He's both helped the Avengers and been an Avenger himself. He's even been an X-Man (despite not being a mutant), as he had a stint as a teacher as Jean Grey's School of Higher Learning (on top of their many adventures together).
- He's also helped out other teams, like the New Warriors, the Power Pack and the Defenders.
- Spidey headlined a longstanding series called Marvel Team-Up, where he would team up with a different hero each issue. The premise was seeing Spidey play off all kinds of heroes.
- Several different characters, such as Punisher, Cloak and Dagger, and Monica Rambeau made their debut in Spider-Man. Also, Jessica Jones was inserted in the universe as a former classmate of Peter Parker.
- Several Spidey-related heroes have made their mark elsewhere. For example, the New Warriors (seen as an Avengers-adjacent team) had both Ben Reilly and Kaine as members in the past. Anya Corazon, another Spider-character, had a close association with Carol Danvers when she was Ms. Marvel. Miles Morales was both an Avenger, and founded the Champions. Morbius is also a founder of the Midnight Sons, a major supernatural team. Let's not forget the impact Venom and the Symbiotes have had on the wide universe as well.
- Spidey has had longstanding partnerships with several Marvel heroes, including Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Moon Knight, Prowler, among others.
- His supporting cast have also impacted the wider universe. J. Jonah Jameson has shown up in multiple Daredevil comics, due to reporter Ben Urich being a key DD supporting character. Liz Allan, Peter's old friend, dated key Daredevil supporting character Foggy Nelson. J.J.'s son John Jameson was a part of Captain America's supporting cast. Flash Thompson, the bully-turned-friend of Peter, eventually became Agent Venom and served both the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. Mary Jane Watson also became a PA to Tony Stark, thus showing up as a recurring character in the Iron Man comics.
- His extensive rogues have also made their presence felt. Rhino often fights Hulk, Kraven fought Hulk and Black Panther, Kingpin started as a Spidey rogue before becoming Daredevil's archenemy, Electro and Mysterio have also fought DD (the former being his first supervillain fight), Sandman spent 10 years fighting the Fantastic Four as part of the Frightful Four after his Spider-Man debut, and in the '90s he had a pretty good stint as an Avenger. The Masters of Evil, longstanding Avengers foes, have included Spider-Man villains, and one iteration was even led by Doctor Octopus. Shocker also recently joined Kamala Khan's rogues gallery. Also, the Thunderbolts have included many Spidey villains throughout, notably Beetle was a founding member and turned a new leaf as Mach-1.
- Finally, there's Norman Osborn, the archenemy of Spider-Man. He spent the '00s and the '10s as a widespread general Marvel big bad, menacing just about everyone both directly and indirectly including the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men, and everyone in-between. Keep in mind the Green Goblin spun off the pages of Spider-Man to begin with.
So all in all, I'd say Spider-Man's corner is a very important pillar of Marvel. However, I'm interested in seeing what you guys think of his status and relation in regards to the wider universe.
Thoughts?