Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Amazing Spider-Man #66Spider-Man just quit being a superhero because he's so depressed, and I need Marvel Comics to fix it. Having recently been shown the inevitability of death and entropy on a level no one has ever experienced before, I can't really blame Peter Parker for not caring anymore. On the one hand, this is objectively a pretty compelling arc with relatively new spaces being explored for Marvel's original Webslinger. However, this is selfishly not what I need from my Spider-Man comics right now.

Having become Earth's champion in the supernatural Covenant of Cytorrak, Spider-Man has been facing various scions of the elder god Cytorrak with each one presenting a different challenge. Each showdown has resulted in Spider-Man's death and resurrection using the Reeds of Raggadorr, which bring him back to life for the next challenge. However, his most recent trial saw Spider-Man witnessing and feeling the deaths of 3,000,000 people, including his friends and loved ones. Unable to find a reason to keep fighting in the aftermath, Peter Parker is now super depressed and has quit being Spider-Man (and it's something I can no longer handle).

Peter Parker Recently Quit Being Spider-Man, And He's Super Depressed

Having Faced The True Inevitability of Death

As seen in the most recent Amazing Spider-Man #66 by Justina Ireland, Marcio Menyz, and Erick Arciniega, Peter Parker is just shuffling around New York eating junk food, no longer caring about being Spider-Man by any degree. Coming to view all life as pointless and devoid of any real substance or meaning, Peter talks to a mugger mid-robbery about how fleeting life is. While he criticizes the thug's choices and how he's spending what little time he has, Peter ultimately does nothing to stop the criminal, a job that's left for Spider-Boy who arrived during Peter's depression-fueled rant.

Naturally, it's really hard to see Spider-Man this way. Most of the time, Spider-Man can't be shaken, and his bright personality and humor are rarely snuffed out. He always gets back up in his belief that it's his responsibility to do so with the power he possesses to keep fighting and keep people safe. However, this issue and the rest of his current arc have proved that Peter Parker could now care less about his responsibility, given his new belief that everything's pointless and that all he's ever done is just delaying the inevitable.

Spider-Man Is Trying To Recover, But He Just Can't Care Anymore

What's The Point of Saving Anyone?

Having ignored his friends and family, Spider-Man is genuinely struggling to care and feel again. Meeting with Shay Marken whom he's been ghosting for quite some time, Peter tries to understand how she can keep going as a nurse given how often she faces death. Encouraging Peter to get some help from a professional, Shay does share that she keeps going because while "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional", meaning that she works to mitigate the suffering of others and improve their lives for however long each of us has.

Shay's quote from Haruki Murakami is quite profound. However, Peter continues to be fully submerged in his depression with no clear way out of his deep struggle. He then goes to talk with Felicia Hardy's Black Cat, confirming that he can't feel anything after witnessing death on such a massive scale. After all, he's undoubtedly seen more death at one time than anyone else in the Marvel Universe, save for Phil Coulson who's currently the embodiment of Death itself.

Coulson himself tried and failed in previous issues to help Peter as well. Attempting to show Spider-Man the many lives he's saved as a hero, Coulson wanted to prove that Peter wouldn't have become the hero he is without the losses he's endured and will likely continue to experience over time. However, that didn't work either, with Coulson concluding that while Peter Parker was brought back to life by the Reeds, the concept of Death and its true weight killed Spider-Man.

This Is NOT The Spider-Man I Need Right Now

Please Marvel, Get Peter Parker Help ASAP

Having even experienced far more deaths than when Doctor Strange was Earth's champion, Spider-Man struggling to find meaning in the face of so much loss is as logical as it is understandably tragic. Undeniably, Spider-Man having to deal with such intense depression does make for a compelling arc. That said, I'm very much ready to move on now and get Peter Parker back to being the Spider-Man we know and love.

At their core, superhero comics are designed as forms of entertaining escapism. They serve to convey idealized notions of morality and concepts such as justice, while often serving as distractions from many of the real-life things in our lives that can be awful and depression-inducing. Witnessing Spider-Man struggling with his own depression is massively relatable and compelling, but enough is enough. I'm really hoping Spider-Man will start seeking the help he needs sooner rather than later.

Amazing Spider-Man #66 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.