700th Issue of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ Comic Reveals ‘Epic Turn’ for Peter Parker — Some Fans Are Upset
Editor’s Note: Spoiler alert of story line below.
PHILADELPHIA (TheBlaze/AP) — After 50 years of spinning webs and catching a who’s who of criminals, Peter Parker is out of the hero game.
The 700th – and final – issue was released Wednesday, and title editor Stephen Wacker says “The Amazing Spider-Man” series ends with a defining death and birth meshed among the Spidey mythos. Wacker said the teen from Queens has been put in every possible situation, except this ultimate one.

This is the cover for the 700th “Amazing Spider-Man” Comic. (Photo: Marvel)
Dan Slott, who’s been writing the Marvel Comics character for the better part of the last 100 issues, calls it “an epic turn.”

Peter Parker became Spider-Man after he received a spider bite. (Image: Wikimedia)
CNN reported that fans have mixed reactions, many not pleasant, about the fate of Parker:
When issue #700 was leaked early, fan reaction — both positive and negative — went into overdrive, with a few posted death threats directed at the issue’s writer, Dan Slott.
Slott reacted on his Twitter and Facebook by saying he would report any threats: “Reality check: There is NO such thing as a ‘funny death threat.’ Especially if you TAG someone in it.”
Here are a few of saddened fans’ tweets:

While Parker’s fate is sealed, Spider-Man’s is not. His adventures will continue with next month’s “Superior Spider-Man.” But the man behind the mask is … Otto Octavius aka Doctor Octopus. In fact, CNN reported more specifically that the combination of Otto’s intelligence, Parker’s memories and Spider-Man’s powers will make an “uber-Spider-Man.”
Still, as for the end of Peter Parker, Comic Book’s Russ Burlingame blogged, “even if this particular story is only now entering its second act, and doing so with a new first issue–it’s still not a worthy finale for a character like Peter. And there’s no way to get around it–that’s sloppy.”
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Comments (73)
AllLost
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 6:22pmIs it just that it is easier to make public death threats now, or does our cultural angst go immediately to killing? It really has me concerned and saddened really that anytime people get a bit upset today they go with the ‘I Keeeeeel You’ talk/type. What is up with that?
Maybe it is just that everything makes the news now. Maybe this has always been the way it has been, but I sense that as a culture or maybe even a world culture death is common, and in any act of anger can trigger one to think about taking life. It is so very hard to converse in such a society.
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Rowgue
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 12:15pmIt’s the anonymous nature of the way people communicate now. They feel much more comfortable saying things they wouldn’t normally want to associate themselves with when nobody knows who they are beyond some made up moniker.
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Balpit
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:35pmPeople threatening to kill a real-live person because the real-live person is killing off a fictional character. Ironic.
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GuruMeditation
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 6:16pmHere we go with the watered down “epic” hype again. Ultimate even.
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emh1701
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 5:44pmWe all know that nobody lives forever, but come on, it’s a comic book. Killing off Peter Parker is like killing off Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne. Sure it’s been experimented with, but they all come back eventually because the fans don’t want anyone else in that role.
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bonesiii
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 6:03pmSo anyways… Can we call him SpiderOck to distinguish between them? :P
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termyt
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 5:21pmDeath for comic book characters is not as final as it is for us. Peter Parker’s been lost, cloned, mind-swapped, and replaced before. This might be his first death, though. Either way, he’ll be back.
There are two great sins in comic book writing:
1) Never change anything
2) Change something
Do either of those, you make a lot of folks mad. Comic books are, more or less, just a continuous cycle of stories. Not much new there today. Look at Marvel’s movies. They just relaunched Spider-Man. Again. And so many go to watch the same creation myth they just saw three movies ago again. Why do anything new? Now he gets to meet Green Goblin again for the first time. Doc Oct again for the first time, Venom again for the first time. Much easier than doing anything new.
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chips1
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 6:53pmPants down, Web out. I don’t think this will end very well.
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black9897
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 4:47pmSpider man was always my favorite Superhero. Loved the 90′s cartoon! I was very upset when they stopped with the good movies (with Toby, James Franco, Kirsten Dunst). Hollywood always finds a way to screw great stuff over.
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Gregory_Adams
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 4:15pmI figured they just made him gay.
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motherboard
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 12:35amI was expecting that to when I saw the headline. Gay would be an “epic change” “death”, for a super hero, that is just a temporary setback…always…BTW, this IS NOT Parker’s first death. In the “zombie apocalypse” edition, He is bitten, dies and turns into a zombie at one point if memory serves. Besides, really, who cares, in 2 years, the US economy collapses. Sure hope we don’t get to lost in the weeds of this non-sense.
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azitdad
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 7:02pmHah, I was thinking the exact same thing! They’ve got nothing else. They killed Superman twice, already.
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PapaJohannesPatriot
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 3:34pmAs Alfred E Newman might say: “What, me worry? I’m not Spiderman.”
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stage9
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 4:17pmJust another sign that hollywood is officially out of ideas. Just add comic book writers to the list now.
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David1967
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 6:50pmHollywood ran out of ideas years ago. Now days everything is just a remake of one kind or another. “Gone With the Wind” set in the year 3000 is still “Gone With the Wind” just with laser rifles and plasma canons. There has not been a real original movie in years.
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salvawhoray
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 3:14pmthere goes the over used word of the year “Epic”.
I hate that eff’n word.
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AdmiralQ
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:56pmMarvel stupid idea.
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@leftfighter
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 4:32pmSo was killing Captain America and Superman, but guess what?
They got the same fate as Bobby Ewing.
Fear now, web-heads… Spidey will be back before you can think up a witty one liner while having a car or something thrown at you.
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rafa2design
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:49pmI doubt this death of Spider-Man story will last more than a month or two. Now that Disney has a share in $pidey, there’s no way they’ll let this cash cow fly.
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darkknight91
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 3:25pmExactly. This is a publicity stunt. They have more movies to make with Peter Parker.
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John1863
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:36pmAnd he never did tap Mary Jane, poor guy.
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rafa2design
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:47pmActually he married her in the comics back in the 1980s. The movies you watch about Spider-Man today are based on stories from the 60s and 70s (when the writers actually cared about the characters.)
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term limits for congress
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:35pmProbably being replaced with a new affirmative action super hero. Jihad Juvenile? Power Prophet? Redistribution Ranger? Tax Max? QE Monetizer? V’Jay Jay Avenger? Super Progressive from the Planned Parenthood Planet?
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cemerius
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 1:36pmWith today’s PC climate in OVER DRIVE I saw the headlines and was almost certain he was “coming out”! Glad he only just died……..
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P8riot
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:25pmlol – I had the same thought – and reaction! :)
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912network
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:38pmYou can say that again!
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brianemcfarlane
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:53pmMy first too … give it time.
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TheCalmOne
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 1:32pmThis is news?
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De-Elect
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 1:18pmBasement dwellers everywhere shed a collective tear.
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RaydocX
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:57pmMarvel/ Disney making the calculated decision to end a long runnning franchise in order to have a ‘new #1′ that will push sales immediately after the record #700…
when their ‘new story line’ fails, they will fall back, with yet another ‘new’ series and continue retelling story arcs with the same villains.
i am not opposed to killing off the good guys, but the endless what ifs get tiresome and destroy good storytelling. And a la Bond, you can have the hero survive, but not killing off the bad guys either leads to stagnant stories, too… writers need to have more faith in themselves that they have more bad guys rattling around in their heads.
i gave up the once fine genre two decades ago when every issue had to be a #1 with five variant covers, ruining the stories, the possible value for those reading for enjoyment, and heralded a take over of the whole comic economy by the ‘bigs’ at the expense of the distributers and local shop owners… it was a perverse justice when Marvel then fell to Disney.
at what point will the entertainment syndicate be ‘too big to fail’ and we will be forced to have Federal subsidization or mandatory trips to Disneyland?!
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Cavallo
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:50pmIt might be the same thing when they killed Superman with Doomsday. Although they do seem to be emasculating, killing, or irrevocably corrupting all the traditional comic book heroes in both the DC and Marvel Universe. It could be that too many of the traditional heroes are too pro-American, too pro-Capitalism, and too focused on what an individual can accomplish. Many of the comic book writers and publishers are very leftist, which means statists. New more leftist heroes are needed, those that are less pro-individual and more pro-statist (more heroes like Green Arrow). They’ll develop more homosexual heroes and make more traditional Americans the bad guys (more than they already do). This means that more individualist villains, militia, preppers, clergy, businessmen (remember they turned Lex Luthor into a businessman rather than a mad super scientist). This has been going on for some time, and the death of Peter is just one more brick in their wall. They don’t need marching orders to do this, it just occurs when they all share the same twisted fascist political philosophy.
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NOT A CRAZY
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 1:24pmMy first thought: They want a homosexual spiderman. It is unbelievable what these comic book franchises have done the American superhero. The same crowd of people that want us to believe that the over-the-top violence they push doesn’t have a negative effect on young minds are the same crowd who constantly try to brainwash children with cartoons that depict the evil gunowner, the evil developer, the evil hunter, the evil capitalist, and so on. I was going through Netflix yesterday and probably every other cartoon was some form of brainwashing. There is some dvd out called ParaNorman. This is an animated video that is specifically targets children. In the videio a girl is chasing after a boy until he tells her that he has a boyfriend. It is unbelievable what Hollywierd is doing to our society.
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Alexandra Stormwing
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 5:20pmCavallo Said:
Although they do seem to be emasculating, killing, or irrevocably corrupting all the traditional comic book heroes in both the DC and Marvel Universe. It could be that too many of the traditional heroes are too pro-American, too pro-Capitalism, and too focused on what an individual can accomplish.
—– End Quote
Glenn Beck, here is yet another opportunity for you to enter a new, interesting market. It does seem that the American Superhero has fallen, but there is no reason that he can’t stand back up.
However, please don’t make it corny – I couldn’t make it 20 pages into The Overton Window because, well, it was cheesy and cliche-ridden. I love you Glenn, I really do, but your fiction leaves something to be desired. : >
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oldduffer
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:48pmDon’t complain. They won’t listen. Quit buying. They’ll LISTEN!
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chips1
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 7:04pmI quit buying when the price went from 10 cents to 12 cents. I still read my old ones.
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TrueSoundsOfLiberty
Posted on December 27, 2012 at 4:48amYeah, I’ll relay that to the 12 year olds
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grimjack3791
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:40pmAnd everyone knows that when comic book characters die, they NEVER come back. Yawn.
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Rowgue
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:29pmThere hasn’t been any decent creative talent in the comics industry since the mid 1990s. That’s why it’s a business that’s failing faster than detroit.
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AbrahamsSheepdog
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:41pm1992 I believe. Carnage became a goodguy sometime after Vemon doll. It went to hell with video games about same time too.
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RJJinGadsden
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:14pmWhoop-de-doo!
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denkat56
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:56amPeter Parker is tired and old, just as the batman is old and tired. Its time to rejuvenate the heroes, new toys, new gadgets, new everything’s.
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Mandors
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:11pmDitto Star Wars.
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Eric_The_Red_State
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:53amWho gives a crap
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politicianssuck
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:53amDeath threats? over Peter Parker? Idiots…
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IndyGuy
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:34amIn a year Peter Parker will re-appear in a shower scene…
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DadRocked
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:37amwith some dude in uniform… then getting married at the WH with NObama officiating…
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THERAPTURCOMES
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:38amWith another man
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naughtycal
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:43amExactly D.R
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marssnw
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:52amI really thought when I read the head line that he was going to turn gay. They did that with the Green Lantern. Even comics have to be politically correct. Maybe they will redistribute all of Peter Parkers money next?
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mcmeador
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:58ammarssnw, EXACTLY what I thought.
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randy
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:02pmyeah,with BatMan
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Kitsune
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 1:09pmWe’re going to head into a period where every hero is going to have to be converted to, or replaced by, either a gay version, a transsexual version, or a Muslim version.
But probably not gay and Muslim at the same time.
Note that I have no problem with a comic company wanting to push “diverse” heroes, but I think it’d be better for them to make entirely new characters for that.
As for killing off Parker? He’ll be back. Nobody stays dead in comics.
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mcmeador
Posted on December 26, 2012 at 8:12pmYeah, kitsune. We wouldn’t want to offend Muslims by making a Muslim character gay. They might riot and murder people all over the world. That’s the sad state of political correctness.
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