This is non-canon but I had to write it up because it’s just that good. Writer/artist Kaare Andrews of Spider-Man’s future, starting with an old, haggard, and unemployed Peter Parker, whose wife Mary Jane is long dead. In a particularly cruel twist, MJ died of cancer caused by swapping Peter Parker’s spit (i.e., his bodily fluids killed her).
Under the leadership of “Reign,” the world is free of super-heroes. But Reign’s leadership is so oppressive that even J. Jonah Jameson is unhappy with it–and he encourages Peter to return to being a costumed vigilante.
After delivering an old costume to Peter, JJJ’s strategy works.
Spider-Man returns in the future and takes on the Reign.
Spidey’s rogues gallery appears, too. The “Sinner Six” are released when Spidey returns, controlled by the government with implanted explosives that will kill them if they step out of line. Doc Ock returns as well, as an ally who claims to be able to bring Mary Jane back to life. He can’t. Turns out, he–like JJJ–recognizes the need for a hopeful character like Spider-Man to fight the Reign and his appearance serves to help validate for Peter that he needs to return. Otto also opens MJ’s grave, where Peter finds his original costume.
Venom is on the side of the Government, but of course the symbiote also has its own agenda–and is revealed as the architect for much of the Reign.
As Peter fights his way to reclaiming his role, he transitions from the black costume back to his original blue-and-red (which he had buried with Mary Jane’s body). Much of the series has him finally coming to terms with her death.
Dream/fantasy sequences are often annoying, but this one is fantastic. Peter is old, but when he thinks of MJ he is young again and full of insecurity.
But inherent in insecurity is hope–the feeling that one may not measure up now, but maybe, just maybe, there’s a future where the geek gets the girl.
That scene breaks me every time I read it.
Critics have reduced this story’s value by simply calling it a Spider-Man version of Dark Knight Returns, but it’s very much not that. Yes, it’s dystopian and has an old Spider-Man, but lots of future-based stories do that. Days of Future Past. Old Man Logan. I’m sure there are others, too. Reign works because it draws from the optimism that is critical to Spider-Man’s character, and the everyman nature of the hero. It’s a future-horrible tale, but it has a strongly independent voice and is a really great read. It also draws on the Spidey cast, which JJJ having a major character change and learning experience and with the reader recognizing how MJ’s death impacted Marvel’s most popular hero.
The only negative of this series is that it ends too quickly. I was totally immersed in this alternate future and wanted more decompression before the resolution and redemption of Spidey.