Trivia / The Amazing Spider-Man (2022)

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• Content Leak: Marvel billed Amazing Spider-Man #26 as "the most shocking issue of Amazing Spider-Man in 50 years", saying that it would be followed by a Fallen Friend one-shot - and that all further details of the one-shot were embargoed until #26 was released. This fueled speculation that a major character would die. On May 16, 2023 (two weeks prior to publication) images of #26 were leaked online, revealing the twist. Later the same day, Marvel abandoned their embargo and a press release stated that Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel would die. Later in May additional leaks revealed more details for the death scene in question, along with another twist from the same issue.
• Dueling Works:
  • With Fantastic Four (2022). Both titles involve an overarching Story Arc that involves a time-skip and a mystery that positions the titular character(s) as a Destructive Savior and Hero with Bad Publicity. However, Fantastic Four made The Reveal in issue #4, whereas Amazing Spider-Man has a much longer arc and doesn't reveal theirs until #26.
  • With Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) as well. In a case of History Repeats, this Ultimate Spider-Man is being released during a time where the main Spider-Man title is being released during a downturn of quality involving a storyline that's doing its best to toss Mary Jane to the side and try to make fans hate her.
• Executive Meddling: According to Cody Ziglar, the death of Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) wasn't part of the original plan and was added to support a wider character arc requested by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, bringing the comics closer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Though the actual death part was entirely their own decision, Feige only asked them to set up a change in Kamala's origin because she was appearing in their book at the time.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The moment that Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)'s death was leaked, fans cynically predicted that it would be undone sooner rather than later given her popularity, and that she'd be brought back by the X-Men as a Mutant for synergy with her MCU counterpart. Sure enough, Kamala's rebirth as a Mutant was announced even before the issue where her death occurred had come out, for later in the same year, which only added fuel to the fire of cynics accusing Marvel of doing this purely for publicity and MCU synergy. In April 2024 another of Marvel's Spider-Man writers, Cody Ziglar, confirmed that this was done at the request of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
• Milestone Celebration: Issue #6 of the title was also LGY #900 under Marvel's "legacy" numbering, marking 900 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. It also fell on Spidey's 60th anniversary.
• Trolling Creator: Wells repeatedly hinted that Spider-Man's ex-girlfriend Mary Jane was going to die at the end of an arc built around "the most shocking issue of Amazing Spider-Man in 50 years" - only for Marvel to confirm ahead of publication, in response to a Content Leak, that Ms. Marvel (who was a relatively minor supporting character in this story), would actually be killed.
• What Could Have Been: At New York Comic Con 2023, it was revealed that Kamala’s death wasn’t their plan at all. As the character had no book at the time, they wanted to use them at Oscorp and give them a home. They had no idea that the X-Offices had planned out her death and rebirth when they did.
• Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: Writer Zeb Wells has stated that his editor, Nick Lowe, warned him to avoid conventions after the release of issue #26, with Wells saying that "many people will be very mad" about the events of that issue (this refers to the death of Ms. Marvel, which was subsequently revealed by a Content Leak and confirmed by Marvel before the issue actually released). As Wells seemingly expected, the reaction to the twist was overwhelmingly negative.
  Zeb Wells: I can tease that many people will be very mad at me. I can tease that Nick (Lowe) told me not to do any comic conventions after this issue comes out (laughs). People will be upset.

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