With the recent events in Spider-Man 700, it seems a great hero has fallen. But does the death of Peter Parker really matter?
Over the years, almost every major superhero has died in one way or another. Peter Parker is now dead not only in the main Marvel Universe, but in the Ultimate Marvel universe as well. Captain America was “killed” during the Civil War event, Batman during Final Crisis, Wonder-Woman, Wolverine, The Flash, Hawkeye; the list goes on. The difference is that in comics, just about everybody gets resurrected in time. For Superman, the absence was one of only a few months. For Captain America, 2 years. In the end though, most of them come back.
The majority of the characters who are truly dead start out that way like Thomas and Martha Wayne, Ben Parker or Abin Sur; characters who’s death in fact creates the hero. Others are killed off because of unpopularity rather than any real storytelling significance. Jason Todd (Batman’s third Robin) was killed because his fate was put into the hands of the readers, and they voted that he should die.
Some heroes have a planned death; Batman died and was resurrected in a single run written by Grant Morrison. Characters like Hal Jordan however, who was dead for nearly ten years,have been resurrected by completely different writers than the ones who killed them in the first place. Even if a writer intends a heroic and final death for a character, they are slaves to the will of the publisher.
Death in real life, and indeed in almost every form of media, is permanent. Death in superhero comics is anything but. If a character dies in a movie, tv show or a book, you can almost always expect them to stay that way. Even in video games wherein a player goes through multiple “lives”, you can usually expect them to stay dead if it happens during a cut scene. In comics however, whether it be through cloning, magic, deception or a mighty punch to the walls of reality, almost all of them return. Professor Charles Xavier has “died” no fewer than 5 times, so when he was killed once again in the pages of Avengers Vs. X-Men, the revelation was met with a resounding “meh”.
The Impermanence of death in superhero comics poses a real storytelling problem. Even the death of the dog in old yeller was more meaningful than the the death of Batman because you know that the dog is never coming back. The death of a character can be heart-wrenchingly emotional and dramatic plot device, one that comics no longer really have access to. Sure, we would hate to lose the characters we know and love, but the stakes seem almost nonexistent (not to mention making heroes like Mr. Immortal wholly redundant) when every death leads to inevitable rebirth. Major comic publishers have the choice to make a change, but it may be too late. At this point, even if a popular hero were to die in a completely permanent sense, it would be like the boy who cried wolf. No matter how poetic, how poignant or impactful, not a single reader would really believe it.
Some though would ask, do they need to change? Superhero comics at their core have always been a form of escapism. In a time when the world was at its bleakest, comic books starring super human heroes filled the newsstands with that which the world’s youth needed most. Hope. Since the late 40s, comics have of course become progressively more dark. The core however, is the fantastical. A world where the rules are different from the ones in our reality. Where good is good, and justic prevails in the end with no fail. Where batman faces awful criminals and villains and yet spares their lives every single time, a world where even Adolf Hitler gets punched square in the face by the hero. Perhaps that is also a world where goodbye is never final.
There are upsides and downsides to this trope of the comic industry. While some writers may feel stunted by the inability to kill characters off, others are given a chance to write characters that would otherwise be unaccessible. Seasoned comic readers may feel irked when a character dies given its inevitable outcome, but a character coming back and starting over gives new readers a chance to enter a world that may have been too daunting before. Whether for better or worse, the concept of superheroes as immortal is likely one that is here to stay, and maybe that’s just it. Like the gods of Greece, Superheroes are modern day myths and legends, Bigfoot Hercules and Davey Crockett all at once, and as they say; Legends never die.
Have any theories on when Peter Parker will be back? Want to share your favorite superhero resurrection? Let us know in the comments below.
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4 Comments
This whole Spider-man 700 “event” just highlighted how no one really knows what to do with Peter Parker at Marvel. They abused us with “One More Day” with the promise of serving the greater good for Spidey but all Spider-man has been doing since is coast through a series of bad ideas. Spider-Island was okay and Avenging Spider-man has had some great issues but Spidey just feels stagnant of late and Pete will be back within 6 issues for sure. Get him back with MJ, undo the stupid splitting them up reshuffle and lets have some great Spidey stories again please Marvel.
My problem wasn’t just the death of Peter Parker, but the manner in which it was done. He died, and yet his entire “Peter-Ness”, if you could call it that, was still around. And in DOC OCK? This ending came out of nowhere, and left me scratching my head as to how it was all possible from a story standard. Yes, I admit people can change, but this was a change that in the comic came over thirty seconds. Even that seems to be bending reality a bit too far.
I am looking forward to Superior Spider-Man, but only because I know comic book deaths don’t last. Peter Parker has been one of the major staples, not just for Marvel but for comic books. Killing him off just seems wrong.
to jack, i completely understand your argument, and it’s one i’ve heard in many places, but how much of a change was it really? Otto has always been a character in constant search of affirmation, something deep seeded into his childhood on through his adult life, that has had him striving to be recognized, through whatever means necessary….that has been the characters mindstate since he was introduced, one of the main reasons he hounded peter was because he saw him as a peer that got a level of respect that he himself hadn’t earned yet, but now that he was dying, he was throwing out last ditch attempts to make that name, even in ends of the earth, there was a part of him & that plan that actually wanted to rise up, it was only when the plan didn’t go over swimmingly that he reverted to his villainous ways….his upcoming demise was changing him, and given this new opportunity & a clean slate, along w/ peter’s final push of flashing his life before his eyes, it makes perfect sense that that character would use his second chance to try something different, to be more noble, and try to be viewed as a hero….how much otto’s old ways bleed back into his new actions is what superior spider man is all about, and to marcus’s point, that is something brand new that marvel is doing w/ peter, even in his “absence” they are able to explore everything that makes him a hero in a new & interesting way…..i think people should let this series play out for a bit before jumping to conclusions, i was as put off as everyone else at first, but if you let it sink in, and give a great creative team the chance to be re-energized & start creating exciting new stories w/in the spider man universe, i think a lot of people will change their minds on this whole event.
When Peter Parker died I really thought things were going to change, but to be honest; nothing did.