Spider-Man has made a number of difficult, life-changing choices during his time as the web-slinger. Tough choices are part of the gig. However, Peter Parker faced a near-impossible decision in one of his worst stories: Save his Aunt May or his marriage?
Back in the mid-2000s, instead of simply rebooting Spider-Man’s story back to the basics, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada came up with a more convoluted way to shake things up. With the goal of splitting up Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage, Marvel went forward with the “One More Day” storyline, a book so controversial that even writer J. Michael Straczynski was perturbed with how it went.
Spider-Man: One More Day sees Aunt May dying from a gunshot wound. After exhausting his options in trying to get his superpowered friends to save her, Peter returns to the hospital to be at her side. Along the way, he runs into Mephisto in disguise, who offers him a deal to save his Aunt – May lives, but his marriage to Mary Jane will be wiped from existence. It’s the plot convenience of all plot conveniences. After struggling to make what had to be one of his toughest choices ever, Peter and MJ agree to the deal and their marriage is erased, while Aunt May lives.
The need to have a single Peter wasn’t exactly missing in comics at the time. Multiple titles featuring different versions of the character where he wasn’t married, including Ultimate Spider-Man, were being published at the same time. However, with Amazing Spider-Man being the main Spidey continuity, it’s clear Marvel editorial wanted the most popular Spider-Man title to feature a single Peter. That decision wasn’t necessarily the problem. Instead, the literal deal with the devil was. Spider-Man and Mary Jane could have separated for numerous reasons that made sense within the story – but to have Mephisto force the decision was odd. And, not to sound disrespectful but how many years does Aunt May really have left? She’s not exactly young. Is it really worth the extra time? The storyline was fumbled from the getgo, resulting in a confusing, unsatisfactory story that will live on as the worst Spider-Man story ever told. Marvel has poked fun at the notorious “One More Day” storyline years after it debuted. In fact, they’ve done so multiple times.
Marvel could have easily separated the two characters or chosen a different route to retcon the series. While it was well-intentioned, Peter’s deal with the devil was a flop. Spider-Man’s toughest choice was one that came close to being illogical. Fortunately, Spider-Man comics have since recovered from the book.
