10 Times Spider-Man Was The DARKEST Marvel Comic
5. Hitting A Pregnant Mary Jane - Spectacular Spider-Man #226
Spider-Man's Clone Saga was a bit of a mixed bag for fans, and the occasion where Peter Parker suddenly lashed out and hit Mary Jane is a good example of its many shortcomings. Tom DeFalco, Sal Buscema and Bill Sienkiewicz's Spectacular Spider-Man #226 is set around the continued struggles between Peter Parker and Ben Reilly, and their competitions against eachother to see who is the 'original' Peter Parker and who is the fake clone.
As it turns out, Reilly is the original and Peter is soon left with a serious identity crisis to work through. In an attempt to comfort her soulmate, Mary Jane gets a bit too close to Parker and he suddenly lashes out.
To be fair to this Spidey, he was probably only trying to brush her away and give himself some space, however his super-strength, and Buscema and Sienkiewicz's art direction, paint a much darker picture with MJ being practically launched across the room.
What makes this scene all the more grim is the fact that Mary Jane just so happens to be pregnant when Peter lashes out, making the whole read a pretty uncomfortable experience on the whole.