Spider-Man Outed

For years now Marvel comics has been really frustrated that Spider-Man in the comic books is married to Mary Jane. It really bothers them because they feel it 'ages' the character too much. They seem to think there's this wealth of Spider-Man stories they could tell if he was single that simply can't be told with him married. Of course, they realize they can't just get rid of the marriage, because divorce simply isn't an option. And they acknowledge that if they were to kill off Mary Jane then Peter Parker is a widower and in their mind that makes him seem even older. What they really want are for stories to go back to the original core idea of the character. About the teenage Joe Everyman with powers but has the 'Parker' luck where nothing good can happen. The reason they say the marriage is bad is because (and I'm paraphrasing here) no matter how bad his day is, he still gets to come home to his super-model wife Mary Jane.

So now that I've set up the story. Did anyone see the news today about Spider-Man outing himself? No, it wasn't that kind of out'ing (although that would be one way to end the marriage, no?). Instead he's out'ed himself as being a superhero and revealed his identity to the world. That's right. Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! Ok, wait, it's a comic book, so by definition it's an imaginary story. So let's change that to "Not an imaginary story within the confines of the Marvel Universe!" The story has been in a couple of pieces of mainstream media. It's on Yahoo and the NY Post. Strangely enough it's not in the press as much as the previous "New Buxom Lipstick Lesbian Batwoman" was a couple weeks ago (hot lesbian chicks evidently get better media play than superpowered nerd reveals identity). Still, it seems like a big change, no? Also seems like it's taking the character even further away from that 'core' essence they keep saying they want to get back to. Now, do you think this change will last? I'm willing to bet good money this doesn't stick. Mark my words, in a year, maybe two at the most, there will be a "reality changing event" where everything reverts and no one knows Spidey's ID. Or some telepath will erase the knowledge from everyone's mind. Or someone will go back in time and change events so it never happened. Maybe Bobby will just step out of the shower. All I know is, this won't last. And dollars to doughnuts when it's undone, the marriage will somehow get erased also. You heard it here first.

Oh yea, one last thing (if anyone is still reading at this point). Thanks to Ken and Lid for having me over for dinner last night. Once the dogs started to warm up to me (translation, were no longer actively trying to kill me), it was a lot of fun. Plus I got to play dominos for the first time. Fun stuff.