Spider-Man is known for having to suffer greatly in his many stories. One infamous story is so poorly received that even George R.R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, commented on it.
What did George R.R. Martin say? In an interview with Popverse (via YouTube), George R. R. Martin spoke at the New York Comic Con 2025 about various topics, especially about comics. He himself is a big comic fan. However, what he does not like are retcons. This means that established stories or structures are changed retroactively.
I am frustrated about that as well. I must admit. I don’t like retcons. I don’t like reboots, you know. I have followed a character or a superhero or something for years, sometimes decades, and then they come and say:
Oh no, none of that really happened. We are just starting over.
Referring to the retcons, he mentions the Batman sidekick Tim Drake, but also a specific situation that he seems to find quite frustrating: Peter married Mary Jane […] You can’t undo these things, but they do it nowadays.
This is a reference to the Spider-Man storyline One More Day, which seems to be unpopular not only with George R.R. Martin. Large parts of the community hate this story. If you search for Spider-Man One More Day
on YouTube, there are several videos discussing how it has ruined
Spider-Man. But why is that?
Spider-Man just can’t catch a break
What kind of Spider-Man story is this? In 2007, the comic storyline One More Day was released, focusing on Spider-Man. After his identity was revealed following the events of Civil War, Peter Parker’s Aunt May is in the hospital. The Kingpin has put an assassin on Peter, who ends up shooting May.
He tries by all means to save May, who is dying. But no one in the universe seems to be able to help. Suddenly, Mephisto appears, one of the most powerful villains in Marvel. He offers the hero a deal. He must sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane so that the demon can feed off her despair, even though the two won’t know that they were ever married.
Peter and Mary painfully accept the deal, and Mephisto nullifies the marriage, makes everyone forget who Spider-Man is, and saves May.
Why is this story so hated? Even the basic premise is a problem. Why did Mephisto want to end the two’s marriage so badly? It feels very contrived to reverse their relationship. Another point is Peter himself: Spider-Man stories often tend to make Peter’s life a living hell. No character development is allowed. This is also the case with the marriage.
The then editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said in an interview with cbr.com:
I have not made a secret of the fact that I believed that a married Peter Parker would not be the best for an ongoing Spider-Man universe. The problem was that we never had a reasonable way to get out of it. I always said that if we ever found a way to do it, I would pursue the avenues that led us there.
The user scummerss describes in a Reddit comment well the fans’ opinion: The most popular couple in Marvel comics was separated and their marriage was declared non-existent.
A relationship that was built over years was simply ended in 2007 because they didn’t like the marriage.
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