As one of Marvel’s best superheroes ever, Spider-Man has done a lot to inspire those both within the comics and outside of them. Throughout the character’s extensive comic book history, Peter Parker has overcome many obstacles and accomplished all sorts of wondrous feats.
Recently, the character has actually gone through a lot within the comics alone. After a great past few years on the silver screen, it makes sense that a few big changes would have occurred within his original medium as well. Looking at some of the bigger events in the hero's recent history, here is our list of Marvel’s 10 biggest changes to spider-Man within the decade.
10 Restored Relationship with Mary Jane
In one of Marvel’s biggest changes to the character, current author Nick Spencer actually renewed the romance between Peter Parker and his former wife, Mary Jane Watson. Though the timeline has since changed so that the couple was never actually married, fans of the iconic couple can rejoice that the two are once again together.
At the moment, it is unclear as to just how far the two’s relationship will continue to grow. Thankfully though, it does seem as though Mary Jane will continue to play a major part in Peter’s life, giving fans a bit of security going into the future.
9 The Rise and Fall of Parker Industries
When Doctor Octopus initially stole Peter Parker’s body, he immediately began making drastic changes in Peter’s life. One of the biggest changes Otto made was in establishing Parker Industries, a tech company that gave Otto access to a lot of resources while also allowing him to apply his genius.
Eventually, the real Peter Parker came to assume the role of CEO and actually used it for very similar focuses. Towards the end of Dan Slott’s run, however, Peter ended up destroying his entire company in order to try and stop the Red Goblin. While Parker Industries may seem like a short-lived concept, it was actually around for several years before meeting a tragic end, signifying a very significant change in Peter’s life more than once.
8 New Housing
With so many changes in his life within the past decade, it makes sense that Peter would live in more than one place. However, he has spent most of his time in one of two New York apartments. After losing his company, Peter could no longer afford his own place and ended up looking elsewhere.
From there, he moved in with Randy Robertson and Fred Meyers, better known to some as Marvel’s Boomerang. While the shift in housing was drastic enough for Peter, living with a supervillain has proved to be rather hysterical at times. While some moments are still completely ridiculous, it is definitely one of the bigger changes in the web-head’s life as of recent.
7 New Creative Team
After writing Spider-Man for nearly a decade, author Dan Slott finally passed the torch to Nick Spencer in 2018. While Slott himself changed many things about Peter Parker over the years, he did keep to a specific direction throughout most of his run.
Therefore, when Spencer officially took over the title, Spider-Man was once again taken in an entirely new direction. Though both authors have taken very different approaches to the character, the two have easily made their mark as some of the most impactful authors to ever write Spider-Man.
6 Peter has a Sister
Back in 2014, Peter discovered that he actually had a sister in the original graphic novel Spider-Man: Family Business. Though it was initially believed that the two weren’t actually related after all, Teresa (his sister) eventually uncovered proof that she was actually Peter’s younger sister, signifying a big change in Peter’s life.
Since then, Teresa has appeared in several other titles, including Chip Zadarsky’s Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man. Likewise, see the two interact has been one of the more interesting aspects of several Spider-Man books. Their lighthearted nature and occasional bickering has helped make Teresa a welcome part of Spider-Man’s history, though she may not be one of the most common characters in his life.
5 His Relationship with J. Jonah Jameson
Almost every spider-Man fan is familiar with the long-running feud between Spider-Man and J. Jonah Jameson, the owner of the Daily Bugle who was convinced that Spider-Man was a menace. Within the past decade though, Peter actually came to reveal his identity to Jameson, radically changing their relationship going forward.
Since revealing his identity, Jameson has been far more involved than he usually is in Spider-Man books. Likewise, seeing Jonah try to help Spidey has proven to be hysterical, no matter how much harm he causes in the process. Considering how their relationship has always played out in the past, seeing the two like this is actually rather refreshing, and arguably one of the more progressive changes to spider-Man in recent years.
4 Inclusion of Miles
Going beyond Peter Parker, Miles Morales’ role has also changed significantly, as the hero is now part of the main Marvel universe. While this has changed several key aspects of Miles’ own life, Peter’s has also been affected as well.
Though Miles is not a sidekick to Peter, Peter still serves as a sort of mentor to the young hero. Furthermore, having two Spider-Men in the same universe has allowed for all sorts of incredible stories to be told. While this event definitely has a greater impact on one Spider-Man over the other, it is still a major change in the character’s life that will continue to influence the both of them going forward.
3 New Villains
Both Dan Slott and Nick Spencer have introduced several new villains into the wall-crawler’s life. While some have proven to be bigger problems than others, some of them have actually been pretty challenging foes for Spider-Man.
Though not every villain has measured up to the likes of Green Goblin or Doctor Octopus, others have still proven to be intriguing. Foes like the new and mysterious Kindred have fans constantly theorizing, while others like Clash have gone through rather interesting character arcs. While it is unclear as to how often these foes will continue to stick around, there’s no denying that some really cool villains were introduced during the decade.
2 Superior Spider-Man
After successfully managing to switch bodies with Peter Parker, Doctor Octopus actually assumed the role of Spider-Man. As mentioned previously, this led to several other key changes in Peter’s life, none of which were his decision. Furthermore, while Otto himself made plenty of changes, this is easily one of the biggest changes Marvel has made to the character as of recent.
Regardless of one’s opinions of the Superior Spider-Man story, there’s no denying that Doctor octopus had a radically different approach to heroism than Peter Parker did. While it makes sense for some to want the original hero in his own body, there were still many intriguing aspects from the series that still make it worth a read.
1 Return of Peter Parker
Of course, Peter Parker would have to make a triumphant return to his own body eventually, which Marvel actually delivered with a very cool moment. After over a year with Doc Ock under the mask, Peter was once again operating as Spider-Man, this time in a whole new manner.
With all the changes Otto had made, Peter had a lot to adjust to upon his return. Not only was he the head of a major corporation, but a lot of his relationships had changed as well. Needless to say, the Peter Parker that returned ended up becoming a much different one from his time before the body swap, making his return just as major a change for the Spider-Man character as when he was swapped in the first place.