Love it or hate it, every new Spider-Man comic book run that bears a new creative team is likely to arrive with its own handful of retcons associated with the obligation to be new-reader-friendly. This is ideally terrific for anyone who’s never read Spider-Man comics before, and can also be received as a welcome palate cleanser, depending on what has been retconned or discarded, but it’s obviously going to rub readers the wrong way who have scaled Spider-Man’s mountains of lore and are devastated to see a character or a development they liked essentially erased or dismissed.
For instance, fans were understandably unhappy to learn that Miles Morales and Tiana Toomes’ Starling broke up between runs in order for Miles to begin crushing on a brand-new character in Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2026) #1. As for Joe Kelly’s ongoing Amazing Spider-Man run, there seem to be glaring inconsistencies that not only clash with Peter Parker’s 64-year history, but also the feats he’s performed in the last 35 issues.
64 Years Later, Marvel Can’t Decide How Strong Spider-Man Is
It’s established as early as in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (LGY #965) that slamming a box truck into Rhino is the ceiling of Spider-Man’s superhuman strength. This is technically a nerf, as readers have seen Peter lift much greater weights without nearly as much trouble, and it’s an interesting benchmark that the run then challenges thereafter.
Indeed, Kelly’s Amazing Spider-Man run flip-flops on how strong it depicts Peter to be, at least in terms of the feats of strength he achieves and how difficult it is for him to lift things. In particular, in The Amazing Spider-Man #35 (LGY #999), Peter half-jokingly requests “ice and painkillers” after visibly struggling to spot Luke Cage while he’s bench-pressing two cars.
This might not have been so odd within the context of this run if not for Peter appearing to tackle much greater weights with far less effort earlier on. The Amazing Spider-Man #11 (LGY #) reveals that Peter is stranded in outer space and collaborating with Dr. Xanto Starblood in order to become stronger before his rematch with Hellgate. Ironically, the weight he’s seen lifting appears gargantuan compared to the box truck he hurled, or the two cars he spots.
Xanto declares, “Peter, you are over a hundred times stronger than 99.9% of your entire species.”
Now, Peter doesn’t actually become markedly stronger by the end of this arc, nor does he take the “genetic re-coder” that would’ve supposedly made him stronger (and possibly imbue him with God-knows-how-many side effects). Still, it’s difficult to believe that any of the tests he and Xanto ran in their weeks dedicated to research failed to give Peter any more trouble than a box truck would, let alone two cars fastened to a barbell.
Strength Is A Big Theme In Kelly’s Amazing Spider-Man Run
Peter believing that he needs to become stronger physically is, of course, a premise nestled into the overall theme of this arc in outer space, and it’s the motley crew of new companions he meets, such as The Amazing Spider-Man’s endearing Raelith the Wretched. It’s Raelith who reminds Peter that his strength comes from his heart, as well as his allies, and not his muscles.
Even Xanto, who manufactured the genetic re-coder, refuses to scratch his undeniable scientific itches and instead tells Peter he doesn’t think he should take it because he’s worried about how it could affect him adversely. Nonetheless, Peter’s physical strength in this current run isn’t as impressive as it has been in previous Spider-Man stories, and it’s been made tough to gauge how strong he actually is from arc to arc.
The Amazing Spider-Man #35 (LGY #999) is scheduled to be released on August 26, 2026.
- Movie(s)
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Spider-Man, Spider-Man Strikes Back, Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Far from Home, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
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Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Spider-Man Unlimited, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Spider-Noir
- Comic
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The Amazing Spider-Man
- First Film
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Spider-Man
