The Four Color Media Monitor

Last month, a writer for Spider-Man Crawl Space wrote about his experiences at C2E2, where he got to ask Marvel's current EIC, C.B. Cebulski, if the publisher was willing to reinstate Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's marriage. The answer will surprise nobody:

The answer I got from Cebulski was “The thing with Peter Parker is that he always hast to be relatable. Getting Peter married or having a family is something that Marvel is not interested in.”, “I can’t give you the nice answer you want, unfortunately”, and “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you an answer that’ll make you happy.”

Cebulski really is that pathetic. But, we knew that already, after he apologized for using an Asian pseudonym for some early stories he'd written for them, which likely weren't worth reading anyway.

So the limp excuse is that marriage and family are "unrelatable". But homosexuality apparently is, explaining why they've been shoving it down the audience's throats with Northstar in the past decade, and later with Iceman forced into a role he was never created for. Also notice that, if we go according to the above quotations, Mary Jane Watson, by sharp contrast, is unmentioned, and we must sadly conclude they believe she, as a woman, is not relatable in their twisted visions. Here's more to consider:

It boggles my mind on why their reason would justify the characterization of who Peter Parker is. It’s the same reason they gave us back in 2007! There’s no logic to it. NONE. Spider-Man is relatable, yes, but that is not the core of his principal character. His motto is “With Great Power, there must also come Great Responsibility” His Uncle Ben taught him that lesson. That lesson was not for Spider-Man, it was for PETER PARKER. Peter respects and admires his Uncle who is a “Family Man”. Uncle Ben and Aunt May were his “parental guardians”. He looked up to them, wanted to honor and be like them. How in the world is that “not relatable”, especially if you were out casted as a “Nerd” in high school? Everyone has a “hero” they look up to, even kids. Kids, Teenagers, and even Adults look up to their parents or “Parental Guardians”, as their “heroes”. Some of those parents are cops, firefighters, or teachers. That’s something relatable and understandable, Marvel!

That’s is what Peter did, he took that lesson and applied it TO Spider-Man, he had to learn it the hard way just to apply it. Hence the classic motto, instead of “I’m relatable! Time to go make out with a pretty girl!”. Uncle Ben gave him that lesson to be a man, not a “man child”, a man who he hoped would raise a family one day. Even Aunt May encouraged that lesson, why do you think she set him up with Mary Jane in the first place?! There is no greater responsibility, than being a parent. Who better than the “relatable” hero who emphasizes “Great Responsibility” every day of his life?! Kids look up to Spider-Man and kids look to there parents or “guardians”. What if your parent was SPIDER-MAN. That’s a PBJ sandwich you can bite into and enjoy. Spider-Girl and ASM: RYV have already proved to have a friendly fan experience. Isn’t Spider-Man supposed to be “Friendly Neighborhood”?

It’s time for Marvel Editorial to HONOR the character they publish. I understand the notion for making a fast buck, but to dishonor the character(s) just to rile up fans, won’t work these days. Ticking them off will only make them drop the book or worse. Don’t believe me, check out the many discord servers that prove it, including our very own. Marvel Editorial needs to take responsibility in Spider-Man and what Stan Lee designed. At this point in time, Peter needs to be married to Mary Jane and raise a family. I can even settle down with the notion of Peter being engaged to Mary Jane. He’s honoring his lesson to his Uncle Ben, the responsibility of being a husband. MJ accepts Peter both as Peter and Spider-Man, Gwen would never do that. She only accepts Peter, not Spider-Man. Felicia Hardy only accepted Spider-Man, not Peter, now she tolerates Peter’s “goody two shoe” mannerism, but doesn’t support it, especially when her life decisions come into play. Peter and Mary Jane have already gone through SO MUCH together, it just fits and Nick Spencer was the latest person to actually PROVE THAT. The amount of continuity these two characters share, PROVE that the marriage WASN’T forced. It was DESTINED TO BE.

Unfortunately, they're so far gone, they won't even consider the foremost aspect of importance is entertainment value. Nor will any of their apologists. That aside, one of the reasons they were able to get away with this for as long as they did was because "feminists" like the Mary Sue site's contributors wouldn't speak out against their MO, wouldn't campaign for restoration of the marriage, and wouldn't call for Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso's resignation. If those feminists of today are as anti-marriage as they're bent on being, that explains something, right down to how they're among modern Marvel's apologists.

Even after Mary Jane returned to a more prominent role 4 years ago, it's clear only so many Marvel fans had fled the stables, and surely guessed it wouldn't be so simple to expect the Spider-marriage restored, let alone the past 2 decades of shoddy "continuity" to be de-canonized. If anybody still unwisely reading their books drops them now, following this news, they'll be doing the right thing.

Since I mentioned Iceman, Newsarama's gushing over yet another story Marvel's churned out wherein X-Man Bobby Drake's kept trapped in a role Stan Lee and Jack Kirby never created him to be in:

Iceman is gay. That's no secret - he's been out of the closet since 2015's Uncanny X-Men #600. But the story told in those pages, of teen Iceman being unwillingly outed by teen Jean Grey's telepathic invasion of privacy, raised some red flags for queer fans.

It's considered a violation of consent to out someone as queer without their permission, and people should be allowed to come out in their own way, in their own time.

Though he was denied that privilege in the story that revealed his sexuality, the adult Iceman later came out to some of his family and friends in his 2017 Iceman solo title. And now, in August 31's X-Men #14, Iceman gets his own public coming out story, putting his sexuality into his own words on his own terms for the entire world.

Peter Parker can't be married. But Bobby Drake can be fully retconned to homosexual, and lead relationships in that manner. And the news writer who wrote up this puff piece should be ashamed of himself for perpetuating the illogical approach of pretending a fictional character is a real person. I noticed he also puts pronouns like "they/them" in his profile, which should give a good idea where he's coming from, and going. A terrible shame so far, nobody sees to have asked Cebulski whether they're willing to discard this setup, intended as it sadly is to pander to ideologues. Why, doesn't the retcon itself raise red flags for the "queer fans" spoke of here? A true fan wouldn't uphold changing a character's sexual preferences for the sake of social justice and political agendas.

If Marvel fans can boycott Spider-Man because Cebulski and company vehemently refuse to restore Peter and Mary Jane as a married couple, they can also boycott X-Men because said heads of Marvel won't restore Bobby's heterosexuality either. And hopefully, the Marvel fans are. Just like Stan the Man's vision for Peter and Mary Jane was disrespected, so too was his vision for Bobby. In fact, what they're doing with Bobby is another example of throwing character growth out the window. Same with the Spider-marriage, and it proves, most importantly of all, that character drama and personality was never their interest, period. Only agendas matter to them. Yet even if the Spider-marriage were restored, it's entirely possible it would have the strings of PC and said agendas attached, making it unbearable even then, exactly why Marvel fans would still be boycotting it if they're realists. I'm amazed the Flash marriage at DC between Wally West and Linda Park is still allowed, but there too, PC is prevalent, so if DC fans still aren't buying it any more than Marvel fans are buying Spidey and X-Men books, you can understand why.

Labels: bad editors, conventions, golden calf of LGBT, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, Spider-Man, women of marvel, X-Men