It's safe to say 2007's Spider-Man: One More Day is one of the most infamous and controversial Marvel stories ever published. It turns out not everyone is a fan of Peter Parker making literal deals with the Devil. But if there's one takeaway from The Amazing Spider-Man #74, it's that the circumstances surrounding Spidey's deal with Mephisto are far more convoluted than we ever realized.
Read on to find out how this big finale issue alters and complicates the events of One More Day, but beware of full spoilers ahead for The Amazing Spider-Man #74!
Spider-Man's Confusing Kindred Saga
Issue #74 marks the conclusion of writer Nick Spencer's three-year Amazing Spider-Man run. From the beginning, Spencer positioned the mysterious, undead Kindred as the main villain of his overarching story. We finally learned the identity of Kindred in ASM #50, where he was revealed to be none other than Spidey's BFF and occasional arch-nemesis, Harry Osborn. However, that was just the first of many plot twists concerning Kindred's identity and motivations.
This is where things start to get really complicated, so you might want to sit down and pour a drink.
Kindred is actually two people, and neither of them are Harry. The series has dusted off the *other* controversial storyline from writer J. Michael Straczynski's Amazing Spider-Man run, Sins Past. That story revealed Norman Osborn secretly fathered two children with Gwen Stacy (yeah, gross). These super-powered twins, named Gabriel and Sarah, suffered from accelerated aging and sought revenge against Peter for supposedly abandoning their mother. As revealed in issue #73, they've both been masquerading as Kindred this entire time.
But it only gets more confusing from here. It turns out they aren't the children of Norman and Gwen, but are instead artificial superhumans grown by Harry Osborn. But not the original Harry Osborn. Before his tragic death in 1993's The Spectacular Spider-Man #200 (which was seemingly undone by the events of One More Day), Harry created a digital copy of his consciousness, and that's the Harry who's been the architect of Spider-Man's misery these past few years. As for the Harry who's been pal-ing around with Peter since his return at the end of One More Day? A clone, of course. That clone has no vendetta against Spidey, and winds up sacrificing his own life to save his father Norman in this issue.
Basically, all of these lies and deceptions have been part of the Harry A.I.'s fiendish plot against Spider-Man and his father. He's even relied on partners like Mysterio to create illusions and false memories, which is why both Norman and Mary Jane thought they remembered the Gwen affair. But if that weren't all complicated enough, there's an even bigger villain who's been pulling the Harry A.I.'s strings – Mephisto.
Revisiting One More Day
In the end, we learn even Kindred has just been a pawn in a multi-year game being played by Mephisto. It all dates back to a time before Norman Osborn became the Green Goblin. He sold Harry's soul to Mephisto in exchange for power and notoriety, and the unholy consequences of that bargain have been plaguing the Osborn and Parker families ever since. Mephisto has been the hand guiding Kindred. But even Norman was only ever a means to an end so Mephisto could strike at Peter Parker.
This is where the series ties back to the events of One More Day. That story infamously shows Peter sacrificing his marriage to MJ in exchange for Aunt May's life, part of Marvel editorial's efforts to bring Spider-Man back to a more traditional, non-married status quo (apparently a divorce would have been a step too far). In One More Day, Mephisto claims to be motivated out of a general desire to spread misery in the mortal realm. Souls are tasty, but stolen happiness is a true delicacy. He even turns the screws by appearing in the form of a young girl, revealing only after the deal is struck that this form is the daughter Peter and MJ will never have.
But after this seemingly endless series of plot twists, we learn the real secret of Mephisto's game in The Amazing Spider-Man #74. He had a much deeper reason for wanting to eliminate Peter's marriage. Mephisto has seen a vision of the future where he and his demons reign supreme on Earth. That victory is snuffed out by a lone hero. Not Spider-Man, but Spider-Girl (Peter and MJ's daughter May "Mayday" Parker). One More Day was Mephisto's way of ensuring his defeat won't come to pass.
However, Mephisto may have finally overplayed his hand. He's already lost Harry's soul in a wager with Doctor Strange, and the entire Kindred ordeal seems to have only brought Peter and MJ closer together. Spencer's run ends with the two happily kissing high atop the city. After all this drama, Mephisto might actually have reopened the door to a married Spider-Man.
What's Next for Spider-Man?
Does this mean Marvel is undoing the events of One More Day? It's hard to say for sure. Peter and MJ are back to being a couple after roughly a decade's worth of comics spent apart, but it's a little premature to predict wedding bells in their future. Again, Marvel's entire reasoning for ending their marriage in the first place was to bring Peter back to his roots as a freewheeling, chronically unlucky bachelor. There's no reason to assume that thinking has changed over the last 14 years.
Regardless, the Peter/MJ romance will remain at the forefront of the series as the next creative team takes over in issue #75. Hellions writer Zeb Wells and a rotating team of creators are establishing a new storyline dubbed Spider-Man Beyond. The Amazing Spider-Man #75 will show Peter being hospitalized after a run-in with a mystery villain, leaving him out of commission for an extended period of time. In his place, Peter's wayward clone Ben Reilly is going to get a second chance to prove himself as Spider-Man. He'll even have the backing of the mysterious Beyond Corporation.
Ben will apparently be Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe for the foreseeable future. We recently learned he'll be appearing in Devil's Reign, a Kingpin-centric crossover spinning out of Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil series. The question now is whether Ben is temporarily filling Peter's spandex boots, or if our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man might finally take some time to rest and focus on his personal life for a change.
Meanwhile, the next Spider-Man movie may bring elements of One More Day into the MCU, with Tom Holland's Peter Parker enlisting Doctor Strange's help to make the world forget his secret identity. What could possibly go wrong?
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.