For most devoted most controversial arc in the Webslinger’s history, and a long-time Marvel Editor has once more confirmed that both stories sprung from the same genesis: Marvel’s decades-long desire to have “an unattached and unmarried Spider-Man once again,” despite his iconic romance with Mary Jane Watson.
In his latest Substack post, Marvel Senior Editor Tom Brevoort answered a fan question about Marvel’s intentions for the controversial “Clone Saga,” asking whether the clone Ben Reilly was initially set to be a permanent replacement for Peter Parker in the role of Spider-Man.
Marvel made this change for a brief period, but invariably reverted to Parker in the end; according to Brevoort, however, “the whole reason” behind the storyline at all was to effect this change, it just didn’t stick, like many of the most audacious changes to Marvel canon.
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Marvel fans know all-too-well that theversion of the character Marvel sought to return to is "unattached." It is noteworthy to have editor Tom Brevoort, who has been with the publisher since the 1990s, also cite this as the reason behind the equally-maligned "Clone Saga" from a decade prior to "One More Day."
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In response to a reader who asked whether Ben Reilly replacing Peter Parker during the "Clone Saga" was meant to be "a permanent status quo change," Brevoort had this to say:
When that moment was conceived, Chris, it was absolutely intended to represent a permanent change in the status quo, in which the married Peter and MJ would walk off into the sunset to have their baby and Ben Reilly would resume his life as a single Peter Parker again in its aftermath. That was the whole reason the Clone Saga was begun in the first place, so that we would wind up with an unattached and unmarried Spider-Man once again.
This stands out given that Peter and Mary Jane were married in a special one-shot issue published in 1987, while the shocking erasure of their marriage from canon came a full twenty years later. However, Brevoort's comments make it clear that Marvel wanted to reverse the nuptials already by the early 1990s, when the "Clone Saga" kicked off.
"One More Day" Succeeded Where The "Clone Saga" Failed, But It Was A Hollow Victory
Changing Its Original "Clone Saga" Plan Was The Right Move
Tom Brevoort was in the early stages of his Marvel Comics career during the publication of the "Clone Saga," but his memory of the time serves as an incredibly valuable behind-the-scenes perspective on the story as it took shape at the time. Brevoort went on to explain:
I only worked on the periphery of some of those books, though, so I don’t think that I could tell you what I would have done to make it all work better; I don’t know that I would have set out on that course in the first place. And even by the time those books were being produced and coming out, the wheels were already turning to reverse it, so that was a factor no doubt in how well it landed with people. If you’re going to try something like that, you can’t do it with one foot out of the bed, you know?
In other words, retiring Peter Parker, and giving him his "sunset" moment, might have been the impetus behind the story initially, but by the time it was hitting the page, Marvel was already backtracking, which in part contributed to the convoluted nature of the Saga.
This connection between the "Clone Saga" and "One More Day" is fascinating, given that both are widely held in low-regard among Spider-Man readers.
Still, the "obsession" with an "unattached and unmarried Spider-Man" persisted at the editorial level of Marvel Comics, ultimately manifesting as "One More Day," a storyline which achieved this long-gestating goal, but at the cost of alienating fans. This connection between the "Clone Saga" and "One More Day" is fascinating, given that both are widely held in low-regard among Spider-Man readers, showing that Marvel has been somewhat at odds with its fans on the best approach to the hero for decades now.
Source: Tom Brevoort, Substack
- Created By
- Steve Ditko
- First Appearance
- Amazing Fantasy
- Alias
- Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, Otto Octavius, Yu Komori, Kaine Parker, Pavitr Prabhakar, William Braddock, Miles Morales, Kurt Wagner
- Alliance
- Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Secret Defenders, Future Foundation, Heroes for Hire, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Web-Warriors
- Race
- Human
- Franchise
- Marvel, Spider-Man
