Currently, Marvel has an excellent miniseries, Amazing Spider-Man: Torn, by J. Michael Straczynski and Pere Pérez that is set in Peter Parker’s Freshman year of college. This series expands lore and periods in Spider-Man’s history. Spider-Man fans have already experienced other expansions in Spidey lore like this, thanks to miniseries such as Ben Reilly: Spider-Man, expanding Ben’s time as the Sensational Spider-Man, and Symbiote Spider-Man, featuring untold adventures with the symbiote before it became Venom.
Marvel should apply the Amazing Spider-Man: Torn model to more Spider-Man miniseries. There is no shortage of stories to tell, from the Clone Saga to Doc Ock’s time as the Superior Spider-Man, and comic fans are mighty nostalgic. They’d love to see their favorite Spider-Man comic era expanded and explored further.
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UPDATE: 2026/01/31 10:19 EST BY BRIAN CRONIN
I’ve updated this fun list to add five more entries (and change the intro to reference Amazing Spider-Man: Torn, plus change some formatting to fit current CBR standards.
15
Spider-Man’s Multiple Identities Could Have a Little More Fun
Image via Marvel
In 1999, Spider-Man editor Ralph Macchio felt that Spider-Man had become TOO accepted by the public at large. Gone were the days when Spider-Man would have to worry about the cops trying to arrest HIM at the scene of the crime, and Macchio wanted to recapture that spirit. So he introduced a new storyline that carried over throughout all four Spider-Man monthly books at the time called Identity Crisis.
Spider-Man was framed for murder, and there was now a million dollar prize on his head. Spider-Man couldn’t do his superheroics anymore, because even the people he was saving would try to capture him. So he invented four new secret identitiess, using his powers and technological wizardry in different ways. The story only lasted a few months, and much of that was spent clearing Spider-Man’s name, so we could easily revisit those four new identities more in a future miniseries.
14
Gwen Stacy’s Final Days Could Be More Memorable
Image via Marvel
Famously, in the 1970s, when Spider-Man comic books were reprinted in Mexico, the company that produced the comics really, really didn’t want to get to the point in the storyline where Gwen Stacy was killed, so the company asked Marvel if it could do its OWN stories set in the Marvel Universe. Marvel said okay, and so the company just dragged out the remaining issues before Gwen’s death as long as it could.
There was even one issue that had a dream sequence where Peter Parker seemingly married Gwen! Eventually, though, the comic book company had to catch up with the “official” comics, and killed Gwen off. However, that idea has some merit, as it would be nice to revisit the stories set right before Gwen died, as she never really got much of a sendoff in the actual comics, so this way, her final story (in continuity) could be more memorable.
13
Spider-Man and Mary Jane’s Fugitive Life Had Room for More Pathos
Image via Marvel
During Civil War, Spider-Man became the poster boy of the Registration movement when he publicly admitted to the world that he was actually Peter Parker. However, after doing that, Peter realized that the Registration side of the debate was the WRONG side, so Peter went on the run with Mary Jane and Aunt May.
Now, as I noted above, Spider-Man clearly has been a fugitive before, but this was the first time that Spider-Man was a fugitive AND Peter Parker was a fugitive (as well as Mary Jane and Aunt May). There is a lot of nice drama to be done with showing how the three of them stayed on the lam during this period, and also more repercussions about how other people in Spider-Man’s life took the reveal of his secret identity.
12
Peter Parker’s Work With Now Magazine Was Short-Lived
Image via Marvel
In 1986, Marvel decided that there needed to be some REASON for Web of Spider-Man to exist as a third Spider-Man monthly title. It replaced Marvel Team-Up (as team-up stories had stopped selling once comic books moved to a direct market system, and readers mostly cared about stories that “mattered,” and team-up stories almost never “mattered”), but it didn’t really have much of a specific tone to it. it was just a third Spider-Man title.
In 1986’s Web of Spider-Man #16, the decision was made to have Peter Parker begin to work for Now Magazine (a subsidiary of the Daily Bugle), with reporter Joy Mercado, and they would travel the world covering controversial news stories, with Peter taking the photos, and Joy writing the stories. David Michelinie, Marc Silvestri, and Kyle Baker was the superstar creative team. Sadly, soon into the run, an issue about the situation in Northern Ireland between the Catholics and the Protestants led to someone calling in a bomb threat to Marvel’s offices. Marvel quickly dropped the “ripped from the headlines” angle, and the comic book just became a normal superhero title again. That concept, though, could work easily for a miniseries, showing Peter and Joy going to interesting places following story ideas.
11
Spider-Man and Mary Jane Never Got a Real Chance to be a Young Couple in College
Image via Marvel
At the end of Gerry Conway’s iconic Amazing Spider-Man run, he finally had Peter Parker and Mary Jane commit themselves to each other as a couple (and it sure appears as though they had sex for the first time, as well). However, as noted, it was the end of his run. Len Wein took over, and while Wein did a great job on the series overall (beginning with his first story featuring that epic John Romita cover of Spider-Man trapped in a sewer getting pounded by a stream of water), the Peter/Mary Jane relationship did not fare as well.
They very quickly were fighting all the time, and by the time Marv Wolfman took over the series, it didn’t seem like Mary Jane was going to last in the series (she did not, as Wolfman had Peter propose, and Mary Jane turn him down). It therefore would be nice to see a series looking at Peter and Mary Jane’s early time dating in college that DIDN’T revolve around them breaking up all the time.
10
A New Spider-Man Or Spider-Woman In New York City
When the Jackal returned in “Spider-Island,” he didn’t create clones of Spider-Man, as he had in both Clone Sagas. Instead, the Jackal created more Spider-Men and Spider-Women thanks to radioactive insects. Fans saw Peter Parker’s struggles in this story arc and Mary Jane’s heroics with her spider-powers.
A new “Spider-Island” sequel miniseries could take readers back to that event and place them behind the eyes of several New Yorkers who gained these powers, potentially introducing new reoccurring characters to Spidey’s cast. Some could follow the lesson of power and responsibility. Some could not, using their powers for evil.
9
Peter Parker Back In High School
Image via Marvel Comics
A lot of modern Spider-Man media depicts Peter Parker attending high school. The MCU Spider-Man only just graduated from high school, while both the Spectacular Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man animated series star high schooler Peter Parkers. However, Peter only attended high school for less than 40 issues in Amazing Spider-Man.
In the grand scheme of things, Peter’s high school era was such a blip in his timeline. A new miniseries could send Peter back to high school and explore that era further, not as an alternate past or universe, like Ultimate Spider-Man, but as an expansion of the Steve Ditko/Stan Lee era.
8
The Return Of Marvel’s MC2 Universe
Image via Marvel Comics
Mayday Parker is a fan-favorite character in the Spider-Verse. As the Amazing Spider-Girl, she starred in her own oncoming comic title for years and even reappeared in the original Spider-Verse comic event, but many Marvel fans want more.
The MC2 universe is an interesting concept and deserves as much praise and attention as the Ultimate universe. Like the current Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Marvel should consider reviving the MC2 universe and Amazing Spider-Girl along with it––at the very least, presenting stories set during her original series.
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7
Kaine From The Clone Saga
Kaine in the streets of New York at night, as depicted in Spider-Man’s the “Clone Saga” from Marvel Comics.Image via Marvel Comics
Kaine has since become a pivotal character in Spider-Man’s cast, fighting as both a hero and anti-hero, using Ben Reilly’s old Scarlet Spider persona. Years earlier, Kaine was an antagonist to both Peter and Ben during the Clone Saga.
Fans love Kaine’s character development, especially after he starred in his own Scarlet Spider comic title. Still, the Kaine who first debuted in the Clone Saga was a beast––a wild animal, unleashed, looking to destroy the fake Spider-Man. A “Mark of Kaine” revival could expand Kaine’s time as a villain, presenting more dark secrets about his creation and time with the Jackal.
6
More Spider-Man Adventures Across The Spider-Verse
The Spider-Men and Women swinging into battle in Spider-Verse from Marvel ComicsImage via Marvel Comics
The original Spider-Verse comic opened so many doors and completely changed Spider-Man’s comic universe. Spider-Man was no longer just a friendly neighborhood hero. Even New York proved too small a playground for the Web-Slinger. Spider-People from across the multiverse teamed up.
While series like Edge of Spider-Verse continue to show multiversal adventures, a Spider-Verse miniseries could take readers back to that original event and show the Earth-616 Peter Parker interacting with these alternate Spider-People. Seeing the classic Peter’s interactions with these variants is half the fun, so he’d definitely need to be included in this series.
