2025 will be a pivotal year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No less than three films (Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* et The Fantastic Four: First Steps) and six series (Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Daredevil Born Again, Ironheart, Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies et Wonder Man) are planned for next year, Marvel fans will have plenty to do. And before finding the Spider-Man of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-ManMarvel takes a particularly dark detour in its comics, killing those close to the Spider-Man one after the other.
8 Deaths of Spider-Man
In addition to the films, Marvel fans can follow the lives of their favorite heroes in more depth through the comics. More than 80 years of comics, an inexhaustible resource for Marvel Studios, which has the choice regarding its future adaptations. And in Wednesday’s issue of Amazing Spider-Man #65, written by Joe Kelly and illustrated by Carlos Alberto Fernández Urbano, Peter Parker hits rock bottom. And for good reason, he suffers a fate worse than death: helplessly witnessing the deaths of all those he loves. This dramatic episode, part five of the ten-part saga entitled 8 Deaths of Spider-Manopens with Doctor Doom, now the new Sorcerer Supreme, choosing Spider-Man as Earth’s champion against the Eight Spawn of Cyttorak, the children of the dark god of destruction.
To help him in this task, Doom equips Spider-Man with mystical armor to protect him and give him access to the mystical arts, as well as eight “Reeds of Raggadorr” capable of restoring life. Spider-Man, now as alive as a cat, will quickly have to resort to his artifacts. The first reed is used when disintegrated by Cyntros at the atomic level. Unfortunately for him, the other deaths arrive quickly:
- The 2nd reed is used against the Cyperion spawn when it is instantly dissolved by a spatial fold;
- The 3rd is used against Cyrios, a being who travels through time, when his consciousness is divided simultaneously between past, present and future.
And while Spider-Man finally believes in his lucky star after defeating Callix without dying, his sister Cyra challenges him. To win, he must hold Cyra’s Crimson Sphere until he can hold it no longer. Problem: the sphere only shows the “truth”, and above all, an even more excruciating pain: “the inevitability of death”.
Spider-Man’s loved ones, killed one after the other
The following eight pages will reveal how Spider-Man’s loved ones die:
- Many Maysformerly suffering from cancer, is hospitalized because of the Essex virus (which will have killed more than three million people in one month). And aged 79, she prefers to give up her bed to someone whose chances of survival are better than hers. May Parker therefore dies “wishing she could kiss her Peter, her son, one last time”, in vain;
- Mary Jane Watsonex-girlfriend of Peter Park, dies in Spider-Man’s arms after being mortally wounded during a fight between the Jester and his superheroic alter ego, Jackpot.
- J. Jonah JamesonPeter’s former boss is killed by a cerebral embolism;
- Jonah’s girlfriend, Shay Markenis hit and killed by a drunk driver;
- Randy RobertsonPeter’s friend and former roommate, is trampled to death during a rally about the housing crisis;
- Felicia HardySpider-Man’s former lover and partner, falls and dies while patrolling the city as Black Cat;
- Betty Brantfriend and former colleague of Parker, dies in her bed surrounded by her loved ones;
- Norman Osbornnow kind, dies as a result of a failed scientific experiment;
- Bailey Briggs (Spider-Boy), Gwen Stacy (Ghost-Spider) and Miles Morales (Spider-Man) die in the Cataclysm.
Inevitable deaths witnessed by Spider-Man. And even if he can’t change fate, Spider-Man must still endure seeing everyone close to him die, one after the other. Supported by Phil Coulson, the current incarnation of Death, Spider-Man witnesses, helplessly, this scene as cruel as it is real. But despite the effort, Spider-Man is not going to let go of Cyra’s sphere. He therefore wins the test, and can now prepare to face the last three offspring.
Unfortunately for him, the latter are even worse than the former. An issue that concludes in Peter’s apartment, where he receives a reminder from the astral form of Doctor Strange about the stakes of this challenge. If Spider-Man fails: the world will sink. But Spider-Man, although alive, is emotionally drained. And it is with all the weariness in the world that he declares, not without regret, “I give up.”
