The government wants all heroes to take off their masks or face jail
time, freezing of all assets, and the arrests of their friends and family
who might be aiding the heroes in the concealment of their identities.
Peter Parker, having given his word to stand by Tony Stark, has agreed to go
along with Tony's support of this government measure. Aunt May encourages
Peter to go public, and at the very end, Peter stands before a large crowd
dressed as Spiderman and unmasks before the world. These are the events of
the Amazing Spider-Man #532 & #533 and Civil War #2.
Is this the end of the secret identity? The recent issue of Wizard #179
seems to indicate that at least for the Marvel Universe the secret
identity may be a thing of the past. So far the Marvel Universe has
revealed the identities of Daredevil, Captain America after 911,
Iron Man and the Fantastic Four who have always been upfront with their
identities.
Just my opinion here, but I don't like
Spider-Man revealing his identity. It's a great gimmick for a little
while but as Moon Knight writer, Charlie Huston, said in Wizard,
"I think it's a bad call, both in terms of the character and
the long term health of the title". He goes on to say that he
imagines someone is going to try and re-mask Spider-man, but that it
would be a difficult task to pull off and do it in a way that makes
sense.
Where does this leave Mary Jane and Aunt May? Will Spider-Man have to
spend 24 hours a day protecting them eventually? I can't imagine that
Spider-Man's greatest enemies are going to play nice and leave Peter
Parker's loved ones alone. Given that it doesn't make sense that Peter
would give up his identity. He knows the dangers presented to the
family of a superhero. That's why he's kept his identity secret all
these years.
Spider-Man has even had to go up against
Captain America, who stands opposed to the registration act. After
all the years I've read Spider-Man, I just can't imagine Peter
taking a side against Captain America for the sake of a legality.
After all, Spider-Man is the ultimate vigilante, reluctant of course
to some degree, but a rebel nonetheless, standing on the outside of
the law. How many times have police officers actually shot at
Spider-Man, convinced he was a menace, thanks in part to J. Jonah
Jameson's articles in the Daily Bugle? To me, Spider-Man's greatest
allegiance is to the spirit of the law and the legal system, not
necessarily the letter of the law. |
click for larger image of Spiderman 533
click for Wallpaper size
Wizard Cover of Spiderman's Identity Crisis
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