Spider-Man's deal with the devil

Hi, my name is Peter Parker, and I made a deal with the devil, Mephisto. I did this in order to save my dear, old Aunt May from dying from a sniper bullet intended for me. In exchange for her life, all the cool shit that's happened to me in the last 25 years got erased. I'm not married. My secret identity that I stupidly revealed to the entire world is now secret again. After fighting a dude that wants to kill spider-powered beings (yes...beingS...there's more than one of me out there) and almost getting killed, only to form a spider-cocoon and come out of it healed and with enhanced powers...well..all that cool stuff is gone. No more organic web-shooters, no crazy wolverine spikes that pop out of my arms, no enhanced strength or senses.

I'm back to normal.

All that to save the life of my 150 year-old aunt.




Marvel would call this a retcon. A recton is this: To retroactively change the continuity of a character or title.

Basically it goes like this: Marvel realizes that it entirely fucked up on its history of Spider-Man, and decided to right the wrong, and make things easier for them to create entertaining stories. To me, creating stories with a stronger version of their flagship character would open up things. Bigger, badder enemies? Eh...maybe.

On the other hand, marriage is a bitch...especially if you're a photographer, and you're married to a friggin' supermodel. I wouldn't want to write about that shit. No way.

So...people are crying foul.

"Thanks for erasing 25 years of Spider-Man history and memories from my life."

That's the big one.

But think about it. It's not like the editors just woke up one day and said, "Let's fuck up Spider-Man, and piss off all of our fans." No. They thought about it. They thought about, "What's the best way to tell new and interesting stories while introducing a new fan base to their favorite hero?"

"And...how can we make a little money on it."

Ahh...the money.