Written by Is the Superior Spider-Man a rapist? Has Dan Slott penned one of the most insulting send offs for an American icon in the history of comics? Given that the “Superior” Spider-Man would have slept with Mary Jane if given the chance in Amazing Spider-Man #700, it would be hard to argue with anyone who says “yes” to the former. (At a minimum, he’s a wannabe rapist.) The answer to the latter is, unequivocally, yes.
Writer Dan Slott told readers to check out the book before passing judgment. Now that Amazing Spider-Man #700 has hit the shelves, the vast majority of fears regarding the issue have been realized. Besides, who needs to read the story when Slott has already spelled out exactly what his intentions were in an interview with CNN:
Dan Slott: For all intents and purposes, [Otto] was the adult Peter could have become, Spider-Man’s dark reflection. So what if we flipped it? What if we gave him a second chance? Peter’s final, heroic act was giving Doc all the memories and experiences that kept him on the right path. But is that enough? Can that overcome Ock’s true nature?
It was never Peter’s decision to give Doc a “second chance” because even in the Marvel Universe that pesky thing called the rule of law exists. A character with a history of murder, mayhem and crimes against humanity does not simply get to realize “with great power comes responsibility” and be absolved (legally and morally) for his sins. The evil cherry on top of Dan Slott’s poisonous sundae is that the villain murders the hero and then convinces himself that it’s okay because he’ll be “a better Spider-Man than you ever were. From this day forth, I shall become The Superior Spider-Man!”
Someone needs to tell Mr. Slott that you get a “second chance” after you’ve atoned for your sins. You get a “second chance” after you’ve legally paid your dues for the wrongs you have wrought on society. You don’t get a second chance simply because there’s a moment in time you realize what an evil maniacal bastard you’ve been for your entire adult life. Dan Slott’s attempt to convince readers that they should accept Otto Octavius as Spider-Man is an Orwellian effort only the Inner Party could love: War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. Spider-Man is Doctor Octopus. Evil is Good. Deceit is Honesty.
There are consequences for our actions. The character Peter Parker let the thief go who ended up murdering his Uncle Ben and he had to live with the consequences for the rest of his life. Likewise, the character Otto Octavius openly stated he wanted to transcend Pol Pot and Hitler — and had the track record to prove he gave it his best shot. As much as writers would like to wonder “What if?” in regards to such a villain, a responsible creative team would never say, “Let’s kill off one of the world’s most beloved characters and try and convince his legions of fans that his arch enemy, deep down, was always the “superior” hero.”
With the release of Amazing Spider-Man #700, it’s official: Marvel has given its fans a gigantic radioactive middle finger. Hopefully, the response will be to treat the Super Spider-Man like the toxic insult he is.
Related: Superior Spider-Man: Is Dan Slott asking readers to root for a rapist?
Related: Amazing Spider-Man #700: Marvel gives radioactive middle finger to its fans
Douglas Ernst Blog 
Check out Avenging Spidey 15.1. They are already setting up the reversal. The engram of Doc Oc will start to break down and Peter’s personality will begin to reform as a sort of dissociative identity disorder. Peter’s will becomes more dominant until they finally battle it out and Peter wins and Octavious’ engram completely disappears… or takes over another host like the Peter’s former symbiote costume did. The new host becomes Doc Oc. Crisis averted. The bold but ill-conceived plot is resolved. Or if it all goes to s***, then REBOOT!
Peter isn’t dead. Slotts’s messing with us.
The one good thing is that there’s always an escape hatch. That’s why it’s so important for fans to forcefully reject this idea outright. Marvel needs to change course sooner rather than later. They’ve done enough damage.
Agreed. I rejected it by not adding Superior Spider-Man to my monthly comic book purchase. The plot would have been much better had they not “killed” Peter by Doc allowing him to die in such a repugnant manner. Had Peter passed the torch to a repentant Doc, maybe I could have followed along. Maybe.
Superior definitely won’t be added to my pull list. I’m actually not opposed to exploring the idea of redemption for Doc Ock, etc. The problem is in the execution (no pun intended). Likewise, I wasn’t opposed to splitting MJ and Pete years ago — but the execution, again, was a disaster. There are ways to do these things that might make fans grumble, but deep down they’ll say, “Okay, it’s plausible … I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.” Marvel just goes out of its way to piss off a loyal fan base. They’ve done it for years, and for the life of me I can’t imagine why they’d go with such a bizarre business model.
The superhero scene started heading South around the time they gave Batman (and Robin) nipples in the Clooney stinker from l998.
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a363264/george-clooney-i-didnt-know-theyd-give-batman-nipples.html
Ha. Well, the comics and the movies are two very different mediums. There are many reasons why Marvel has faltered with its comics over the years, but for the most part I don’t believe there is a correlation between those instances and bat nipples.
You’re right. The Dark Knight trilogy, Dredd, The Road to Perdition, 300, Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Thor, Men in Black, Captain America, Wanted, Blade, Sin City, Hellboy, The Crow, A History of Violence, Kick Ass, scores of sequels and spin-offs, and the 21 comic-based movie projects currently in development all represent the medium “heading south.”
Pray tell, what do you consider the golden days of comic book movies? And don’t mention comics, because you brought up 1998’s Batman & Robin, not comics.
Methinks you just wanted to cheap shot Clooney and couldn’t figure out how to make the joke funny.
I think the whole storyline is stupid. Regardless of whether or not it’s reversed, it’s still the latest in a series of Marvel missteps in regards to the character of Spider-Man that began with Sins Past, continued with One More Day and has reached a new low with Superior Spider-Man. Their whole thing since Quesada and Alonso took over has to be alienate fans. And Slott takes it upon himself to “set the record straight” whenever someone on a blog or elsewhere objects to his story and often gets nasty if you don’t like what he’s written.
Marvel’s business model will be its ultimate undoing, at least in the comics department.
Someone at Marvel is a genius. Blogs, Facebook posts, Tweets are all filled with fanboys talking about their disdain for the new “Marvel business model” and the terrible storyline of SSM #1. And there’s so much buzz that I find myself, who hasn’t read a Spider-man comic in a decade (Iron Man fan, and indie comic fan) picking up back issues to see what the commotion is about. And yes, today I purchased Superior Spiderman #1. And loved it.
Marvel is trying new things with their stories other than rehashing the same old conflicts over and over and over (ok with THIS title at least). And while yes, we’ve seen it all before consider this: there are only, truly, 37 original story concepts in the world. The trick is telling the same story with a different twist. So I applaud Marvel and the writers and #DanSlott for taking a risk and stirring the pot a little. After all it got THIS reader back on the wagon…
There are only 37 original story concepts in the world, you say? How was that determined? I’m assuming the scientific method was applied, or is that what some English professors said in a creative writing class? Maybe CERN threw one giant story into the Large Hadron Collider and it broke up into 37 pieces.
Regardless, as even YOU admit, this story idea is not new (i.e., switching bodies). In the same breath you say that it’s refreshing and, on some level, stale. Classic.
I have said that the idea is fine, but the execution of it has been horrible. I said the same thing about dissolving the marriage between Peter and Mary Jane (i.e., a Deus ex Machina that makes other Deus ex Machinas cry).
Regardless, I’m glad you’re now officially a “fanboy” of the Superior Spider-Wannabe-Rapist.