10 Terrible Mistakes That Almost Ruined Spider-Man For Everyone

During the Civil War storyline the Registration Act made vigilantism illegal, forcing superheroes to register with the government or suffer imprisonment. Not only did Iron Man compel Peter Parker to embrace the new law, he encouraged Spider-Man to unmask on live television to encourage other heroes to follow his footsteps, giving up his secret identity forever.

When the Kingpin learned Peter and Spider-Man were one and the same, he tracked down where Peter was living and hired an assassin to eliminate his long-time rival. However, the hitman missed Peter and shot Aunt May, gravely wounding her.

When the world's best doctors informed Peter nothing could save her, he made a literal deal with the devil. Mephisto agreed to spare May's life under the condition that Peter gave up his marriage with Mary Jane Watson. Just to sweeten the deal, the arch-demon promised to make everyone on Earth forget Spider-Man's identity.

This story was hated by pretty much everyone, mainly because Spider-Man seems like the last superhero that would agree to any terms made by Marvel's version of Satan.

This story arc also undercut the impact of Spider-Man giving up his secret identity during the Civl War. His unmasking felt like one of the biggest moments in comic history but feels pointless in hindsight - not to mention the fact it set the character's development back by literal decades, and was only introduced because editorial thought Peter being married made him unrelatable to younger readers.