Popverse's top stories

• Summer 2026 is getting started already - we have the Florida Supercon 2026 dates!
• Why have a family vacation from hell when you could read one instead with Jennifer Thorne's Diavola? [If It Bleeds, We Read]
• Marvel Studios veterans are teaming up to bring 2000 AD icon Judge Dredd to the big screen one more time

In recent Spider-Man comics history, it's hard to come up with a more successful gamble than Dan Slott and Ryan Stegman's Superior Spider-Man. The series - which saw Spidey villain Doctor Octopus successfully swap bodies with Peter Parker, only to go on and try and fill the hero's shoes - was a giant swing in terms of typical comic book storytelling. And now, the writer is revealing that it was just as controversial internally at Marvel Comics as it was among the fanbase.

Dan Slott spoke about the legendary 2013 saga at WonderCon 2025, a panel reported on by Comic Book Club. During the discussion, Slott revealed he caught some (presumably friendly) flack from other marvel creators at the time who wanted to use the OG webhead in their stories. "I had a lot of guys who did not want Doc Ock as Spider-Man," Slott said, "They all wanted their Spider-Man that they grew up with in their books."

Their solution? According to CBC's reporting, the best way to get past this was having Superior Spider-Man wrap up in just six short issues. As you know if you've read the series, the storyline stretched across over 30 issues, from Spider-Man #701-#733 (depending on who you ask), and that's not counting tie-in appearances. All totalled, the original story makes up six trade paperback collections.

Even before the issues started selling well, however, Marvel was already countering some of the feedback Slott had received, "We [Marvel] think this has 12 issues," Slott said the House of Idea told him, and as we now know, it turned out to have far more than that. You've got to hand it to Dan Slott though, not just for believing in the story, but for fully committing to the bit.

As he continued speaking, Slott told WonderCon that he would tell even "small children" that Peter Parker really was never coming back to headline the book. In fact, the writer only revealed his story plans to two people (as Popverse has previously reported): Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee and actor Andrew Garfield, who was playing Peter Parker in films at the time. I suppose that if you're going to tell anyone your Spider-man secrets, those would be who you pick. 

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's 10 best Spider-Man comic books, our Spider-Man movie watch order, and if you want our opinions on the subject, read our articles ranking Spider-Man's actors and Spider-Man's girlfriends.