2. It Proved Peter Parker Was The Superior Spider-Man
When the Superior Spider-Man-era began in January 2013, a small, but vocal portion of the fanbase were outraged by the fact that Peter Parker had been so ingloriously killed off and that readers were now expected to accept long-time villain Doctor Octopus as a hero. Some fans even went as far as to claim that Marvels front office had some kind of personal vendetta against Peter a character that has made the publisher a bucket-load of money over the years. But from the get-go, Superior Spider-Man was a clever analysis of what it meant to be a hero. Yes, for the past 16 months, Otto Octavius masqueraded as a hero, even proving to be Peters superior in some ways. But Parkers tenure as Spidey was always the measuring stick for this series. Even during the issues where Peters astral presence was totally non-existant, Dan Slotts scripts subtly massaged in the question to readers: What would Peter do? Now that Doc Ock has seemingly relinquished his control of Peters body back to the original hero, theres no longer a question as to who is the superior Spider-Man. It is the amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
