Originally Posted by
FFJamie94
If I was in charge, what I would do;
Lets say by some miracle, the stars align and I become not only Writer of Amazing Spider-Man, but I get free reign on what to do with the Character, here's what I would do.
Issue One
This one would be your typical "Spider-Man" in action story. The first few pages tell the audience what it's like being Spider-Man as he stops a robber. We see a young boy look up to Spider-Man as Spider-Man looks back down on him, relived at saving the day once again and being a Hero to the City (someone who children can look up to).
We then bring in a villain like Shocker, someone who can create an interesting book, but not enough to fill out a major arc. Maybe this plot runs for two issues, we can get a cliffhanger where we think Spider-Man is in trouble, but he comes around in the end and saves the day.
For the first 10 issues or so, we just have minor but fun adventures while building up the supporting cast. Maybe we get an issue where Jonah is at the Bank and Rhino attacks, and we get a buddy action issue where Jonah and Spider-Man team up. Maybe even have an Aunt May team-Up where Someone has stolen money from the Shelter she helps at and it's up to her and Spidey to get it back. Small adventures that allow the supporting cast room to breath but also allow Spider-Man to win in the action. Playing to their strengths (maybe May just slaps a criminal so hard, he gets knocked out as he was about to attack Spider-Man, something silly like that). In the background however, the Jackal is back, and we get some scenes with Norman Osborne. It's setting up something, but what that is won't be revealed yet.
Instead issues 11-14 (or 15) will be the first big arc, one that puts in place one of the themes in the run. A new Villain is introduced, (I haven't got a name or any ideas for powers), he fights Spider-Man and is of course, beaten in the end. The new villain gets unmasked and it's just some guy. He gets taken away. At the end of the issue we learn who he is, he is the Kid we saw in issue 1, but this time, we see it from his point of view. He isn't looking up at Spider-Man, Spider-Man is looking down at him.
Then we get an arc or two which are again, smaller but this time there is a rather somber tone. Rather than the fun hijinks and whacky team-ups, Spider-Man is fighting more aggressive villains alone. Maybe there's a three part arc where he fights Ock (or maybe even Lizard in a tragic horror story).
Issues 20-25 will be the next big arc, the cap off to the Norman and Jackal plots. As it turns out the Norman we've seen since the Clone Saga is in fact a clone. The real Norman is dead and the one that's been alive is just the Jackal's secret scheme. He blames Norman for the death of Gwen as much as he blames Spider-Man, and bitter at how he never got to kill Norman himself, he cloned him and watched as the two tore each other's lives apart. Norman will keep dying and being brought back, never knowing the circumstances of the previous one's death.
In a fit of rage and psychotic anger, Norman prepares to kill Jackal once and for all. But is stopped by Spider-Man. The two battle and the glider kills Norman like it did back in ASM 121, and he turns to dust.
Elsewhere, a new Norman wakes, the knowledge that Spider-Man has beaten him once again and he plans his revenge.
Issue 26 is a quiet issue, serving as a loose epilogue of the previous arc where Jackal is taken to Ryker's. Here, we are given a therapy session of our new villain. We see the events of issue 1 played out from his point of view.
Needing money, his Dad ended up as a small time petty crook. One day, on his way Home from School, he saw his Dad rob a Bank, and Spider-Man came to save the day. From that point on, his Dad got six months in Jail and his family life fell apart. Kicked out for not being able to pay rent, he spent some time in May's Homeless Shelter. He eventually got kicked out of School for not turning up.
However, he was smart, very smart, and he built himself his own suit using materials he would find in the aftermath of big battles. He swore vengeance on Spider-Man for tearing apart his life.
The rest of the run would play out with smaller arcs mixed in with the build up to the return of the Green Goblin and the return of the new villain. Maybe there's an arc where there's a riot at Ryker's and the street level Characters go in to stop them, in the meantime our new Villain (I'm just going to refer to him as Agent X from now on) escapes and the Jackal also escapes. We get an arc where Spider-Man finds out who Agent X is, and that he is one of the many People whose lives where ruined by him.
The final arc will see the plot threads come together. The Green Goblin returns, no knowledge that he is a clone. He prepares to kill Spider-Man once and for all. At the same time, our new Character is also planning his assault on Spider-Man. During his time at Ryker's, Agent X and Jackal had struck up a friendship, with the Jackal learning Agent X has a personal vendetta against Spider-Man. He planned for the Green Goblin to return and for Agent X to strike at the same time. However, what he didn't count on was that both Agent X and Green Goblin want to kill Spider-Man themselves, leading to a three way battle between them.
The battle gets to a point where Spider-Man tells GG that he is a clone created by the Jackal so he can die. This awakens the memory of him waking up in a lab, believing it was his lab. Spider-Man pleads to not let the Jackal win and to be his own Person.
GG goes after the Jackal and Spider-Man tries to stop him, but Agent X gets in the way. They fight until Agent X learns that GG is going to kill the Jackal, his friend.
They go to stop GG where Agent X tries to tackle him, but GG is too strong. In the end, Spider-Man tells him that he doesn't have to live his life as the GG or as Norman, that he has his own life and he can be whoever he wants to be. That where he comes from doesn't define him and that a clone can be just as human as himself. That although its our pasts that make us who we are, who we are is dependant on how we deal with that.
GG takes off his mask, and decides to not kill the Jackal, but the Jackal kills him instead.
Agent X, seeing as how he saw Spider-Man try to save his "friend", sees that he was wrong, and sees that he was just as manipulated as Norman was. He fights the Jackal and helps Spider-Man clear the devastation he helped cause. He decides to live his life as a Hero, one born out of trying to do the right thing.
We get two epilogues, one has Peter go to visit a random criminal he put away in an earlier issue (the team up with May) ,and try to find out more about him and listen to him.
In the other, we have Norman wake up in a dark lab, angry because he was beaten by Spider-Man again...
Supporting Cast
Obviously May and Jonah will have a major role in this era. May being the emotional foil to Jonah's fun anger. Their arcs will also have their own themes. May tries to help People because she could have been in that position before, and she instead has a sympathetic feel for them. She doesn't want things to get violent, but she will protect those around her if she feels it's necessary.
Jonah's arc will pit him being stuck in what's the right thing. He sees the World around him changing, seeing every event from the birth of the Fantastic Four until now. It will see him seeing that he wasn't always right, believing Spider-Man to be a menace when does indeed help People. It will see him for how much he has grown.
If Marvel would allow it, I'll have MJ and Peter being dating, possibly living together. MJ however feels the external force of Spider-Man does indeed get in the way of their relationship. That she loves Peter because she gets to see him under the mask, someone who is just as afraid as she is of losing him as he is of losing her. Their rocky relationship is down to her not being able if she can handle it, and she loves that he is Spider-Man, but sometimes the nature of it scares her. They want to be together, but every time she feels herself getting close, the spider pulls her away. But she also doesn't know if she would love him if he wasn't Spider-Man. Does the idea of her dating a hero thrill her or scare her? Her arc will explore these internal questions and doubts she has about herself.
As for Peter himself, he'll have a stable job. I like the idea of him working at the Baxter Building, it gives him a chance to stretch those scientific muscles, plus it ties into ASM #1 where he wanted to join the Fantastic Four.
Will Spider-Man be part of the greater Universe?
The answer to this is of course, yes. With him working at the Baxter Building, Reed will be a sort of secondary supporting Character. Someone who turns up every now and then to give off his Prescence.
Other characters will appear in the battle of Ryker's and maybe there's a few cameos at the end with the destruction of New York. Agent X's costume itself is a mixture of different suits he picked up along the way, whether it be Iron Man's or Sentinels. Everything comes together to create a Character who is at their core, the heart of the Marvel Universe.
Agent X himself is inspired by a Character from a completely forgotten comic in which a member of SCUDS takes stuff from fights in New York as he plans some vengeance on Spider-Man. The issue is Spider-Man Unlimited #14).
Anyway that's my plan.
Again, if the stars align and I get that call, well... now you know how it goes...