SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #304 by Chip Zdarsky, Adam Kubert, Jason Keith and Travis Lanham, on sale now.
Alternate realities and superhero comics always seem to find themselves paired together. Ask any fan to name some of their favorite comic book runs, and the likelihood of their response including at least one time-traveling tale will be pretty high -- Spider-Man has even been involved in a few himself, with the biggest coming in recent years with the mega-team up crossover event Spider-Verse, where different Spider-themed heroes of the multiverse came together to stop the evil Morlun.
One of Peter Parker's last time-traveling adventures happened during his Superior Spider-Man days, but what makes this ironic is Peter wasn't in control of his body at the time -- the villain Doctor Octopus was behind the proverbial wheel, having taken possession of Peter's body and mind at the time.
Now, the Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man creative team of Chip Zdarsky and Adam Kubert have tossed Spidey (this time driven by Peter) into the deep-end of the alternate reality pool in Part One of "No More."
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Remember DC Comics 2011 event Flashpoint, which saw The Flash's actions in the past directly changed the publisher's timeline? Well, something similar happened in Spectacular Spider-Man #303, resulting in a "Spiderpoint" timeline being created, an alternate reality where Peter Parker is retired from the role of friendly neighborhood web-slinger.
A World Without Spider-Man
Peter, his newly-confirmed sister Teresa Durand/Parker and J. Jonah Jameson went back in time in hopes of finding a solution to their alien robot problem in the present-day. During their journey, Peter interacted with his younger self, along with friends, family members and enemies like Norman Osborn. The belief at the time was it's not too big of a deal, because Dr. Doom promised nothing done in their past would affect the present.
However, Doom's word was put to the test once young Peter heard older Peter complain about how horrible his life had become while being Spider-Man. After already being put through the wringer by the Green Goblin, young Peter threw his costume in the trash and moved on with his life, a change which included marrying Gwen Stacy and letting his hair grow out.
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A new lifestyle and hairstyle aren't the only things that are different: Harry Osborn became President, Norman rehabilitated his image and turned his goblin serum into a health supplement, and Jonah retired from the Daily Bugle -- much to the chagrin of current-day, time-traveling Jonah.
The fun in these type of stories is seeing how much is different from the reality we know and the new one created. One similarity usually present between all these futures is just how dark they are compared the the mainstream continuity the characters typically inhabit. For example, this New World Order, where superhero are outlawed and Norman Osborn has the world on lockdown, came about because there wasn't a Spider-Man to stop Osborn from rising to power. Heroes like Iron Man and Reed Richards are gone, with only a small resistance of Captain America, Doctor Strange and Ironheart around to stand up against evil.
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The key to Marvel's "Spiderpoint" story arc is seeing what lasting repercussions will come from Spider-Man's jaunt through the timeline. For Spiderpoint to stand beside the time-traveling giants like Flashpoint and Days of Future Past, then it needs to leave Spider-Man's world turned upside down in a massive way.