Entertainment
Game of Thrones Creator Reveals Why Marvel’s Reboot Is Destined To Fail
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The longer he takes to write Winds of Winter, the easier it is to get (and stay) mad at Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin. However, the man is a true geek at heart, and every now and then, he says something so relatable that you just can’t help but fall in love with him all over again.
For example, he recently reiterated that he hated how much Marvel Comics altered the canon with the Spider-Man “One More Day” storyline. His words effectively serve as a warning to Disney about its upcoming MCU reboot.
The Pettiness That Was Promised
Popverse recently reported on Martin’s hatred for changing canon: “I don’t like retcons,” he said, following that up with “I don’t like reboots.” Speaking for fans all over the world, the Game of Thrones creator griped about the pain of “following a character or a superhero…for years, sometimes decades” before the writers declare “Oh, no…none of that stuff happened” and decide “to start the whole thing over again.” After restating his general annoyance, Martin got specific by declaring, “Peter Parker married Mary Jane…you can’t undo these things, but they do nowadays.”
If you’re younger, or maybe just not a huge comic fan, you’re probably wondering what in the name of Uncle Ben that George R.R. Martin is complaining about at the end there. It all goes back to the infamous “One More Day” Spider-Man storyline from the comics, one which sundered arguably the greatest relationship in Marvel comics history. At the time the comic came out, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were married, having tied the knot in the 1987 comic The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21.
It’s Gonna Be May
In “One More Day,” Aunt May has taken a bullet meant for Peter Parker, who the world knows is Spider-Man, thanks to the events of Civil War. To save her life, Peter makes a deal with Mephisto, who is the Marvel version of the Devil. Mephisto agrees to save Aunt May’s life and even make the entire world forget that Peter is the spectacular Spider-Man, but there’s a price: Mephisto would also make the entire world (including the happy couple) forget that Peter Parker and Mary Jane were ever married.
Fans hated the story then, and they hate it now because it undid literal decades of comic storytelling in a cynical effort to make Spider-Man more marketable (i.e., more like the young, unmarried bachelor of films like The Amazing Spider-Man). The fact that Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin obliquely mentioned “One More Day” while ranting about retcons and reboots is further proof of just how angry changing the canon made Marvel’s fans. Furthermore, Disney is likely to discover just how many fans feel the same as Martin after they reboot the MCU with the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars.
Resets, Reboots, And Mutants (Oh, My!)
While details are scarce, Marvel guru Kevin Feige confirmed to Variety back in July that Secret Wars would “reset” (his preferred alternative term to “reboot,” which he called “a scary word”) the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This would include recasting popular characters whose actors have (mostly) retired from the MCU, like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Regarding the reset, Feige said that “‘X-Men’ is where that will happen next,” implying that the Marvel Cinematic Universe will have changed enough to explain why the world is suddenly filled with mutants that have just never shown their faces before now.
As a lifelong comic nerd, I’m fine with the last part…the MCU began before Disney had the rights to the X-Men, so it was always going to take a goofy retcon to bring them into this cinematic universe in any kind of satisfying way. However, bringing back Captain America and Iron Man means undoing most (if not all) of Avengers: Endgame. Feige is trying to downplay the idea of completely rebooting the MCU, but the blunt truth is that if Endgame is up for grabs, there’s basically no aspect of established lore that is safe from getting “reset.”
Marvel’s Greatest (And Final?) Gamble
I’m not rooting for Marvel to fail, and I’d be genuinely excited if this reboot could effectively bring this cinematic universe back to its glory days. But George R.R. Martin’s recent words are proof that the superfans of this franchise are heavily invested in its every twist and turn. Undoing major elements of the characters and stories they love may be the quickest way to drive those fans away altogether, and this is an audience the studio simply can’t afford to lose.
That’s the dark irony here: Marvel is basically gambling that a reboot will bring back the kinds of mainstream audiences that once ensured most films were likely to become billion-dollar hits. However, widespread superhero fatigue has ensured that it’s mostly diehard fans who are keeping the brand alive by seeing every film in theaters, streaming every show, and talking about nothing but Marvel on social media. By driving away these superfans even as mainstream audiences continue to skip movies like Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four, Marvel may effectively destroy their last chance at a triumphant return in the stupidest possible way: one annoying retcon at a time.
