The Amazing Spider-Man Can't be Redeemed 

More and more I see people saying "Miles is the spider-man people care about now," and looking strictly at the comic runs both are getting, I really see why. Miles is at least getting to learn and grow and do new things, whereas Peter just...well, watch the video.

I've come to a new appreciation for Superman, because he is the superhero who's allowed to grow and get married and have children. Everyone says Superman is so unrelatable, but ironically he has become the relatable character Peter Parker used to be.

It's kind of funny how Peter B. Parker from the Spiderverse films, who initially comes across as kind of a shlub, grows more as a character in the span of two movies than Peter Parker has in the mainstream comic series in a long time. I will also add that Marvel could very easily choose to let Peter Parker grow up again, considering we have the younger Miles Morales in the main universe and several other spider people as well that could please the younger demographic. But instead they choose to perpetually keep Peter in a stage of arrested development.

This man made a Spider-Man video talking about its downfall without so much as mentioning Paul. What a legend.

I'll be honest, the jokes that the retcon had the internet make replaced the original jokes for Sins Past. "Norman Osborne fucked Mysterio dressed as Gwen Stacy" is one of the most funny jokes regarding a retcon I've ever heard of.

Sad to think that bright bit optimism you had 5 years ago for Spencer’s run got completely crushed, I know that feeling all too well with the things I’m passionate about.

The sad thing is, I think Spidey's slide into endless repetition began much earlier. I consider the 1990s the time when things really began to move backwards for Spidey. Aunt May's death was beautifully written, MJ was pregnant and Ben Reilly was around to handle Spidey stuff while Peter finally could focus on other responsibilities besides being Spider-Man . Then in one fell swoop, they retconned May's death as an actress posing as her, induced a miscarriage for MJ and killed off Ben while bringing back Norman Osborn. Sure, things still happened to change the status quo here and there, but the longer Spidey is around, the less things stick. Imagine a world where Spidey had been allowed to keep his forward momentum... I could spend months writing a pitch for that.

I find it ironic that Venom has become more relatable then Spider-man. Venom actually had character development that was carried over story to story that wasn’t done away literally a year later and his current stories are actually pretty good.

It’s kind of weird that a comic that was built on being somewhat grounded and relatable has become super over complicated.

That must be crushing, being forced to create a story you don’t want to create and being blamed for the idea. It honestly makes me feel bad for Zebb and what he must be going through.

Venom keeps getting Ws while Pete stays getting Ls….. crazy.

DC solved a lot of these problems once Dan Didio was fired. Bringing on younger people into editorial not stuck in the same ancient mindset is how problems like these get fixed.

"I have to do what Peter Parker can't anymore.... move on." That straight up broke me.

To be fair, I did kinda enjoy Mephisto revealing that he did OMD purposefully so that Mayday Parker would never be born, because he saw the future and saw her defeating him in an ultimate apocalypse. That was kinda interesting and in-character for him.

Great (and depressing) breakdown of both the specific ridiculousness of recent spidey and the effect narrative stagnation can have on even the most dedicated reader

I was not expecting an emotional editorial about growing out of things we loved as children but damn

What's sad? Is that meanwhile at DC, Nightwing is finally getting the immense respect he deserves. He canonically surpassed Batman to become a better leader, fighter and overall hero of the verse. He's also leading the Justice League while the founding members are away, The heroes all agreed there was no other choice. I've always said that Spider-Man and Nightwing are Marvel's and DC's versions of the same character or at least as closest possible. If one hugely influential fan favorite character can get through respect they deserve why can't the other? It seems Marvel's inability to let Peter Parker grow Is the only answer.

616 Spider-Man has been many things to us throughout the years. A role model, an icon, a cool superhero with a cool costume. But as we got older, he became more than that. He became a voice to us. Who spoke to us through his hardships and struggles and pushed us through our accomplishments and triumphs. It’s like he was an old friend whom we admired and looked to for guidance and comfort. But as of late? It’s like seeing that friend being abused and mistreated so badly, all because the people that shelter him either don’t care or care too much that they keep him to themselves. We as fans see how much it’s affecting him. And it hurts.

This is why I'm getting into Invincible. Consistent artist/writers, a linear story with no tie ins, no editorial mandates, and a story that has a defined ending. It's so refreshing.

The fact that Spider-Verse had him get a real divorce and kill off aunt may and then later made Peter a dad and everyone loves it feels fitting how marvel is shitting the bed

Imagine how Spencer's run must've felt to guys like me who didn't even know much about the history it was trying to retcon. At some point I was just lost and didn't care to finish it

The idea that they made Pete a character that people outgrow is probably the most damning thing in this video. A true observation, and a wicked line.

As someone who’s had many passions devolve into toxic or untenable relationships, this video hits home so hard. When you stand up for your principles and abandon the things that brought you joy, it’s the toughest feeling in the world. The comic industry is accelerating their death at rapid speeds by kneecapping the development of their most popular characters for the sake of “status quo” or “universe reset”. Thank you for this video, and I sincerely hope you take time with the things that bring you joy, rather than drudging through misery ragging on Zeb Well’s run like the rest of the Internet lol.

Every generation of Spiderman reader has that moment when they realize all the character growth they went thru with Peter was for nothing.

This current Spider-Man run actually made miss Dan Slott. It achieved the damn near impossible Crazy thing is Chip Zdarsky was like the perfect choice for Amazing too. Spider-Man's appearances in his Daredevil run wrote him as a more put together, matured person than in his own ongoing, and his Spectacular run is the kind of stuff I love about how his stakes vary so much in scope like he's superhero Seinfeld. Its actually depressing

Ironically, the titular movie Amazing Spider-Man WAS redeemed somewhat recently. I guess that film really wasn't accurate to the books...

Holy crap that final monologue spoke to me as a huge Spidey fan. I love the adaptations of this character, but I’ve also become quite jaded to the comic book as of recently. It’s the reason why I mainly read IDW sonic and Shonen Jump manga. Because those stories felt like they were going somewhere. Hell, it’s why I read all of invincible and loved it even more than Spider-Man Superheroes deserve better respect

Shout out to the Spider-Verse team for giving us the 35+ girl dad Peter that we deserve.

This is truly the best “Spider-Man No More” adaptation of all time. Great work, my man.

You know it's bad when Eddie Brock now has better treatment than Spider-Man in the comics.

I think that this highlights the reason that I’ve always enjoyed cape comics in ‘Elseworlds’ format. Just a dedicated creative team going nuts with a story that’s only priority is being that, a good story regardless of current continuity. It’s one of the reasons I adore Spider-Man Life Story so much. Peter got to live a life, and he got his ending.

I truly feel bad for these writers Could you imagine being forced to compromise your vision for a story? That’s so sad There’s nothing worse for a story than becoming stale because even when something is bad it can still be something of note or at least something to learn from but this is just sad

My favourite comic book character of all time is Ben Reilly and he's been tbe biggest victim of this era outside of Peter himself. It's just a miserable time to be a fan of these characters because I can't see them being fixed any time soon right now.

I liked the Straczynski run. The mysticism there was just more charming than the whole Paul thing. Lots of MJ/Pete moments too to cleanse your eyes.

Well you see Xavier I can give you back the Spider-Man you remember on one condition You give up your marriage. Muahahaha

People have asked me for years why I stopped reading Marvel and DC, and this video is point by point every reason I had to give up. Spidey is the worst example of it but this is how so much of comics work now and it just isn't fun anymore. So thanks for making this, it felt good to hear someone else put these thoughts into words.

This video resonated with me a lot Xavier, I feel like we’ve grown up together through shared maturity and burnout on caped comics for better or worse. It is unfortunate, but Peter Parker isn’t worth getting invested in anymore.

Honestly this phenomenon is probably part of why people latched onto Peter B so much when spiderverse came out. Everyone wants to see Peter get older and face a changing status quo, but the only times we get to see that is with spin-offs and alternate universes, because in the main universe they couldn’t even have MJ and Pete get split up naturally since that would have too much of an effect on them as characters, so instead there’s this over the top demonic nonsense so that they can go back to the status quo without actually effecting anyone instead of letting the book change, letting Peter grow

I will always have a soft spot for Spencer run Strictly on the grounds if he is one of the very few writers to say “No this was stupid and should fixed” Like sheer fact he went out his way to correct Sins past and nearly OMD where other writer want to pretend that never happened deserves praise Heck sheer fact he brought up MJ’s Baby being kidnapped A character point that is never brought up again after it happened by MJ or Peter Shows just how much he cared What was needed after Spencer’s run was someone that had their eyes on the future someone that wanted to pick up the ball after Spencer and build to a new better status quo Sadly we didn’t get that

I like to think the spider-girl comics are canon, cause thats the closest we will get to see Peter grow as a character, becoming a parent and loving husband and once in awhile helping mayday out with being a hero.

Shame that Zdarsky didn't want to continue writing on Spidey since no one understood what Spidey stories should be like more than him. Spider-Man Life Story and his run Spectacular are masterpieces.

I understand the appeal of retconning and "fixing" Sins Past. It's one of the worst comics in Spider-Man history. It is a black mark on the book's history. But, this was not the way to do it. This is just stupid.

Virgin Spider-Man comics: 16 years of spinning their wheels so Mayday can never exist to punch Mephisto. Chad Spider-Verse movies: Mayday is a baby and Peter is Maes Hughes.

"WHOSE SKELETONS ARE THESE!?" Best bit for me. 😂

One of the things I love about the invincible comic is that changes stay permeant, feels like what I’m reading has weight and meaning to it

I know it sounds stupid, but this video made me shed a tear at the end

"Enraged fan is engaged fan" is a quote from one of the editors behind Spider-Man. I am 99 % sure it was Lowe, but, again, always double-check it. Another thing: don't worry about Dan Slott and don't take it very close to heart, Xavier. The guy is, ummmm... how can I phrase it. He's an INTERESTING fella. He looks up (yes, straight up searches) for any mentionings of him on social media and attacks said person even if he just slightly disagrees with them. He blocked, probably, thousands of people. He's very, and I mean, VERY active on Twitter, CBR, I assume some other places too (Reddit/4chan, too lazy to double check). It's like a kink of his or some kinda fragile ego. Don't get me wrong, he's written some of my all-time favorite comics, but the way he interacts with people... huge yikes. Can't handle any critique, even if it's solid.

Ironically, writers being called menaces while also being demanded pictures of Spiderman...

While I do disagree over how Spencer's run was terrible, I do agree that the end was pretty bad. However I think the way Spencer characterizes Peter and his supporting cast was excellent and stayed true to who they are, especially with how Peter rightfully gets pissed off with Norman and how he used MJ to capture Kindred

I just wanted to say, thank you Xavier. I've been following you pretty much since the beginning and, being pretty much the same age, I always felt so connected to you and your videos genuinely feel so cozy. I'm not lying, at least once every few weeks I'll binge the whole Spider-Man games retrospective, and you have seriously been someone I look up to for the longest time. I know this comment doesn't have much to do with the video (even though I whole-heartedly agree with you), but I just wanted to thank you for basically being like a slightly younger brother I've never had. Just another kid who shares the same passions as me. My girlfriend's pregnant and I've genuinely considered naming my kid Xavier and I KNOW IT'S WEIRD but that's just how much you as a person mean to me! I'm sure we'll never meet but still, I felt I had to tell you all of this for some reason heh :)

This is so true. It's reason's like these that I typically stick to media like TV and Manga because at the very least the characters have the chance to grow and develop a story that could be good instead of trying to cram every idea a person can think of into one never ending story and ruining the flow of what was once special. Stories need endings.

I like how skeleton harry still has waves

The idea is that because it's Amazing Spider-Man they don't have to try which is maybe the most irritating mindset a creator can have, that they can just rest on the laurels of what came before and serve whatever slop they want.

This is the perfect video describing how Spider-Man felt like to me for quite some time. When the editorial keeps messing with my 3 favorite characters, being Ben Reilly, Pete and MJ, I don't have any drive to continue reading their stories. Mini-series like Humanity Agenda are great, but at the end of the day that's all they are, short stories that have "conclusions". All while the main book will continue to stagnate, eventually either getting a full-on reboot or outliving us all

I remember falling in love with your spiderman games retrospective back in the day, changes the way my brain analyzed media I'm nostalgic for. Now I'm out of high school and entering college this fall, glad to see you've never left RU-vid, keep creating!!

Enjoyed your take as to how you age while Peter stays the same. Try doing it at 59. I'm supposed to be 18 year younger than Peter Parker.

Peter being the young superhero in the modern age is stupid because he grow and changed over the course his story and we already have a young Spiderman of the modern age and his name is Miles Morales.

That apology you issued in the beginning was brilliant and hats off to you my man! That part about not wanting to be in either camp RESONATED with me. Geek culture consumers are too quick to complain and insult. There’s barely any room for real discourse anymore

Wally West and Miles Morales are pointing at Peter from a corner and laughing.

I understand a hero has to suffer, but holy shit. It's like Marvel considers Peter Parker being happy as a war crime or something.

It’s crazy that the run ultimately retconned Sins Past because JMS wanted to do that with One More Day so he could get a victory out of writing the story but those in charge wouldn’t let him

You know what pains me most about the current run by Wells is that I can't even identify what the point is. With most stories, even shit ones, you can usually pinpoint an arc or a theme somewhere. Even Spencer's storyline was trying to build towards SOMETHING plot wise. Feels like the only thing this story has are dumb and "shocking" moments designed to rile up the fanbase

It just makes me appreciate Miles and his stories now. Writers aren't afraid to make new stuff instead of rehashing villains and storylines

At one point during this video I got a ad for headache medicine and I think that was directed towards you man. Hope you’re doing better pal

You know, Spider-Man comics could’ve been so much more than what they are now. So much missed potential due to bad writing and decisions. If it were up to me I would’ve kept Peter and MJ married and given them two kids, (Mayday being 5 and Ben being practically a newborn). We could keep Paul but make him fall in love with Carly, focus on the actual people in Peter’s life besides MJ and his family if they feel like it’s gone stale. I honestly wished this was the status quo for Peter as it would be interesting to see how this would react to storylines like Superior Spider-Man, ANAD etc. So much potential gone because Marvel is scared to show their flagship character act his age.

You can’t call him Spider-MAN if he never grows up…😪

You know something is really wrong when first 10 minutes of video are apology letter to Dan Slott

The enraged fan thing was apparently Tom Brevoort.

This video was well worth the wait. Your thoughts are really well articulated and I honestly think a lot of folks in the fandom would benefit from doing what you've done and just move on from ASM. Its not worth the time it takes to read it. Life is too short to waste on something that makes you feel angry and/or empty. Thank you for coming to my Tedtalk

I am a big fan of Spider-Man, ever since I was a kid. I watched all his movies, TV shows, and played the games, but I never read the comic. I did read the Spider-Girl comic in the library and I loved it. I remember thinking this was the current Spider-Man comic run, and I was excited at the idea of the movies or TV Shows eventually adapting this. Later I was disappointed to learn that this wasn't the main comic universe. The only time I was interested in reading the main comic was when Shattered Dimensions came out, and I wanted to read the comic version of those characters to learn more about them. My dad got me some old issues of the Amazing Spider-Man, and gave me volume 6 of Ultimate Spider-Man (the one with Venom). I was only interested in collecting all of Ultimate Spider-Man, as that seem like the easiest thing actually do, but I never got around to it. Now in present time, I can never see myself buying a Spider-Man comic. The character I love so much is ruined because of people behind the scenes who want to make Peter Parker "relatable". Any progression the character tried to had since the 90's has always been stopped. The Clone Saga was made just so Peter and MJ can start a family, with Ben Reilly taking up the mantle of Spider-Man. Only to end with Ben to dying, Norman coming back from the dead, Peter and MJ losing the baby, and Aunt May coming back from the dead. Peter and MJ were happily married, with Ultimate Spider-Man telling stories of a younger of the character. What does Marvel do? They made Peter make a deal with the devil to undo his marriage, just so he can save his Aunt May's Life. They did all of this because they wanted Peter to be "relatable" even though they were making a comic with a younger Spider-Man. I find it so funny that the games and movies are doing a better job at growing Spider-Man as a character. Aunt May dies in the PlayStation video game, in the Spider-Verse movie, and in the MCU. Peter is married, happy, and has a baby in Across the Spider-Verse. Meanwhile the comics refuses to grow Peter as a character. Superman has a son now, but Spider-Man can't have children? The only hope I have is that the popularity of baby Mayday will make the higher ups allow Peter and MJ to finally have a daughter in the main comics.

“It’s the Simpsons of comic books.” Holy fuck that has to be the most accurate description of ASM I have ever heard.

hearing xavier talk about the kindraid segment made me flabergasted and it melted my brain, the amount of plotwists after plot twist after plot twist geniully made me confused and made me question what was happening in that said moment

Tapping out at 21:46 because I’m worried about permanent brain damage. Thanks for taking the hit!

It’s ironic that the attempt to keep Spider-Man young so he can be relevant to modern-day fans is actually what is ruining the character. They’re so focused on the past that they can’t focus on the future ahead. Yet, the best moments of Spider-Man/Peter Parker’s journey was when he took huge steps forward. From Gwen’s death to marrying MJ, to almost becoming a parent, and right down to becoming a teacher to help children when he wasn’t Spider-Man. In fact, him being married made him more relatable because that’s what we see couples do. Becoming a parent was the next logical step in making him more relatable, not making him single and young to date other women. It’s sad to see that such optimism and love for this character be destroyed. But it’s a sad reality we all must accept.

This entire run sounds exhausting!

So... when did Mysterio go from "guy who couldn't get into hollywood" to "guy who plays devils wingman to fuck with Peter Parker"

The bladerunner moment was so effective. Both so funny and so sad.

The Superior Spiderman story was my favorite. Ironic that it didn’t really have Peter parker in it but I love a villain redemption arc

I appreciate what Nick Spencer was trying. Despite the problems, there were a lot of really enjoyable stuff. 1) The stories not about Kindred are good. Randy and Janice's relationship and their dads' responses felt like a good old story. 2) The demonic spider squad was such a powerful image. That cover is in my top 10 for Spider-Man ones. 3) The scene where Norman realized Ghost Spider was a parallel Gwen was really intense and nerve-wrecking. 4) The attempts to fix some bad stories were necessary. _Sins Past_ and Queenpin Felicia should have been fixed long ago. 5) Gibbon's death uniting all the animal-theme villains unite as an army under Vulture's leadership was so powerful. 6) I love these cool throwbacks to older villains like Slyde, the Tri-Sintinel, Sin-Eater, and the Lethal Legion. 7) The new villain teams (Sinister Syndicate, Savage Six, and the Sinful Six) are great additions to Spider-Man's rogues. 8) It was so wonderful to see Peter act mature and caring again after about a decade of Slott writing him as a man-child. The biggest problem is the pacing. Kurt Busiek did tons of fix stories during his Avengers run. The _Avengers Forever_ maxi is literally nothing but twelve issues of retcons to fix weird/bad stories. But he succeeded because his fixes were backed by cool action and character work; and were fairly easy to understand instead of going point-by-point to explain every single detail. Doing that just makes the comic feel more convoluted. In short, Spencer's run was great ideas with bad execution due to editorial mandate.

Yeah i agree, I'm definitely not a fan of Dan's writing but the shit he was getting from fans is awful, i hope people can separate not liking someone's work from not liking the person. I knew i couldn't for the longest time.

Insane how every other piece of Spider-Man media currently with respect except the one he originated from: the comics.

Cebulski is a Gwen stan and when he saw Spencer was aiming to undo OMD, he ordered a course correct to fix Sins Past instead. Allowing the segue into the Beyond story and then the Wells run.

The main problem lies in that the (sometimes) writers, and (definitely) the people in charge forget what it's like to be a kid, to be young, to not be an old and bitter rich person. They can't relate to anything or realize how people other than them think.

I think this is why I have grown into liking other characters more, I had my time being a teen, I'm growing up into a young adult and there are other characters that I want to inspire to be, like optimis Prime, or captain America, or superman, their comics are actually doing something different, and stay true to who they are, spider-man isn't moving at all he keeps taking too many steps back and the higher up at marvel will NEVER let him grow, and it hurts seeing my favorite hero as a kid being left in the dust while others are moving on, i want to still love the og but his alternate version from the movies and games are just.....better.

We got Ultimate Spider-Man this century...that was a comic that was well written, planned out and consistently kept its high quality. .

Ahh the invincible artist, love his work

"they still want to keep Pete the young relatable guy" how tf am I supposed to relate to the dude who has to freaking die a billion times for no reason?! How do I relate to the guy who got his girlfriend Stockholm syndromed and had kids with her own kidnapper from another dimension?! I just.........ugggghhhh........from what I'm seeing spidey has all just been getting Ls left and right from Marvel. Who am I supposed to blame here? The editors? The writer? The executives?

You thought Nick Spencer's run was crap...Zeb Wells: hold my beer

I think a better idea instead of retconning. Would be to just write an alternate universe version of the story to flesh out the fan’s personal head cannon. Like if Spencer just wrote all of his retcons in an extremely similar alternate universe story with a snazzy new title, fans would’ve appreciated it more.

Comic books need to end

I was thinking it’s so sad that Spider-Man media outside of the comics is thriving… “ literally the whole reason other media exists is the comics!! And it’s the worst part of the character in media currently”

I hope in the future we give paul the scrappy doo treatment, we just treat him as a long forgotten and dark memory that should never be brought up again

Wow....this was quite an emotional video I wasn't expecting it at all. While I initially thought you'd mostly go over the Well's run, it really paints to me two things: How much you've matured and respect comic writers and how the problems for this run started going downhill before Wells. Especially the whole Harry shenanigans. As an outsider of the comics, you've really shown me how frustrating this Spider-Man can be. While this may be my optimism speaking, I do think there'll be a writer who can steer away from this "cycle" that honestly won't show any signs of character bias. But only time will tell

Before this video: Man I can’t wait to see him tear into Zeb Wells! After this video: Fuck Marvel Higher Ups

I mostly agree with you and as a MJ fan as long time Spidey fan, the worst part is that the editors/creators seemingly can't let go or make their mind. They HAVE to keep bringing back Gwen and MJ, keep teasing fan with the possibility of Peter getting back together with MJ. It's like the madness of social media where people act as toxic and hateful as possible, because that is what get the most engagement and gets the most rewards, has taken over. At this point, as some one who has always liked Marvel more then DC? I am seriously considering switching teams. Because the whole Dawn of DC thing with Stargirl and kids form the Golden Age of Comics seems a lot better than anything Marvel is up to.

This made my day even worse then usual. Makes me sad to see Peter like this.

Honestly I couldn’t agree more. You essentially summed up my entire feelings for Spider-Man comics right now. It genuinely hurts seeing characters that I love be dragged through the mud over and over. It’s honestly exhausting. I do agree we shouldn’t take our anger out on the writers. I may not agree with Wells current writing decisions but I don’t want death threats given. That’s cruel and immature. I will always love spider-man and will continue to love him and write stories that I would like to see but for now I’m just done with official ASM comics. Love your work, wish you and your wife the best :)

I love that skeleton Harry still has his waves. Gotta stay fresh even in death.

Tom Brevoort said that "Enraged fan is an Engaged fan"

Spider-Man is doing so well in the movies and games, and then there’s the comics.