WARNING: If you haven’t read Amazing Spider-Man 698, then you need to get a copy now. Spoilers ahead. Come back after you’ve read it because, really, you need to read this one.Marvel has put out a
sneak peek of Amazing Spider-Man 700, the final issue of the series. A new title, Superior Spider-Man, launches in January, with a new Spider-Man that either is or isn’t Peter Parker. A few pages aren’t on the Marvel site,
but you can see them here.
The pages that Marvel released (which include some nice variant covers, including an awesome poster-like treatment of Spider-Man by Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada) show Peter Parker with several deceased characters from his past: Tim Hammond from the classic “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” story; the original Rhino, Aleksei Sytsevich, and his wife, Oksana; Silver Sable, who died at the end of the recent “Ends of the Earth” storyline; Gwen Stacy and her father, Captain George Stacy; and of course Uncle Ben.
With Peter in the body of Doctor Octopus at the end of issue 698 as Doc Ock flat-lined (and Doc Ock in Peter’s body a la “Freaky Friday”), it can be assumed that these images from issue 700 show a near-death experience for Spidey. At the end Uncle Ben says something to him which Marvel has obscured and goes on to tell Peter, “When this is over, then you can rest. Someone else can be Spider-Man.”
Does that mean Parker won’t be under the mask in Superior Spider-Man?
There’s plenty of speculation about that around the Internet. I’m betting that Peter is still Spidey come January. Marvel writers and editors have said Superior Spider-Man will feature a darker, tougher Spider-Man. Some think that means a new man under the mask, and
there's plenty of evidence for that theory, but I'm guessing it's just a progression that's been building up since "Ends of the Earth."
A lot of my theory depends on when Doc Ock took control of Parker’s body (
Bleeding Cool traces the beginning of the story back to “Amazing Spider-Man” 600), but scanning back through the issues between “Ends of the Earth” and No. 698, it doesn’t seem like it happened until sometime between 697 and 698. My evidence?
1) The syntax for Peter/Doc Ock in 698 is very distinct from previous issues when they showed Spider-Man’s thoughts. It seems much more proper and high-brow. On a first read, some of the things he thinks seem like someone who is turning over a new leaf, but a second read shows that it’s the thoughts of someone who has taken over the body and memories of someone else.
2) It seems like at times the Peter in 698 is remembering things like he’s pulling them from someone else’s memories, like the wound to his face he received in issue 697, instead of remembering something he went through himself. If he can’t remember the wound right away, that would suggest that Ock didn’t switch bodies until after that issue.
3) You see one of Doc Ock’s octobots following Spider-Man as he battles the two Hobgoblins in issue 697. They make sure to mention the octobots still being on the loose on the recap page of issue 698 as well, so you know there’s significance there.
If Parker was in control of himself up until issue 698, you can see Peter growing more serious and getting tougher on opponents after Silver Sable's death, for which he blamed himself. Maybe a harder Spider-Man is just a logical next step after Peter regains his body from Doc Ock.
More will be revealed when Amazing Spider-Man 699 hits shelves on Dec. 5. For now, let me know what you think will happen. Will Peter Parker still be Spider-Man when Superior Spider-Man kicks off in January?
