Marvel Comics Exec Editor Rejects Idea That Peter Parker And MJ Should Get Back Together Due To Popularity Of ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’: “It Doesn’t Really Make A Convincing Argument To Me At All”
In standing firmly opposed to wider fan sentiment, Marvel Comics Executive Editor Tom Brevoort says that while their romance has played to rousing applause in Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3, he does not believe the series’ current popularity presents a convincing enough case for restoring Peter Parker and Mary-Jane’s marriage in the 616.
Brevoort, who also serves as the current overseer of the publisher’s X-Men line, provided his take on the current Spider-Marriage discourse while answering fan questions for the March 9th edition of his weekly Man With A Hat Substack blog.
Asked as to his thoughts on the “recurring idea that the success of the new Ultimate Spider-Man (with a married Peter Parker) is an indication that the regular 616 Peter’s marriage to MJ should be reinstated, and that it is a fault of the editor(s) over there for not recognizing that and thus reaping similar sales success”, the Marvel Comics editor responded with the firm declaration, “Yeah, I’ve been hearing from a couple of yahoos whose idea of a good time is to send us the same form letter about MJ and Paul every single day. But here’s the thing: I think the point of view that you’re talking about is simply incorrect.”
“First off, the difference in sales between Ultimate Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man is relatively slim,” said Brevoort. “It’s not like Ultimate is doing twice or three times the business or anything. And secondly, I don’t think that the success of Ultimate at the moment is just down to Pete and MJ being married within it. I think it has a lot more to do with the quality of the work that Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto are producing.”
“So I get that people who want Pete and MJ back together are of course going to point to that series, but the truth is that it doesn’t really make a convincing argument to me at all,” he concluded. “I’ve been around this particular sort of block too many times over the years to mistake the signals.”
Admittedly, Brevoort isn’t completely wrong in his assertions – but he’s also not completely right.
Per publicly available sales information provided by comic book retailer-specific news outlet ICv2, while Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 does outsell Amazing Spider-Man Vol.6, it does not completely blow away its Earth-616 counterpart.
For example, in November 2024, Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6 #61 came just behind Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 #11 in total sales and units moved – and though the months since have seen Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 pull ahead in both metrics, the gap in either category hasn’t yet been larger than five books.
Further, Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6‘s standings are helped by the fact that not only is it published tri-monthly, but every issue also manages to rank among the month’s best-selling (and sad to say, that’s on readers).
However, this competition really only pertains to individual issues.
Conversely, when looking at the monthly Top 20 Graphic Novel sales charts compiled since its September 2024 release, the first Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 trade paper back – appropriately subtitled ‘Married With Children’ – has consistently ranked as one of the top three best-selling books across the industry, while absolutely zero Amazing Spider-Man collections have even placed.
This comparison gets even worse when looking at the relevant numbers for the whole of 2024, as despite being available for just four-months, said Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 trade still closed out the year as the third-best selling graphic novel by units and fifth by total dollars.
In other words, while comic book readers and speculators may be buying each issue of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 6, readers outside of this demographic – including those both new and returning – are clamoring for Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3.
And while it would be nice to be able to point to this discrepancy as proof that even casual readers want Peter Parker and MJ back together – and while that may still be separately true – the more realistic answer is that word of mouth regarding that absolute banger of a job the aforementioned duo of Hickman and Checchetto have been delivering over on Earth-6160.
All in all, while the early numbers do look good for the pro-Spider-Marriage faction, the true test of interest will be determined by whether or not the series can retain this interest well into its future.
(And honestly, if its creative team can pull it off, we could be looking at a truly legendary run.)
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