Warning: spoilers ahead for Amazing Spider-Man #74!
After nearly 100 issues, Nick Spencer's run on Amazing Spider-Man has come to an end, featuring a collection of retcons and significant changes to the Webslinger's personal timeline. While not every narrative thread was wrapped up as well as fans would have liked, Peter Parker still experienced notable changes in the aftermath of Spencer's final issue with Amazing Spider-Man #74. Furthermore, many of these changes altered not only his past but the history of Spider-Man’s greatest foes as well.
The last three years of Spider-Man comics have seen Peter Parker tormented by Kindred, a demonic foe who wasn’t as new as he initially appeared. Coming from the depths of Hell and having the ability to control and manipulate several of Spider-Man's villains, Kindred was instrumental in kickstarting events such as Last Remains and the Sinister War, putting Spider-Man through all kinds of suffering in order to get him to confess his greatest sin. However, even though Amazing Spider-Man #74, the conclusion of the Kindred saga proved he was ultimately much more.
Furthermore, while several of the changes and retcons alter the past, there are some interesting implications for the future as Marvel Comics moves on to a Spider-Man Beyond. For example, Mephisto is more connected to the Spider-Man mythos than ever before, and Peter and Mary Jane's relationship has certainly taken an interesting turn due to what they haven't said to one another. Here's every major change after Nick Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man #74 with art by Marcelo Ferreira, Mark Bagley, Zé Carlos, Dio Neves, Carlos Gómez, Ivan Fiorelli, and Humberto Ramos.
Mephisto And The Creation Of The Green Goblin
While Spider-Man made a deal with Mephisto to save his dying aunt in the controversial One More Day, the final issues of Spencer's run confirmed that Norman Osborn made a much darker deal with the devil years beforehand, seen in a flashback featured in Amazing Spider-Man #72. Seeking wealth and power, Mephisto gave Norman everything he wanted while also setting him on the path to becoming the Green Goblin. However, the dark cost was Mephisto gaining the soul of Norman’s young son Harry, who would always feel cursed his entire life before having his soul trapped and tortured after he died.
This big connection between Mephisto and the history of the Osborns is a major retcon, putting a unique spin on several moments of Spider-Man's career fighting both Harry and Norman as their respective Green Goblins. Furthermore, it explains the suffering and relapses into darkness Harry’s experienced over the years, seeing as how he never had a chance to rise above his father’s dark deed. His soul had already been spoken for.
The Identity of Spider-Man's Foe Kindred And Sins Past Retcon
While Last Remains seemingly revealed that Harry Osborn was Kindred, this created some major questions, since fans had seen Harry living with his family for years without much darkness. As a result, there hadn’t been any suggestions or hints that he had returned to villainy since being retconned back to life by One More Day, which reset large portions of Spider-Man’s history (like Harry’s death.) However, the conclusion of Spencer’s Amazing Spider-Man made Kindred’s true identity much more complex, especially when two versions of Kindred revealed themselves in their final reckoning with Peter Parker, confirmed to be servants of Mephisto himself. Rather than being demonic versions of Harry Osborn’s tortured soul, the Kindreds were revealed to actually be Gabriel and Sarah Stacy, the children seemingly born to Gwen Stacy after her affair with Norman Osborn in the controversial Sins Past storyline.
However, Sins Past was retconned by Nick Spencer with the reveal that Gabriel and Sarah were actually clones of Harry and Gwen created by Harry (during his time as the Green Goblin) to spite his father, working with Mendel Stromm and Mysterio to make it seem as though an affair occurred, and giving Norman the children he always wanted only to eventually turn them against him.
Harry's Osborn's Soul And Doctor Strange's Game Of Chance
When Harry died as the Green Goblin before One More Day, his soul became Mephisto’s in earnest and he was endlessly tortured in his realm. Additionally, Mephisto eventually allowed the souls of Gabriel and Sarah to return as Kindred to unleash their endgame against Spider-Man, apparently following the demon lord’s designs. However, during the Last Remains storyline, Doctor Strange became aware that there was something wrong with Spider-Man’s soul (an effect of his One More Day deal with Mephisto.) Approaching the demon lord directly in his Las Vegas casino, Strange agreed to play for Spider-Man’s soul to be freed, betting Peter Parker’s survival in the against the army of villains who were gathered by Kindred against the Webslinger. While Spider-Man miraculously survived and Mephisto seemingly relinquished his hold on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange then decided to play for the soul of Harry Osborn, putting his own soul on the line in his next game of chance with the devil.
Selecting two champions in a battle to decide Harry’s ultimate fate, Mephisto had both Kindreds as his champions while Doctor Strange chose Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson. Strange was able to trick Mephisto by allowing the villain to believe his second champion was Harry Osborn, who also ed the fight after realizing he was actually a clone of the original. The clone of Harry died in this heroic attempt, giving his life to save his father in Amazing Spider-Man #74 and leading Mephisto to let his guard down. However, the Kindreds were ultimately defeated soon after, resulting in the soul of the real Harry Osborn finally being set free from Mephisto’s torment once and for all.
One More Day, Mary Jane’s Memory, and Mephisto’s True Spider-Man Endgame Revealed
While it had seemed as though Nick Spencer was building to a large retcon of One More Day where Spider-Man would finally his marriage to Mary Jane and the deal they made to save Aunt May, that’s ultimately not what happened with the concluding Amazing Spider-Man #74. Despite Kindred’s demands for a confession, a confession from Peter Parker never came. Likewise, while Sinister War saw Peter with an engagement ring in his pocket, there was no proposal to potentially bring back the memory of Peter and MJ's marriage in a past that was taken from them.
Furthermore, Amazing Spider-Man #55 implied that Mary Jane ed the deal that was made and their erased history, though she’s never enlightened Peter. As far as the reason why, it’s possible that she’s always known and keeping it secret was a condition of the deal with Mephisto, though Amazing Spider-Man #74 made it seem as though she was about to tell Peter the truth before they were interrupted by Kindred. Had Mary Jane not been cut off, would she have finally told him? Would revealing the deal to Peter reverse its condition, killing Aunt May, or did Doctor Strange's gamble nullify that possibility? Frustratingly, Spencer’s run has concluded without offering definitive answers.
While One More Day was not retconned away, Mephisto did reveal to Strange why he has such an obsession with changing Spider-Man's fate. Citing to visions he’s long had of his own future, Mephisto implies that Spider-Man could be the hero to ultimately defeat him, though fans see a version of this with a Spider-Hero who seems to actually be Spider-Man's daughter, explaining why the devilish villain meddled with the Parkers' marriage, even taunting them with the image of the child they'd never have way back in One More Day. Spencer's run didn't retcon One More Day as fans expected, but it did explain Mephisto's motivations for warping reality and rewrote the revelations of Sins Past. Likewise, Green Goblin got a chilling new origin as Mephisto's representative on Earth, several Marvel villains were revealed to have been in cahoots in previous adventures, and Harry Osborn lost his life, while Peter and Mary Jane ended this Spider-Man run closer than ever, with the tease of an engagement ring still there for future writers to pick up.
