What did you think of Parker Industries?

[WebSlingWonder]

What the ****?

I know there are plenty of universes out there with Peter remaining a douche if Uncle Ben didn't die, but him being basically a Morlum in this one with Uncle Ben's approval... **** man, **** like this is why I don't take what ifs seriously...

Do you know where that happened? I'm really curious about this one now lol.

"Identity Wars" crossover within the Annuals of Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, and Deadpool.

[Lukmendes]

"Identity Wars" crossover within the Annuals of Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, and Deadpool.

I was asking more to get the specific issues, but I decided to stop being lazy and check out the name for it.

Either way, it sounded like one of those edgy try-hard stories from what Huntsman Spider described, but while the background is dark, the story is on the hopeful side, that Sorcerer Supreme Banner even points out that just because Uncle Ben became evil in that world, doesn't mean he's always like that, it's just that it happened there, which is nice because too many alternate universes try to say "If it didn't happen this way it'd happen in this much worse way", but instead that one decided to say it was just a possibility.

[Agent Z]

Technically, it did originate in a What If? In the three-part crossover between Amazing Spider-Man, Incredible Hulks, and Deadpool called Identity Wars, the Peter Parker that would become the flame-skulled Ghost Spider was the head of his own company called Parker Technologies and also a cosmically powerful and beloved hero in his reality, and he got there by luring other Spider-Men to his reality and draining their life-forces to empower himself, kind of like the villainous Jet Li character in The One. Oh, and his Uncle Ben was still alive and had apparently encouraged and assisted him in this scheme.

This sounds like some weird combination of Spider-Carnage and Iron Spider-Man from the 90s Fox cartoon but with everything somehow going even worse.

[Agent Z]

I think the Parker Industries status quo would be more comparable to Ted Kord Blue Beetle than Iron Man or Batman.

[Huntsman Spider]

I was asking more to get the specific issues, but I decided to stop being lazy and check out the name for it.

Either way, it sounded like one of those edgy try-hard stories from what Huntsman Spider described, but while the background is dark, the story is on the hopeful side, that Sorcerer Supreme Banner even points out that just because Uncle Ben became evil in that world, doesn't mean he's always like that, it's just that it happened there, which is nice because too many alternate universes try to say "If it didn't happen this way it'd happen in this much worse way", but instead that one decided to say it was just a possibility.

This sounds like some weird combination of Spider-Carnage and Iron Spider-Man from the 90s Fox cartoon but with everything somehow going even worse.

For what it's worth, in Identity Wars, the Amazing Spider did sacrifice himself to save Spider-Man after realizing how wrong he'd been, ended up in hell due to all the innocent Spider-Men he killed to empower himself, then bonded with the souls of the penitent damned for a second chance at life, such as it was, and became Ghost Spider to atone for his past crimes.

[Desmark]

The funniest part of the crossover was that Doom was cosplaying as Deadpool and Deadpool was actually Doom's equivalent in that reality and introduced a nice element of black humour in the otherwise dark and morbid tale.

[Lukmendes]

This sounds like some weird combination of Spider-Carnage and Iron Spider-Man from the 90s Fox cartoon but with everything somehow going even worse.

Yeah, it sounds dark, but those stuff happened in the background, Amazing Spider had redemption for his actions, and then we have Banner, who's Sorcerer Supreme, saying that Uncle Ben going evil is a possibility, which can happen, but doesn't mean it's what happens most times, or everytime, and that helps Spidey feel better.

For what it's worth, in Identity Wars, the Amazing Spider did sacrifice himself to save Spider-Man after realizing how wrong he'd been, ended up in hell due to all the innocent Spider-Men he killed to empower himself, then bonded with the souls of the penitent damned for a second chance at life, such as it was, and became Ghost Spider to atone for his past crimes.

Y'know, this story makes me think how many times we got something that is basically "Someone is draining Spider-People's powers to become stronger", we had that with Morlun, more or less, Amazing Spider, and technically RYV MJ with Regent's tech (Or just Regent with any power, but MJ uses it specifically for Peter's)... Wonder if there's anything else

The funniest part of the crossover was that Doom was cosplaying as Deadpool and Deadpool was actually Doom's equivalent in that reality and introduced a nice element of black humour in the otherwise dark and morbid tale.

And we also have the plot twist of that cold opening with Death Mask bombing Deadpool, turns oout it was Deadpool dressed as Death Mask bombing Death Mask dressed as Deadpool, that got a chuckle out of me lol.

[Mister Mets]

There's a difference between leading alternate universe versions of yourself in a specific, limited setting and applying that in your daily life.



We don't see that though. We see time skip and it happening. I mean we don't see Otto doing that either. Otto Octavius was a scientist working for a think tank...but then suddenly he takes over Peter and then he decides to show Peter how to use his intelligence by starting a company. Except...if Otto could do that, why didn't he start a company by himself all those years ago? Why did he decide to be a crimelord. Stuff like using his brain to manipulate stock prices and so on...again if he could do that before then there was no need to do it using Peter's body.

It just seems to be based on comic book logic of "Evil people are smarter than good guys" and so on. And all an attempt to shill Slott's interpretation of Peter as self-destructive (which he has stated numerous times and which I think is entirely off-base), an interpretation that is more or less an expression of contempt for people who are poor, i.e. if they are poor and smart then it's their fault they are poor. That's more Randian than Ditko was, and it's presented and offered straight.



To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke, "no reason to refer back to it" is functionally indistinguishable from downplaying.



As per Marvel Time it's been 14 years since the FF got their powers which is the starting point of Marvel Time in which every other title overlaps in. And 14 years will be all that ever happens. In Hickman's HoX/PoX, Xavier and Moira met in that park 10 years back before he got crippled and founded the X-Men which means the entire history of the X-Men (Lee-Kirby, Claremont, Morrison, Whedon until Hickman) happened in that time. So I guess at most Kitty Pryde aged from 13 (Claremont-Byrne) to the early 20s which is where she is now.

Peter is in his mid-20s so that means at the very least it's been 10 years since AF#15. Peter graduated high school (ASM#28), and college (ASM #185 I think, the Wolfman era), and he's been in and out of grad school since then. Peter getting married is the last time he aged. And even with OMD/OMIT he had the long live-in relationship with MJ which Spencer acknowledged and so on.

So that means everything before OMD has a much bigger chunk of Marvel Time than anything after OMD. Basically Peter and MJ broke up and maybe a year back they are dating again.



Even if it is an attempt to dismiss Slott's run (Slott's run also overlaps with Zdarsky's run on Spectacular that I love, as well as stuff like Superior Foes) that doesn't mean what I am saying is wrong. I am sure when Spencer's run ends, his run will be similarly compressed.



Startup that got too big too fast covers that well. It's like the dotcom bubble you know, only displaced decades away. It doesn't make sense to treat Parker Industries seriously because it makes it harder to sell Peter as hard luck if he got an opportunity that most people will never get.



Dates and times are always retconned in the Marvel Universe. Chris Claremont gave precise dates in his X-Men run but they have all been retconned. Remember when Jackal said that only 5 years passed between the First Clone Saga of the 70s and the 90s one. That kind of made sense then, but it doesn't make sense now. Slott said in Spider-Verse that it's been 13 years since Peter got bit by the spider (13 being one of his snide supposed-jokes about Peter being unlucky) and Tom Brevoort said that Peter was 29 then...now he's not 29. Spencer said he's mid-20s (24-27). So the time of Slott's run has been compressed and transpires over a much shorter period of time.

That includes the entire run, which means Superior...at best a month or so, Parker Industries maybe another month. As time passes, less than that.

The time compressions aren't necessarily going to be equivalent.

The Parker Industries will probably be a longer stretch of Peter's life (even if we're quibbling over the difference of one month and a few months) than a period featuring similar amounts of published material but less radical changes to the status quo and how the Marvel Universe sees Peter.

[Aura Blaize]

Honestly I loved it because it felt like Peter was living up to his potential. As much as I love Spider-Man, the amount of "Down on his luck, poor broke bastard" type stories were annoying.

That being said, Spencer is doing a good job of refraining from relying on that particular gimmick

[Uncanny Mutie]

Dan Slott really wanted to write Iron Man by this point.

Exactly. Funny this is, now that he's finally writing Iron Man, it sucks. Same with his Fantastic Four, which he also used his ASM run to try out for, considering all the appearances the FF and FF characters made in ASM during his run.

[Ursalink]

Like I said before, if MJ would have worked with Peter here instead of for Tony Stark, they surely would have keep it safe.

[NC_Yankee]

Exactly. Funny this is, now that he's finally writing Iron Man, it sucks. Same with his Fantastic Four, which he also used his ASM run to try out for, considering all the appearances the FF and FF characters made in ASM during his run.

I admit to not reading the Parker Industries Arc because I gave up on reading Spuder-Man before that. But I would be interested in seeing it brought back. Why? 1: I would like to see some different kinds of stories involving Pete, without the expectation of failure. 2: Pete is one of the smartest people in Marvel. Maybe not Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, Reed Richards, Doc Ock or Víctor Von Doom, but in the top 20. Why not have him financially benefit by his intelligence?

[Chris0013]

I admit to not reading the Parker Industries Arc because I gave up on reading Spuder-Man before that. But I would be interested in seeing it brought back. Why? 1: I would like to see some different kinds of stories involving Pete, without the expectation of failure. 2: Pete is one of the smartest people in Marvel. Maybe not Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hank Pym, Reed Richards, Doc Ock or Víctor Von Doom, but in the top 20. Why not have him financially benefit by his intelligence?

This is why I liked him as the Science Editor at the Bugle. Steady job using his science background. Then they had to ruin that by outing him for 'plagiarism' and getting him fired.

[Huntsman Spider]

This is why I liked him as the Science Editor at the Bugle. Steady job using his science background. Then they had to ruin that by outing him for 'plagiarism' and getting him fired.

Not like he could explain himself without admitting he was Spider-Man, because why would Doctor Octopus hijack some random scientist's body?

[Chris0013]

Not like he could explain himself without admitting he was Spider-Man, because why would Doctor Octopus hijack some random scientist's body?

It could be explained that because Peter was 'working with' Spider-Man that Doc Ock blackmailed him into doing it. Yes...Peter would still have to re-do work...but would have an excuse for the plagiarism.