Is Mephisto being positioned to become Spider-Man's arch-nemesis?

[Tabs]

Responsible for the Osborn "curse" and sending Harry spiraling into madness and death. Responsible for putting Norman Osborn in a place where he could be anything other than a pathetic broken man with little money to his name and terrible father. Like headcanon away all this as much as you want but Harry's been pretty much his unknowing stooge for his entire life and Norman would be nothing without him. Undoing Doc Ock's redemption arc. Destroying Spider-man's marriage and unmaking his child. Sending children cloned by Gwen Stacy after Peter. At this point, he's beginning to feel more like the Arch than anyone else.

[Hypestyle]

Responsible for the Osborn "curse" and sending Harry spiraling into madness and death. Responsible for putting Norman Osborn in a place where he could be anything other than a pathetic broken man with little money to his name and terrible father. Like headcanon away all this as much as you want but Harry's been pretty much his unknowing stooge for his entire life and Norman would be nothing without him. Undoing Doc Ock's redemption arc. Destroying Spider-man's marriage and unmaking his child. Sending children cloned by Gwen Stacy after Peter. At this point, he's beginning to feel more like the Arch than anyone else.

who knows? Maybe there has to be a Spider-Man vs. Mephisto limited series. But it would have to be a writer I'd enjoy. I'd see what C. Priest could do with the material, to reverse all the curses and get rid of Mephisto as a major menace.

[PCN24454]

Only because it’s clear that people want OMD to become undone.

[Mister Mets]

One More Day was poorly reviewed.

One Moment in Time, the follow-up, was poorly reviewed.

Nick Spencer's last issues, which established the connection between Mephisto and Norman Osborn, were poorly reviewed.

It's probably for the best to ignore Mephisto going forward. The main exception would be some kind of major status quo change, but even then it's best to have as little Mephisto as possible.

[Username taken]

One More Day was poorly reviewed.

One Moment in Time, the follow-up, was poorly reviewed.

Nick Spencer's last issues, which established the connection between Mephisto and Norman Osborn, were poorly reviewed.

It's probably for the best to ignore Mephisto going forward. The main exception would be some kind of major status quo change, but even then it's best to have as little Mephisto as possible.

Quoted for truth.

[Huntsman Spider]

One More Day was poorly reviewed.

One Moment in Time, the follow-up, was poorly reviewed.

Nick Spencer's last issues, which established the connection between Mephisto and Norman Osborn, were poorly reviewed.

It's probably for the best to ignore Mephisto going forward. The main exception would be some kind of major status quo change, but even then it's best to have as little Mephisto as possible.

One More Day was poorly reviewed more because of what it did to Spider-Man as a character, having him betray the moral at the core of his stories by making a literal deal with the Devil to avoid facing his guilt and taking responsibility for the part he played in Aunt May's impending death, as per publicly revealing his identity knowing full well he had enemies that'd gladly go after his (remaining) loved ones out of spite and revenge, then leaving himself and those loved ones without protection from said enemies after abandoning Iron Man's pro-registration faction for his increasingly morally dubious, if not flat-out immoral, actions to win the Civil War against Captain America's anti-registration faction. Not to mention that the whole point of OMD, as admitted by its main mastermind, then-EIC Joe Quesada, was to nullify his marriage to Mary Jane Watson(-Parker) from canon, no matter what methods he felt he had to resort to in order to make that happen, because he just felt like it "ruined the character's youth appeal" or something of that sort for him to be married. Then OMIT --- One Moment in Time --- doubled down by providing the reason that the marriage didn't happen "in canon," not to mention why Peter and Mary Jane broke it off "for good" after Civil War, and both of those were rather ridiculous, so of course it was going to also be poorly reviewed as well. As for Nick Spencer's last issues, those were poorly reviewed because the whole run had been spent building up to the seeming undoing of OMD, and that didn't happen, obviously, so that was poorly reviewed as well because the fans didn't like getting suckered into something that didn't deliver on what it seemed to promise. In the end, a lot of pain and suffering could have been avoided by just letting Peter and Mary Jane remain married and continuing to progress and evolve in that vein.

[Mister Mets]

One More Day was poorly reviewed more because of what it did to Spider-Man as a character, having him betray the moral at the core of his stories by making a literal deal with the Devil to avoid facing his guilt and taking responsibility for the part he played in Aunt May's impending death, as per publicly revealing his identity knowing full well he had enemies that'd gladly go after his (remaining) loved ones out of spite and revenge, then leaving himself and those loved ones without protection from said enemies after abandoning Iron Man's pro-registration faction for his increasingly morally dubious, if not flat-out immoral, actions to win the Civil War against Captain America's anti-registration faction. Not to mention that the whole point of OMD, as admitted by its main mastermind, then-EIC Joe Quesada, was to nullify his marriage to Mary Jane Watson(-Parker) from canon, no matter what methods he felt he had to resort to in order to make that happen, because he just felt like it "ruined the character's youth appeal" or something of that sort for him to be married. Then OMIT --- One Moment in Time --- doubled down by providing the reason that the marriage didn't happen "in canon," not to mention why Peter and Mary Jane broke it off "for good" after Civil War, and both of those were rather ridiculous, so of course it was going to also be poorly reviewed as well. As for Nick Spencer's last issues, those were poorly reviewed because the whole run had been spent building up to the seeming undoing of OMD, and that didn't happen, obviously, so that was poorly reviewed as well because the fans didn't like getting suckered into something that didn't deliver on what it seemed to promise. In the end, a lot of pain and suffering could have been avoided by just letting Peter and Mary Jane remain married and continuing to progress and evolve in that vein.

I think it's more complicated than people not liking particular status quo changes. If Spencer's last issues included a reversal of One More Day, the problems with the execution will still be there.

I'll make a sidenote that I suspect the main reason Nick Spencer brought Mephisto for his final issues is that he thinks One More Day may be reversed at some point, and that reversal will now build on his work.

Even if One More Day were reversed, it's probably best to have as little Mephisto as possible, just because his appearances haven't been good. It would be better to have Mephisto defeated in some other comic book (Silver Surfer, the Avengers, some new superteam, etc) to set up Spider-Man and Mary Jane remembering that they were married, so that the focus in the Spider-Man titles is on Spider-Man characters.

[Matt Rat]

It's probably for the best to ignore Mephisto going forward. The main exception would be some kind of major status quo change, but even then it's best to have as little Mephisto as possible.

It's pretty hard to 'ignore Mephisto' when it's been clearly stated outright his downfall is linked to Peter and MJ's kid, or possibly MJ herself.

And there are fans of Spencer's conclusion. I'm one of them.

[Spiderfan001]

It's pretty hard to 'ignore Mephisto' when it's been clearly stated outright his downfall is linked to Peter and MJ's kid, or possibly MJ herself.

And there are fans of Spencer's conclusion. I'm one of them.

Cosigned

Seems like 900 will be a waste for this, but I hope someone takes it back up right after

[MajorHoy]

. . . It's probably for the best to ignore Mephisto going forward . . .

What if Peter needs a new roommate?

[exile001]

What if Peter needs a new roommate?

Imagine the recent Boomerang arc redone but with Mephisto. Lol.

But seriously, don't give them ideas!

[Huntsman Spider]

who knows? Maybe there has to be a Spider-Man vs. Mephisto limited series. But it would have to be a writer I'd enjoy. I'd see what C. Priest could do with the material, to reverse all the curses and get rid of Mephisto as a major menace.

That would be cool. Considering Christopher Priest's Black Panther run had as one of its early stories Black Panther physically beating as well as outwitting Mephisto, I'd like to see him bring that same energy to Spider-Man vs. Mephisto. Insofar as a title, it could be called "Spider-Man's Inferno," or "Spider-Man Goes to Hell," or even "Spider-Man: Web of Damnation [or instead, Hellfire]." Maybe "Spider-Man: [Web of the] Damned."