Spidey’s ID: back in the bottle?

[The Night Phantom]

Now that Spider-Man has publicly unmasked as Peter Parker, there’s been discussion questioning whether Spidey’s dual identity will remain public. Of course, it would take some maneuvering to get it unknown; but in comics, it could happen (cf. the mass forgetting of Wally West’s dual identity as the Flash).

I was thinking that the “Iron Spider” costume might be an out in this direction. Its advanced technology could offer a partially true explanation as to why Peter Parker was able to demonstrate super powers (even in street clothes, since the costume can appear as such)—in other words, the story would be that Parker isn’t the “real” Spider-Man and has no powers outside what Stark’s costume gave him. As for why Peter would “pose” as Spidey—well, some story would have to be concocted, but it was already public knowledge that Parker had a relationship with Spider-Man as a news photographer; and so Peter’s taking Spider-Man’s place could be made all the more plausible.

[Shiryu]

Peter showed some powers without costume in the latest Friendly N SM and Spectacular SM, but Flask Thompson suggested he is only "helping" Spidey. I'm sure that, if they want, it won't be difficult to find a way to hide it all over (and perhaps a few others too)

[Doctor Doom]

My bet is still on Doctor Strange or Wanda! I don't think they'll go the suit route, and they'll wait a tleast a half year before they retcon it.

[balok]

Why would Doctor Strange help him? Were I him I'd be inclined to say something along the likes of "You made your bed, now lie in it. I have more important demands on my time than to fix mistakes made by people who should have known better, anyway." Remember that Doctor Strange is not a supporter of the Registration Act (nor is he an opponent).

[redstatecap]

balok said:

Why would Doctor Strange help him? Were I him I'd be inclined to say something along the likes of "You made your bed, now lie in it. I have more important demands on my time than to fix mistakes made by people who should have known better, anyway." Remember that Doctor Strange is not a supporter of the Registration Act (nor is he an opponent).

Because Marvel is desperately looking for a convenient deus ex machina to unscrew this whole cluster-f*ck.
Given all that's gone on so far in CW characterization-wise, I wouldn't rule out anything right now.

RSC

[imperiusrex]

I doubt they'll put his ID back anytime soon.
As of right now there'd be no point. There's still a run of at least two year's worth of stories to get out of the revelation. Two years where they can lay the groundwork for a big story that'll put his ID back.
Or if there's a dropoff from the resurgent speculator/multissue buyer craze, they can always do a "back to basics" approach.
Y'see we've accepted retcons as a fact of life, so they can occur whenever, wherever (and yes I fully get the Shakira allusion-just happened to fit...).
I foresee a Spidey story where something terrible happens to MJ because of his ID and she leaves him because of it, then the Beyonder comes back big time, a huge battle ensues. Spidey wins out, last hero standing and he's granted his greatest wish, that whatever happened to MJ unhappen and in doing so, he rewrites his own history and no one knows who he is.
Spidey of course doesn't go back to her because his great fear is that next time there won't be an "undo" button...
Until ten years down the line when someone decides that a married Spidey was really good and they want that character back and we the readers just go through a mobius strip of repeated actions

[dlw66]

Maybe Alfred could put the suit on... it always worked for Bruce Wayne .

[The Night Phantom]

imperiusrex said:

I doubt they'll put his ID back anytime soon.
As of right now there'd be no point. There's still a run of at least two year's worth of stories to get out of the revelation. Two years where they can lay the groundwork for a big story that'll put his ID back.

Yeah, I was thinking a year or so when I suggested using the “Iron Spider” costume as a device. For it to work, it would help to have some credible corroboration—Tony Stark’s cooperation would be extremely helpful—and it would be best for superpower registration to no longer be the law, either. So, it would take some time for my suggested strategy.

But…on the other hand, you would think you’d get at least several issues’ worth of follow-up stories from changes like Spider-Man’s new powers or the trauma of being wrested from his idyllic House of M existence before the next big thing came along…so, maybe we’re both wrong about timing.

[balok]

The problem I see with the costume is that any attempt by Peter to deny being Spider-Man that doesn't involve a lot of amnesia is going to fail. The connection is there; any attempt to deny it will simply put reporters on the trail.

The Champions super-heroic roleplaying game had this to say in a gamemastering section (about dealing with characters who don't act heroic): "You'd be surprised how quickly someone with excellent detective skills and motivation can pierce a secret identity from the tiny clues most comic book authors gloss over. And if the character has offended his moral sense, he will not hesitate to reveal what he learns." I'd say that anyone starting from the basic premise "Is Peter Parker Spider-Man or not?" could "re-out" him in short order.

[The Night Phantom]

balok said:

The problem I see with the costume is that any attempt by Peter to deny being Spider-Man that doesn't involve a lot of amnesia is going to fail. The connection is there; any attempt to deny it will simply put reporters on the trail.

The Champions super-heroic roleplaying game had this to say in a gamemastering section (about dealing with characters who don't act heroic): "You'd be surprised how quickly someone with excellent detective skills and motivation can pierce a secret identity from the tiny clues most comic book authors gloss over. And if the character has offended his moral sense, he will not hesitate to reveal what he learns." I'd say that anyone starting from the basic premise "Is Peter Parker Spider-Man or not?" could "re-out" him in short order.

I wouldn’t be surprised by the fragility of dual identities…in the real world. However, I accept the great degree of impenetrability of heroes’ secret identities as a convention of the superhero genre…much as with superpowers themselves. In fact, Peter has been “outed” before (albeit never quite so publicly, as I recall), even to persons with a high degree of outrage to at least one of his identities (JJJ, Doc Ock…) but he’s usually managed to cover up. As I mentioned, even before the unmasking, a Parker–Spider-Man connection was publicly known and so (in my theory) could actually help disentangle the two identities. And remember: my suggested cover story is not that Peter Parker was never Spider-Man—it’s just that he’s filling in as Spider-Man right now, and the longtime “real” past and future Spidey is someone else. So, in my view, you would just need a public return of the “real” Spider-Man and a public discrediting of the notion that it’s Peter Parker. Sure, in the real world, there’d be at least a few skeptics who could uncover the truth, but IMO the scenario could work in Spider-Man’s world. And sure, you could have a few holdouts like Norman Osborn to ramp up post-remasking drama.

For me, the “Iron Spider” route is a convenient theory, but just a theory. I do prefer it over suggestions of a general memory wipe simply because I think the wipe is clichéd, contrived, and far out of Spider-Man’s league. I also happen to be highly resistant to “something happened but never did” stories (I’m pretty tough on time-travel stories…). I suppose one might consider my theory contrived also, but it does come from the continuity and requires Peter to effect a solution within his means, rather than appealing to a deus ex machina like Strange, Wanda, or the Beyonder. But I’m happy to entertain alternate suggestions.

[balok]

I agree that one of the genre conventions of superheroic storytelling is that secret identities are far harder to piece than they should be. Heck, if a pair of glasses and a cowlick could cloud the minds of Daily Planet reporters, almost anything should work.

But I do think that whatever scheme they use to restore Peter's secret identity - and I believe this is a case of when, not if - will have to be consistent and reasonably difficult to pierce, otherwise it's going to seem a little bit like a bad magician saying "Is your card the three of clubs? Oops" as he drops a deck full of threes of clubs.

[thew40]

I'm betting it'll remain public for a good while. I'm sure if Marvel decided to change it, they can just have someone (Tony or Peter himself) come out and say "it was all a publicity stunt to try and get super-heroes to register."

~W~

[BigDuke]

I think you may have stumbled upon the Sentry's sole purpose in the Marvel Universe: to make everyone forget something. Someone will convince him that by making everyone forget how stupid the "Civil War" and the Reg Act are (along with all of the incidents along the way) that he will vanquish the Noid (er Void). Of course that won't explain the 47 burial plots used for some guy named Bill Foster, but no plan is perfect.

[The Night Phantom]

nightphantom said:

Now that Spider-Man has publicly unmasked as Peter Parker, there’s been discussion questioning whether Spidey’s dual identity will remain public. Of course, it would take some maneuvering to get it unknown; but in comics, it could happen (cf. the mass forgetting of Wally West’s dual identity as the Flash).

I was thinking that the “Iron Spider” costume might be an out in this direction. Its advanced technology could offer a partially true explanation as to why Peter Parker was able to demonstrate super powers (even in street clothes, since the costume can appear as such)—in other words, the story would be that Parker isn’t the “real” Spider-Man and has no powers outside what Stark’s costume gave him. As for why Peter would “pose” as Spidey—well, some story would have to be concocted, but it was already public knowledge that Parker had a relationship with Spider-Man as a news photographer; and so Peter’s taking Spider-Man’s place could be made all the more plausible.

I just read last week’s Avengers: The Initiative #7. I must say it’s an impressive piece of work.

[Doctor Doom]

As a Spider-Man fan, I must say I despise last week's issue. Nothing personal to your theory, Phantom, but the way it was done totally ignores pretty much everyone Peter Parker spoke to and would be utterly useless if anyone actually asked a pro-registration hero "So was he really Peter Parker?"

[Tana Nile]

I would have preferred either the "Iron Spider" solution or even a Skrull explanation over the ludicrous magical method they used to erase his secret ID.

[goldenfist]

Steve Ditko must've been really mad, Too bad he doesn't talk to
anyone about what happened to Spider-Man.

[Alchemist-X]

Sometimes with retcons its beter to focus on the results than the methods. (like The whole Mephisto makes a deal with Spider-man as a plot device)