This is part 2 of a 3-part post. Part 1.
Before we go any further, I want to make a brief stop so I can look for something in my long boxes in the other room. Ah, here it is. Indulge me for just a moment.
Amazing Spider-man #274
Amazing Spider-man #274, set during the height of Secret Wars II when
the omnipotent Beyonder was being a major threat to reality/general
nuisance. Someone had said the wrong thing to the Beyonder and he was
close to erasing all of existence as though it had never been. Not even
Mephisto was safe and he knew it. So when the gulliable but wildly
dangerous Beyonder came at him, Mephisto bought himself time to prepare
treachery by offering up a wager. The wager would be each would chose
Mephisto would chose a virtuous hero to represent the value of
existance and the Beyonder would select a terrible threat to put them
into a situation where they would have to go against a belief they held
dear. The Beyonder allowed Mephisto no choice at all and gave him
Spider-man as his champion, the Beyonder chose for himself Mephisto's
prisoner, the vengeance demon Zarathos himself. That's right the same
unforgiving, unrelenting, Zarathos who was once bonded to Johnny Blaze
as Ghost Rider. The wager was afoot, but would only buy reality
twenty-four more hours instead of the millenia Mephisto was hoping for.
While going about his usual duties of not having any money or time to
spend with Aunt May and Mary Jane, Spider-man stumbled unto a plot to
assassinate Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime. The hit was to go down
in a very short time at the Kingpin's favorite restaurant, and now the
game would begin for Mephisto and the Beyonder. As Spider-man
contemplated on exactly how he would prevent the assassination despite
Fisk's nature, Zarathos appeared to him and barked that the Kingpin
clearly deserved to die and he should do exactly nothing. The monster,
who Spider-man had no knowledge of in his true form, cast realistic
illusions of Spider-man's greatest regrets and failures upon him. The
then late Norman Osborn battling Spider-man as the Green Goblin, asking
why Spider-man had not found a way to save him. Visions of Peter
Parker's disappointed parents. The cruel Zarathos even plagued our hero
with honest-to-goodness boils before appearing as a miffed Captain
Stacy and pretending to give Spider-man another chance to save Gwen
Stacy who is of course still dead. The Beyonder was soaking up the
drama although it was getting to be a little much even for him,
Mephisto grew more and more twitchy at the prospect of losing his own
wager.
The moment of truth was finally at hand after all the torture and
visions, Zarathos appeared before the beseiged Spider-man in a masked
physical form. The Kingpin left for his dinner reservation, the
assassin already in place. Spider-man was little match for Zarathos,
but upon appearing to gain the upper hand, Spider-man unmasked his
assailant, to reveal Zarathos' final attack. Under the mask is, of
course, dear Uncle Ben who reminds Peter Parker how he disappoints
everyone, is locked in a pattern of trying to help people who will just
ask more and more of him, and a prisoner of his own responsibility. All
Spider-man has to do to get this emotional agony to stop is just forget
everyone else, live for himself, enjoy life. That's all he has to do.
The hour tolls as time is up for the Kingpin and it appears that the
Beyonder has won although he isn't terribly excited about it. But
somehow, some way, Spider-man rises to his feet amid the demon's mystic
assault. Spider-man tell Zarathos that everything the visions have said
are pretty much true and that he should probably stay down, but he has
someplace to be. He can't knowingly let a man die, not even the
Kingpin. There is no reason why Spider-man carries such an overwhelming
sense of responsibility on his shoulders, but "that's the way I was
brought up..that's the person I've always been." He then delivers a
left hook to Zarathos that send him straight back to Mephisto's prison,
and then takes out the sniper that was set to finish the Kingpin, who
will never know that he owes his life to Spider-man. Mephisto has
bought reality another twenty-four hours and the Beyonder perhaps has
learned something about the strength and potential within a brief
mortal life. Great issue, huh?
The point of this long and drawn out synopsis of a random issue from
1985? Firstly, this is the only time Spider-man has interacted with
Mephisto. Mephisto had, of course, heard of Spider-man and was not
thrilled at the prospect of him being his champion with all of
existance, himself included, hanging in the balance. Spider-man would
never know why he came under such attack that day or what was at stake.
But most importantly, Spider-man did not take the deal offered to him.
Spider-man did not relent to stop the pain, even though it was such a
simple thing to do. Why? The reason why is the reason Spider-man is the
character he is, the reason why he got his own series after Amazing
Fantasy #15. He is the hero and his strength comes from the ideals that
he was raised with ie: he does not take the deal that the bad guy
offers. He does not accept the villain's terms which are guaranteed to
have side effects. He does not negotiate with terrorists. Not without a
plan for what happens next, anyways.
Spider-man: One More Day Part 4
This is it. The last part. Our hero and his wife ponder the offer
presented to them by the evil Mephisto. He can make it so Aunt May
lives, but it will cost the couple their marriage. If they take the
deal, May will live, but they will never have been married. They won't
remember that any such bargain took place or that they were ever
married. But they will each have some faint clue in the back of their
heads that something had been lost. With time running out, Mary Jane
wonders if it is perhaps May's time. If it were natural causes then
Peter could accept that, but it was his unmasking that led to her being
at death's door so he has to try and change this. Mephisto arrives for
their answer, but is met with more questions which he does answer. The
specific detail of their marriage will be removed from the past.
Spider-man's identity reveal will be erased so the same thing doesn't
happen to May or MJ again. They're down to seconds left for May and MJ
accepts the deal, but with some sort of stipulation that she whispers
to the demon. But it does not work unless they both take it. Frustrated
and out of options, Peter Parker accepts Mephisto's offer. Spider-man
makes a deal with the devil. At this time Mephisto reveals that the
charming little red-headed girl from before was the the daughter that
the Parkers were destined to have. Gone now because of the deal they
just made to disolve their marriage from history in exchange for Aunt
May's life. Things like that are exactly why you don't deal with
Mephisto, a lesson Peter and MJ learned the hard way. Just a few
seconds left and MJ assures Peter that they will find their way back
again someday, not even this will keep them apart. Quesada provides a
great double-page splash of their good times together, then its all
over. Peter Parker wakes up in Aunt May's house, where he lives, grabs
a wheat cake for the road and heads out to a special get-together. The
gang is all there, Flash Thompson, even MJ though the two keep their
distance for reasons to be revealed. The guest of honor arrives and it
is Harry Osborn. Fresh out of rest and rehab in Europe. Somehow the
deal that was struck with Mephisto resulted in Peter's friend and
sometimes foe, Harry, living instead of dying. Here's to a brand new
day.
So that's what happened. Spider-man made a deal with the devil. The more I type that the less right it sounds. In the store recently, recently overheard a customer explaining the story to a relative who did not read comics. He said to her that Aunt May had been shot by a gunman and in order to saver her life, Peter Parker had made a deal with he devil. Ghost Rider making a deal with the devil, sure I can take that without blinking. Because there it precident for it. But for Spider-man to do that, well it doesn't sound right. There's no way to make it sound right. Impossible. The reason I dug Amazing #274 out of my boxes to re-read is because not only is it the only interaction between Spider-man and Mephisto that I've read until now, it is a prime example of how Spider-man never takes the deal. Until now. And an institution that has been in place since I was buying new issue of Spider-man off the shelf is expunged. Peter Parker is not only not married to Mary Jane, he never was.
...continued in part 3.
