Will the MCU tail always wag the dog?

[oldschool]

Sorry for the obtuse thread title but I got to thinking how, for quite a few years now, it is clear that the comics have been taking cues/following the lead of the movies which, let's fact it, are far more successful and important for Marvel. But, as of late, it appears that the "movie version" of Marvel characters has influenced their comic counterparts (with Iron Man and Nick Fury being the most glaring examples) and I understand the why. It has happened in smaller steps for Spidey but now with the larger scale success of "Homecoming", will the influence spread even more? I am not talking about the way the supporting cast and The Vulture was portrayed (there is a separate thread for that) but rather Spidey's character.

For a while in the '80's/early '90's, Spidey matured slowly but surely. The '90's Clone Saga was an attempt to reverse that and, when that went kablooey, JMS took over and wrote what was undoubtedly the most mature version of Peter but that was jettisoned as well in favor of a younger Peter again with BND. Now, with Homecoming being a big hit and Legacy and #800 on the horizon, I wonder what is next for Spidey? Is it finally the hard reboot that puts him back in high school? Maybe college age? Maybe they keep him at his current indistinguishable 20-something age but reboot to truly capitalize on the "back to basics" approach they keep promising (but is not really evident in the first issue of PP:SSM)?

Anyway, I got a bit off point: my question isn't necessarily what Spidey will look like in 2018 but I just have to wonder if we will ever again have a version of Spidey where the creative team ever really gets to run with a vision the way JMS did (the most recent example I can think of before editorial ruined the tail end of his run) or if the MCU has effectively eliminated that. And I realize the MCU will not run forever but it sure isn't going away anytime soon so it's a question worth pondering......

[John Ossie]

Oh dear god no as far as ''high school'' Peter is concerned, I don't mind a mini-series telling an ''untold story'' about it but as far as the main book (books) is concerned no thanks LOL. College, well you don't have to be a teen to be in College nowadays.

I think Slott has been allowed to get a run with his vision of Spidey though.

[WeirdSpider]

It's a waste of time effort and goodwill to try and make the comics more like the movies.

Sales reconds have shown that other than a small sales boost the movies don't have a long-term effect on comic sales.

Marvel can try to make the comics closer to the MCU, but than they risk alienating long time fans to try to appeal to potential new readers which I think is just too risky in this day and age.

[berserkerclaw]

Spidey will never resemble the movies. Ironman can do it cause it was just using Downeys portrayal. Peter is an adault so the movie version wont creep in. they wont turn him into the 15 yr old. that time is past.

[WebLurker]

It's a waste of time effort and goodwill to try and make the comics more like the movies.

Sales reconds have shown that other than a small sales boost the movies don't have a long-term effect on comic sales.

Marvel can try to make the comics closer to the MCU, but than they risk alienating long time fans to try to appeal to potential new readers which I think is just too risky in this day and age.

Maybe.

However, I got into comics through the movies and it was important to me that the series were similar to the films.

As far as Spider-Man goes, Dan Slott seems to do his own thing (which has little to do with Spider-Man itself), so I'd be skeptical if the movie influences it much. New AU series, yeah, I could see that.

[Frontier]

He's already generally written with the emotional and intellectual maturity of a teenager right now, so I'm not sure if there's a need to follow alongside the movie in that regard.

I do wonder if we're going to see more books released featuring "untold tales" Or AU stories starring a teenage Peter Parker as Spider-Man.

[Scott Taylor]

This may be the rare case where the dog wagged its own tail.

Alot of the tech we saw in Homecoming is a been there, done that in the comics.

-JMS already did the whole "use Stark technology" thing and had Peter be mentored by Tony.
-More recently, the Big Time era similarly had Peter use new technology developed by Horizon and himself
-Under PI, Peter has been using tech developed by SSM and himself (others?)

Most other "new" aspects of Homecoming likewise fed off of the comics, particularly the Miles comics.

[Scarlet Spider-Man]

The fact of the matter is that the movies are what keeps Marvel profitable nowadays, not the comics.

[Mister Mets]

Oh dear god no as far as ''high school'' Peter is concerned, I don't mind a mini-series telling an ''untold story'' about it but as far as the main book (books) is concerned no thanks LOL. College, well you don't have to be a teen to be in College nowadays.

I think Slott has been allowed to get a run with his vision of Spidey though.

Yeah, Peter Parker's been a CEO for several years.

[CrimsonEchidna]

The last "teenage" Peter Parker book, Spidey, flamed out pretty fast so I wouldn't worry about it, especially since Marvel is allergic to actual committing to pulling the trigger on a reboot.

[Frontier]

The last "teenage" Peter Parker book, Spidey, flamed out pretty fast so I wouldn't worry about it, especially since Marvel is allergic to actual committing to pulling the trigger on a reboot.

I wonder if that series would've been better served by being released around the time of the movie or if they'd handled the marketing for it better.

No one could seem to make up their mind whether it was in-continuity or basically a Marvel Adventures book.

[Smoov-E]

You know there's Miles for teenage Spidey adventures

[oldschool]

My primary question was will we ever see a creative team work on ASM unencumered by what is going on in the MCU and not will we get a teenage Spidey. I sort of feel like those days are behind us now.

[WebLurker]

I wonder if that series would've been better served by being released around the time of the movie...

Good point. The comic really felt a lot like the Tom Holland version of the character. There was even a issue with Spidey and Iron Man teaming up against the Vulture, while Spidey was struggling to work up the nerve to ask his crush (albeit Gwen Stacy instead of Liz Allen).

...or if they'd handled the marketing for it better.

No one could seem to make up their mind whether it was in-continuity or basically a Marvel Adventures book.

The instant they had Gwen and Peter in high school together, I took it to be a new continuity. (Granted, it was possible that Secret Wars could've been used to make it a replace the original ASM issues a la Chapter One, but that wasn't exactly the way that post-Secret Wars 616 was being marketed as across the board.)

It's also worth noting that the series was kind of lacking in substance. Now I did like the series (got the trades on my shelf), but it never really had the scope or depth that other ones (like ASM, USM, etc.) had. So, I wonder what its shelf life would've been even with better marketing?

You know there's Miles for teenage Spidey adventures

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[Aruran.]

Anyway, I got a bit off point: my question isn't necessarily what Spidey will look like in 2018 but I just have to wonder if we will ever again have a version of Spidey where the creative team ever really gets to run with a vision the way JMS did (the most recent example I can think of before editorial ruined the tail end of his run) or if the MCU has effectively eliminated that. And I realize the MCU will not run forever but it sure isn't going away anytime soon so it's a question worth pondering......


My primary question was will we ever see a creative team work on ASM unencumered by what is going on in the MCU and not will we get a teenage Spidey. I sort of feel like those days are behind us now.

I think its two very different things you're asking, since the MCU is taking ideas from past Marvel stories and revisioning them in current day, and at the same time we've seen editorial be more strict on what can and can't be told for Spider-Man.

Now if in the MCU they decide to kill of Peter and introduce Miles, then maybe at that point Miles would get more of the flagship behind him and Peter possible retires.