Following writer Dan Slott’s Clone Conspiracy event, Peter Parker finds his world even more crowded than before. Characters have been resurrected, re-branded, and reintroduced into the world of web slinging. Readers have their hands full trying to keep up with an over populated Spider-Man world.
Spider-Verse introduced us all to a seemingly unlimited number of different Spider-Men. Within the context of the story it was a lot of fun, but the effects have lingered, creating a trend. That trend is apparently to try and dilute the significance and individuality of reading Spider-Man (Peter Parker) comic books. While Spider Gwen has been a welcome addition to the family, it’s gotten a bit out of hand.
In the aftermath of Dead No More: The Clone Conspiracy, Slott’s troublesome ending brought some major wall crawlers. Ben Reilly is back and, after shedding his Jackal identity, is apparently returning to his role as Scarlet Spider. Otto Octavius has also returned, but not as Doctor Octopus.
After defeating Ben Reilly, and before his own body dissolved, Octavius transferred his mind into a new body. That body is a perfect clone of Peter Parker. Nothing has been confirmed or announced, but clearly this is an effort to throw Superior Spider-Man into an already web polluted world.
These two major Spider-Men resurrections are in addition to: Kaine, Miles Morales, Peter Parker, Cindy Moon, Miguel O’ Hara, Spider Gwen, Spider Woman, and whatever additional Spider-Verse character finds themselves in the 616 Universe that week. This is a problem, there are simply too many radioactive spider-bitten super heroes. Somebody needs to talk to Dan Slott, or whoever keeps encouraging this, and remind them that we have more than enough comic books to read.
Peter Parker is a special character, he is (was) a one of a kind super hero. Marvel fans would most likely be satisfied with Peter and Miles being the only Spider-Men around. As long as the content we’re consuming is quality, there’s no need for this over-saturation. To me, this is Marvel misunderstanding it’s audience. Spider-Verse may have been successful, but that doesn’t mean it needs to last forever. If that were the case, Web Warriors would have been a massive hit.
Spider-Man books will always sell. No matter how “outraged” fans have been with Dan Slott over the years, Spidey moves units. However that’s no excuse for lackluster story telling, our devotion to the character shouldn’t be taken advantage of. I’m not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, die-hard Spider-Man fan that thinks things have gotten out of hand.
Do you think the Spider-Man world is over populated? Which web-slingers would you keep and which would you do away with? Let us know in the comments!
