Spider-Tracer: 10 Good and 10 Bad Spider-Man Retcons

Welcome back, Spidey fans! When you hear the word “retcon”, I’m sure many of you, myself included, shudder a little. Here’s the thing, though: While many bad retcons have taken place in the pages of Spider-Man comics, there have also been some good ones, as well. For this month’s Spider-Tracer, we’ll be taking a look at 10 good, and 10 bad retcons that affected Spider-Man and his world over the years.

Bad: Curt Connors Was Always in Control of the Lizard

During Paul Jenkins’ run on the second volume of “Spectacular Spider-Man” (issues 11-13), “The Lizard’s Tale” reveals that Curt Connors has almost always been in control of the Lizard. Doing this instantly takes away any sympathy we might have had for the character. I’d rather have a mindless Lizard than this terrible retcon. Fortunately, when we next see the Lizard in Mark Millar’s “Marvel Knights Spider-Man”, Lizard shows no signs of being under Connors’ influence, and this story is never really referenced again. It’s almost worth mentioning that Connors knows Peter is really Spider-Man in this story because… reasons, I guess? It’s never really explained, but also never mentioned again, either (thankfully!).

Good: Tinkerer and the Aliens Were Fakes

Wayyyyyy back in “The Amazing Spider-Man” Volume 1, #2, Spider-Man battled the Tinkerer and his alien minions. By the end of that issue, we were led to believe that the Tinkerer himself was an alien, as Spidey had found a mask of the Tinkerer’s face. Years later, in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #160, Tinkerer states he left the mask behind to confuse and throw Spider-Man off his trail. Years after that during his “Spectacular Spider-Man” run, writer Roger Stern further elaborated on this, stating that the aliens were hired goons in costumes; one of these goons just so happened to be Quentin Beck, the future Mysterio (who debuted in ASM Vol. 1, #13). While I have seen some people not in favor of this retcon, I actually liked this one, especially when Roger Stern fully cleared it up.

Bad: Peter Parker is the Clone

As a fan of the 90’s “Clone Saga”, I probably would have just considered this one a plot point, except that Marvel actually planned for this to be the new story direction for Spider-Man. Peter Parker was going to retire from his role as Spider-Man, thus allowing Spider-Man’s mantle to be continued by Ben Reilly, the one true Spider-Man.

Good: Peter Parker is the Real Spider-Man After All!

Unfortunately, if Peter was a clone, that meant that all of the character’s past 20 years’ worth of stories (up to that point) starred a clone. Could you imagine if “Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut” or “Kraven’s Last Hunt” starred a Spider-Man imposter? Fortunately, Marvel quickly backpedaled this idea and revealed that Ben Reilly was indeed the clone, though it unfortunately ended with his death (and the character has, unfortunately, never been the same after his eventual resurrection).

Bad: Gwen Stacy Slept with Norman Osborn

Let’s face it, “Sins Past” never should have made it past the idea stage, or, at least, a conversation with an editor. The fact that this story not only came out, but was canon for almost 20 years just blows my mind. “Sins Past” claims that not only did Gwen Stacy have sexual relations with Norman Osborn (who oddly looks like Tommy Lee Jones), but sired twin children with him named Sarah and Gabriel. It suggests that Norman killed Gwen not to get back at Spider-Man (which made their animosity all the more personal and helped cement the Green Goblin as one of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies), but because she kept the children from him. Originally, writer J. Michael Straczynski wanted to retcon this story away at the end of his “Amazing Spider-Man” run, but Marvel editorial wouldn’t let him.

Good: Gwen Stacy Didn’t Sleep with Norman Osborn

It took nearly twenty years, but thankfully, writer Nick Spencer managed to retcon this terrible “Sins Past” retcon with another retcon. As it turned out, Mysterio, Mendel Stromm, Chameleon, Mephisto, and an artificial intelligence based on Harry Osborn manipulated everyone from Norman Osborn to Mary Jane and Spider-Man into believing this ruse. The twins were also revealed to have been clones or genetic constructs, effectively wiping “Sins Past” completely away.

Bad: Miles Warren Never Cloned Anyone

Remember the company wide crossover story entitled “The Evolutionary War”? Through this story, Marvel editorial insisted that returning Spider-Man writer, Gerry Conway, establish that Miles Warren never truly cloned anyone. Thus, it was stated that Warren had instead created a genetic virus that could rewrite a person’s very DNA. The story stated that Warren made his lab assistant, Anthony Serba into a duplicate of Spider-Man, while a woman named Joyce Delaney had been made into a copy of Gwen Stacy. As for who had been the original Carrion, since he was supposed to have been a defective clone of Warren? It… was never stated. Somehow this genetic virus was supposed to be more believable than a clone!

Good: Miles Warren Actually Did Create Clones

Fortunately, this retcon was overturned during the 90’s “Clone Saga”; that story required there to be, y’know, actual clones. Funny enough, Marvel didn’t even address the incongruity until about midway through the lengthy storyline! The genetic virus was revealed to have been a lie created by the High Evolutionary himself in order to discredit Miles Warren who had studied under him. This meant that the original Carrion was back to being a clone of Warren. The 90’s Clone Saga also introduced the idea that the Carrion Virus was a separate way to turn a person into Carrion (the original was a Warren clone that remained in its cloning pod for too long), as had been the case with Malcom McBride. Wow, that was a lot, no?

Bad: Harry Osborn Never Died

While I miss Harry Osborn as a supporting cast member in Spider-Man’s life, JM DeMatteis and Sal Buscema’s masterpiece that killed him off in “The Spectacular Spider-Man” #200 shouldn’t have been touched; it was just too good to retcon, and yet, that’s exactly what Marvel did at the end of the end of “One More Day”.

Good: It Turns Out That Harry Osborn Has Actually Been Dead All Along!

Nick Spencer fortunately comes through with another great retcon! This one also comes from the end of his run on “The Amazing Spider-Man”. Here, it’s revealed that the Harry that had returned was, in fact, a clone that was apart of the same conspiracy meant to convince everyone that Norman had slept with Gwen. At the end of the story, the Harry clone was just as dead as the original Harry, restoring the JM DeMatteis and Sal Buscema classic to its relevant status.

Bad: Peter Parker is really Aunt May’s Son

Hey, remember that time that Marvel tried to convince readers that Aunt May had had an affair with Richard Parker and gave birth to Peter? No? Good, because not only was it a terrible idea, but Marvel never acknowledged this idea again outside of the mini-series known as “Trouble”. Moving on…

Good: Roderick Kingsley Was the Original Hobgoblin

For years, Marvel told readers since “The Amazing Spider-Man” #289 that Ned Leeds was the original Hobgoblin. Ned had been killed while on assignment for the Daily Bugle in Europe, and that was believed to be the end of the story, especially after Jason Macendale became the new Hobgoblin. That is, until Roger Stern presented Marvel with his original idea for having Roderick Kingsley return and revealed to be the original Hobgoblin. Ned had no Goblin Formula in his system (until another silly retcon came along in recent years; don’t ask), so how did the Foreigner’s men overwhelm him when he should have had superstrength? Stern fixed all of that, and did it with convincing plot beats all wrapped up in a neat little story entitled “Hobgoblin Lives”. As it turned out, Ned had been a brainwashed stand in for Kingsley until Macendale had him killed (Macendale believed he was the Hobgoblin, just like readers had).  It’s a little more complicated than that, but it’s the easiest way to sum it up without writing a book’s worth of details; I definitely recommend reading “Hobgoblin Lives”, which is the easiest, and most effective way, to get the entire story.

Bad: Norman Osborn Didn’t Die After He Killed Gwen Stacy

Other than “Dark Reign” and “Peter Parker: Spider-Man” #75 in which he returned, I can’t think of anything that has really justified the return of Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin. Needing to write themselves out of a corner thanks to the 90’s “Clone Saga”, Marvel editorial decided that it would be Norman Osborn who had orchestrated the entire event in order to try and destroy Peter Parker. Apparently, Norman’s Goblin Formula included a healing factor which had helped revive him after being impaled by his glider in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #122. Norman hid in Europe for years and plotted Spider-Man’s downfall from afar. As we all know, this didn’t exactly work out, but it did turn Spidey’s life upside down for a few years, and it tragically ended with the death of Ben Reilly. His return also effectively removed the then-forthcoming child of Peter and Mary Jane Parker. While it was a bleak ending, it did get Spider-Man comics back on track, at least, for a little while.

Good: The Spider-Clone Lived!

Back in the 70’s, when the Original Clone Saga had come out, the story ended with the seeming death of the Spider-Man clone that Miles Warren had produced from Peter Parker’s cell samples. Believing him dead, Peter dumped the body down a smokestack, assuming that he had, for all intents and purposes, been incinerated. As it turned out, Miles Warren in his Jackal identity had pulled the clone from the smokestack to use as a pawn later, and the clone resumed consciousness soon afterwards. The clone soon hit the road and took up the new identity, Ben Reilly, and wouldn’t return until the 90’s. As you can probably guess, his return is what kicked off the 90’s Clone Saga. I’m sure many of you hate this retcon, but as I said, I’m a “Clone Saga” fan (both of the original and it’s 90’s sequel), so this one totally works for me.

Bad: The Klyntar and Donny Cate’s “Venom” Run

While this retcon, in reality, covers several of them, they’re all closely related enough that I felt they could all be included under one bad retcon for the sake of this article. This retcon begins with writer Brian Michael Bendis giving the symbiote a species name and planet named Klyntar in a Guardians of the Galaxy comic, of all places. Enter Donny Cate’s Venom run, which, in this writer’s opinion, was one bad retcon after another that stemmed from, and added to the Bendis retcon. As it turned out, Eddie Brock had a son, which Ann Weying and the symbiote kept from him. The Venom symbiote came from a benevolent race of beings, with a new, evil Symbiote god named Knull having been their creator. Symbiotes arrived on Earth years prior to Spider-Man bringing the Venom symbiote back from the original “Secret Wars”. For all of the praise Cates gets for working on “Venom”, I just don’t understand it; in fact, I’d say it helped contribute to Venom no longer being a major reoccurring Spider-Man foe, and I miss the big, slobbering nut. I’d say the character require a back to basics approach sooner than later.

Good: Peter’s Returned Parents Were Actually Robots

I know what you’re saying. “No, Bill, that’s a terrible retcon!” Ahh, but think about it. What if Peter’s parents truly had returned following the fall of the USSR? We’d be knee deep in retcons trying to explain their return thanks to a sliding timescale. At this point, they’d have been alive longer than Uncle Ben! The revelation that the “parents” were, in fact, robots controlled by the Chameleon and Harry Osborn in a post mortem plot was never the problem; it was the length of time that it took for the truth to finally come out. I wouldn’t even call the robot reveal a retcon, since I’ve never seen it said that it wasn’t part of the original plan.

Bad: “Spider-Man: Chapter One” Becomes Canon

In the 90’s, Marvel attempted to bring in new readers and update, as well as simplify, continuity. To accomplish this, Marvel turned to writer/artist John Byrne. Byrne reimagined the first 20 or so issues of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s run, which went over as well as you could expect (the Burglar broke in to steal a new computer Ben bought Peter, Sandman was Norman Osborn’s cousin,  while the Big Man and Enforcers were ignored completely, among many other things). Byrne also changed the designs of several villains, the worst offense being that he put Electro in a boring, bland, blue and white costume (I never minded Vulture’s spandex/tuxedo look, even if I prefer the original). This wasn’t an alternate universe; this was the main Spider-Man continuity (as the main books soon began reflecting these changes)!

Good: “Spider-Man: Chapter One” Becomes an Alternate Universe

Following a less than warm reception, Marvel slowly moved away from John Byrne’s “Chapter One” continuity (by returning to classic looks and backstories) until Marvel had said continuity officially declared as occurring on Earth-98121. Today, “Chapter One” is a mostly forgotten period in Spidey’s past. While the story is mostly forgettable, the art is certainly worth a look!

The Worst: Peter Parker Never Married Mary Jane Watson

Yes, you knew this one was coming. Undoubtedly the worst retcon on this list, “One More Day” and “One Moment in Time” erased Spider-Man’s marriage (he’d been married for about 20 years up to that point). Another retcon thanks to editorial oversight, this story details Peter selling his marriage to the demonic Mephisto in order to save the life of a dying Aunt May (she was shot by one of the Kingpin’s assassin’s following Spidey revealing his secret identity to the world during the “Civil War” event). This retcon, so terribly written, is still heavily derided by fans. Whether you prefer a single or married Spider-Man, I think we can all agree that the story was poorly plotted and written, and could have been handled way better if Marvel was so dead-set on such an idea.

Good: Spider-Man’s Secret Identity is No Longer Public Knowledge

Let’s end on a positive retcon, shall we? Following Spider-Man’s poor choice to make a deal with Mephisto, one good thing to come out of that storyline was that Spider-Man’s identity was once again a secret. No one could remember it, outside of a few privileged individuals. I personally feel that Spidey works better as a character when his identity is a secret, even if he is one of the few Marvel heroes to utilize one these days. Even the MCU movies knew that this genie needed to go back into the bottle relatively quickly.

Some retcons were left off, because, let’s face it, there have been a lot in Spidey’s long history. Ones I left off included, Aunt May and Mary Jane revealing they knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and Aunt May coming back from seeming death; consider these honorable (dishonorable?) mentions. Did yours favorite or least favorite retcons make the list? What did you think of the ones I included or left off? Sound off in the comments section below!