What are the good married Spider-Man stories?

[Coop]

Maybe, but as you said it loses its impact. HARD. Mary Jane being his “wife” was something that outright broke her and altered her entire trajectory as a character.

"Ruh.....ROOMATE?"

[Jman27]

Something occurs to me. Do Michelinie and McFarlane create Venom without the marriage? Much of the character's initial threat is tightly tied to the marriage. Does the character form itself the same way with a single Peter?

sure Venom beef is with Spider-Man not anyone else cause they are innocent

[Tuck]

sure Venom beef is with Spider-Man not anyone else cause they are innocent

He terrorized MJ.

This is clearly a part of the story Michelinie and McFarlane were considering when formulating the character.

Do they lean as far into the horror imagery otherwise? Maybe.

Does the general idea of a villain who knows Peter's secret and has a personal grudge against him occur as a great idea for a villain if Peter is more isolated? Or still with Felicia, a costumed character used to fighting? (It's certainly very different with Felicia). I don't know. At least it's a weaker concept if it's just Peter, living alone.

I don't know what was going on in their heads when they came up with their ideas, but these are the kinds of things that go into it.

[Jman27]

He terrorized MJ.

This is clearly a part of the story Michelinie and McFarlane were considering when formulating the character.

Do they lean as far into the horror imagery otherwise? Maybe.

Does the general idea of a villain who knows Peter's secret and has a personal grudge against him occur as a great idea for a villain if Peter is more isolated? Or still with Felicia, a costumed character used to fighting? (It's certainly very different with Felicia). I don't know. At least it's a weaker concept if it's just Peter, living alone.

I don't know what was going on in their heads when they came up with their ideas, but these are the kinds of things that go into it.

Aunt May would probably had been used if Peter was single

[Tuck]

Aunt May would probably had been used if Peter was single

I don't know. It's not the same.

He's not living with her, so Eddie would have to intentionally visit her.

She doesn't know Peter is Spider-Man.

The story could be reworked, but I don't think with the same impact.

As I said, I don't know what thinking and conversations went into the creation of Venom, but the impact he could have on MJ seems like something that would be a factor.

I'm speculating.

But Venom does very much feel like a product of the marriage era, and not just temporally.

[Lee]

Something occurs to me. Do Michelinie and McFarlane create Venom without the marriage?

Michelinie was seeding Venom in Web of Spider-Man the year before the wedding.

[Frontier]

Aunt May would probably had been used if Peter was single

Aunt May wouldn't have survived Venom.

[Hurricane Billy]

Aunt May wouldn't have survived Venom.

That lady has plot armor like no other (except when she doesn't). She'd have fainted for a bit and then walked it off like always.

But yeah, I do concur with the folks saying that the Venom story wouldn't have landed with as much impact IMO if he'd targeted May or if Mary Jane had only been Peter's girlfriend at that point and not newlyweds.

[Jman27]

Aunt May wouldn't have survived Venom.

we both know that's not true

[Tuck]

Michelinie was seeding Venom in Web of Spider-Man the year before the wedding.

All right. So there was some form of Venom before the marriage. Fair enough.

But it was still adapted for the new status quo of the marriage, much like Kraven's Last Hunt which DeMatteis had been shopping around for a few years at the time.

[TinkerSpider]

All right. So there was some form of Venom before the marriage. Fair enough.

But it was still adapted for the new status quo of the marriage, much like Kraven's Last Hunt which DeMatteis had been shopping around for a few years at the time.

Michelinie’s original pitch for Venom was a woman who lost her unborn baby and her husband when the taxi driver who was taking them to the hospital so she could give birth got distracted by a Spider-Man fight and crashed the car, leaving her with a hatred of Spider-Man.

The Venom we know came about because editor Jim Salicrup - one of the best editors Spider-Man has ever had - wanted a villain worthy of the 300th issue. Which, as we all know, came after the marriage.

So while Michelinie may have been seeding a mysterious character who hates Spider-Man and doesn’t set off his spider-sense, the Venom we have today is a product of the marriage era.

[marvelprince]

Aunt May wouldn't have survived Venom.

Aunt May will survive the heat death of the universe.

[exile001]

Aunt May wouldn't have survived Venom.

Aunt May would have brought him cookies, decided that "Spider-Man" wasn't such a bad guy after all, and their beautiful wedding would have been ASM #300's big hook. May is blissfully unaware that she owns a heretofore unmentioned symbiote filled meteorite that Venom secretly wants to inherit.

[Kevinroc]

Michelinie’s original pitch for Venom was a woman who lost her unborn baby and her husband when the taxi driver who was taking them to the hospital so she could give birth got distracted by a Spider-Man fight and crashed the car, leaving her with a hatred of Spider-Man.

The Venom we know came about because editor Jim Salicrup - one of the best editors Spider-Man has ever had - wanted a villain worthy of the 300th issue. Which, as we all know, came after the marriage.

So while Michelinie may have been seeding a mysterious character who hates Spider-Man and doesn’t set off his spider-sense, the Venom we have today is a product of the marriage era.

Salicrup didn't think readers would believe a woman, even one who got her powers from an alien creature, could go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man. At least according to Michelinie.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/10...-on-spider-man

Michelinie’s initial pitch for Venom’s human host was quite different from what eventually became canon. Originally, Venom was going to be a woman who was pregnant and going into labor, so her husband went outside to flag down a cab. But the cab driver was distracted by a nearby battle between Spider-Man and a supervillain, causing the driver to accidentally hit and kill the husband, and the woman had a miscarriage and fell into a coma. Upon waking and realizing what happened to her family, the woman blamed the loss of her husband and baby on Spider-Man. Her hatred for Spider-Man drew the symbiote to her, and so they bonded to become Venom and seek revenge on the web-slinger.

According to Michelinie, this character pitch was rejected by Marvel editor Jim Salicrup. “[Salicrup] didn’t believe, at the time, that fans would really believe a woman standing toe-to-toe with Spider-Man,” Michelinie recalled. If that account is accurate, it reflects an outdated, sexist stance, especially when you consider Marvel’s comics are full of imposing female brawlers like She-Hulk, Valkyrie, Captain Marvel, and Titania who could punch Spider-Man into the stratosphere. Salicrup told Michelinie to instead make the character a man, so Michelinie re-envisioned Venom’s host as the muscly Eddie Brock and came up with a new backstory, and then the character was brought to life by artist Todd McFarlane.

[Aura Blaize]

Salicrup didn't think readers would believe a woman, even one who got her powers from an alien creature, could go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man. At least according to Michelinie.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/10...-on-spider-man

Part of me wishes they went with this because it's a different take and part of me is glad they didn't. Not because I agree that a woman can't beat Spider-Man, but because I get this feeling that Marvel would have ended up trying to stick them together if she ended up with same level of popularity.