The Spider-Verse Is Not Only Epic, It Solved One of Marvel and DC’s Biggest Problems

The Spider-Verse brought a lot of big changes, and it helped writers avoid a problem that Marvel and DC Comics have been facing for years. It seems only like yesterday that Marvel introduced the Spider-Verse concept and united hundreds of wall-crawling heroes to stop the worst threats in the multiverse.

What began as a major comic book event in 2014 blossomed into a franchise that has dazzled fans everywhere. Over the years, fans have gotten to know a lot of other Spider-heroes other than Peter Parker, and the endless number of variants have helped solve an issue that Marvel and DC have struggled to overcome.

The Spider-Verse Idea Allows Creators Much More Freedom

Bigger, Collaborative Efforts Are Easier with a Multiverse Angle

In an ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread on Reddit, X-Men writer Chris Claremont answered questions on the /r/comicbooks subreddit. One user asked Claremont if there were any titles he wished he had the chance to write but never got the chance to either because of editorial limits or characters being used by other writers. Claremont expressed his desire to still be writing X-Men to this day, but he admits that as a professional comic book writer, sometimes ideas don’t ever manifest as fully-realized stories.

Claremont dives deeper into this, saying that working in a bigger environment like Marvel or DC is that it’s much more collaborative and that everyone has their own vision for how a character should end up. The writer mentions how even he had to accept that he couldn’t just undo changes to a character that he stepped away from for a few years, because fans bond with established history. Claremont highlights that writers have to work with the changes to characters and play nice with one another, otherwise it leads to “awkward situations”.

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That being said, Claremont brings up the Spider-Verse and how the variants presented in the franchise allow creators to explore ideas that aren’t exactly suitable for the mainline Spider-Man. Claremont describes his excitement watching the first Spider-Verse movie and mentions that’s the kind of energy creators should be aspiring for when creating comic book stories. Claremont concludes his respons saying that bolder, more ‘out-there’ ideas aren’t only fun for readers to engage with, they’re also more fun for a creator to craft a story.

Chris Claremont is Right, Creators Run into Problems Working in a Shared Universe

But the Spider-Verse Broke the Mold and Opened a New World

When it comes to expansive superhero universes, DC Comics and Marvel Comics have the two biggest fictional worlds around. For nearly a century, both franchises have shaped universes filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of heroes and villains, and told big, epic stories that have made fans all across the world. But as time has gone on, creators have faced the problem that comes with a shared universe, namely having to share the biggest and most fun toys with others.

Generally, it’s never been a problem as there are more than enough heroes to go around. But every once in a while, writers are forced to rewrite or even ditch ideas because a character they want to use is being taken in a different direction. A creator hoping to use a particular mutant hero might not get the chance if they’re being used in an X-Men story. Or someone hoping to have one of Batman’s partners appear may have to write around a sudden and unexpected development (say, Nightwing losing his memory).

What’s made the Spider-Verse so fun and unique is that, for the most part, it’s eschewed the rule book and done whatever the hell it wanted to with the Spider-Man franchise. Sure, Earth-616 Peter Parker is the same old guy he’s always been. But the Spider-Verse brought in variants based on any idea creators could come up with. Spider-Man as a T. Rex, Spider-Man as a man made of spiders, even Spider-Man as a car, no idea has been too off-the-wall for a Spider-Verse story.

The Spider-Verse Represents Unlimited Creativity and Freedom

More Stories Should Aim for Something as Fun and Open

Of course, the Spider-Verse stories aren’t the only multiverse tales in either the Marvel or the DC Universe. Both publishers routinely explore alternate takes on their characters in things like Marvel’s What If…? one-shots or DC’s numerous Elseworlds comics. But while these do a good job of giving creators more creative freedom, these ideas never last beyond one or two issues. Spider-Verse, on the other hand, is a creative juggernaut that just keeps on going and giving fans more and more unusual and new ways of reinterpreting Spider-Man.

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Claremont makes a point that a shared universe makes it hard for creators to tell the stories they want when they have to worry about stepping on the toes of other creators. In a perfect world, creative teams could just tell the stories they want, but keeping up a continuity is something that a lot of fans appreciate. But the Spider-Verse has been able to tell every story the creators involved have wanted to tell thanks to the freedom it brings.

That’s not to say Marvel Comics needs to give every hero their own Spider-Verse (though the publisher has certainly played with the concept). And DC doesn’t need to rush to create a ‘Bat-Verse’. But there’s something to be said of a concept like the Spider-Verse and its willingness to break the rules and bring in any idea, no matter how wild or silly, and just run with it. More than anything else, the Spider-Verse has allowed creators a freedom they don’t always find when working for bigger names like Marvel or DC.

The Spider-Verse Doesn’t Have to Be the Standard, But Ideas Like it Matter

Give Creators the Room to Create with Ideas like the Spider-Verse

Creators involved with Marvel or DC Comics don’t always get to tell the stories they want, since they have to make their comics work with other creators’ stories. But the Spider-Verse gives creators a chance to take their idea and just put it out into the world, without having to worry about it impacting anyone else. Ideas like the Spider-Verse and the creative freedom that comes with it could be a game changer for Marvel and DC’s creators.

Source: Reddit

Spider-Verse

Writer

Dan Slott

Penciler

Olivier Coipel, Giuseppe Camuncoli

Inker

Wade Von Grawbadger, Cam Smith

Colorist

Justin Ponsor

Letterer

Joe Caramagna

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