Mention the words “ONE MORE DAY” to a Spider-Man fan and you’ll get a variety of negative reactions. They range from weeping at decades of continuity lost to a rage-filled desire to strangle Joe Quesada. And for good reason. To this day SPIDER-MAN: ONE MORE DAY remains one of the most controversial, if not most hated, Spider-Man storylines of all time.

And fans have good reason to be angry, because the comic’s outcome really sucked. In a nutshell, Spider-Man makes a Faustian bargain with Mephisto- Marvel’s version of Satan- to erase his marriage with Mary-Jane Watson to save Aunt May’s life. All those years of their lives as a happy couple? Erased- reworked into a convoluted retcon on how they “lived together” but nothing happened. Consider this the one comic reboot that Marvel fans actually want to see happen.

Sadly, for the past twelve years Marvel has remained quite tight-lipped on anything ONE MORE DAY-related. At least until recently. Throughout the last year writer Nick Spencer has been dropping hints about… something in the future. Too many parallels to ONE MORE DAY in Peter Parker’s life to suggest a mere coincidence. This has led many fans- myself included- to speculate that they’re building up to a moment where Peter is forced to remember the deal he made.

Of course nothing has been confirmed yet- for all we know Spencer is pulling a red herring. But it’s worth analyzing the clues and parallels to speculate what might happen next in Spider-Man’s future. The ultimate fantasy come to life: the revoking of ONE MORE DAY.

What is ONE MORE DAY?

A little context to why this storyline has left fans so royally pissed more than a decade later. During the first CIVIL WAR storyline, Aunt May is caught in a shooting and critically injured. Usually in the Marvel world this type of injury can be solved with relative ease. But here Peter Parker can’t find assistance from any hero. Tony Stark won’t give financial aid, Doctor Strange doesn’t have a healing spell… you get the idea. No one will help.

Long story short: the story leads to Mephisto (i.e. the Devil) appearing and offering a deal. Peter’s marriage for May’s life. Why? Because Peter and MJ have a very happy relationship and Mephisto just likes ruining those things. And despite EVERYONE showing hesitation to this, even Aunt May, Peter agrees. It’s an incredibly out of character and even regressive move for Peter Parker, whose life is defined by his ability to make hard choices.

Even more frustrating than this storyline is the context behind it. Joe Quesada felt that eliminating the Peter-MJ marriage would “return the character to his roots” of constantly struggling. The character known for being youthful and down on his luck can’t have this if he’s married? Yet fans didn’t want to see Peter in the same place he was twenty years ago. We wanted to see him evolve into someone mature and even capable of long-term grief. I mean, even the recent SPIDER-MAN PS4 game pulled that off.

So faced with extraordinary backlash and even fan blacklistings of Spider-Man comics, Marvel never brought up ONE MORE DAY again. By their own logic, the 616-universe didn’t remember this event so why should they. Not exactly the best way to deal with fandom rage.

Remembering the Deal?

Recently, however, Spencer’s run has provided numerous parallels to the pre-ONE MORE DAY setting. It started briefly with Peter and MJ getting back together after numerous storylines. Simple, but effective. But things got a bit eye-popping when Spider-Man mentioned this to Sorcerer Supreme Loki, which yes was a thing.

It was almost like Nick Spencer said “Yeah, I agree that storyline was terrible.” Of course what he planned to do with it is anyone’s guess. After all no one, not even Peter himself, remembers the deal happened. He just remembers doing something with someone and losing something important. At this point it felt like the only way he could learn the truth was if Mephisto showed up on Peter’s apartment couch and boasted about the whole ordeal.

Then came a second melodrama bombshell: Aunt May learns she has breast cancer. Chemo can treat it, but once again Peter is left in a position where he risks losing the closest thing he has to a mother. And, when he learns about this news in FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN #5, his first instinct is to run off. For a second, it feels like déjà vu.

However, a night encounter with a young car thief and conversation with Doctor Strange causes Peter to stop running. While briefly contemplating magical ways to help May, Strange notes the danger of consulting deals with demons (wink wink) and has Peter recognize mortality is inevitable. With this realization in mind, Peter accepts May’s condition and joins her for Chemo treatment. This acceptance is the exact opposite response we saw from Peter Parker in ONE MORE DAY.

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Soooo Many Deals

It’s also apparent that Mephisto has been rather proactive in the past year across multiple Marvel comics. And for Marvel this Mephisto frequency is… a bit shocking. After all, outrage to ONE MORE DAY can be summed up as “Spider-Man makes deal with the Devil,” and that was just one character. Yet everything we’ve seen so far hints at a much larger game at play.

Mephisto’s recent dealmaking list is pretty excessive. In CHAMPIONS, he offers Miles Morales a chance to redo time and save his teammates from collapsing rubble. It worked, but a civilian Miles saved in the original timeline dies in their place, causing him to leave the team in grief. Mephisto also revived Phil Coulson post-SECRET EMPIRE to run the Squadron Supreme for reasons not yet explained.

But wait, there’s more: Mephisto also stole Deadpool’s heart and claimed a piece of Doctor Strange’s soul. Due to a series of events involving a corrupted Galactus, Strange escapes to Mephisto’s realm who directs him on a path to restore the universe. However, although he agreed to a favor, Mephisto only pointed him in the direction of victory and still desired his payment- a soul. He got it.

It’s impossible to tell what event crossover the writers have set up for Mephisto. Even recently he granted Otto Octavius his old body in exchange for purging said body of Peter Parker’s memories. So whatever he’s planning, does this mean this is the part where Mephisto reminds Peter of the deal they made years ago?

Who is Kindred?

Then again, maybe Mephisto won’t be the one to reveal this sensitive ONE MORE DAY information. Across Spencer’s run, a mysterious cloaked figure has been stalking Spider-Man, Mary-Jane and his foes. We didn’t learn his name- Kindred- until recently but his appearance has definitely stood out. Sunken eyes, bandaged hands and feet, shrouded in centipede creatures. This guy is frightening, but what’s most unnerving is how much Kindred seems to know about Peter Parker.

He knows Spidey’s alter ego, his history with MJ and even the toxic toll Norman Osbourne held over Peter’s psyche. There’s a connection to Spider-Man yet to be revealed, but one that predates his time in Hell. At some point Kindred died but rose through Hell’s ranks as a demon, even torturing Mysterio before resurrecting him. And he wants to torment Peter for…. something. Something that, as far as we know, Peter doesn’t realize he did.

And that’s where the big fan theory kicks in: this is the portion of Peter’s soul taken by Mephisto. That soul ultimately died in the then-rotting body of Otto Octavius, a form whom Kindred slightly resembles. Even the centipedes on his body look like Doc Ock’s robot arms. Perhaps this damned Peter realizes he screwed up and wants the current Peter, whose psyche was resurrected into his old body, to pay.

It feels like Mephisto’s deal in ONE MORE DAY has a loophole. The agreement was Aunt May lives in exchange for Peter’s marriage. Perhaps the closer he and Mary-Jane get to where they were before, the weaker that deal’s influence holds. Theoretically, Kindred could want to drive a wedge in that plan because he resents Peter regaining the thing he selfishly gave up over a decade ago.

One More Day… Some Other Day

Based on the latest SPIDER-MAN comic, that “moment” almost happened. Peter nearly proposed to Mary-Jane before she moved to California to act in an upcoming show. One written by Mysterio who works for Kindred. Of course circumstances (as per usual) got in the way again, something both characters are used to at this point. And the comic ends with Peter monologuing that this proposal will happen “some other day.” Worded a bit on the nose there.

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Hopefully there will be more chances to pop the question, but the big issue is what happens next? And will it end the shadow ONE MORE DAY has cast on the Spider-Man franchise? Because jumpstarting Peter’s marriage isn’t enough. To win back fans, Nick Spencer will have to make Peter confront the fact that he made the deal with Mephisto in the first place. He needs to own up to the consequences of that decision.

We don’t know how this reveal ties into Kindred’s plan, or even if Spencer is working under this logic at all. But we know something involving Mephisto, Kindred and the forces of Hell is coming for the Marvel universes. The sooner we learn about this endgame, the sooner Peter Parker can learn the truth about his dumbass decision. Then Spider-Man fans who put off reading anything post-ONE MORE DAY can go back to enjoying the Wall-Crawler’s adventures.

So Nick Spencer… anytime you want to tell us what you’re up to, please do so. We really want to see Spider-Man punch Mephisto in the face and accept he screwed up.