Is general audiences are ready to accept adult Peter Parker?

[Jman27]

General audiences don't even notice Peter's age.

If you asked 100 randos to describe Spider-Man, I'd be surprised if a single one brought up his age range.

yeah ultimately the most important thing to the audience is will put on the suit and swing around

[Mister Mets]

The question is weird. They accepted an adult Spider-Man for literallly decades now.

There seems to be a variation of preferences on Spidey.

Some did want him to stay in high school forever but that doesn't work with a Marvel Universe that's been around for a while (unless there's something like the blip.)

Some would like him in college.

Some think the ideal was before he proposed when he's in his 20s, either in grad school or taking a pause.

And some want him to keep getting older. There's the whole "Should he be allowed to grow?" thread, which honestly makes this one redundant.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...t-grow-up-quot

For the most part, audiences have shown they don't need him to stay in high school.

[evolutionaryFan]

I think they've accepted him as an adult for a while now. But I want him finished with college permanently... He's got to be the oldest grad student in history. I want this aspect of his life crossing the finish line. No more excuses. There's nothing more depressing to me than Peter Parker still in college... still trying to get his phd... when I started reading in 1989 he was a grad student... now he's still a grad student.

[evolutionaryFan]

There seems to be a variation of preferences on Spidey.

Some did want him to stay in high school forever but that doesn't work with a Marvel Universe that's been around for a while (unless there's something like the blip.)

Some would like him in college.

Some think the ideal was before he proposed when he's in his 20s, either in grad school or taking a pause.

And some want him to keep getting older. There's the whole "Should he be allowed to grow?" thread, which honestly makes this one redundant.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...t-grow-up-quot

For the most part, audiences have shown they don't need him to stay in high school.

Personally, I want him done with being a college student permanently. Let him get his Phd and be a full fledged scientist. To me there's nothing more depressing about Peter Parker's character.

[Celgress]

General audiences don't even notice Peter's age.

If you asked 100 randos to describe Spider-Man, I'd be surprised if a single one brought up his age range.

This is a great point.

[Kevinroc]

The Spider-Verse movies went in on "anyone can wear the mask."

And I know some people like to point out that the protagonist of those movies is a teenager, but the idea that "anyone can wear the mask" includes adults. (The films also feature an adult Peter Parker as a major character, and he is quite popular.)

[Garlador]

yeah ultimately the most important thing to the audience is will put on the suit and swing around

That's the beauty of the costume, in fact. The costume obscures Peter's age. Just as it prevented people from knowing Spider-"Man" was just a kid at the start, it also serves to obscure his aging. He puts on the suit, he's "pure Spider-Man", eternal and enduring, in a way that "Peter Parker" won't always be.

If I were to show you this Spider-Man image... do YOU know how old he is?
SpiderMan.jpg
spoilers:

It's MC2 Spider-Man. He's in his mid-40s.

end of spoilers

[marhawkman]

I think they've accepted him as an adult for a while now. But I want him finished with college permanently... He's got to be the oldest grad student in history. I want this aspect of his life crossing the finish line. No more excuses. There's nothing more depressing to me than Peter Parker still in college... still trying to get his phd... when I started reading in 1989 he was a grad student... now he's still a grad student.

Yeah that, I got started in spider-man when he was written as in his 20s or older, so the whole question is weird to me. It's over 20 years later... and spider-Man is somehow being pushed as being YOUNGER than he was 20 years ago????

[Frontier]

That's the beauty of the costume, in fact. The costume obscures Peter's age. Just as it prevented people from knowing Spider-"Man" was just a kid at the start, it also serves to obscure his aging. He puts on the suit, he's "pure Spider-Man", eternal and enduring, in a way that "Peter Parker" won't always be.

If I were to show you this Spider-Man image... do YOU know how old he is?
SpiderMan.jpg
spoilers:

It's MC2 Spider-Man. He's in his mid-40s.

end of spoilers

I knew what this was from because I read this comic .

[marhawkman]

I knew what this was from because I read this comic .

I had that itch... "I KNOW this art style".... hmm.....

spoilers:

This was from the same story arc where Mayday introduces him to the A-Next.... who all geek out at getting to meet the legendary Spider-Man.

end of spoilers

[Mister Mets]

The Spider-Verse movies went in on "anyone can wear the mask."

And I know some people like to point out that the protagonist of those movies is a teenager, but the idea that "anyone can wear the mask" includes adults. (The films also feature an adult Peter Parker as a major character, and he is quite popular.)

There is a distinction between "anyone can wear the mask" and "this should be the status quo for the lead in a series expected to last for thirty+ years with at least the equivalent of three issues of content per month."

[Garlador]

There is a distinction between "anyone can wear the mask" and "this should be the status quo for the lead in a series expected to last for thirty+ years with at least the equivalent of three issues of content per month."

Then they shouldn’t have made him an adult in the 60s, or continue to age the Marvel world around him.

If Marvel truly wants a “timeless” Peter, they either need to actually reboot and de-age him, or stop holding the 616 up as the only universe that actually matters and do another Ultimates, because 616 Peter is an aberration in the comics, not the norm.

[Frontier]

I get what they're going for but I feel like "anyone can wear a mask" kind of detracts from how personal and internal Spider-Man is for Peter.

Like yeah he's just a regular kid who got spider-powers but he takes an inhuman amount of punishment and abuse with little reward yet he keeps getting back up and doing it again. Which the movie also emphasized.

But hey, it's a great tagline for a legacy hero.

[Crazyspideyfan]

When I think of Peter, I think of late 20s early 30s 616 Spidey, though a lot of general audience most likely thinks of Tom Holland Spidey.

[Triniking1234]

The only reason we're getting so much teenage Spider-Man now is because some idiot at Disney wants to target younger demographics and realized that he's the only successful hero with stories where he's around the same age as that demo.

That's why you get crap like that Disney Spider-Man and whatever Freshman Year is going to be.

Thank God Sony used Slott-era Peter.