Mephisto’s latest revelations about Peter Parker and Mary Jane color a tragic ’90s Spider-Man storyline in an even darker light.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #74, now on sale
One of the main revelations of the long-running Kindred Saga in Amazing Spider-Man — which has served as the undercurrent of the writer Nick Spencer’s multi-year run on the title — is that Mephisto has always been far more involved in the events of Spider-Man’s life than anyone ever fully realized, s showcased in Amazing Spider-Man #74 by Nick Spencer, Christos Gage, Marcelo Ferreira, Mark Bagley, Ze Carlos, Dio Neves, Carlos Gomez, Ivan Fiorelli, and Humberto Ramos.
The reveal of Mephisto’s intervention into the lives of Peter Parker and Norman Osborn being connected to his possible eventual defeat at the hands of May Parker, Peter and Mary Jane’s daughter, paints the child’s apparent death and disappearance in “The Final Chapter” in an even darker light.
One of the greatest tragedies that ever befell Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson was the loss of their daughter, May. After becoming pregnant, Mary-Jane and Peter tried to put his life as Spider-Man behind him, even giving Ben Reily the chance to become the wall-crawler in his stead. But when Mary-Jane went into labor in 1996’s Amazing Spider-Man #418, by Tom DeFalco and Steve Skroce, the doctors informed her that the child was stillborn and didn’t survive. In reality, the baby was alive but was taken under orders from Norman Osborn. Osborn associate Alison Mongrain took the child and was ordered to “dispose” of her. A few years later, “The Final Chapter” crossover hinted that Osborn had actually held the young girl hostage and that May was alive, but in reality, this was a ploy — and it was truly Peter’s Aunt May who had survived her apparent death instead. Although presumed dead by those who knew she lived, tthe child’s ultimate fate remained unclear.
At the time, it appeared to be the ultimate victory of Norman Osborn over Spider-Man, taking away the family he’d almost had. The grief even played a part in a brief separation Peter and Mary-Jane took around that time. But those events have been somewhat complicated, due to the revelations surrounding Norman Osborn’s deal with Mephisto. Years earlier, Norman traded his son’s soul to Mephisto in exchange for power and influence. All of the machinations of the Green Goblin, and all the chaos he’s caused in the life of Peter Parker — including the loss of his daughter — was seemingly always secretly connected to the devilish Mephisto because, as he explains to Doctor Strange, he’s been very concerned about Spider-Man even before Peter Parker was born.
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As Mephisto reveals, he’s been taunted by visions of a future where his war against the world finally reaches the endgame, and he’s all but triumphant atop the corpses of Earth’s heroes. But one person — revealed to be a battle-worn but determined Spider-Man — will eventually be the key to Mephisto’s defeat. Despite all his attempts to change the timeline and alter the universe to corrupt Peter, Mephisto is still haunted by this vision. But Doctor Strange spots the lie and notes that he’s always targeted Mary Jane as well — because Mephisto has another vision that makes a hero who appears to be Spider-Woman, a version of the heroic daughter of Peter and Mary Jane who went by Spider-Girl in the long-running alternate MC2 timeline until she took on the full weight of her mantle in Spider-Verse.
This paints the apparent death and disappearance of May’s daughter in a far darker light, as the capture and apparent murder of baby May might have been quietly Mephisto’s greatest triumph. Before “One More Day” erased Peter and Mary Jane’s marriage, this recontextualizes that plot as Mephisto’s attempt to stop the one woman who could bring about the end of his rule through the machinations of Norman Osborn.
On top of explaining why Mephisto has always been interested in corrupting Spider-Heroes, it gives his taunting to Peter and Mary-Jane about the child they could have had in “One More Day” that much crueler. However, there’s still a chance that May yet live, or that a reunited Peter and Mary Jane could have a new child who grows to be the true Spider-Woman seen in Mephisto’s vision. If either of those is the case, then that would be the ultimate triumph of Peter and Mary Jane over the devilish villain.
KEEP READING: How Spider-Man And Doctor Strange Teamed Up For The First Time
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