The exact point where the
MC2 Universe (also called 982) branches off from the mainstream
Marvel Universe (also referred to as 616 in the handbooks) is not entirely clear, though obviously the two worlds share a history up to at least '97 real-world time, apart from small details, such as later retcons. For example, Peter's
Aunt May real does pass away as depicted in
Amazing Spider-Man #400 (a classic), whereas in the 616 this is later retconned (badly, I might add) as being a genetically modified actress hired by
Norman Osborn.
In fact, let's start there, shall we? Well, sort of. During the now-infamous
Clone Saga, it is revealed
Mary Jane is pregnant. After the end of this Saga, editorial having pinned the whole debacle on a newly-returned-from-apparent-death
Norman Osborn, the original
Green Goblin. Around the same time,
MJ gives birth to an apparently stillborn baby
May, with heavy implications that something else is really happening. Later,
Osborn becomes wildly out of character and holds a mystical '
Gathering of Five' ritual and it's revealed
'May' is alive...only it's
Aunt May. Oi Vey!
Peter beats
Osborn (who's gone even more crazy) and hangs up his webs just in time for a relaunch of the Spidey-titles.
Meanwhile, over in
What if #105 we are introduced to
Spider-Girl and the
MC2, which gives us a very different (and I'd argue better) series of events.
May's debut issue also gives us a few interesting points of back-story. Firstly, it depicts
Peter and
MJ at the hospital, happily holding the newborn
May. Secondly,
Peter continued as
Spider-Man following
May's birth. Thirdly,
Peter's narrations specifically states that '
May was only two years old when I had my final confrontation with
Norman Osborn, the original
Green Goblin.'
Norman died, and
Peter lost any desire to continue as
Spider-Man.
The next time we hear of this last confrontation in
Spider-Girl #7,
Mary Jane provides us with more details.
Mary Jane was contacted by
Johnny Storm aka
the Human Torch.
Mr Fantastic worked alongside surgeons to save him, but in the end
Peter lost his right leg.
Reed offers to make a bionic leg for
Peter to continue web-swinging, but
Peter realizes his real responsibility is to his wife and baby.
Soon after,
Kaine is introduced into the
Spider-Girl series, dropping hints and making cryptic references to Rumpelstiltskin. We are told that the
Parker's owe a debt to
Kaine for saving
May's life as a baby, though it's not until
Spider-Girl #48-#50 we get more details. Here, we learn
Alison Mongrain was hired by
Osborn to steal away with baby
May, hiding in a yacht until
Osborn's Scriers took the infant.
Kaine interferes and eventually tracks down and rescues the baby girl, returning her to
Mary Jane before searching for
Osborn.
It's notable that in the flashbacks here,
Mary Jane now originally believed her baby had died at birth just as depicted in the 616 version of events.
Peter intends to stop
Kaine killing
Osborn. The next flashback shows
Spidey interrupting the '
Gathering of Five' ritual (rather than arriving long after in 616) and battling
Osborn, his leg becoming webbed to
Osborn's hand. As Peter tells
Osborn about
Kaine, the
Goblin detonates a bomb, killing himself and claiming
Peter's leg.
Amazing Spider-Girl introduces the idea that
May could be a clone with the arrival of a second
May on the scene.
Amazing Spider-Girl #25 even provides more of
Kaine's rescue of the infant
May in his assault on the
Scrier's stronghold. At the conclusion of the tale we learn that
Osborn staged the proceedings, working with another baby (either the clone or the original) in his lab in the Swiss Alps, planning for an end game in two years time. Too bad he died before that came to pass.
Lastly, we have the
Mr and Mrs Spider-Man tales, which depict
Peter and
Mary Jane with an infant
May, with
Peter still donning his webs occasionally and definitely not getting around with a walking stick or a limp. The last of these four tales implies
Pete get's his better-paying lab job with the police not long after.
From all of this, we have a pretty clear picture of the events but we also have a few issues to address. Obviously, the very first depiction from
What if?! #105 which seems to show
May born healthy in hospital must now be considered either incorrect, or possibly depicting a later time, perhaps a check up right after the reunion of parents and baby? Or it's a case of early installment weirdness, just as in pilot episodes of tv shows. Either way, it's not a big deal.
Secondly,
Peter mentioned
May being age two at the time of the final confrontation with the
Goblin. Up until
Mr and Mrs Spider-Man these stood out like a sore thumb, as it didn't seem to line up with anything else. But here's a theory: After
Norman had
May spirited away,
Ms Mongrain spent several months with the baby girl, even mentioning growing attached to her, before the mean ol'
Scriers swiped her back.
Kaine learns of
Osborn's plan and sets out to retrieve the infant
May.
Amazing Spider-Girl #25 gives the time of this rescue as 'a little over sixteen years ago.' At this point in the series,
May has already celebrated her 16th birthday (
Spider-Girl #67) and '
May's Special Day,' the anniversary of her return from kidnapping (
Amazing Spider-Girl #15) which is quite some time after her birthday.
Taking into account the idea that
Osborn's ritual was delayed in this version of events and that
Peter had at least one encounter with
Araña (Spider-Man Family one-shot) before hanging up his webs, we can assume that Peter continued as Spider-Man for a while between May's return and his final confrontation with Osborn. In theory, you could stretch this to cover the mention of May being two years of age but honestly, I think Tom Defalco introduced the Mr and Mrs Spider-Man tales either to fill this apparent continuity gap or (more likely) to have fun telling married Spidey adventures, and what better place than his own universe?
This particular blog entry started out as a little worm of an idea in the base of my sub-conscious and it's been feeding on my idea's ever since. Mostly, this was just a thought experiment for me to see if the story ideas would hold together, but I hope it's been informative. Have I missed anything?
Until Tom Defalco retcons Swiney-Girl into the MC2, I remain
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