Amazing Spider-Man #641
Something Blue
Now
Peter Parker and Mary Jane have been talking about the moment their relationship failed. Getting near the end of their tale, Peter wants to end the conversation because it confirms for him that his life has been nothing more than a string of bad decisions since his Uncle Ben died.[1] Mary Jane reminds him that this is how life works and you have to learn to live with the consequences. Peter understands, but point out that he had a 50/50 shot of doing the right thing and he feels he made a bad choice. Mary Jane asks him how he knows he made the wrong choice and all Peter can ask her if she’s ever heard of the phrase “ignorance is bliss.”
Mary Jane points out that they can never know if the alternative would have been the better choice and tells him to continue the story, saying that they both need to hear this. Peter picks up his story where he left off, with Doctor Strange leaving him and Mary Jane in his Sanctum Sanctorum while he went off into the astral plane, but Peter doesn’t know what Stephen was up to, but thinks Stephen might have been asking for permission from a higher power in order to make the world forget Spider-Man’s true identity..
Then[2]
…. In reality, Doctor Strange had called a meeting with Tony Stark and Reed Richards, aka Iron Man and Mister Fantastic. He has sought their help in erasing all record of Peter Parker’s double identity from the public conscious, reminding the pair that it is their fault that Peter is in this situation to begin with. Tony Stark points out that Strange and Reed have done something like this before and it didn’t work out so well. While Stephen admits that dealing with the Sentry was an imperfect, he figures the three of them could do a more thorough job for Peter this time around.[3]
When Reed talks about the ethics of something like this, Stephen insists that they need to do something because they are culpable, reminding them that Spider-Man is a hero second to none other than Captain America. When Tony reminds Stephen that Steve Rogers died, the sorcerer counters by asking Tony if he wishes the same fate for Peter.[4] He then also points out how both Tony and himself have used means to take back their own secret identities without a second thought.[5]
As Peter tells Mary Jane that everything will be better once everyone is made to forget who Spider-Man really is. He also considers the idea of making Mary Jane forget thinking of how long she carried the burden of his secret identity since she was a teenager.[6] It also might fix their relationship and they can get married. However, all he can remember is when Mary Jane said she would never marry him as long as he continues being Spider-Man. By this point, Tony has been convinced to go through with helping Peter. Stephen and Reed have devised a means of creating a digigenic virus by combining magic and science. They would need to channel the virus through Tony’s Extremis to stabilize it. Even though there is a risk of brain damage on Tony’s part, he agrees to be the conduit.
When Doctor Strange returns to his physical body he asks Peter one more time if this is what he wants to do. When he agrees, Stephen creates a mystical barrier to protect Peter from the spell and instructs him to leave the Sanctum as soon as the spell is over and before he wakes up from being knocked out. Peter leaps behind the barrier and watches as Mary Jane is enveloped in the spell. He suddenly realizes that he can’t live with her having her memories erased and leaps out and pulls Mary Jane into the barrier as well. Within moments, the spell is complete and Peter takes Mary Jane back to the motel where they have been staying since Peter has been an fugitive on the run.
There, Mary Jane wakes up and Peter tells her that Anna is safe and that they won’t have to worry about safety anymore as everyone has been made to forget who he really is. Peter then goes to bed next to her, telling Mary Jane to get some sleep, however this revelation has kept her wide away. Later that evening, Peter wakes up and finds the bed empty.[7] He finds Mary Jane in the bathroom and she tells him that she is having a hard time processing it. When he tells her he erased everyone’s memories because the lives of his family were at risk, Peter tells her he kept her memories because she loves her. Mary Jane is deeply upset, because at the end of the day, she just wanted to forget it all as well. Peter hugs her and the couple spend a moment in silence. Every time Peter tries to talk, Mary Jane shushes him. Eventually, she tells him that after her experience with the assassin, Mary Jane realized that the risk inherited with being Spider-Man’s girlfriend wasn’t that he created a threat for her family, she was. It is because of this, she can’t handle being part of Peter’s life anymore. As she is explaining this, Peter’s cell phone is ringing and she tells him to answer it because it’s probably the hospital updating him about Mary Jane. Peter kisses Mary Jane and tells her that he loves her, and she says she loves him back.[8]
Later, Peter arrives at the hospital to see that Aunt May is finally awake. When she asks Peter what happened, he tells her that he’ll fill her in later and that he’s glad she’s awake because they almost lost her. When she asks where Mary Jane is, Peter tells her that she is still at the hotel because she needed some time alone. In reality, Mary Jane had packed her bags and is getting into a cab.
Now
After finishing the story, Peter admits to Mary Jane that he does feel better after all. Mary Jane then tells Peter that when she left she almost left him a letter but threw it out because it seems too cliché. She then kisses him and tells him it said that she loved him but couldn’t be with him anymore because she wasn’t strong enough to share his double-life. She also tells him that he needs to find someone who will be that strong and to learn to move on. Peter is speechless, but Mary Jane tells him that he knows this is true and tells him that there is a wonderful girl out there for him, but he will never meet her if he keeps on holding onto the past, even if that perfect woman is her. She then hugs Peter and tells her that they’re both going to be okay. Peter thinks about how his best friend has set him free and Peter smiles. Later, as he is out on patrol as Spider-Man, he thinks about how he feels like he is in control of his destiny for the first time in a long time. As he swings off, he is looking forward to a brand new day.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Mister Fantastic
Continuity Notes
1. Ding! Ding! Ding! We got an Uncle Ben reference. Amazing Fantasy #15.
2. The events of this story replace the deal Peter and Mary Jane made with Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, the events in this flashback take place about a year prior to the main story.
3. The Sentry was a powerful superhero with mental health problems that manifested as the Void, an entity of pure evil that threatened to destroy the world. Doctor Strange and Mister Fantastic worked together to erase everyone’s memory of the Sentry as it was the only way of containing the Void, however, this has since been broken and dealings with the Sentry have been a balancing act ever since. See Sentry #1-5, Sentry/Spider-Man #1, Sentry/Hulk #1, Sentry/Fantastic Four #1, Sentry/X-Men #1, and Sentry/The Void #1, as well as New Avengers #7-10.
4. At the time of this flashback, Captain America was dead, having been murdered in Captain America (vol. 5) #25. He will return in Captain America: Reborn #1-6.
5. Doctor Strange and Iron Man both have used means to make their identities secret again.
For Doctor Strange, Eternity altered reality so that his name was changed from Stephen Strange to Stephen Saunders in Doctor Strange #183. He kept this identity until Marvel Feature #1.
After many people uncovered his secret, Iron Man used a mind control satellite to wipe out people’s memories in Iron Man and Captain America Annual 1998. He later revealed his identity publicly in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55.
6. As revealed in Marvel Graphic Novel #46, Mary Jane has known Peter’s secret identity since the day he went out to catch the burglar who killed his Uncle Ben. She didn’t tell Peter that she knew until Amazing Spider-Man #257. This story reveals that Mary Jane was about sixteen or seventeen when she learned Spider-Man’s secret. According to the Sliding Timescale that would make Mary Jane about 28 to 29 during the flashback and 29 or 30 during the main story.
7. This sequence is adapted from Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the original sequence this was Peter and Mary Jane spending their last 24 hours together as a married couple before Mephisto erased their marriage from existence.
8. There is a two page spread of Peter and Mary Jane’s memories together. Only two can be associated with actual events. One, is the date Peter first met Mary Jane in Amazing Spider-Man #42. The other is of Peter and Mary Jane standing on top of the radio tower of the Empire State Building is from Sensational Spider-Man Annual #1.
Spidey Sundays Part Eight
Spider-Man is being chased in a helicopter by two crooks named Brain and Bull. He runs into the Hulk who is spoiling for a fight. Quick thinking, Spider-Man convinces the Hulk that the Red Hulk is in the helicopter. The Hulk smashes the helicopter forcing the two crooks to bail out. When they land on the rooftop, Bull tries to punch Spider-Man but the web-slinger evades it. He then confronts Brain and tells them that they are going to have a little talk.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Bull, Brain, the Hulk
Continuity Notes
Although unclear here, the universe that Bull and Brain travel to is not the Earth-616 universe which becomes clear when you see how fast and loose writer Stan Lee is with continuity, the silly plot, and not to mention how Spider-Man is self-aware of the fact that he is a comic book character. As I write this (September 2020) the reality Bull and Brain come from and the one they visit have yet to be designated a reality number.
