I'm Pro-Marriage, But I'm Willing To Give The Anna Maria Situation A Shot

[Darth Howie]

This is going to be difficult to explain, but hear me out...

Depending on how carefully this is handled, I think I'm OK with Anna Maria sticking around as Peter's primary "love interest" for a while. I also have a seething hatred for OMD and pretty much every other relationships occurrence to come out of it. Think these ideas are contradictory? Well, let me explain.

Part of the problem I had with the fallout from OMD wasn't just the idea of an unmarried Peter Parker, it was the idea that he would WILLINGLY choose to be with anyone other than Mary Jane. Every relationship he would get into wouldn't feel like Peter Parker to me. Since every Spider-Man story I grew up reading had him as a committed, married man, his going to date anyone felt wrong. It felt like a different person. It made no sense. Peter Parker is a guy who is in love with and would do anything for Mary Jane. No matter how interesting or how well written the potential girlfriend might be, even if it was Felicia Hardy or Betty Brandt who he'd had previous relationships with, no one else worked because it would make Peter Parker seem out of character to pursue them.

Anna Maria is different. Why? Because he didn't choose her. She was chosen for him. She is in the position of his girlfriend because of sheer, classic Parker Luck. While I can't imagine a Peter Parker who chooses to be with anyone other than Mary Jane, I can imagine him ending up stuck in a profoundly awkward situation through no fault of his own, and having to dig his way out of it without hurting anyone and without making his bad situation end up even worse. As a result, this relationship is a promising storyline. Let's take a few things into account here:

1. Doc Ock essentially died for her and Peter knows it.
2. She knows he's Spider-Man.
3. She knows that "Peter Parker" was planning to ask her to marry him.
4. Peter knows she's at least seen his freckles and that SpOck's seen hers.
5. Peter Parker is a fundamentally good person and he doesn't want to hurt her if he can help it, especially because of point 2.

This is one big bowl of awkward, which makes for classic Spider-Man. This feels like a Spider-Man story. Peter doesn't have to betray what I've long considered a core part of his character for this situation to make sense.

Now, if Anna Maria is going to be around for a while and if the relationship isn't going to end up loaded with horrible subtext a few things have to happen or not happen.

1. Peter can't sleep with her without her knowing about the SpOck switch. Period. Can't happen. Can there be awkward situations based on her attempting to seduce him? Sure. Those are acceptable. But he can't do it. CANNOT. That would be, for lack of a better work, "rapey."

2. Anna Maria has to be an interesting character in her own right. This is a women Doc Ock would die for, but would she be special for Peter? There's a lot to unpack first including the whole fact that she was seeing someone else the whole time. I didn't read much of Superior because... Yeah... So I don't know much about her, which is fine because Amazing was clearly designed to be a good stepping on point, so she needs to turn out to be someone who's not too idealized but also not annoying. It's a difficult balance to pull off because everyone knows how hard to please comic book readers can be, but it has to happen.

3. No MJ teases. Dan Slott, if you are reading this, please move MJ to California and never speak of her again. I'm saying this because, ship teases with MJ just piss me off. Just move her to San Francisco or whatever. MJ showing up will just re-open old frustrations I don't want to deal with and it will detract from whatever else is going on in the single life the powers that be were willing to risk alienating so many readers over.

4. No character schilling. In the early, awkward, "she's in love with SpOck not me" phases of the relationship, it is OK, even amusing to have various people talk about what a great couple they are. But past a certain point it becomes irritating. So really, those jokes, when they happen, need to dry up relatively quickly. Play them too long and they read like character schilling which was one of the biggest complaints about Carlie Cooper.

5. Speaking of Carlie, keep her away, too.

So yes. I'm willing to accept this status quo because it represents so much potential awkwardness and hilarity. She has the power to blow up his life if he doesn't handle this situation well and that is a source of so much potential comedy and drama that I'm willing to and, dare I say am even eager to, see how this turns out.

So congrats Spidey team, you've finally setup a post-OMD girlfriend scenario I want to read.

[Tendrin]

While I liked Superior Spider-Man on the whole, I have to say that Anna Maria is by far the best thing to emerge from it. She isn't a 'bombshell' or 'femme fatale' type, and that makes her unique and interesting.

[Cameron Samurai]

Superior Spider-Man was one of the worst reading experiances I had over the course of 2013 and early 2014, just a hopelessly bad story, but Anna Maria shone throughout it as someone who understood and centered Ock through his journey and guided his most signfiicantly selfless act. It's just a shame it took a sex gag to clue her in to Peter's secret. I actually think she'll wise up to the fact Peter doesnt act in quite the same manner Ock did and will be the one to break up with him eventually (that's really how it always goes because Parker is always a commited type, even to girls he may not love as much as MJ).

As for MJ, as much as I prefer Peter with her, she's been railroaded so damn much these last few years that we're all probably better off with her taking a vacation until at least the third Marc Webb movie comes out. Besides, if you want to see MJ handled right, you can always look up the dailes online or something.

[Sprite]

I'm all for Anna Maria. She's one of the better things to come out of Superior Spider-Man, and she's long earned her spot in the spider books.

[Aruran.]

I like Anna Maria, but this is just weird. It would be nice if she just becomes Peter's friend, cause I don't want her to leave the book after they break up. Let's face it, they won't get married or have kids cause thats really what Marvel doesn't want, they want a single Spider-Man so the stories have a better flow. So really, if they enter a relationship, they would date, something would come up, then they would break cause it got to serious for Marvel.

My only complaint is really, if they don't want Peter married or have kids, they why should I waste time reading about a relationship that won't amount to anything? Cause other than those two things, what is there to tell in relationship with someone new that hasn't been told with MJ? This is why I'm ok if they get away from the romantic aspect of Spider-Man, it's been ruined since OMD but you don't need to tell great stories.

[genixx]

i liked anna. but i dont want to she her as his new girl-toy. however, i could see her staying with in the spiderfamily as a friend. at the very least someone that comes to hate Parker/Spider for what happened with Ock. i just hope she doesnt just go away or become a mini-ock.

[JediMindTrick]

The board about cracked in half screaming rape over the possibility of Spock getting with MJ. It would be no different if Peter got with Anna Maria. Now if Peter comes 100% clean on day one about what happened and who he actually is and who Ock was then at some distant point in the future after Anna Maria is done mourning then maybe they could have a relationship but it would be creepy.

[Darthfury78]

I like Anna Maria, but this is just weird. It would be nice if she just becomes Peter's friend, cause I don't want her to leave the book after they break up. Let's face it, they won't get married or have kids cause thats really what Marvel doesn't want, they want a single Spider-Man so the stories have a better flow. So really, if they enter a relationship, they would date, something would come up, then they would break cause it got to serious for Marvel.

My only complaint is really, if they don't want Peter married or have kids, they why should I waste time reading about a relationship that won't amount to anything? Cause other than those two things, what is there to tell in relationship with someone new that hasn't been told with MJ? This is why I'm ok if they get away from the romantic aspect of Spider-Man, it's been ruined since OMD but you don't need to tell great stories.

Let's face it. Anna Marie was Otto's girlfriend. Not Peter Parker. Sooner or late, Anna is going to notice the difference because Peter Parker is not Otto Octavius: the man she fell in love with. I do see her and Peter working together. But like Carlie Cooper, its going to end very badly between them. And no, I do not feel that Peter has feelings for Anna Marie in the same manner as Otto does. One can not hide their affection for someone who they are not in love with.

[Aruran.]

Let's face it. Anna Marie was Otto's girlfriend. Not Peter Parker. Sooner or late, Anna is going to notice the difference because Peter Parker is not Otto Octavius: the man she fell in love with. I do see her and Peter working together. But like Carlie Cooper, its going to end very badly between them. And no, I do not feel that Peter has feelings for Anna Marie in the same manner as Otto does. One can not hide their affection for someone who they are not in love with.

I didn't say I wanted them to enter a relationship. I just said it would be nice if she became Peter's friend, as she is a good character and can add something new to a very small closed supporting cast.
I'm honestly hoping that they never enter a relationship ever cause then it allows Anna Maria to leave the book when they break up.

[Sardorim]

Superior Spider-Man was the best Spider-Man arc to date, no other arc comes close to show Superior it was. Only the finale was bad as it felt waaaaaaay too rushed to get Peter back in the costume because of the Movie. While I miss Spock I'm glad that Anna is sticking around and who knows, Peter may end up falling for her too as she's a good person and is actually someone close to his intelligence. So far Peter hasn't dated anyone that's ever been anywhere near as smart as him and who knows? We may even get a version of Spider-Girl that's the daughter of Anna!

[Darth Howie]

Superior Spider-Man was the best Spider-Man arc to date, no other arc comes close to show Superior it was. Only the finale was bad as it felt waaaaaaay too rushed to get Peter back in the costume because of the Movie. While I miss Spock I'm glad that Anna is sticking around and who knows, Peter may end up falling for her too as she's a good person and is actually someone close to his intelligence. So far Peter hasn't dated anyone that's ever been anywhere near as smart as him and who knows? We may even get a version of Spider-Girl that's the daughter of Anna!

Spider-Man's not allowed to have kids no matter who the mother might be. "Marriage" and "Kids" are no longer part of Peter Parker's vocabulary outside of hypothetical space, alternate universes, ret-conned back issues and Deadpool's fourth wall breaking brain..

[Cameron Samurai]

Superior Spider-Man was the best Spider-Man arc to date

I like the joke about airline food better.

(JKing, if you liked the arc that's fine, but I thought it stunk and turned everyone involved into a moron)

[Sardorim]

I liked Superior because I liked Spock, nearly everyone else was dumbed down though and it was funny how Tony quickly saw an issue and questioned why the Avengers didn't just wait on someone experienced to figure out what was wrong with Spider-Man.

Spider-Man's not allowed to have kids no matter who the mother might be. "Marriage" and "Kids" are no longer part of Peter Parker's vocabulary outside of hypothetical space, alternate universes, ret-conned back issues and Deadpool's fourth wall breaking brain..

Well, there's always an Alternate Universe that'll have their child. I mean, how many have May in it now?

[Darthfury78]

I liked Superior because I liked Spock, nearly everyone else was dumbed down though and it was funny how Tony quickly saw an issue and questioned why the Avengers didn't just wait on someone experienced to figure out what was wrong with Spider-Man. Well, there's always an Alternate Universe that'll have their child. I mean, how many have May in it now?

I will only say that while Anna will stick around, I would be very surprised if a REAL relationship occurs between Anna x Peter. But I could be dead wrong. If indeed that Anna is Peter's girlfriend from this point onward, it's only a matter of time when she realize that he's not the man she fell in love with because Peter and Otto are two completely different people. Just like Jennifer Walters and the She-Hulk are two completely different people who happens to share the same intellect.

Personally, I think that Superior Spider-Man ended way too soon. Marvel should have allowed Slott to finish the story in a proper manner, which did not come to pass.

[stillanerd]

I like Anna Maria as a character, too, and I also agree she was one of the best aspects of Superior Spider-Man. But given the circumstances behind her relationship with Otto, I'm very apprehensive about where things could be heading here.

Given that Anna Maria now knows Peter's secret identity, that does allow Peter to tell her the truth about Doc Ock being in his body, so its likely he'd do that next issue. Only I can imagine another possibility--that after Peter confirms to Anna Maria that he is indeed Spider-Man, he starts to tell her about Doc Ock when she stops him and says "I know." A surprised Peter goes "You do?" only she's not talking about Doc Ock because she then says "I found your surprise in the closet and my answer is...Yes!" And she shows Peter Otto's engagement ring and prepared speech and hugs him saying "Yes, I'll marry you!" And Peter is just too flabbergasted to speak, and thus he's even more afraid to tell Anna Maria about Otto for fear of breaking her heart even more.

Still, you guys know Im usually wrong when it comes to theories.