“One More Day” has infamously gone down as one of the most splintering arcs in a Spider-Man comic book, and not without good reason. Rather, perhaps what’s crowned as the ‘greatest Spider-Man tragedy,’ which occurred long before Peter and Mary Jane Parker’s ill-fated bargain with Mephisto, is the death of Gwen Stacy.

But, landing squarely on what tragedy is the most egregious in the history of Spider-Man lore, the horrors that have befallen Peter’s broader family, or families, can’t be overlooked. In particular, the tragedy of Gwen’s death may have a tough time competing with the main universe’s Peter being robbed of each child he’s had, and in a brutal fashion, too.

Gwen Stacy is a Sad Relic of Spider-Man’s Best Era

It’s impossible to deny how profound Gwen’s death was in The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #121. Rippling far into the future of the book and cementing itself as one of the most pivotal moments in The Amazing Spider-Man, it’s fascinating to imagine what Peter’s life may have been like if Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin never tossed Gwen from that bridge and Peter’s webbing hadn’t caused life-ending whiplash.

Gwen has reappeared more than a handful of times, whether in Earth-616 or alternate continuities and runs, but her death was a defining beat that’s been echoed somewhat in almost every iteration of the character—at least before she began web-swinging and wall-crawling as Spider-Gwen, though the Peter of Earth-65 adopts Gwen’s Earth-616 role to a degree. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Spider-Man: Blue, for example, is a piece of solemn self-reflection for Peter and proof that Gwen will always occupy a recess of his heart.

Marvel’s House of M is Torture for Spider-Man

Marvel gifting Peter with a child, or a deceased person he loved who came back to life, only to then confiscate them from him, crests the list of the most awful traumas the character has experienced. In House of M’s pocket universe, for example, Peter has a son, Richie, with his wife, Gwen, and initially has no memory of his real life.

Peter is depressingly forced to reconcile with the grief he had already endured when he reclaims his memories, as well as the fresh grief of losing a son. While Gwen’s death is life-shatteringly climactic in the main universe, she and Peter’s child being pure manifestations in House of M, especially with what that fake reality meant to Peter, understandably depicts Peter at his lowest.

Today, House of M’s effect on Peter has largely been swept under a rug, along with the child he never actually had.

Spider-Man’s Clone Saga Ending is Nauseating

Stunningly, House of M would not be the worst or first occasion involving a child Peter had lost, especially because Richie wasn’t real (not that him being real or not made losing him any easier for Peter to reconcile). In The Amazing Spider-Man’s “Clone Saga” arc, Peter and MJ believe their child, Mayday, was stillborn, though it is heavily implied that Norman Osborn had the newborn kidnapped and potentially killed.

The Amazing Spider-Man’s ​​​​​​​“One More Day” merely poured salt on the wound by dangling the loss of Mayday in front of Peter and MJ seconds before retconning their marriage. Anyone hopping into The Amazing Spider-Man nowadays, for instance, would have a rich history of retcons and forgotten throughlines to parse, being none the wiser about how much Peter has lost.

Of course, with new writers and eras, there will always be retcons or overall storyline changes on some level. Regardless, Marvel burying or obscuring the events of Peter losing his children is maybe his greatest tragedy, though the list is indeed long.

The Modern Landscape of Spider-Man’s Love Life is Hellish

Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Spider-Man run is another alternate-universe glimpse at what Peter could look like as a husband and a father, this time with his family life being joyously pleasant. There’s a possibility that the thread unravels with this Ultimate Spider-Man Peter Parker’s whole family taken from him, maybe at the hands of Ultimate Endgame’s Maker, but that would be quite unprecedented, even if tragedy and loss are Spider-Man staples.

This is concerning because, if Marvel is only allowing Peter to settle down and start a family outside the mainline run, he’s left to meander through half-baked relationships in The Amazing Spider-Man that could be interesting if developed well, yet they’ve all been given inadequate potential. It is dissatisfying that Raelith of Kailo is surely on her way out the door once Peter returns to Earth, for example, and their ‘friendship’ will probably never extend further than the kiss they shared.

Paul has reinforced Marvel’s decision to deliberately distance Peter and MJ lately, also. Even though MJ broke up with Paul and she and Peter will be teaming up as Venom and Spider-Man, respectively, it’s not likely that readers should hope for or anticipate them reuniting as lovers, whether that’s during the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral arc or by The Amazing Spider-Man #1000.

First Appearance

Amazing Fantasy

Alias

Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, Otto Octavius, Yu Komori, Kaine Parker, Pavitr Prabhakar, William Braddock, Miles Morales, Kurt Wagner

Alliance

Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Secret Defenders, Future Foundation, Heroes for Hire, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Web-Warriors

Race

Human