IMO I don't think they've overcome Mephisto at all, and that point was made at the end of Spencer's run as Mephisto has still prevented their daughter from being born (or whoever the redheaded woman in a Spider costume was). But I can see why that's your opinion.
And for all we know, the deus ex machina was sent by Mephisto. However, that appears to be a plot point Wells might be content to drop, since the deus ex machina hasn't been referenced at all since. We'll see.
Intent is not execution. What is on the page in OMIT, which is the sequel, is MJ actually made the decision and Peter went along with what she decided. Also, OMD/OMIT is a clear example of Peter deliberately, knowingly and selfishly taking away Aunt May's agency.
Last edited by TinkerSpider; 08-14-2022 at 10:18 AM.
Doctor Strange: "You are the right person to replace Logan."
X-23: "I know there are people who disapprove... Guys on the Internet mainly."
(All-New Wolverine #4)
Yeah, cosigning your first paragraph. I'd have also liked it better if it had been Loki Peter made the deal with instead of Mephisto, since at least Loki was set up in an earlier arc of JMS's Amazing and it could have paid off the favor Loki owed Spider-Man for saving Loki's mortal daughter from being possessed by that ancient witch's spirit in a more impactfully bittersweet way, given that Loki's nature as a trickster could easily justify any retroactive changes to Peter's life. Even more, like in No Way Home's ending, Peter could be the only one to remember the world as it used to be and thus forced to live with the knowledge of the love and joy that he had given up in exchange for saving Mary Jane's life, which would make it work better as a tragedy.
That's actually a good point as well on the last part, since when Peter was able to communicate with Aunt May's spirit for a bit in one pre-OMD comic, she told him she'd lived a good, long life and she would be more than happy to finally reunite with his Uncle Ben.
The spider is always on the hunt.
Thanks.
Wonder if Marvel would've wanted Loki to be that evil, though?
Maybe. While I can't prove it, I really get the impression that Quesada cared more about getting his retcon than the craftsmanship of the story. Course, I also think giving MJ lines that they could beat it were meant to be false promises to keep marriage fans buying the the post-OMD comics and only serving as an escape hatch in case the retcon caused the line to suffer financially. Long story short, I don't think the comic was never anything other than a means to an end, so I'm not surprised that so many years after the fact, we've got people pointing out how it could've been done better (and had a movie that took the idea but actually did it right).
Doctor Strange: "You are the right person to replace Logan."
X-23: "I know there are people who disapprove... Guys on the Internet mainly."
(All-New Wolverine #4)
Quesada was the one who pitched Peter and MJ getting back together just before he left, so he clearly wanted her promise to ultimately mean something to those readers. It doesn't matter if his successors ultimately walked back on it, the point is MJ's assurances came true and now something else is in the way, but we know they'll overcome that too. Nothing is permanent.