The latest issue of “Amazing Spider-Man” seems to be raising a few eyebrows s and has created some controversy within the fan community.
In the current issue (#603), super villain the Chameleon disguises himself to look like Peter Parker and tries to take over his life. The Chameleon is clueless about Peter’s dual identity but does try to find out more about Parker from his yearbook and other personal effects in his apartment.
And it appears that discovery process includes a scene in which the character apparently seduces Peter’s roommate, Michelle Gonzales.
The comic page in question is below:
The page has some Spidey fans wondering if what the Chameleon did could be classified as rape since they argue Michelle probably wouldn’t give her consent to sleeping with a super villain.
Writer Fred Van Linte argued that he doesn’t think what happened constitutes rape, saying “My understanding of the definition of rape is that it requires force or the threat of force, so no. Using deception to trick someone into granting consent isn’t quite the same thing.”
“Which is not to say it isn’t a horrible, evil, reprehensible thing that Chameleon did. He is a bad man,” he added. “He insults parapelegics and dips people in acid too.”
The page in question leads to an awkward moment for the real Peter Parker later in the issue.
According to reports, Marvel is now saying that the scene in question was just the two characters kissing and making out on the kitchen floor and that future issues will deal with the fall out and consequences of the event.
I hope one day this issue is considered groundbreaking, because you know what? Rape happens. Deal with it.
Comics have become darker over the years and have dealt with many controversial (read: realistic) issues, including substance abuse and homosexuality. Why not rape?
The argument as to whether this situation could be called rape or not is based on a situation that can’t happen, because people who can shape-change into perfect replicas of other people don’t exist.
Stan, I don’t think anyone is saying “OMG you can’t talk about rape in comics!!” I think most people are saying “Hey, that WAS rape, and you need to acknowledge it and deal with it realistically, and NOT play it for laughs.”
Does she figure it out during “snuggle time”??
It’s a friggin’ Comic Book. Not rape.
It’s a story. Stories have depicted rape and will continue to depict rape.This particular storyline resembles the acts of Uther Pendragon toward Ygraine of Cornwall. One can question whether it is actually rape, but I don’t think anyone questions that the woman was deceived. I would be interested in finding out the law on this point, but I’m sure it’s certainly nothing resembling consenting sex.
There is really only one point of interest to me in this story.
Young teenagers might wonder about the events. On the other hand, are young teenagers supposed to be reading Spider-Man these days? I know that as an older teenager, I would have had no questions about such a story line.
If the last sentence is accurate and “the scene in question was just the two characters kissing and making out on the kitchen floor and that future issues will deal with the fall out and consequences of the event.” Then it’s not rape and it’ll be dealt with.
However if more happened, it would be rape. Just as a man tricking his twin brother’s wife into having sex would be rape. I’m not saying the comic shouldn’t deal with that issue, but writer Fred Van Linte is wrong that it would not be considered rape. In this case, she would have granted consent to Peter, not Chameleon. He cannot legally act on permission given to another. The problem is not that he’s misrepresenting himself, but that he’s deliberately passing himself off as a specific person she would accept.
The rape aside (which is horrible) – I can’t believe anybody is still reading the atrocity that is Amazing Spider Man ever since Joe Quesada screwed it up with “Brand New Day.”
I hate Amazing Spider-Man: One More Day and Brand New Day; they should be written out of history and forgotten in obscurity. Peter Parker/Spider-Man is a good, caring, reasonable guy who lives with motto “With Great Power, There Must Also Come Great Responsibility” and Mary Jane Watson is a sane, supportive, good, and loving woman, so they would never really make a deal with Satan period. OMD and BND is the story of “If Joe Quesada was Spider-Man who Likes Batman even more , who’s angry that he can’t have a beautiful wife, and thinks it’s good to make a deal with the Devil”. I forgive Joe, but I don’t trust him or his so-called “Spidey-brain trust ASM team”. The stories and plots in Brand New Day is not worth my time and I say that Joe Quesada and the Amazing Spider-Man team are not worthy of leading, directing, and writing these issues. It’s hard for me to believe that anyone would read this crap, plus not taking “making a deal with Satan” serious like it just happens everyday with no common sense or ethical morality and that Mephisto can even be trusted which he really can’t be. Any affiliation with him would be wrong, untrustworthy, and mindless. Spidey, Peter Parker, MJ, and their comics may be fictional, but there is more to it than that: they’re supposed to be role-models and always on the side of good; it’s been carved into stone. I hope that soon Joe Quesada will either quit, be fired, or demoted and replaced with a guy who actually has good responsible morals and who cares about Spidey’s and MJ’s fans. The writers of Brand New Day should be replaced as soon as possible. I would start buying The Amazing Spider-Man then. Trust me, you would see the series actually be bought by the true fans which would allow Marvel to make more money for the right reasons and Joe Quesada would eat his words of thinking no matter what controversy fans will remain loyal to reading ASM which is a load of Bull. This guy belongs with DC Entertainment as Editor-in-Chief over the limited, dull, boring human Batman who doesn’t have the most lovely red-head woman in the world: Mary Jane Watson. Pete and MJ should be married because it’s better than being alone.