Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: Spider-Baby, tom brevoort

When Tom Brevoort Refused To Abort Peter Parker & Mary Jane's Baby

When Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort Refused To Abort Peter Parker & Mary Jane Watson's Spider-Baby...

Published Sat, 10 Aug 2024 06:57:08 -0500

Last updated Sun, 11 Aug 2024 08:03:53 -0500

Article Summary

Tom Brevoort resisted a directive to end Spider-Man: The Final Adventure with Mary Jane having a miscarriage.
Brevoort's refusal led to MJ's pregnancy extending over two years in the comics before being resolved.
Mary Jane's stillbirth was ultimately depicted in Amazing Spider-Man #418, edited by Ralph Macchio.
Tom DeFalco explored an alternate reality where their baby lived, creating the Spider-Girl comic series.

Marvel Executive Vice President and X-Men Group Editor Tom Brevoort came back from San Diego Comic-Con with a full mail mag and has been answering questions on his Substack newsletter. Such as the failings of the Krakoan Age of the X-Men, and the latest on the QR Codes kerfuffle. But one of those questions was regarding imposing his authority at Marvel Comics. Reader Evan "Cool Guy" asked, "In your Deathlok Chronicles, you note times that you should have put your foot down, which I'm sure you've done plenty since then. Any memorable times you've had to do that, maybe from your early career? Or any time really!" And Tom Brevoort replied;

"I'm trying to think, and there are likely better examples of this, Evan. But the first thing that comes to mind is when I was working on SPIDER-MAN: THE FINAL ADVENTURE, a limited series that was meant to be the last gasp for Peter Parker as Spider-Man. It was intended to end with the birth of Pete and MJ's child, but halfway through, a decision was made to radically change direction and to get Pete back into the Spidey costume on a regular basis as soon as was possible. So I was told to end the series with MJ having a miscarriage—and I refused to do that. I told my boss Bob Budiansky quite bluntly that I wasn't going to go down in history as the person who aborted the Spider-Baby. Consequently, that entire decision was kicked further down the line—MJ wound up being pregnant for something like two years before it was all settled—and the ending to our series was a bit of a damp squib. But it wasn't a horror show, so there's that."

These are those two final pages of Spider-Man: The Final Adventure #4… Mary Jane would have a stillbirth in Amazing Spider-Man #418, written by former EIC Tom DeFalco and edited by Ralph Macchio.

They tried to tease that Norman Osborn had secretly switched bodies and stolen their child, but that tease was also done away with, one way or another, depending how you choose to interpret it. Did it work and did Norman kill the child later? Or was it part of some other mystical plot? I'm not even sure Marvel know now.

Though Tom DeFalco would pursue a "What If" their child had lived, as May Day Parker, which became its one spinoff Spider-Girl comic book, including the MC2 Universe.