Comics The Build to ASM #700

[runawayboulder]

So Dan Slott has been saying for a while now that he's building towards something huge in ASM #700 calling it the biggest thing he's ever done over his 20 year career. He also threw the line "break the internet in half" out there, saying that he knows the line gets thrown around a lot but he's serious that something big is planned.

So my question to you all is what do you think it is?

Now Slott is a pretty original guy, so I wouldn't expect another clone, wedding (even though I think he wants to get Pete and MJ back together before his run ends), death of Aunt May or secret identity reveal.

I think it's going to go one of two ways. Either a pregnancy (which kinda would be a rehash, even though the baby never saw the light of day) or..........................

Uncle Ben comes back from the dead. That certainly "crack the internet in half" material, don't you think?

 

[Hobgoblin]

I certainly hope Ben doesnt return. Remember the outrage when Harry came back? I hear that Marvel editorial supposedly wanted Gwen to be back, too. Ben being back would be like both Harry and Gwen coming back at the same time.

Maybe OMD will be retconned.

 

[runawayboulder]

OMD being reversed wouldn't be "breaking the internet in half" material. That's something that would totally be welcomed and accepted.

As for Harry, I was glad he came back. SSM #200 is one of my favorite comics of all time but Harry coming back 20 years later will never change that. It was a classic and always will be. So I'm in the minority there.

Speaking of Harry, he's been gone since Big Time started. Maybe he's involved in this somehow. The return of Harry as Green Goblin? That seems kinda small. What else could Slott bring to the table? MJ dying? That's been done by Mackie.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I dont know, I think the net seems pretty equally split on OMD. Reversing it would cause both great celebration and great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

 

[runawayboulder]

Well, if they do retcon OMD (again), #700 won't come fast enough.

 

[Will Nolte]

He's gonna finally let us know who FACADE is. [/trolling]

Sorry couldn't help myself. Seriously though, if they brought Uncle Ben back (I mean really brought him back for real...which btw, Uncle Ben appeared in the recent ASM Annual) that would shatter the concept that someone can stay dead in comics completely. Uncle Ben is the very last beacon in that regard since Bucky has been brought back from the dead how many times now?

 

[runawayboulder]

Ummmmm.......once?

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Ummmmm.......once?

I have no dog in this fight, but I know of at least two times he's been brought back. He died again a year or so ago and was brought back.

 

[runawayboulder]

I can't count that because now it's totally clear that they never intended to leave him dead, it was solely to get Steve Rogers back into costume in time for the movie. Bucky came right back in the Fear Itself epilogue.

I also don't count the numerous times he was brought back by Gruenwald, Waid and Jurgens where he was used a ghost of sorts.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Eh. A cheap comic book death is a cheap comic book death. Maybe they did intend to bring him back all along, but it was still a cheap, sales-driven event. I wish characters would either stop dying or that Marvel would have the courage of its convictions to keep them dead. Anyway, we're seriously going off-topic about ASM 700 now. I agree with you, I'd love OMD to be undone. I don't see that happening. Barring that, maybe Ben Reilly will finally come back (the one comic death that actually has stuck!). That would break the Internet in half.

 

[Themanofbat]

If an OMD retcon occurs, it will be in the form that Peter discovers he was married, kicks Mephisto's arse, and then life will move on with a single Spider-Man whp now "knows" he was married and that's it.... though I doubt Marvel wants to ackowledge the wedding, so I highly douby an OMD retcon...

 

[Themanofbat]

I like the idea of Spidey having to kill Doc Ock in order to save the world...

 

[Themanofbat]

The biggest internet breaking news would be the return of Gwen, though I doubt Slott would want to write that story...

 

[Spidey_62]

Slott said firmly a while ago that he's not bringing back Gwen. ^

My theory is that since the story leading up to #700 in #698-699 is ominously called "Dying Wish": Doc Ock is still alive but is on life support now and pretty much can't do anything, I'm guessing somehow he'll force Spidey to pull the plug on him because he knows that would damage Spidey worse than anything else he could have done.

Spidey has said before that if he killed anybody he couldn't be Spider-Man anymore, and with the hints to a new Spider-Man taking over for the last year or so (also the 50th anniversary story which is remaining shrouded for some reason, with the "Alpha" teasers about a new character and stuff). So new Spidey in #700 at the end of the 50th year somehow I'm guessing. I just hope Peter doesn't die, Dan Slott just said the other day "He's saved New York, he's saved the world, next he has to try and save himself".

 

[runawayboulder]

I'm sort of expecting a Mephisto appearance of some sort. ASM #700 coincidentally is supposed to come out right around the 5 year anniversary of OMD.

Here's what I'm thinking......

Seeing how Pete has been on the no one dies kick for 2 yrs not and it's coming back to bite him in the ass, I can see the life/death theme attracting the big red guy to break his vow to MJ (like a devil would) and confront Peter. He exposes all the truths of OMD/BND/OMIT and makes Pete fully clear-minded on what actually occurred.

Now that Pete has been wracked with guilt over Uncle Ben, Gwen, Marla and now Silver Sable....Mephisto offers him a trade to put everything back in place (from OMD on) so long as he never acts as Spider-Man ever again. Mephisto sees it as one less do-gooder to interfere with his evil intentions. Peter sees it as not being selfish, but the complete opposite. He sees it as an opportunity to save lives that he couldn't before. To fix the lives that have been shattered over the years.

So he agrees and bang, Uncle Ben is back, Gwen is back, everyone that was lost is back, including Ben Reilly. The Spider-Man corner of the Marvel Universe has essentially been rebooted without directly rebooting the 616. Peter and MJ are married again and he's happy as a clam. Now the kicker......in order to still make it a victory for Peter Parker and stick it to Mephisto, Peter passes the mantle of Spider-Man to Ben Reilly (again) and Mephisto pretty much loses because Spidey is still out there fighting the good fight.

So basically, OMD gets reversed and the Spider-Man line gets a soft reboot (that Marvel has always seemingly wanted to do.) The only piece out of place is Pete is not Spider-Man but it's easier to put that back in place than doing all 3 at once, so there's a trade off. A lot of birds were taken out with one stone.

Any thoughts?

 

[OcStat]

I got my 36 issue subscription just in time!

I can't share any thoughts on what might go down in issue 700 but I am in countdown mode.

The last new issue of ASM I had read was Part 3 of "Shed", #632. Now I finally have all the missing issues inbetween that and the most current one, after two years of seeing all these comics hit the stands and me being to broke to get them!

So I have been re-reading my entire Spider-Man collection, and have now just got to my first brand new issue (to me anyway), last night. Finished "Shed", which took me right back to being a kid and mesmerized by the Lizard. The entirety of "The Gauntlet" was stellar, and I just finished "The Grim Hunt", what a nightmare for ol' Web Head! Each issue was like slipping further into darkness. I am about to start part 3 of "One Moment in Time", and actually like way Quesada is wrapping up the questions from OMD.

I have 50 more issues stacked up waiting for me, and then the true countdown to 700 begins!

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I'm sort of expecting a Mephisto appearance of some sort. ASM #700 coincidentally is supposed to come out right around the 5 year anniversary of OMD.

Here's what I'm thinking......

Seeing how Pete has been on the no one dies kick for 2 yrs not and it's coming back to bite him in the ass, I can see the life/death theme attracting the big red guy to break his vow to MJ (like a devil would) and confront Peter. He exposes all the truths of OMD/BND/OMIT and makes Pete fully clear-minded on what actually occurred.

Now that Pete has been wracked with guilt over Uncle Ben, Gwen, Marla and now Silver Sable....Mephisto offers him a trade to put everything back in place (from OMD on) so long as he never acts as Spider-Man ever again. Mephisto sees it as one less do-gooder to interfere with his evil intentions. Peter sees it as not being selfish, but the complete opposite. He sees it as an opportunity to save lives that he couldn't before. To fix the lives that have been shattered over the years.

So he agrees and bang, Uncle Ben is back, Gwen is back, everyone that was lost is back, including Ben Reilly. The Spider-Man corner of the Marvel Universe has essentially been rebooted without directly rebooting the 616. Peter and MJ are married again and he's happy as a clam. Now the kicker......in order to still make it a victory for Peter Parker and stick it to Mephisto, Peter passes the mantle of Spider-Man to Ben Reilly (again) and Mephisto pretty much loses because Spidey is still out there fighting the good fight.

So basically, OMD gets reversed and the Spider-Man line gets a soft reboot (that Marvel has always seemingly wanted to do.) The only piece out of place is Pete is not Spider-Man but it's easier to put that back in place than doing all 3 at once, so there's a trade off. A lot of birds were taken out with one stone.

Any thoughts?

I like your idea and it's cool, but it's a bit too steeped in continuity. Wacker and Slott seem to be all about accessibility these days. Plus it's unlikely Reilly will come back, but it's downright impossible that Pete will "pass the mantle" to him again.

 

[Hobgoblin]

Slott said firmly a while ago that he's not bringing back Gwen. ^

My theory is that since the story leading up to #700 in #698-699 is ominously called "Dying Wish": Doc Ock is still alive but is on life support now and pretty much can't do anything, I'm guessing somehow he'll force Spidey to pull the plug on him because he knows that would damage Spidey worse than anything else he could have done.

Spidey has said before that if he killed anybody he couldn't be Spider-Man anymore, and with the hints to a new Spider-Man taking over for the last year or so (also the 50th anniversary story which is remaining shrouded for some reason, with the "Alpha" teasers about a new character and stuff). So new Spidey in #700 at the end of the 50th year somehow I'm guessing. I just hope Peter doesn't die, Dan Slott just said the other day "He's saved New York, he's saved the world, next he has to try and save himself".

Ello ello, what's all this then?

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

I've been out of the Spidey reading habit for about three years now, but I've been hearing about this Spider-Men teamup/crossover and the teaming up of Peter and this new Ultimate Spidey, Miles Morales...

you don't think that somehow this Miles character would be some kind of a replacement of a sort for Peter in our Marvel universe, do you?... Morales staying on in our universe for awhile as a temporary replacement while AWOL in the Ultimate universe?

like I said, I've been kind of outta the loop for a while, so excuse me if I'm missing some pertinent info and facts and kinda makin' a wild supposition here...

 

[MACH]

I think, sadly, there is a very good chance that they will be stupid enough to kill off Peter.

That is pretty much the only thing left that they can do that would actually surprise anyone. No Idea who they would replace him with...

I hope I am wrong though.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I've been out of the Spidey reading habit for about three years now, but I've been hearing about this Spider-Men teamup/crossover and the teaming up of Peter and this new Ultimate Spidey, Miles Morales...

you don't think that somehow this Miles character would be some kind of a replacement of a sort for Peter in our Marvel universe, do you?... Morales staying on in our universe for awhile as a temporary replacement while AWOL in the Ultimate universe?

like I said, I've been kind of outta the loop for a while, so excuse me if I'm missing some pertinent info and facts and kinda makin' a wild supposition here...

Hate to sound fanboyish, but Miles Morales taking over as Spidey in 616 would be the nail in the coffin in my interest in Spidey. I already pretty much have given up on him post-OMD, but at least it's still kinda Peter (granted a de-aged, devil dealin', magically single Peter).

 

[Themanofbat]

What if they swapped Universes?

 

[THUNDERSTRIKE]

Hate to sound fanboyish, but Miles Morales taking over as Spidey in 616 would be the nail in the coffin in my interest in Spidey. I already pretty much have given up on him post-OMD, but at least it's still kinda Peter (granted a de-aged, devil dealin', magically single Peter).

I hear ya, man...

I pretty much gave up after the deal with the devil nonsense and I haven't seen ANY sort of improvement in the art department, the storylines and the so-called "creative" teams...

having Morales replace Peter or having them switch universes just absolutely sickens me and proves that the creative juices have all but dried up when it comes to Spidey...

I'm a long-time Spidey fan and I hopped on the Spidey bandwagon WAY back in ASM #18... from the clone saga thru the Byrne years and the Straczynski years and the crap that followed all the way up to One More Day and then Brand New Day and the junk after THAT till now has left me with with the feeling of... "I just don't give a f**k anymore"...

House of Ideas, my ass...

more like House of Idea-LESS...

 

[Spidey_62]

Ello ello, what's all this then?

Steve Wacker said a long time ago (back in 2011 I think) that he thinks they've done just about all they can with Peter Parker as Spider-Man, not much was thought of it but more stuff's been slowly trickling out. The first issue of ASM that came out in 2012 said on the letter page that this book is very different from how it's going to be a year from now (that was January, #700 is in December).

And here is the Alpha teaser.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

If Wacker thinks "they've done all they can with Peter as Spidey" that probably means he and Slott should leave the book and let some other cats with more fertile imaginations take over. "Done all they can with Peter Parker"... like their limitations speak for everyone else? Sorry, but what arrogance and short-sightedness.