The Retcon of Spider-man (possible spoilers)

[Thorsmjolner]

Well it seems that this week marvel has already begun the retcon of Peter Parker is Spider-man. The odd part is, it began in the fairly unread comic of Avengers-The Initiative. I mean, usually if they're going to retcon something they do it either in the characters own mag (Amazing Spider-man) or at least in the mag of a team that the hero is a member of (New Avengers).

And I don't know how to make a spoiler box so...

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

The deal is in A:TI, some crazy german scientist cloned some guy who hasn't been identified (and I don't really recognize possibly do to the artist rendition) and stuck three of them in Stark Spidey armor and they came out in public saying that Peter was a member of their secret Scarlet Spider strike force. I'm not sure if this is really a full retcon, but it put the doubt in the people about Peter Parker being the real Spider-man.

All I know is it would be nice if something would stick in the Marvel Universe for more than a year.....

[Witchhunter]

Actually, I'm really glad if they retcon this one. One of the worst ideas in comics evar! In my humble opinion. :smallsmile:

[Gundato]

Aye. I saw that and my first thought was "Yay, they are Iron Manning" him. Basically, much like Stark unmasks and remasks every five minutes, so did Spidey.

So it will be like with Daredevil, where everyone knows that he is Matt Murdoc, but they pretend he might not be.

[Hawriel]

Sad to say I to have read that issue. I thought it was a dumb place to erase the outing of Parker. Honestly I think Parker unmasking was one of the few things in the whole civil war story that was done right in the sercomstances of the events. The fact that Marvel doing it made me think they had balls. Then I read this mag and was disapointed again. why not just retcon spidy back so hes still just drooling over MJ again. Unmasking is spilled milk. To bad Marvel cant stick with an idea and make it grow.

[Tallis]

SPOILERS

I really wouldn't call that a retcon. They're not saying Peter isn't Spider-Man right? They're just putting doubts into the minds of the people in the MU. Also, I haven't read it, but I'm pretty sure they are clones of MVP, a member of A:TI that was killed.

[Hawriel]

yes the red spider guys are clones of MVP who died in the first issue. I was actualy bumbed to see him killed. Even with the Dumbass WWE name.

[Dalenthas]

This is an improper use of the word ret-con. Retcon implies that some aspect of the past was changed in the present to fit the story better. For example,when Norman Osborn came back they said he didn't really die, he just hid while he healed, while the origional continuity stated matter of factly that he died. That was a retcon. Using in story methods to return to a status quo is not a retcon. Some of them may be heavy handed, but they are not inherently retcons. Also note that when something unexpected happens it isn't necessarily a retcon, it might have just been a red-herring to make you think something happened when it didn't.

The word Retcon assumes a great deal of author intent. Please stop abusing the poor word.

[TheEmerged]

O_o

Clones. Spiderman.

Did Marvel fail to learn their lesson last time?

[Stam]

Apparently?

*has to get a hold of some of these issues*

[Green Bean]

So they have to resort to clones, do they? Where's a good global mind-controlling memory eraser satellite system when you need one? :smallwink:

[Nerd-o-rama]

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[KBF]

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Thy wit knows no bounds.

[Green Bean]

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Yay! Another member of the secret society of noparse users! :smalltongue:

[Somebloke]

So people are doubting that he's spider man.

Good for him- given the last few weeks that he's had, he deserves a break.

Oh, and just which vicious little SOB at the Initiative came up with calling them 'The Scarlet Spider Squad'?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Thy wit knows no bounds.
Just trying to be helpful.

[The Linker]

Thy wit knows no bounds.

...I, uh, think you may have misunderstood what he was trying to do there...

[Foeofthelance]

For ye olde record: I doubt Spoilers are needed for this.


Clones. Spiderman.

Did Marvel fail to learn their lesson last time?

No, its nothing like the Spider-Clone saga. A:TI follows Stark's little plan to train the next generation. One of the characters, MVP, introduced in the first issue was a kid who had somehow benefited from the Supersoldier Serum that gave Cap his powers. The kid also didn't make it past the end of the book before the back of his head got blown off.

One of the guys running the Initiative is a crazy ex-Nazi, who used to be some minor villian for one of the supergroups. Now he does some of the R&D for the Black Ops portion of the Initiative, which includes the Scarlet Spiders, a para-ops squad based off of the suit Tony developed for Peter. To staff the suits the crazy german cloned MVP. Makes sense. Supersoldiers with powered stealth battlearmor, what could be better? He raised them as sons to be totally loyal to him.

He then ended losing plans for the gamma bomb, and the Scarlet Spiders ran off to fetch it back. Peter Parker got involved, at first attacking them, then going after the plans once he realized what was going on. They then all ended up standing in the middle of a crowd, with the press in their faces. So the three clones activated the camo abilities of their suits to mimic Parker's outfit, declared him to be a member of the program that they were from with him having quit for personal reasons. Since they were "official" government agents, some of the press took it and ran, especially since they were live on the scene.

So no, they didn't retcon. Honestly, it probably won't even affect the rest of the main universe. It sort of acted as a temporary pardon, at least until they go after Parker for attacking Stark or what ever brilliant screw up Peter pulls off next.

[Gundato]

Close. People THOUGHT MVP was affected by the super-serum, but that was really just natural abilities (in short, he rolled straight 18s).