10 Unbelievable Retcons That Made Comics Worse

9. Peter Parker Hits The Reset Button - One More Day

One More Day might just be the most important Spider-Man storyline this century, and that's frankly appalling.

Marvel editorial's efforts to make Spider-Man more 'relatable' to their readers by wiping out decades worth of history set the web-slinger back years, and is today emblematic of the publisher's repeated struggles with committing to genuine change. How does One More Day embody that more than most? Well it's down to the motivation behind its creation as well as what it actually changed - which was a lot.

In the wake of Civil War, Peter Parker found himself in quite the pickle. Earth-616's Spider-Man had revealed his identity to the public as per the request of Tony Stark, but had later switched allegiances to join Captain America's side after taking issue with Iron Man's increasingly extreme methods. This left him a wanted fugitive of the law, and with his identity out in the open, his family were placed in immediate jeopardy - as was, ostensibly, the character's ability to relate to younger audiences.

The finale, aforementioned problem wasn't a problem at all, of course. Pete was being pushed in a new direction, but when editorial disagreed with said direction, they decided to have Spidey bargain with Mephisto to reset his life by about two decades. The reason why? To save an elderly Aunt May. Peter Parker willingly sacrifices his marriage with Mary Jane, his future and years of his life in a pact with Mephisto... to save his Aunt.

While Spidey has since managed to bounce back with Miles Morales, it's impossible to look at Peter today without feeling a pang of remorse for what could've been, had One More Day never come to pass.