Top 20 Marvel Moments That Made Fans Rage Quit

In the questionable “Amazing Spider-Man” #26” Mary Jane reveals she was knowingly dating a villain’s son, her kids from an alternate dimension vanish, and she nearly dies. But Ms. Marvel got the worst treatment. Knowing that main villain The Emissary wanted to use Mary Jane as a human sacrifice, Kamala Khan shapeshifted into the form of the famous redhead. The big bad then killed her and subsequently died too because he failed to slay the real person. Not only was this a cheap end to a powerful villain, but it also was a lackluster end for Kamala. She died in an already very complicated Spider-man storyline instead of her own story. As a result, her deep life and legacy felt like a shallow afterthought.

During “The Crossing” storyline, Tony Stark is revealed to be working for the villainous Kang and attacks his fellow Avengers. In order to stop the genius, the other heroes go back in time and get a younger version of Iron Man. The plan backfires when the older Tony leaves the youthful version clinging to life. After committing all of these heinous acts, Iron Man decides to sacrifice his life to stop Kang’s plans in the last issue of the crossover. His rapid heel turn understandably baffled fans. Since it came so quickly after so many vicious acts, it was hard to feel bad for his death here. And since he came back to life later anyway, this death felt even more pointless.

May Parker is typically the kind aunt that takes in Peter Parker after his parents disappear. However, there’s a universe where their relationship is more complicated. In the “Trouble” miniseries, it’s revealed May slept with her best friend’s boyfriend, Richard Parker. She did so multiple times before getting pregnant. Instead of telling Richard the truth, May’s best friend Mary pretends she had baby Peter instead. This storyline could’ve been an interesting twist on Spider-man’s parentage if it was written with a little more tact. Mary only agrees to go through with this scheme because she wanted to “test” Richard. Additionally, the fact that this Aunt May hid the truth after Peter’s parents disappeared made it seem like she was lying to Peter for years.

A plot where the villains become good while the heroes become evil seemed like a pretty fun and intriguing concept. Unfortunately, confusing twists and badly written characters made the event hard to follow. The story’s quality sank to a new low at the very end of the arc when the good guys and bad guys returned to normal. Since the heroes had done some very bad things, it seemed like future comics would see them struggle to regain the trust of the public. But it’s revealed the villains conveniently recorded a video where they take full responsibility. This cheap copout felt incredibly underwhelming. In the end, we were robbed of a chance to see heroes struggle to win back their reputations.

Having Nightcrawler become a villain can make for a very compelling story. However, this infamous Uncanny X-Men story tried to make that plotline work in the absolute worst way. After mutants are targeted by the corrupt Church of Humanity, the heroes confront the villains. They soon learn that they brainwashed Nightcrawler into thinking he was a Catholic priest. Furthermore, the Church Of Humanity would ensure the mutant became pope while looking human, uncover his identity in public, and make people believe he was a demon from hell. This would somehow lead to a holy war against all mutantkind that would lead to their deaths. Even for comics, this plan was way too convoluted, ridiculous, and silly to take seriously.

Fans were largely pleased with the dark and dystopian glimpse at Peter’s future that this series provided. Despite having many high points, the worst part of this grim story was MJ’s death. The comic initially doesn’t tell us how Spider-Man’s love interest died. But in issue 3, we learn that Mary Jane died from cancer. As it turns out, she got sick because Peter Parkers’ body is filled with radioactivity. He ends up screaming that certain adult activities caused her to come into direct contact with his bodily fluids. Besides being absurdly gross, this reveal was a terrible way of getting rid of an iconic character. Both Mary Jane and the readers deserved more than this.

There seemed to be no way to end a conflict between two of Marvel’s largest superhero groups. The Inhumans inadvertently caused a cloud of a substance known as Terrigen mist to spread. Since the weather formation was deadly to mutants, the X-Men were pulled into a major conflict against the former group. Their bad blood escalated to a brawl for survival. But it all comes to an end when the inhuman Medusa is literally handed a way to destroy the cloud and…just does. There’s no debate, last minute pleas, or desperate maneuvers. Medusa simply ends the war on the spot and the survivors go home. This anticlimactic finish was a major letdown for fans hoping this conflict would have a bigger end.

Back in the 1980s, comic fans were shocked to learn that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were actually Magneto's children. This familial revelation formed the basis of a lot of interesting stories between the trio. That’s why fans were baffled when their bloodline was suddenly severed. While Wanda was temporarily turned evil, she cast a spell that only affected her family. When it didn’t work on Magneto, she realized the mutant leader wasn’t her father. This reveal stirred up a lot of confusion about the history of the siblings. A 2021 story tried to work with this change by having Wanda accept Magneto as a chosen father. However, the original plot point is still a sore spot among fans.

A major conflict between heroes begins after Captain Marvel meets an Inhuman that can tell the future. While she wants to go after villains before they commit crimes, Iron Man is a little less reluctant to persecute people early. The two really argue after Rhodey dies in a battle that was seen in a vision. After Stark calms down a bit, he lets Carol know that the visions aren’t necessarily foolproof. But Captain Marvel ultimately ignores those recommendations and keeps arresting people. While we weren’t expecting the conflict to end easily, the fact that Carol didn’t hesitate to rely on a process that got Rhodey killed seemed too out of character to accept.

Within the Ultimate Marvel universe, Black Widow and Iron Man got very, very close. Everyone learns exactly how intimate the two were in an explicit way. After Black Widow is killed for committing an unforgivable act, a tape of her bedroom activities with Iron Man went public. The tape is then played on a gigantic screen in the middle of Avengers HQ. And trust us when we say the comic leaves very little to the imagination. Not only is this close encounter incredibly uncomfortable, but the fact that Black Widow is oversexualized after her death made it feel like an insult. No one wanted to see these two Avengers fully exposed in such a bizarre and upsetting way.

Three days after Carol learned she was pregnant, she gives birth to a rapidly aging baby boy. She eventually learns the shocking truth about the child. In the past, a man named Marcus from another dimension and time pulled her into his world. Once there, he manipulated her mentally and emotionally until she agreed to sleep with him. Marcus then wiped her memories and sent her back to earth so she’d give birth to him as part of a time loop. This sick and twisted scheme ends with Carol willingly going to live with him in another dimension. Meanwhile, the other Avengers idly stand by. For readers, it was utterly disgraceful to watch Carol get put through everything she’d endured without her friends intervening.

Comic book characters are often illustrated as idealized versions of the human form - often exaggerated to a ridiculous, anatomically impossible degree. For some readers, these sexy images are part of the appeal of the medium. So in the early ‘90s, Marvel gave the people what they wanted with the Marvel Swimsuit Specials. They featured many of fan-favorite characters, scantily clad and posing seductively in a classic pin-up fashion. This led to many of the world’s mightiest heroes being reduced to cheap fanservice. And for some fans seeing the hardcore Punisher or skeletal Ghost Rider in barely anything was far more unsettling than titillating.

We can only imagine how tempting it must be for comic book writers to shake up the history of a character they’ve been charged with writing. The thing is… with great power comes great responsibility - namely the responsibility to think ahead about how the readership is going to respond. In 2007, Jeph Loeb introduced Romulus, an apparent millennia old figure who had allegedly orchestrated everything in Wolverine’s life. It’s revealed to Logan that he’s not even a mutant, but a member of the Lupine species, which evolved not from simians, like humans, but canines. Many fans hated the implications of both revelations. Thankfully, it was retconned after just a few years, dismissed as lies and manipulation.

It’s hard to pinpoint one exact moment when readers turned on Spider-Man’s infamous clone saga. Spectacular Spider-Man #226 is a strong contender with Peter Parker being revealed as the clone, and that shameful panel when Peter hits Mary Jane. Then there was the seemingly endless parade of clones, including Ben, Kaine, Guardian, Jack, AND Spidercide. As the convoluted story arc dragged on from 1994 to 1996, there were countless narrative choices, revelations, and fakeouts to frustrate readers, while some fans simply grew weary of Marvel’s refusal to tie things up in a reasonable amount of time. Major comic events and arcs always serve to increase sales but rarely are they so transparently or artificially prolonged in the name of profit.

Not to be confused with NBC miniseries, “Heroes Reborn” was a crossover that ran from 1996 to 1997, spinning out of the events of the “Onslaught” storyline. As any comic book fan collecting at the time will attest, the ‘90s was a dark decade for the industry, both literally and figuratively. The doom, gloom, and grittiness were off the freaking charts. And so Marvel decided to do a large scale reboot, reinventing their most beloved characters to fit the times. The makeovers were bad enough, but they actually outsourced the work to Image comics founders, including the much-maligned Rob Liefeld. Fans were divided, to say the least, and many consider it to be a low point for the company creatively.

The Ultimate Universe was honestly a much bigger success than most people would have or could have predicted. During its heyday, it gave us the excellent Ultimate Spider-Man series, which genuinely attracted a whole new generation of readers to the medium. Sadly, not everything was so well-executed. We get that this universe was envisioned as a safe space for writers to take risks with iconic characters, but we’re not sure if taboo relationships were what people were clamoring for. A weirdly intimate relationship was established between twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in this universe, and in Ultimates 3 all subtlety was thrown out the window. Thankfully, modern comics have stepped away from this taboo plotline.

Honestly, this reveal makes the whole “Wolverine is a dog-man” retcon look like a crowd pleaser. What in the history of comic books made anyone think that this was a good idea? If there’s one hero that people hold sacred, it’s Captain America. He doesn’t go bad. He doesn’t betray people. Even when given a hard choice, he remains a pillar of morality. We get the need to generate headlines and counteract dwindling sales with must-read events, but this was seen as insulting to Cap’s legacy - a clear exercise in shock value. In these modern times, seeing the sentinel of liberty turned into a terrorist was a step too far, and the community was vocal in their disapproval.

The majority of modern day comic book readers are teens and adults, meaning that some sexual content is totally acceptable - but keep it in good taste. That’s why the revelation of an affair between Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy was met with revulsion. The age gap was bad enough, but this revelation tainted a beloved character. Stacy’s relationship with Peter is one of the most important in comic books, and her tragic death plays a major role in shaping Spider-Man. By revisiting one of Spidey’s most pivotal moments, Sins Past established itself as one of Marvel’s worst. The fact that the affair resulted in children only added insult to injury.

Remember when we were talking about the missteps of the Ultimate Marvel line? This was one of the major ones. Or rather a collection of them. As discussed, part of the fun with this separate Marvel universe was that it allowed the writers to craft stories with real stakes and consequences. A death, if well-executed like that of Peter Parker, can make for a moving moment that goes down in comic book history. Massacring a laundry list of characters in cruel, grotesque and unusual fashion, self-sabotaging your successful universe? Not so much. Dozens of characters were killed, including MAJOR players like Cyclops, Thor, Magneto, Daredevil, Wolverine, Hank Pym and more. That’s how you ruin a good thing.

You knew this was coming. Honestly, if you told us in 2005 after the conclusion of Sins Past that something worse awaited Spider-Man, we likely would respond with the word “impossible”. But we’d be wrong. That infamous arc came before a despised 2007 story that will forever live on in infamy. Going against character, Peter makes a deal with Mephisto - a literal devil - in order to save Aunt May and hide his secret identity anew. The cost? His marriage with Mary Jane, their future child and the immeasurable other changes that surely result from altering history. Yeah… fans raged, alright.