One of Spider-Man's most controversial storylines was "One More Day," in which Peter Parker, in a bid to save his Aunt May's life, makes a deal with Mephisto to save his aunt in exchange for his marriage to Mary Jane. However, this was not the first time the hero and devil had met. Previously, Spider-Man nearly lost everything to Mephisto, all in a bid to save Christmas.

Taking place in the 1993 Marvel Holiday Special (by Steven Grant and Pat Broderick), Peter and Mary Jane were just finishing up their Christmas shopping when Peter realized that he had neglected to get a Christmas tree for their home. Parting ways, Peter began pondering where on Earth he was going to find a tree on Christmas Eve. But his lamenting over poor planning was interrupted by what looked like a comet heading straight for the city. Tossing aside his many shopping bags, he suited up and attempted to intercept the comet. But to Spider-Man's surprise, he discovered that what he had thought was a comet was actually an angel falling from the sky.

The angel collided with the ground and burrowed deeper beneath the Earth than his velocity should have allowed. Spider-Man pursued the angel to Hell where the heavenly being had been captured and placed within a medieval deathtrap by Mephisto. The devil explained to the wallcrawler that the angel was the embodiment of the Christmas spirit and without out him, Christmas would cease to exist.

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Obviously, Spider-Man had moral objections to the murder of an angel and by extension the holiday. Mephisto made a bet with the hero that he would not be able to save the angel even without the devil's direct interference. If Peter lost, however, Mephisto would lay claim to his soul. Spider-Man agreed to the challenge, underestimating the devil's ability to obstruct him indirectly.

Mephisto started Spider-Man's countdown without warning, forcing him to move quickly to reach the angel before he was crushed. But even with his super strength, Spider-Man could not prevent the machine from destroying the angel. Mephisto then trapped Spider-Man's soul in a orb, and the web-slinger begged to be released. Surprisingly, the demon acquiesced, deeming the wall-crawler a whiner, but also mused that Spider-Man would not be able to fully appreciate the villain's victory without having his soul intact.

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Mephisto then flew them over the New York skyline to watch Christmas wither on the vine, but to his horror, people everywhere were still celebrating. His confusion was only compounded when the angel that was believed destroyed reappeared. The angel explained that, contrary to what Mephisto believed, the Christmas spirit did not come from him. Instead, the opposite was true, he came from the Christmas spirit. The angel owed his existence to the human capacity for kindness and generosity just as the devilish villain existed because of their capacity for greed and corruption.

The angel even pointed out that Mephisto had displayed mercy to Spider-Man by freeing him without exacting a toll, something he would normally never do. The demonic villain claimed that he merely wanted Spider-Man to suffer, but his actions seemed to validate every word the angel spoke, prompting him to return to Hell in a fit of rage.

Even though Mephisto technically won his first battle with Spider-Man, he was denied the soul by his own misunderstanding of his relationship to humanity. Although he eventually relinquished claim to Peter Parker's soul, the devilish villain had the opportunity to deal far greater damage to Parker than what the hero suffered in "One More Day," if not for the unlikely intervention of the Christmas spirit.

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