Superman, Hulk, Spider-Man images with my caption

Siegels Get More Superman

Recent Court Rulings Have given Superman’s creators Family, co-ownership of the character, with DC DC comics owning the rest.

It seems in the last few years copyright laws have changed. And what is happening in the Superman case is legal. And you you DC Comic, owned by Time Warner, can afford the best lawyers. And yet, DC is losing their case. They have lost quite a few rulings. This to me is further proof, that DC is in the losing side of this legal battle.

In fact if corporations did not use their leverage, and had the copyright law changed in the 1970’s, Superman would have been Public Domain property in 1994. And anyone could have made books, movies, or anything else they wanted with the character.

This leads me to this articles topic, and wondering if government knew about how comic books were made in the past, would they change the law to protect past creators? And to give them proper credit as co-owners of the characters they made?

When the concept of Work-For-Hire Ownership laws were made in the United States, I think it can be certain for me to say that a creative media like comic books were NEVER considered.

Comic books deal with a media that is both visual and the written word.

Under work-for-hire, it basically means if a company was employing you, and you created something. A character / story / idea, they owned your work.

Yet I wonder and think it’s time to change these laws in today’s world in terms of comic book creation. And especially in regard to past comic book creators work.

This article will also mostly refer to Silver Age Creators Stan Lee / Jack Kirby / Steve Ditko as examples.

Does Marvel, who was then run by Martin Goodman really own these characters? Or should their creators?

Stan Lee was a company man. So at most you could say Marvel owns 50% of the work. Yet to my knowledge, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko were not on staff contract workers. They were freelance workers, selling their creative art to whoever would hire and publish them.

So is it right to say that their work, that of someone who is not a contract worker, is owned by Marvel?

Also in a creative media like this, Martin Goodman was not giving direction on what to create. From all accounts it seems that he left the creation to Kirby, Ditko, Lee. The ideas and stories they created were not driven by the company owner.

When an idea was made, Lee pitched it to Goodman for approval or not. But the key factor is, the idea was already made and Goodman had nothing to do with it. He was not in charge or gave direction to his employees on what to create.

So how is it fair to claim ownership of creations he and his company really had no hand in?

I’d say something like this, if in this example the company owner Goodman gave some direction like: I want you to create an Ant themed hero who can change his size to that of an ant.

Then I could say the idea and creative momentum was set by the owner.

Yet from all accounts, something like that did not happen at Marvel. The books were left to the workers to create whatever they wanted.

Also shouldn’t work-for-hire in comics apply to work that is taking place in the office? On company time?

Yet in comic books then, as now. The artwork was made at home. And the writing of Stan Lee, some of it was probably made at home? But I won’t speculate much on the writing.

So if the costume / character designs and visuals were made at home by the artists on their own time. Artists whom I might add were not company employees. Should not the artist have an ownership of those character design ideas, and their artwork pages?

Or is it right that the company own all that?

I’m no legal expert, far from it. But I really do think in terms of comic books, and especially to past creators and their creations. I think the ownership of characters made under work-for-hire should be looked into.

Maybe the points I’m trying to bring up in this article can help stir up discussion on the topic.

Earlier I mentioned those in government who change copyright and ownership laws. And I speculate that if they looked at the creative process of comic book characters, hopefully like Superman’s creators, these other Creators or their Families will get co-ownership of the characters they made.

All it takes is a change in the law for it to happen.

Thor and Dr. Strange image with my caption

Looking over the Marvel Comics characters of the 1960’s, very few Heroes wore capes on their costumes.

Of the group only Dr. Strange and Thor wore capes. That’s it. Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-men, Hulk, etc. no one else got a cape.

Was it Stan Lee who approved the character design, while keeping out what he didn’t like? Or was it random chance that it ended up that way? I can’t say either way.

But it looks like if you were a Marvel hero then, you had to earn a cape!

Thor had a cape probably for a very obvious reason. A cape can give a quality of being regal and noble. By having a cape, it played up on Thor and his grandeur. Which is very fitting for a character.

Dr. Strange in his first appearance did not have a cape. Then he wore a blue cape which went with the rest of his blue costume. It did not stand out, and it really wasn’t that interesting. I guess they noticed that, because then Dr. Strange got his classic red with yellow trim cape. I must admit that cape look is very unique and stands out in a good way. It was not a generic cape of one color just thrown on. This cape enhanced the look of the character.

Why did Strange get a cape? Probably because he deals with magic, and in real life the so called magic act, the people always use capes. It is just a natural pairing, so it fit for the character. And having a cape as I mentioned really did enhance his look.

A lot of villains like Dr. Doom and Magneto had capes. But it’s very common for a villain because it can add a sense of arrogance and grandeur. Which is very fitting for a villain to have.

But of all the Spider-Man villains of the 1960’s only Mysterio had a cape. That’s it for the Spidey villains. Why him? I have no idea. Why does he wear a fishbowl over his head?

Now look over at DC comics and almost everyone their has capes! It looks to me like they just followed the Superman mold, and gave their heroes capes with no thought put into it. With the exception of Batman, most of the other heroes wear capes that are not functional or have a reason for being their.

A list of some of the DC heroes who wear capes are:

Superman, Batman, Spectre, Dr. Fate, Hourman, Martian Manhunter, Golden Age Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Supergirl, Robin, Captain Marvel, Power Girl

I started this post asking why did few Marvel heroes wear capes? I don’t have any inside information or know the answer. I just know that the Marvel heroes as a group look really cool together, whether they wear capes or not.

Feel free to share your views about capes, do you like them or not?

Captain America image with my caption

I hate to mention this but of all I heard about how great the Joe Simon / Jack Kirby team was to comics, and their is no doubt they did a lot for the industry. I think almost none of their characters really did last.

Only Captain America was their standout, and he was just a blatant ripoff of The Shield. So much of a ripoff that Cap’s triangle shield was the exact design of The Shields chest symbol. The character of The Shield was created for MLJ Publications and the first comic book patriotic hero.

Bucky was to Cap, just an unoriginal knockoff of Robin. Everyone back then copied the Batman / Robin team idea.

And those characters are the only real claim to fame most people know of the Simon / Kirby team and the characters they created.

The Red Skull was created by Ed Herron and does not count as their creation.

The Fighting American, other then having a really terrible costume is a copy of their Captain America with a satire twist. Nothing special in this character. Also the name is insulting to Americans. It assumes that Americans know only how to fight and think with their fists.

Overall Jack Kirby did much better with Stan Lee as a co-creator making lasting characters.

Amazing Spider-Man One More Day covers with my caption

Since One More Day and the issue of Marriage is an important issue. I can’t help but think about it again.

I recently saw the movie Fireproof DVD (click this link to read about the DVD), and it was quite good. But if you do not like to see religion in movies or ones with good morals, you won’t like this movie. It provides some good laughs, deals with marriage problems, and no profanity. Mainstream films don’t know how to make movies like this anymore.

One of the themes of Fireproof is about the bonds of marriage and how it is sacred.

And I was thinking in comic book terms how basically Peter Parker dammed his eternal soul to hell by making a pact with a demon. Any pact with such an entity will have consequences on your soul. Especially if you made the pact of your own free will and it was your choice.

I was thinking about a 3 part comic book saga, with a story about 8 pages each.

Since I can’t draw, plus I can’t legally make stories about the character, this is the plot I would have wrote.

Issue 1, The Legacy of Peter Parker’s Deal with a demon
Takes place after Peter Parker / Spider-Man has already died. His soul is in hell.

He is being tortured and the devil, or Mephisto in this case is laughing at Peter. As the past is played about him, Peter wonders why he is in hell after all the good he has done?

The demon laughs at a chained Peter Parker and mentions the deal that was made. How Peter Parker and also Mary Jane made a deal with him. A contract that Peter choose of his own free will.

As Peter inquires about Mary Jane, Mephisto says she is in hell also. Then flashes an image where both can see each other chained. They look at and call for each other, but Mephisto let’s the image fade saying that is the last time they’ll ever see each other again.

She is in hell because she also took part in the deal. But being an ordinary woman, she was no challenge and easy to tempt. He turns to Peter and say’s it’s his soul that interests him and was the prize to catch. The soul of a Hero. To corrupt someone of noble stature and to make him fall from grace is always a prize in hell.

Peter wonders about Aunt May. Mephisto says with dissatisfaction, she is one that has escaped us. You’ll never see her again because she went to the good place.

Then the demon shows Peter a vision of a timeline that would have happened had Peter rejected his deal. Aunt May would have died but gone on to the good place. His exposed secret identity would have eventually been covered up again by other means. As Spider-Man, Peter would have accomplished more good. Then raised a family with Mary Jane, and their children would grow to be heroes and have grandchildren who would also be heroes.

By making a deal with a demon, Peter Parker erased that probability and the generations of heroes that would have been. All the good and the lives they would have saved, now they never happened.

Peter upon realizing this, his pact that he made, and his soul in hell cries and yells in pain upon hearing this as he is tortured. Mephisto laughs and says how Peter’s cries of pain are like music to his ears, and to the ears of his master. This being the biblical devil of which he is but a servant. Mephisto never would have believed the day would arrive when Spider-Man was his.

The End

Issue 2, Can the Silver Surfer save Spider-Man ?
This plays on the notion that the Surfer has always been a noble Christ like figure that Mephisto could not corrupt in past encounters. And how the Surfer with Adam Warlock ventured to hell to rescue the soul of Shalla-Bal.

The Surfer goes to hell to try and rescue Peter’s soul. But Mephisto stops the Surfer and shows him the past and the pact made with the demon. How Peter of his own free will made the choice. And that the Surfer has no power over this bond and the consequences of Peter’s actions.

The Surfer is about to leave in defeat when Mephisto says he’ll release Peter’s soul if the Surfer will agree to take his place? The Surfer says it’s a trick. If he exchanged his soul for Peter’s then he in fact would then be making a pact with the devil and both their souls would be trapped. The Surfer because he would have made a deal. And a demon can never be trusted to keep his word on a contract. The original contract between Peter and Mephisto would still be in place, and how the Surfer’s actions cannot change that. Mephisto says well played and laughs. He mentions how the Surfer’s soul has always been noble.

Mephisto then says how corrupting most men’s souls is very easy. Most men fall for the vices of ego, money, power, sex, addiction. They are easy prey and of little challenge or sport. But to get the soul of someone noble, to corrupt a hero. Well that is worthy of his attention, and always a valuable prize in hell.

In the last panel Mephisto laughs and says, Spider-Man’s soul is his for eternity. The last panel is Peter Parker on his knees, his wrists chained, his chest out and head back screaming in pain. Above him, Peter’s shadow mimicking his pose with his wrists chained is the image of Spider-Man echoing that scream of pain.

The End

Issue 3, The Watcher’s Vision of Spider-Man’s Deal
This issue starts with the Watcher telling us the audience, how their are parallel worlds and dimensions. That the Peter Parker / Spider-Man you know was the only parallel world that took Mephisto up on his offer.

The Watcher then shows us other worlds, the ones where Peter Parker rejected the demon and the consequences of those actions. How Aunt May died, but Peter Parker matured into a stronger individual. The Watcher tells us about the laws of nature and life. And how the Peter Parker we saw can serve as a reminder of our consequences. And how our actions effect not only us, but those around us.

Had that Peter Parker not made a deal, he would have been like all the others in the parallel worlds.

Such as people who met because when his identity was exposed they talked about Peter Parker being Spider-Man. These people now did not meet if Peter’s exposed identity never happened. And their children now never happened.

How people who would have been rescued by Peter’s children now died because he had no children.

His family and their legacy would have changed the world for the better. By not letting natural law take place, he not only dammed his soul. Peter Parker’s actions effected other countless lives.

Finally the Watcher tells us that for the Peter Parker who made a deal, their is no longer any hope for him. But luckily he was the only one in the countless parallel worlds to suffer such a fate. The Peter Parker / Spider-Man of the other worlds rejected the deal and lived good lives, their souls going to Heaven.

Learn from the mistakes of the one Peter Parker who suffered a deal with a demon and realize no good will ever be accomplished by making a deal with such an entity. And to learn the lesson that marriage is a sacred covenant “What therefore God has joined together, let no one put asunder”.

The End

If you liked reading this please leave a comment.

Red Hulk with my caption

I just read Hulk #600 and I remember reading months ago that the Red Hulk identity would be revealed. Well it was a lie because it is NOT revealed in this issue.

In fact there are plans for a Red She-Hulk now and a battle of the Hulks crossover event.

I actually like the Red Hulk as a character, and find his story to be refreshing.

Where as the last few years of Green Hulk, I found the character in stories I did not like. Such as the whole Planet Hulk thing was to me boring. I prefer the Hulk on the planet Earth and not spending months on end in another planet. Then World War Hulk was just needless fighting, ending up with a very weak conclusion to the battle. That ending could have just been used from the start.

I think the only problem with Red Hulk is they are dragging out who his secret identity is for so long, that I think when it is finally revealed it will be disappointing.

This disappointment will in turn reflect how you see this character from now on. That’s why the reveal should have happened sooner, just to get it out of the way. By waiting so long, it could leave a bad mark on the character if the reveal is not good.

Now they are going to add a Red She-Hulk with a secret identity as well. I think it’s bad form in terms of writing to do this, when you haven’t cleared up who Red Hulk is at this point.

I also think the writer is subconsciously favoring the Red Hulk over the Green Hulk because he co-created the Red Hulk. I think when you create a character, even if you don’t intend to, you put more emphasis and favor on him, then on something you did not create.

The Red Hulk got over with fans by having the character punk out a lot of other Marvel heroes and villains very easily. This has also caused fans on the boards to criticize the writing. The character is becoming too powerful and invulnerable.

It looks like the plan for a new big Hulk crossover this fall, or when it’s over, is when the identity of Red Hulk will be revealed. I just hope it won’t be so disappointing that it makes me not like the character as much anymore. I have a few guesses who he is, but I won’t mention them yet.

Marvel Legacy The 1960s Handbook Cover with my caption

I was thinking about 1960’s Marvel and what made that foundation of a universe great, why those characters and books got popular, and I came up with 3 concepts which I will expand upon:

1. Community
2. Lack of Space Alien Origins
3. Relatable Heroes

1. Community
The Marvel Heroes lived mostly in the same real world city and connected together and ran into each other.

With DC for example, it seems that every hero lives in their own fictional city made just for them.

With Marvel, most of them occupied New York. For readers, this made for a relatable setting. Where you as a reader could believe such meetings could take place. And even better was, as a writer setting up a situation to make heroes living in the same city meet is not that difficult.

2. Lack of Space Alien Origins
This was a key factor overlooked by most anyone I hear mention Marvel’s success.

Outside of the Silver Surfer and Thor, EVERY Marvel hero made then was just a human. They did not get their powers from some outer space creature, or some other unrelatable idea.

I think the whole “alien origin” aspect dilutes a character into that of “just another silly comic book character” from the mainstream public viewpoint. A regular person on the street can’t relate to that. And having an alien origin just seems silly to a non comic buyer.

Now sure you can say: Is getting hit with a gamma bomb? Or a bite from a spider more relatable?

I hear what you are saying, and you are right, but also wrong. I think the elements like the above are more plausible and believable for a comic book setting. The whole “suspension of disbelief” thing. But something like an alien origin is too over the top.

Check out the Spider-Man movie or the X-men movie for example. Their origins sound plausible enough on the surface that the public can accept it.

Now say in the above movies, a space ship drops down and zaps a guy who then becomes Spider-Man. That sounds rather silly doesn’t it?

Or a space ship drops down and zaps a guy turning him into the Hulk. Not as cool an origin right?

And that’s my point. Whether by planning or random luck, Stan Lee and company avoided the alien origins idea.

As for Thor and the Surfer, they didn’t spoil the whole thing because it was just a few that had alien origins and therefore can still fit in.

Also Thor was made very human first by Stan Lee. He was really a human who acquired Thor’s power. That human base really anchored Thor as a character.

And the Surfer brought about and was used as an outside observer of humans. Looking at us from a viewpoint that we could never see. Telling us how basically how our world was a paradise. If only we would stop destroying each other and live in peace, could we see this world for the gift it really is.

3. Relatable Heroes
This is why those Marvel heroes got popular as well.

These Marvel heroes had problems and situations we could relate to. Despite their fantastic powers and battles, they were also down to earth.

They had anchors that made us relate or feel sorry for them. These were not invincible heroes, like DC comics had. The DC Heroes being mostly perfect and in essence rather shallow when you peeled back the layers.

The Marvel Heroes were given a depth and understanding that DC did not have.

For example, with the exception of Iron Man, everyone else had financial problems. And you really did not want to be Iron Man, who had to suffer in secret.

Spider-Man had relationship, financial, and school problems.

The X-men had trouble fitting in with society, yet at the same time an obligation to protect us.

In Closing
I think these three factors were the keys that made Marvel Comics the successful universe that it is today. And the reason why back then readers picked up the books in the first place.

Even today I notice many creators DO NOT use these same rules. For example when I read Image Comics Savage Dragon and the Pitt with their alien origins. My feel for them as a character got disappointed. They just lost a relatable factor with me.

Or you have generic Punisher knock offs, who are blood thirsty heroes. Yet their is no emotional origin for these heroes to make me care for them or their situations.

Making a successful comic book universe today is difficult, if not all but impossible. But I think if you stick to the above three principles, you won’t be steered far wrong. Just feel free to give me a plug and URL website mention so I can get more readers to this website.

Amazing Spider-Man #601 cover with my caption

I must admit J. Scott Campbell does have his moments as an artist. And this is one of his best covers. I like how subtle it is. It has a picture of Peter and MJ together in a photo above her. There is a Spider-Man mention in a newspaper on the table. And Spider-Man swing outside the window. Plus taken at face value, you would think they are still married.

Now let’s look back at Brand New Day once again. The choice Peter had was to save his Aunt, at the cost of his marriage and future with Mary Jane.

1. First off Peter did not take Aunt May’s opinion and consideration at all. Don’t you think May would choose to go instead, knowing that Peter is in good hands with someone who loves him?

2. If a devil, or at the very least a demon makes you an offer. Don’t you think whatever he is offering should be an automatic NO on your part? Especially for someone calling himself a superhero? Especially for someone who claims to be so very responsible?

3. Furthermore if a demon wants your marriage and says it’s basically a small victory over god if he gets it. Doesn’t this first off mean their is a god to consider, after all look who mentioned it. And then acknowledging that, do you really want to side with a demon, whatever his offer may be?

4. What about considering what his wife wants? Peter was so selfish and disregarding his future and life with his wife. Is a person claiming to be in love with their spouse really going to take a demon up on his offer?

And this was all a conscious decision. The demon did not trick Peter into accepting this offer. He accepted it of his own free will.

On all regards, this characterization is not the Peter Parker we know. We had here a very selfish, self centered, egotistic, who dammed his soul by making a pact with a devil.

He put saving his Aunt over the natural law of the universe, above regard of what his Aunt wants, above regard of what his wife wants, above regard of what god wants and of his own free will chose to make a deal.

And the question I ask is would you ever consider making such a deal if you were in the same situation?

Plus looking at Mary Jane in that cover, if that was your wife, would you give up a marriage with her? Are you freaking kidding me? No way do you let that go!

Iron Man 2 image with my caption

Marvel has wrapped up principal photography of the Iron Man 2 film. What this means basically is the actors have shot all their scenes. Now the film will go into post production where the special effects, editing, and piecing together the film happens.

I wrote a reply on a good website www.superherohype.com when I heard this.

Is Marvel being cheap on the budget? From what I understand movie studios usually shoot for about 3 months or 90 days. A 71 day shoot for what you want as a blockbuster seems rushed and is not the normal way things go.

It looks like Marvel as a studio is still trying to figure out and coordinate how a production should go. And they are probably cutting corners a long the way.

As a studio, they still have not built a solid foundation base as a movie company.

Just because you already have one hit or two in films, does not determine how well a movie studio will do. I think their next few feature films, and how well they are received and financially do will determine where this studio goes.

I really hope this movie is great, with more action then the first one. But as with any movie we will have to wait and see what the final product will be like. But if it is on par with the first film, then Iron Man will have accomplished something that is very rare in superhero movies. And that is two movies that are actually well made and that fans like.

Marvel Man History

Marvelman promo image with my caption

Something rare happened at the SDCC and the news was supposed to be big. You can head over to your favorite comic news sites for all the details.

This post is my view on the situation.

I’m actually not impressed, and this news is not huge to me as a comic fan. It honestly is not. Miracleman, who can now go back to his original name of Marvelman. Ask most comic fans in their teens to I’d say early thirties and you won’t get much recognition I think.

Marvelman is a very niche character that you either like and read about. Or you just never bought his books. In that sense it’s a very closed character. You either read his stories, or you didn’t. Their was very little middle ground their.

This news was supposed to be the fabled “Break the Internet in Half” it was a tired joke when Bendis said it and anyone knowing basic programming skills knows such a phrase is just impossible and can’t relate to the Internet.

But you want to know what news would have got me excited and drove fans to the stores?

How about news like:

Todd McFarlane returning to draw Spider-Man on a monthly series
Jim Lee returning to the X-men on a monthly series

Don’t tell me news like that wouldn’t pique most fans interest and more importantly get them to purchase the book in the stores. I know I’d be on line for those issues.

Sure the above is not happening. I’m just saying if you want big news. I consider topics like that big news.

I think with Marvelman, the news really isn’t clicking because I’m seeing a lot of posts about:

Who is the character?
I don’t know him.
Why should I care?
This is not big news to me or holds my interest.

As I said, Marvelman is very niche a character. And in my view not much of an interesting one. The only reason he got interesting was because Alan Moore and later Neil Gaiman wrote good stories.

Before then Marvelman was little more then a copy of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel. Outside of the Moore and later Gaiman stories, all the previous work with the character is nothing worth mentioning. Much less have any big reader demand to see in print.

The details are still shrouded, but I heard a rumor Marvel might have paid millions to own the character?

Also they might not be able to use the word Miracleman in the stories, meaning the text in stories would have to be altered and say Marvelman instead?

What I find most strange of all is Marvel buying another companies characters. That almost never happens with this company.

I think besides various trade paperbacks, they will try to produce some good mini-series with the character.

Though it’s only a matter of time before this character in one form or other gets streamlined and becomes a part of the regular Marvel Universe. And then it gets watered down and every writer is using him.

Finally a return of the Ultraverse would be more interesting to me. Now how about it Marvel? That’s your new assignment get to work.

Spider-Man picture with my caption

One thing I’ve noticed is that until the 1990’s Spider-Man had a great, almost easy to follow continuity. His history was not really messed up, or had big gaps of reboots, timeline jumps, or continuity problems.

I’ll qualify this by giving bad continuity examples. Over at DC Comics, Superman, Batman and everyone there no longer follows their history from the Golden Age. In the 1980’s the Crisis event was a company wide reboot that redid everyone’s origin. Then in the 1990’s they had things like Zero Hour, which were again reality shaping events.

The Marvel heroes had much less continuity trouble. Though their was trouble with other Marvel characters, such as Iron Man who was clearly dead. Replaced with an alternate timeline teenager. A great example of a continuity and story mess.

But Spider-Man history did not have not much trouble at all. His history from the 60’s could fit and explain a story in the 1980’s.

Then what I consider the first big Spider-Man history changing event happened. And that was the 1990’s Clone Saga. With this event, vast Spider-Man story ideas and history was rewritten and changed. Characters like Ben Reilly being on the road alive. Kaine a killer clone out there. The first Clone Saga Jackal story and what we saw was greatly changed. This result had Peter made to be the actual clone.

And after this history rewrite event, to get out of the mess they had to rewrite the history they just made.

This process and clone saga end brought back Norman Osborn, who got all the blame for the event. And a character who in my opinion meant more to the Spider-Man mythos dead than alive.

The next timeline changing event was the John Byrne Chapter One Spider-Man reboot. With the long standing Spider-Man issue numbers having a reboot back to issue one. This redid Spider-Man history, and it sort of just disappeared with no clear understanding how it was phased out.

This mysterious fade out also happened a few years ago with Spider-Man The Other. With no questions of how is it possible and did Peter really shed his skin? What happened to his wrist spikes? And how convenient after all these years he now gets movie style organic webbing, only to have it eventually disappear.

As well as J. Michael Straczynski’s “Sins Past” story. It was more of a sin to defile innocent Gwen Stacy. His story reduced Gwen into a stereotype, nothing but an easy to influence, weak willed blond and a whore to boot.

But perhaps the most recent and biggest history event was the One More Day mess which redid history. Got rid of the marriage and mind wiped the public of them knowing Peter’s identity. The blame for all this goes to the demon Joe Quasada, oops I meant to say Mephisto. Yes, that is who is at fault.

But this being comic books and all, I think the Spider marriage, what I’ll refer to as the “original timeline” Spider-Man that many grew up with is still around.

What we have now since One More Day is a Spider-Man and history from an alternate timeline. His history and what we are reading now branched off when Mephisto went back to the past and got rid of the marriage.

This does not mean that the “original timeline” Spider-Man does not exist. It merely means we are no longer reading his published adventures. We are reading the adventures of an alternate timeline Spider-Man.

It’s the whole paradox of a time travel. Such as a time traveler going back to the past to undo the event that lead him to make a time machine. How could he go back to the past and correct it? Because without that past event he would not exist as he is today.

The same with the Spider marriage, if it never existed. How could Mephisto go back and change it? It had to have existed in the first place.

And wasn’t it established in Marvel, and in possible real life theory. That if time travel does happen, what the traveler is doing is actually creating or jumping into new alternate timeline realities. He did not effect or change his timeline reality. Rather he created and jumped to a new reality. And that the whole concept of multiple realities is in fact what really happened.

And I think it’s been mentioned in a story that when Kang the Conqueror jumps in time, he’s actually creating or jumping into different realities.

As I mentioned at the start, up until the 1990’s Spider-Man had a clear history, and probably one of the best of any superhero long running series. About 40 years of easy to follow history.

Then the various rewrites, reboots and other such reality shaking events happened in the book. It’s now at a point I think of pick and choose your Spider-Man history. And if the recent few years is an indication, I would not be surprised if another reality shaking event in Spider history happens in a few years.