Marvel has no idea what to Do with Peter's personal life do they?

[Frontier]

It's kind of an issue with superheroes as a whole more and more recently. They barely have normal civilian jobs anymore, being a superhero is largely their actual jobs. And their supporting casts have to be directly involved in superheroics or even get powers themselves.

Ironically you could kind of see it happening in real time with Ultimate Spider-Man; started off as a modern reinterpretation of Peter's origin and by the end damn near everyone in his social circle was aware he was Spider-Man and/or had superpowers themselves.

And I find it telling that the last time Pete had a "normal" civilian job was basically when he was a photographer for Jonah when Jonah was Mayor. Since then he was basically a super scientist for Horizon, unwittingly became a CEO thanks to Otto, briefly became an Editor but then Spencer immediately put the kibosh to that, under Spencer's tenure he was a Grad Research Assistant but that run barely dedicated much time to that aspect, and now he's essentially doing Horizon 2.0 only under Norman.

CW Flash before CW Flash!

[Xenon]

They know what to do they just refuse to do it.

And because they're too busy focusing on that aspect, they can't even just let him stay in school and get his masters, or have him actualy work a normal job with coworkers who might have problems that you could spin into other stories. Like say what you will about BND, and ther's plenty negative to say there, but it knew to give Peter lots of civilian stuff to do. Wells doesn't do any civlian stuff at all. THe closest he gets is this NTR MJ storyline and working for Norman Osborn...which isn't really his civlian life, it's just an extension of being a superhero.

I used to care about his civilian life until they destroy parker industries and took away his phd

Both things that he didn't actually earn. Because I care about his civilian life I want him to actually earn those things, not have them handed to him by a hijacker.

[Huntsman Spider]

CW Flash before CW Flash!

Considering a lot of Arrowverse Flash, at least in the beginning, was somewhat influenced by Spider-Man . . . let's not forget Zoom being literally modeled as a speedster version of Venom in a black suit that covered his entire body and face and with a demonically distorted voice provided by Tony Todd, who will be voicing Venom himself in Insomniac Games' Spider-Man 2.

[WebLurker]

Don't think Marvel really known what to do with Spider-Man since they decided the central point of him is that "he and Mary Jane cannot be married despite that being a defining trait."

[Huntsman Spider]

Don't think Marvel really known what to do with Spider-Man since they decided the central point of him is that "he and Mary Jane cannot be married despite that being a defining trait."

Not necessarily a defining trait, but a defining story that nonetheless moved both of their characters forward, something contemporary editorial seems completely and utterly opposed to out of what can only be described as nostalgia run amok.

[The Urge]

Peter having a civilian supporting cast is very important and the fact that they are slowly erasing this aspect of the book is just terrible. i would even say that having at least SOME of that supporting cast not know he is Spider-Man is vital too because the whole thing about Peter being Spider-Man is that it makes it even harder to maintain the relationships he has with those who don't know he is Spider-Man. That creates great drama and tension. This is part of the problem i have with MCU Spider-Man. Everyone close to him knew he was Spider-Man, so that aspect of the character was non-existent.

[Huntsman Spider]

Peter having a civilian supporting cast is very important and the fact that they are slowly erasing this aspect of the book is just terrible. i would even say that having at least SOME of that supporting cast not know he is Spider-Man is vital too because the whole thing about Peter being Spider-Man is that it makes it even harder to maintain the relationships he has with those who don't know he is Spider-Man. That creates great drama and tension. This is part of the problem i have with MCU Spider-Man. Everyone close to him knew he was Spider-Man, so that aspect of the character was non-existent.

Whether they know or not, a civilian supporting cast is important in general to keep superheroes firmly tied to the rest of humanity, emotionally if nothing else. Without that, we end up with superheroes that are increasingly distant and alienated from the people and world that they're supposed to protect, which can lead to said people and world turning against them as well.

[Jman27]

Whether they know or not, a civilian supporting cast is important in general to keep superheroes firmly tied to the rest of humanity, emotionally if nothing else. Without that, we end up with superheroes that are increasingly distant and alienated from the people and world that they're supposed to protect, which can lead to said people and world turning against them as well.

they already do though

[Huntsman Spider]

they already do though

True enough, but becoming increasingly distant and alienated from the world of ordinary people and their concerns and fears doesn't help, either.

[Chris0013]

I used to care about his civilian life until they destroy parker industries and took away his phd

Parker Industries...not so much. I prefer him to have an 'everyman' type middle class job that he likes. I really liked him as the Bugle's science editor. PhD most definitely should have not lost it.

The PhD that doc ock earned for Peter

To me it is not that Peter couldn't earn his doctorate...he just did not put any real importance on it. Now with Otto earning it and then the whole plagiarism I want him to get it so that he can prove to everyone he is not a fraud. They could even write a story around him finishing his oral exams to get his doctorate and then saving the city from some out of control experiment as Peter and not as Spidey so that that scandal kind of goes away.

[PCN24454]

Peter having a civilian supporting cast is very important and the fact that they are slowly erasing this aspect of the book is just terrible. i would even say that having at least SOME of that supporting cast not know he is Spider-Man is vital too because the whole thing about Peter being Spider-Man is that it makes it even harder to maintain the relationships he has with those who don't know he is Spider-Man. That creates great drama and tension. This is part of the problem i have with MCU Spider-Man. Everyone close to him knew he was Spider-Man, so that aspect of the character was non-existent.

Tbf, if they didn’t know he was Spider-Man, then they weren’t really close to him.

[Venomsaurus]

I'd say they've not known what to do with it since BND. They tried to bring him back down to a lovable loser, just made him an unlikable shlub and his personal life has been pretty boring since. When he had MJ there was something worth coming home to, but now he's just this kinda of sad loser. Not much of a life outside of Spidey.

[Celgress]

The mission statement is that Peter must alway be a young single loser. Given those limitations...there really isn't much anyone can do with him.

That is indeed a major storytelling hindrance. I will always argue that Big Joe tipping Marvel's hand about the desired hard status quo in the lead-up to OMD was the worst thing ever to happen to 616 Spidey. Now even the illusion of change is gone because we know Peter will never grow beyond a certain point. Why should we care about his future romances, for example, if there is a hard limit on how far they can develop? It would be like if a magician blatantly shows you how their big trick is done and then gets angry when you aren't excited the next time they perform the trick.

[Knightsilver]

I'd say they've not known what to do with it since BND. They tried to bring him back down to a lovable loser, just made him an unlikable shlub and his personal life has been pretty boring since. When he had MJ there was something worth coming home to, but now he's just this kinda of sad loser. Not much of a life outside of Spidey.

And even his Spidey life is pretty pathetic. He can't even beat villains he's fought for years anymore without help.

[Knightsilver]

That is indeed a major storytelling hindrance. I will always argue that Big Joe tipping Marvel's hand about the desired hard status quo in the lead-up to OMD was the worst thing ever to happen to 616 Spidey. Now even the illusion of change is gone because we know Peter will never grow beyond a certain point. Why should we care about his future romances, for example, if there is a hard limit on how far they can develop? It would be like if a magician blatantly shows you how their big trick is done and then gets angry when you aren't excited the next time they perform the trick.

Exactly. If someone dropped the book at the start of BND 16 years ago...and picked up a "new" issue tomorrow...they'd find Peter in the same pathetic place he was a decade and a half ago. The book is in a Groundhog Day timeloop.