10 Idiotic Mistakes That Almost Ruined Spider-Man

Hot take alert here, so prepare yourselves.

The Clone Saga was a mess: it had some great ideas but lost all of its pace and intrigue when it was artificially dragged out because of good sales. It also lacked pay-off, which is just one of the issues that replacing Peter Parker with Ben Reilly would have solved.

The original idea was to have Peter retire from web-slinging and go live a quiet life in Portland with MJ, leaving his clone, Ben, as the new Spider-Man in New York. It was genius - fans could have their happily married Peter & MJ, and Marvel editorial could have their young, single Spider-Man.

Had Marvel followed through with their plan and made Ben the new Spidey, there would be no need for One More Day, as Peter would not be involved in the superhero Civil War, Sins Past... may have still happened, okay, but the character's relatability would've remained intact.

Plus, let's be honest, both of Ben Reilly's suits (first the Scarlet Spider costume and then the one designed by Mark Bagley), are superior to Peter's.

Fans really did get the better of themselves by responding to the move to replace Peter with outrage. It could've been a breath of fresh air. Instead, the Spider-Man status quo remains much the same today as it was prior to the Clone Saga, albeit with the added caveat of Peter and MJ's lost marriage.